I have always loved Ireland for its beauty, history, and accents. In the 1870s my great-great grandmother and grandfather emigrated (likely separately) from County Cork, Ireland, to San Francisco, California, where they married. So, for my first trip abroad, it’s no wonder that Ireland topped my list.
Read MoreThis trip is special to me in that it was the first real solo trip my then-boyfriend, now-husband, Dustin, and I took. At this point, we had been dating 6 1/2 years and had lived together almost 4 of those years, most of which were as impoverished, no-travel-funds college students biding our time until the student loans would come due :-/. Later in the year – on Christmas Day – we would get engaged. I’d traveled to many of Arizona’s key landmarks during elementary school, but Dustin hadn’t been before.
Read MoreAsheville is a mountain town in two senses of the word: its downtown is hilly and the city is tucked closely against the larger surrounding mountains. Due to this location, there are gorgeous vistas in every direction. Whether it was unique to our visit or seasonal/geographical due to the mountains, each morning started out with low clouds that took several hours to burn off and each evening, low clouds began moving back in and stirring up a bit of a cool breeze.
Read More
