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A California Honeymoon: Napa & Sonoma (Days 4-7)

Having imbibed enough for the day - the amount of alcohol consumed during tastings adds up! - we decided to enjoy the outdoors with a hike at the Bothe-Napa State Park and hiked the Redwood Trail. Fun fact: this park is home to the most inland coastal redwood trees. The trail is 3.3 miles out-and-back and was pretty sparsely populated since of course the wineries are the prime attraction for the area. After an exhausting day, we decided to return to our B&B and eat our leftover pizza poolside.

A California Honeymoon: Monterey (Days 7-10)

We spent a couple of days in and around Monterey. We visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which we arrived at early in the day before the crowds. It is one of my favorite aquariums I have been to. As is also the case outside the confines of the aquarium, the coastal area has a lot of seals, sea otters, and sea lions. We grabbed lunch at the cafe at the aquarium and were able to get a window seat to watch sea lions doing what they do best, which appears to be superbly lounging with occasional dips in the water.

A California Honeymoon: Moss Beach (Days 10-11)

It’s an interesting thing how seals can be laying en masse along the beach and yet be so still that you can nearly walk up to them. Oops! We were probably much closer than we should have been before we even saw them. On a sad note, a little ways down the beach was also a dead seal pup with waves washing up and over him.

What's the deal with these missions in California anyway?

In our California honeymoon blog series, we described visiting three missions: San Francisco Solano, San Juan Bautista, and Carmel. This blog explains a bit of the history that led to the building of the missions in California and what their impact was on the native and newly arrived communities there.

North Captiva Island: A Florida Barrier Island Thanksgiving

To celebrate both Thanksgiving and a milestone birthday for my dad, a group of our family headed to the Island of North Captiva, Florida. This tropical getaway was a great respite from the stress of daily life. Click to read more!

Asheville in the Fall: a long weekend

Asheville 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.

A Day at the Biltmore Estate

To understand Biltmore, you must first understand the breadth of the estate and the size of the house. The house was completed in 1895 and is the largest home in America even today with a whopping square footage of over 178,000 sq feet split into 250 rooms, including 43 bathrooms in an era where any indoor bathrooms were uncommon. The estate includes the home, gardens, a shopping village with winery, and more.

Tips for your Biltmore visit

Want to make the most of your Biltmore experience? Here are some of our tips!