A Couple of Days in the District

One of the things we did this summer was take a trip to DC. My brother John and his wife Cara have lived in DC for about a decade, and it’s embarrassing to admit how little we have visited them. So, once we knew they’d be moving back to Vermont, we figured we should pay […]

A Vermont Wedding

On July 1, 2017, my brother John married his longtime love Cara, in a beautiful Vermont wedding. The party began on Friday afternoon, when many of the guests began arriving at the Echo Lake Inn in Ludlow, VT. It was raining off and on, so we were mostly confined to the porch, where everyone was […]

Hello from Ontario!

Well, hi there! I am writing this from my bed at the Pillar and Post Inn in Niagara on the Lake. Not to be confused with Niagara Falls – it is NOT the same place. (Though the Falls are not far from here.) This is wine country.

A Minimalist Trip to Boston

This past weekend, Dave and I went up to Boston! I love going there. It’s an easy drive (as long as you don’t hit traffic…), and the city itself is just so… people-sized. Months ago, I saw that The Minimalists were going to do a show at The Wilbur. In a moment of spontaneity, I […]

Costa Rica Trip, Day 14 – Our Final Day

Our final full day in Costa Rica dawned sunny and bright. We had breakfast in the restaurant upstairs and enjoyed the gorgeous view. We decided we would go back to Playa Hermosa for the day. On the way, we stopped at a little grocery store to get some drinks and snacks. Outside, we saw the […]

Costa Rica Trip, Day 13 – Playa Ocotal

Playa Ocotal was the most interesting beach we visited in Costa Rica. The surf was very strong while we were there, so we didn’t go in the ocean much. The beach itself had dark gray sand and there was a lot of rocks at the surface, which was kind of scary considering how rough the waves […]

Costa Rica Trip, Day 11 – Playa Conchal

The water at Playa Conchal is that gorgeous turquoise color everyone imagines when they think of beach resort vacations. I really don’t know how Conchal could be covered with shells and have turquoise water while right next door Brasilito is just regular old sand and regular blue/gray ocean water color.

Costa Rica Trip, Day 10 – Playa Hermosa

The next morning, we ate Cheerios on our balcony and gawked at the view. This area reminded me a lot of the Southern California coast – except way less developed. Maybe this is what Southern California looked like 50 years ago. We saw all kinds of fun things from this balcony. Dogs wandering happily on […]

Costa Rica Trip, Day 9 – Getting to Playas del Coco

In the morning, we had our final breakfast at Hotel Tangara. By this time I was going to weep if I had to eat another banana, but fortunately they switched up the fruit so we got to have pineapple and papaya instead. We drove in the rain most of the way back to Ruta 1. […]

Costa Rica Trip, Day 8 – Ziplines and Rafts!

We spent our final full day in the Arenal area doing the most adventurous stuff we could handle – ziplining and whitewater rafting! I’ll admit that I was a little nervous about it. I’d never ziplined OR whitewater rafted before this. I’m not really afraid of heights, but I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about […]