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Feels Like Home, pt. 1

Feels Like Home, pt. 1

by | Aug 31, 2025 | Blog

We made it back to the USA! We’re spending a week visiting Lauren’s family in West Virginia. Were soaking up all the precious time with grandkids and their parents. Have a great week!

Paradise

Paradise

by | Oct 5, 2025 |

Happy October! We hope you are enjoying this beautiful time of year! Some people dream of paradise on a quiet tropical beach, listening to the surf with a drink in hand. Not this girl! Give me mountains, especially drenched in autumn color, bursting with new spring leaves, or covered in snow. We are spending October in one of our favorite places–Big Cottonwood Canyon just east of the Salt Lake Valley. We are loving the gorgeous golden aspen with the deep pine greens. Hiking is great and so is the smell of fresh forest! Nathan’s sister, Liz, and her husband, Christian, joined us one morning for a lovely hike through the woods. We got to experience a powerful thunderstorm and then a full day of snowfall. Our condo for the month is just right for us and we love having access to a pool, hot tubs, sauna, and workout facilities. We especially like that we can pop back to the valley to do some shopping or see family and friends. So far, so good!

Fun Family Time

Fun Family Time

by | Sep 28, 2025 |

We have had a lovely couple of weeks in Utah. We’ve been able to rest and recover from five months of travel, help Nathan’s mom at her house, and spend time with family.

Full Circle

Full Circle

by | Sep 14, 2025 |

Five months ago we flew to Rome from Utah. We had a summer of trying new places and experiences and revisiting old favorites and now we’re back where we started. Since we get the question a lot, I thought I would share some of our favorites from our travels in Europe this year.

Fringe Finale

Fringe Finale

by | Aug 24, 2025 | Blog

Just a quick post this week with highlights from the end of the Fringe and two pieces of exciting news.

Comedians of note: Shalaka Kurup, Bec Hill,  Bella Hull, Ian Smith, Kieran Hodgson, Ivo Graham, Raul Kohli, & Bill Bailey plus loads of compilation shows

Theater: one woman clown as a Mary Poppins character called Dirty Work, 5 Mistakes that Changed History, sketch troupe The Cambridge Footlights, improv troupe The Oxford Imps, Wodehouse in Wonderland about PG Wodehouse in his later years, a mad cap comedy based on the premise of a production of The Importance of Being Earnest being upset by the lead actor not turning up, so they have to replace him with a member of the audience,  a one man show called Bing! with actor Jason Woods.

Circus: We loved a show called 360 Allstars with world-class musicians, breakdancing, biking, basketball tricks, and acrobatics and another show with aerialists and acrobats called By a Thread.

Music: Aquapella from the University of Bath, an afternoon of acoustic blues and roots at the Jazz Bar, a concert called The Billy Joel story, a musical called See It, Say It, Sorted.

We went to an improvised show where the audience members accuse each other of a “crime” and then comedians prosecute and defend before another comic judge. Well, I lazily filled out the questionnaire, accusing Nathan of disrupting my sleep with his snoring, which is mostly fictional. Unfortunately, they ended up picking my paper and putting Nathan on stage and trying him. It ended up with me calling his brother, Warren, as my witness (over the phone). I’m sure Warren was very confused.  The audience acted as the jury and they acquitted him. Thank goodness!

We enjoyed hiking to Arthur’s Seat above the city and the weather has been crazily warm and dry and pleasant–very different from our last visit to the Fringe in 2019.

News item one is that this is the end of our four and a half months in Europe. When we left in April, we were planning a three-month trip, so it definitely wasn’t as expected. It’s been a wild ride, for sure! We’re happy to be returning to the US and family and friends, but this has been a great adventure!

News item two is that Lauren and Bo are expecting! We are excited to meet our seventh grandbaby in March.

Paradise

Paradise

by | Oct 5, 2025 |

Happy October! We hope you are enjoying this beautiful time of year! Some people dream of paradise on a quiet tropical beach, listening to the surf with a drink in hand. Not this girl! Give me mountains, especially drenched in autumn color, bursting with new spring leaves, or covered in snow. We are spending October in one of our favorite places–Big Cottonwood Canyon just east of the Salt Lake Valley. We are loving the gorgeous golden aspen with the deep pine greens. Hiking is great and so is the smell of fresh forest! Nathan’s sister, Liz, and her husband, Christian, joined us one morning for a lovely hike through the woods. We got to experience a powerful thunderstorm and then a full day of snowfall. Our condo for the month is just right for us and we love having access to a pool, hot tubs, sauna, and workout facilities. We especially like that we can pop back to the valley to do some shopping or see family and friends. So far, so good!

Fun Family Time

Fun Family Time

by | Sep 28, 2025 |

We have had a lovely couple of weeks in Utah. We’ve been able to rest and recover from five months of travel, help Nathan’s mom at her house, and spend time with family.

Full Circle

Full Circle

by | Sep 14, 2025 |

Five months ago we flew to Rome from Utah. We had a summer of trying new places and experiences and revisiting old favorites and now we’re back where we started. Since we get the question a lot, I thought I would share some of our favorites from our travels in Europe this year.

Fringe Frenzy

Fringe Frenzy

by | Aug 17, 2025 | Blog

Hello from Edinburgh! We . had a couple of very steamy days in London, then hopped on a train bound for Scotland. We are here to immerse ourselves in the craziness that is the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and enjoy this magical city.

We had a couple more days in London to take care of a few things and see one more show. The weather definitely took a turn for the extra warm and most places in the UK don’t have air conditioning. But we managed to sleep ok anyway. The play, Stereophonic, was really interesting—the story of a band in the 70s trying to record their second album before things go seriously south. It’s not a musical but it is filled with music. We enjoyed all of our theater experiences that we had during our stay in London. But it was time to leave London behind. Off we went to Euston station to take the train to Scotland.

The month of August in Edinburgh is absolutely nuts, with multiple festivals going on at the same time as well as the big spectacle of a show at the castle (the military tattoo), which is probably cool, but not really our thing. There are a million visitors here this month. We focus mostly on the Fringe, which is the world’s biggest arts festival and boasts something like 4000 shows on the program. We spent two weeks here in 2019 and it was our first time to the festival. We had so much fun and learned a lot about how to pace ourselves and find what we enjoy the most. We didn’t keep a very accurate record then, but we estimate that we saw something like 70 shows. This time, it probably won’t be that many, but we are still pretty busy. The Fringe has been great so far. Here are some of the highlights so far:

  • Our very first show was Tony-Award winner Laura Benanti’s one-woman show called “Nobody Cares”. It was 10/10.
  • Lots of comedy—Irish, Scottish, American, Australian, English, Canadian, and some assorted Europeans. Most have been quite good.
  • Author, mathematician, and first-class nerd Matt Parker. His show was called “Getting Triggy With It”.
  • A History of Punk with Andrew O’Neill. It turns out, we know very little about punk music and we felt bad because we ended up sitting in the front row. It was still an interesting show.
  • A crazy sketch comedy duo called Finlay and Joe who were working their guts out in a boiling hot room. It was funny and creative and fun.
  • An amazing musical about musicals.

Nathan learned that the central library has a couple of pianos that he can use, so that’s nice for him to do some practicing. We walk about a half hour to the Royal Mile every day to see all the streetperformers (musicians, jugglers, dancers, acrobats) and to find our way to the shows we have planned for the day. There are always people out on the street handing out flyers to advertise their shows (they call it “flyering”), so you end up with a stack of paper every day. The crowds can be draining sometimes, especially if you are trying to get somewhere on time, but it’s mostly fun! There are plenty of spots to sit outside and have a drink or a bite to eat and most people are just excited to be part of the energy. The shows take place all over town, pretty much wherever they can find space. Sometimes they seat hundreds of people and sometimes it’s a dozen. Here are examples of venues:

  • Lecture halls or gym space at the university
  • Office space with chairs set up inside
  • “Caves” underneath the old buildings in the middle of town
  • Back rooms and basements at a bar or pub
  • Tents, yurts, and shipping containers in a public square 

In addition to sitting and watching people perform, we just enjoy being in this gorgeous city. The architecture is so beautiful and there is so much history here. The weather this week has been uncharacteristically warm and sunny and we are enjoying it while it lasts. There are also some great places to eat. Every time we visit Edinburgh, we love it a little bit more. More to come!

 

Paradise

Paradise

by | Oct 5, 2025 |

Happy October! We hope you are enjoying this beautiful time of year! Some people dream of paradise on a quiet tropical beach, listening to the surf with a drink in hand. Not this girl! Give me mountains, especially drenched in autumn color, bursting with new spring leaves, or covered in snow. We are spending October in one of our favorite places–Big Cottonwood Canyon just east of the Salt Lake Valley. We are loving the gorgeous golden aspen with the deep pine greens. Hiking is great and so is the smell of fresh forest! Nathan’s sister, Liz, and her husband, Christian, joined us one morning for a lovely hike through the woods. We got to experience a powerful thunderstorm and then a full day of snowfall. Our condo for the month is just right for us and we love having access to a pool, hot tubs, sauna, and workout facilities. We especially like that we can pop back to the valley to do some shopping or see family and friends. So far, so good!

Fun Family Time

Fun Family Time

by | Sep 28, 2025 |

We have had a lovely couple of weeks in Utah. We’ve been able to rest and recover from five months of travel, help Nathan’s mom at her house, and spend time with family.

Full Circle

Full Circle

by | Sep 14, 2025 |

Five months ago we flew to Rome from Utah. We had a summer of trying new places and experiences and revisiting old favorites and now we’re back where we started. Since we get the question a lot, I thought I would share some of our favorites from our travels in Europe this year.

Seagulls and the West End

Seagulls and the West End

by | Aug 10, 2025 | Blog

It’s been a lovely week in England. We finished up our road trip in the south and returned to London for a few days to rest and regroup.

We had so much fun staying on the coast, first in Hastings and then in Walmer. We loved the temperate weather and having a seagull alarm clock. The famous chalk cliffs are shrinking and the pebbled beaches are nice. We really liked hiking around the cliff tops.

I got to travel to this part of the country more than two decades ago with my sister. It was one of my first big overseas adventures and it was so memorable. It was fun to share some of the places that Jana and I visited with Nathan this week. We spent a day at Dover Castle, which is a 900-year old castle built atop the cliffs that has lasted through many dramatic events in history. The castle is cool, but one of the most interesting parts of the site is the tunnels that were originally cut into the cliffs during the Napoleonic wars, then used in WWII as a hospital and logistical center, then well into the Cold War as well.

We also got to spend a day in Canterbury. We took a punting tour on the River Stour, traveling under the very low bridges and beneath the historic buildings. We went to Canterbury Cathedral, seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury and martyrdom site of Thomas Beckett. We took an amazing tour there and learned so much about the stained glass. We then spent a couple more hours strolling around the church and the town.

Now we are in a seventh-floor apartment to the north of London. It feels crazy that this has become our “home base” this summer. We return here to do a bit of “normal”: laundry, shopping, church, piano. It gives us a moment to rest and recuperate, but also a chance to enjoy our favorite big city. I was excited to take Nathan to see Hadestown, which I got to see with Alex and Hanna a few years ago. We saw this crazy one-woman retelling of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, which was surprisingly good and a lot of fun. Then we got to see Sean Hayes’ amazing performance as Oscar Levant in Good Night, Oscar. 

It is truly wild that this is our third summer of traveling. If you have been here for all of it, thanks for coming along for the ride. I write the blog to have a journal of this strange phase of life, but having people reading it keeps me from quitting, so thank you! We are gearing up for our last two weeks of being abroad. Enjoy your week!

Paradise

Paradise

by | Oct 5, 2025 |

Happy October! We hope you are enjoying this beautiful time of year! Some people dream of paradise on a quiet tropical beach, listening to the surf with a drink in hand. Not this girl! Give me mountains, especially drenched in autumn color, bursting with new spring leaves, or covered in snow. We are spending October in one of our favorite places–Big Cottonwood Canyon just east of the Salt Lake Valley. We are loving the gorgeous golden aspen with the deep pine greens. Hiking is great and so is the smell of fresh forest! Nathan’s sister, Liz, and her husband, Christian, joined us one morning for a lovely hike through the woods. We got to experience a powerful thunderstorm and then a full day of snowfall. Our condo for the month is just right for us and we love having access to a pool, hot tubs, sauna, and workout facilities. We especially like that we can pop back to the valley to do some shopping or see family and friends. So far, so good!

Fun Family Time

Fun Family Time

by | Sep 28, 2025 |

We have had a lovely couple of weeks in Utah. We’ve been able to rest and recover from five months of travel, help Nathan’s mom at her house, and spend time with family.

Full Circle

Full Circle

by | Sep 14, 2025 |

Five months ago we flew to Rome from Utah. We had a summer of trying new places and experiences and revisiting old favorites and now we’re back where we started. Since we get the question a lot, I thought I would share some of our favorites from our travels in Europe this year.

Land Lubbers Again

Land Lubbers Again

by | Aug 3, 2025 | Blog

Hello! It’s been a great week for us and we hope you are all doing well! We would really love to hear from you all – we miss you. So please feel free to send us a message or write a comment and let us know what you’re up to! We finished up our cruise with a stop in Scotland and now we are road-tripping around the south of England.
We had a lot of full sea days at the end of the cruise, but that worked out pretty well for us since Nathan and I were both battling a cold. We got to rest and soak in the hot tub. We really got attached to some of the delightful staff on the Emerald Princess who took care of us every day and it was a treat to get to know them. We also became acquainted with an older Filipino couple from San Francisco and we enjoyed our dinner conversations with them.
Our last stop on the cruise was Greenock, Scotland, which is the port for Glasgow. When we visited Scotland in 2019, we took a day trip to Glasgow from Edinburgh and really enjoyed it. We also stopped in Greenock on a previous cruise, but we were on an excursion that took us up into the highlands. This time, we decided to stay in town, so after stocking up on cold medicine and snacks at the grocery store, we did a long hike into the hills above the port. It was a real treat as it was a beautiful day and that area turned out to have a cool historic site called the Greenock Cut. There is a system of reservoirs for storing water and the cut was an aqueduct built to provide clean water for the town and create energy for the many factories and mills that were in the town in the 1820s. It was a good day.
We returned to England via Southampton, where we picked up a car and started another journey. We started in Portsmouth, where we strolled around the historic dockyard. We saw Admiral Nelson’s ship, the HMS Victory, as well as several other ships. We then went to our accommodation near the village of Pensford.
We spent a delightful day in Bath, where we took the city’s free walking tour. We also visited the Roman Bath museum, which was very well done. At the end, you get to drink some of the mineral-rich water, just like people have been doing there for thousands of years. Maybe that’s why we’re feeling better? Anyway, it’s a gorgeous town and it’s easy to see why the rich and famous wanted to visit and why it inspired authors and artists.
We popped down to the city of Wells to visit their beautiful cathedral. We had a tour from a sweet lady volunteer. She really knew her history of the church and the building, so we learned a lot. Then we spent the rest of the day in Bristol, walking around the town sites and strolling the harbor. We saw lots of ships and the adorable bright rows of houses on the hill. Our seafood dinner was delicious and we saw some good comedy.
We had a bit of a drive today, but we broke it up by stopping at the stone circle in Avebury. It’s bigger and older than Stonehenge and the town is built in and around the stones. It’s a cool plae. Unlike Stonehenge, you can get right up next to the stones and it’s not nearly as crowded. We also stopped in at a pub in Ascot for lunch. Now we are in the city of Hastings with a sliver of a sea view from our Airbnb. There’s a piano here, so Nathan is having a good time! We’ll be exploring this corner of England this week before returning to London. Have a good one!

Paradise

Paradise

by | Oct 5, 2025 |

Happy October! We hope you are enjoying this beautiful time of year! Some people dream of paradise on a quiet tropical beach, listening to the surf with a drink in hand. Not this girl! Give me mountains, especially drenched in autumn color, bursting with new spring leaves, or covered in snow. We are spending October in one of our favorite places–Big Cottonwood Canyon just east of the Salt Lake Valley. We are loving the gorgeous golden aspen with the deep pine greens. Hiking is great and so is the smell of fresh forest! Nathan’s sister, Liz, and her husband, Christian, joined us one morning for a lovely hike through the woods. We got to experience a powerful thunderstorm and then a full day of snowfall. Our condo for the month is just right for us and we love having access to a pool, hot tubs, sauna, and workout facilities. We especially like that we can pop back to the valley to do some shopping or see family and friends. So far, so good!

Fun Family Time

Fun Family Time

by | Sep 28, 2025 |

We have had a lovely couple of weeks in Utah. We’ve been able to rest and recover from five months of travel, help Nathan’s mom at her house, and spend time with family.

Full Circle

Full Circle

by | Sep 14, 2025 |

Five months ago we flew to Rome from Utah. We had a summer of trying new places and experiences and revisiting old favorites and now we’re back where we started. Since we get the question a lot, I thought I would share some of our favorites from our travels in Europe this year.