It’s hard to go to Bruges and not cop the title of the movie In Bruges for a blog post. Espen thinks it was that Colin Farrell movie that we saw on our first date. Nope. For one thing, In Bruges came out in 2008, and we didn’t meet till 2013. Secondly, we weren’t that lucky in movie choices. The movie I suggested that evening … Continue reading In Bruges
Years ago while watching Patsy and Edina escape to Morocco for a little vacay, a spark ignited in me. I’d never given the country much thought before then, but seeing them walk through the souk in Marrakesh was enough for me add the city to my Lust List. However, given that the probability of my visiting it someday was about as likely as … well, … Continue reading Morocco
For someone who wanted to start a blog so I could share our travels with friends and family, I well and truly suck at updating this thing about said travels. I had every intention of writing about our road trip through Spain and England when we returned, but, well, life happened. For one, you know that saying “I need a vacation from my vacation”? There’s … Continue reading 8 Days in Spain
One of the first concerts Espen took me to was Mary Chapin Carpenter and Shawn Colvin at the Wolf Trap. This date is memorable for two reasons. The first reason is that it was hot as Hades that day, and the gentle musical stylings of Mary and Shawn coupled with the heat lulled me into a state of suspended animation. The second is because it … Continue reading Barcelona
I married a Norwegian who hates winter. By the time February rolls around, he’s pretty fed up with the cold. How to fix this? Hit the beach! Every year since we’ve been together, we’ve been like the birds, heading south to warmer climes. Our first vacation, in fact, was to the Dominican Republic (I’ll eventually get caught up on our travels and will have a … Continue reading U.S. Virgin Islands
The very first friend I met in 2001 when I started working at Random Nonprofit Publisher (RNP) was a woman named Pat. Eager to make a good impression, I often showed up a good 30 minutes before my scheduled time. She had a different schedule, so she’d be there in our big communal office, and for those 30 minutes before anyone else started filtering in, she … Continue reading Atlanta
One of our friends is Icelandic. One night over dinner with him and his wife earlier this year, Snaevar shared some of his favorite things about his country. It was enough to set Espen’s wanderlust ablaze. A week later, he called out from his desk, “So. Iceland. Would you really want to go?” I said yes, of course. The next day, the trip was booked. … Continue reading Iceland
Our first vacation together was to the Dominican Republic back in February 2014. Espen had booked seven days in Santo Domingo. Turns out, that nation’s capital doesn’t have seven days’ worth of things to see. (Believe me, there will be a post about that trip at some point.) After visiting pretty much everything worth seeing in a day and a half, Espen insisted on forgoing the rest of … Continue reading Road Trip: New England and Canada
I love cathedrals. It was one of my favorite sections in art history class. The scale, the symbolism, and, of course, the windows … We’re lucky to have the world’s sixth largest cathedral in the nation’s capital. It had been a while since I’d seen it, and Espen had only seen it from a distance, so we visited Sunday. They’re still working on repairs from … Continue reading National Cathedral
Whenever I visit someplace new, I ask myself, “Could I live here?” Even if it’s a lovely place, it may not be a place I want to wake up every day. Case in point: I love New York. But I love visiting New York. I couldn’t live there. Not unless I was was so enormously wealthy that I could afford to live, say, overlooking the park. … Continue reading Philly: More Than Cheesesteaks
Where the Road Takes You 