Vacation All I Ever Wanted…

dfinney(68)

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In the “immortal” words of The Go-Go’s…

^Vacation

This time of year is particularly soul sucking. The gray skies of the USA’s Pacific Northwest corner have been well set in since October. The holidays are long over, and every day seems to bring more rain. Generally, this is the time of year we “get out of Dodge”.

But this year I’ve got nothin’.

My Aussie husband is headed back to the island at the end of the month. This will be his first time home with his family since November 2019. Faaaaaar too long. But family stuff is keeping me here… in the rain for a bit longer this year.

Looking Back on 2022

^{Our first flight PC (post covid).}

2022 was the year of revenge travel. Pandemic era life thwarted our vacations for 2 years. So last year we went a little nuts!

February 2022 - CALIFORNIA!

Disneyland • Long Beach

California is my favorite place. So of course this was our first vacation when the world started to open again.

^Disneyland

^{Disney California Adventure}

^{Palm Trees and warm weather in Long Beach.}

^{A beachside reggae festival.}

^{Evolution at the Aquarium of the Pacific.}

March 2022 - Nevada

Las Vegas

Years in the making, March was the silver gold stackers of hive Las Vegas meet up. Coins, peacock girls, an epic game of Yahtzee and a TSA taco search… good times all around.

^{Fountains at the Bellagio}

^{The Paris}

^{The Las Vegas Coin Show}

^{The silver gold stacker of hive.}

April 2022 - Oregon

Astoria • Seaside • Cannon Beach

April was a family trip to the Oregon Coast. One thing covid brought to my life… AirBnb. We had never traveled with our pups before the pandemic. Now I treasure the road trips we have taken with our fur babies in tow.

^{Ecola State Park}

^{Hubs and pooches checking out some elk.}

^{Merry go round in Seaside.}

^{A perfect spot to gaze upon the Columbia River.}

May/June 2022 - Back to California

Disneyland • Redondo • Ventura • Santa Barbara • Solvang

I told you California is my favorite! 😄

^{Disneyland’s -It’s a Small World ride.}

^{Redondo Beach Pier}

^{Ventura Harbor}

^{The fajitas at Santa Barbara’s Sandbar restaurant are the best I have ever eaten.}

^{A windmill in the Danish town of Solvang.}

July 2022 - California and Nevada

Reno • Carson City • Tahoe • Truckee • Virginia City

This was a fun and unique vacation. I don’t think I posted about it. Highlights included parking lot black bears, ascending a 10,000 foot peak, visiting an old mint, going to a concert, and stepping back in time in a Wild Western town. Oh! And I finally caught covid. 😷

^{The old Carson City Mint, transformed into the Nevada State History Museum.}

^{Not us!}

^{Getting ready to ride the rails.}

^{Biggest little city in the world!}

^{Blue water of Lake Tahoe}

^{Cow pokes looking for a saloon.}

^{Lake Tahoe Reggae Festival}

^{Looking down on Lake Tahoe.}

August 2022 - We stayed home!

^{Doing the most Seattle-y things.}

September 2022 - Hawaii

Maui

Off to Maui to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. A lady died on our plane. We swam with turtles and drove the road to Hana. And of course there was a luau.

^Paradise

^{Aloha Friday}

^{Twenty years.}

^{Resort life.}

^Luau

^{Van life.}

October - 2022 San Juan Islands

Whidbey Island

Mid way through 2020 we discovered the cutest AirBnb called the Moonrise Cottage. The cottage is a short ferry ride from our house, and we have stayed there FIVE times in the past 2.5 years. The owners are super kind (they live on site). The property is close to the beach, farm stands, and the quaintest towns.

^{Cottage views.}

^{Sunset at the cottage.}

^Bunnies

^{Pumpkins at Bayview Farm and Gardens}

November 2022 - Home again

^{Thanksgiving spread.}

December - 2022 Canada

Vancouver • Squamish

For our last trip of 2022, we hopped into a rented mini van, and drove to Vancouver, Canada. Even though we live just 100 miles south of the border, this was our first time out of the country in three years. We spent New Year’s staying at a floating home directly across Vancouver Harbour from the city. We also took a scenic drive up the Sea to Sky Highway to Squamish.

^{Our home away from home in the Mosquito Creek Marina.}

^{City views across the harbour.}

^{The start of the fjords near Horseshoe Bay.}

^{The pups on Granville Island.}

So what’s the plan for 2023?

As I mentioned before, hubs is headed to Australia later this month. A couple weeks after his return, I am meeting up with the hive stacking clan back in Las Vegas. Mid May we fly to the Big Apple. My husband and I actually met in New York City. This will be our first time back together since that fateful day in 1999. In October it is back to Vegas for a music festival. Our room is booked, but not our flights. I had the brilliant thought yesterday, that we could fly into Vegas for the show, but then fly home from Santa Ana (California’s Orange County Airport). Which would also mean sneaking in ANOTHER trip to Disneyland!! (Yes… Disney adult here).

That is still a whole lotta year without travel plans. Which is probably better for my wallet, but it leaves me feeling super unsettled! We’ll probably sneak in a couple of other adventures before the year is out, but for now we’ll wait and see what shakes out.