Where Have We Been?

Here is a snapshot of our post-retirement travels beginning with most recent and going back in time to September, 2018. It’s been a wonderful ride so far, even with the unexpected adjustments due to COVID-19.

A Taste of Montana and a Feast in Alaska (Jun-Jul 2021)

After driving to Missoula and spending a few days getting reacquainted with our grandson Owen, we flew to Alaska for a fabulous five week adventure. While there, we explored five national parks and did a little sight-seeing in Sitka, Juneau, Anchorage, Talkeetna and Fairbanks.

The orange markers on the map below show our Alaska destinations for this trip (with the exception of Lake Clark National Park – daytrip cancelled due to adverse weather conditions 😥). Blue and purple markers represent places we visited during previous Alaska vacations.

Click here to peruse our seven new Alaska blog posts, featuring photos of some pretty fantastic scenery!

Post-Alaska, we flew back to Montana and celebrated Owen’s third birthday before driving home to Colorado. Here’s a photo of all five of us:

And a few more pics of Owen wearing many hats.

No blog post from our time in Missoula – just these few pics.

New Adventures in New Mexico (May 2021)

Our first out-of-state excursion after sticking close to home for 14 months was a delightful 6-day driving vacation in New Mexico. Although it’s a neighbor state to Colorado, we haven’t spent much time exploring, so there was plenty to see. A night in Taos, a week near Santa Fe, a week in Carlsbad and our last night in Las Vegas (New Mexico, not Nevada).

Two blog posts: Taos/Santa Fe and Carlsbad/Las Vegas

A couple of shots from the Santa Fe area:

And from Carlsbad Caverns:

A number of attractions on our sight-seeing itinerary were still closed due to COVID restrictions. So you know what that means – we must go back!

Colorado Excursions (Apr 2020-Feb 2021)

Being stuck at home these past few months motivated us to explore the great outdoors in our own back yard. We ran out of good weather before we exhausted our ‘to do’ list, which means that no matter what happens with the pandemic in 2021, we will have more new places to visit next spring and summer.

Number of blog posts from our Colorado 2020 excursions: 9 (click here for links)

A few favorite photos from summer and fall outings:

Colorado River in Rocky Mountain National Park

Hermit Park Open Space — Colorado River in Rocky Mountain National Park

And photos from a February 2021 stay in Estes Park that didn’t turn into a blog post:

My sister Janice and I rented a condo for a week – this was our view

New Zealand (Feb-Mar 2020)

Fifty-one days – four days in the Auckland area followed by 47 days exploring the South Island. Our original plan was to max out our three month visitor visa, but the vacation was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Those 51 days, however, were magical, and we packed in as much as we could. But we’re not finished, and we plan to return when the time is right to resume our self-guided tour of this very special place.

Number of blog posts from New Zealand: 12 (click here for links)

Here’s a preview of some great scenery:

Original Itinerary

Our plan was to fly into Auckland and acclimate for a few days (which we did) before taking a quick flight to Christchurch and picking up our rental car. Our lodging stops for the South Island are shown on the map below.

The only change from our planned itinerary was that we only spent three nights in Nelson before flying back to Auckland for an overnight before continuing on to the U.S.

After finishing our travels on the South Island, we were scheduled to take the ferry to Wellington and begin our tour of the North Island as shown below.

To be continued at a later date . . .

Oahu (Dec 2019-Jan 2020)

Thirty days in a beachfront condo with friends and travel companions, Steve and Marlene. Andrew and Gail (son and daughter-in-law) joined us for nine days over Christmas. Truly a tropical paradise!