Year in Review: 2022 Highlights

|

This past year, 2022, was an incredibly difficult year for our family. Our son unexpectedly passed away on January 1st, and while we don’t get too personal on this blog and choose to focus on our travel adventures, we could not reflect on the year without acknowledging our profound loss and deep sadness.

We did honor our son with several adventures by exploring new cities and starting new traditions. It is always with a sense of gratitude that we look back on all the places we visited in the past year. We reflected on five years of adventures in this post celebrating the 5th birthday of the blog. 

We also like to look for (both predictable and unexpected) “trends” in our travels. So, here is our index of our 2022 adventures:

  1. Florida: We spent a lot of time in Florida this summer:
    1. St. Augustine City Guide
    2. Palm Beach County City Guide
    3. Alligator Park in St. Augustine
    4. Fountain of Youth in St. Augustine
    5. Lightner Museum in St. Augustine
    6. St. Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum in St. Augustine
    7. Castillo de San Marcos National Monument in St. Augustine
    8. Flagler Museum on Palm Beach island
    9. Palm Beach Zoo in West Palm Beach
    10. Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in Boca Raton
    11. Green Cay Nature Center in Boynton Beach
    12. Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and Museum in Jupiter
    13. Butterfly World in Coconut Creek
  1. Disney World Tips:
    1. Disney’s Polynesian Resort
    2. Tips for Making Disney Dining Reservations
    3. Disney Dining Guide for 2023
  1. Vermont and Maine: We also had many adventures throughout Woodstock Vermont (and Hanover, New Hampshire) areas:
    1. Montshire Museum of Science in Norwich, VT
    2. Vermont Institute of Natural Science in Quechee, VT
    3. Billings Farm and Museum in Woodstock, VT
    4. Victoria Mansion Museum in Portland, ME
    5. Portland Observatory in Portland, ME
  1. New York City: We didn’t get into The City as much as in prior years, but still enjoyed exploring:
    1. Ten Places to Eat in New York City
    2. Museum of Math in Manhattan
    3. Museum of Broadway in Manhattan

Would you like to save this?

We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later.

And then, explores some other cool spots in the state of New York:

  1. Long Island Aquarium
  2. South Fork Natural History Museum and Nature Center on Long Island
  3. City Guide: Sag Harbor
  4. Storm King Art Center in New Windsor, New York
  5. Untermyer Park and Gardens in Yonkers
  6. Lumagica at Harvest Moon Farm and Orchard in North Salem
  1. Connecticut: Our home state. We finally got around to visiting:
    1. The Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford 
    2. Yale Art Museums in New Haven
    3. City Guide: Hartford, Connecticut
    4. City Guide: New Haven, Connecticut (all FREE!)
    5. Free Things to Do in Connecticut
  1. New City Guides:
    1. Woodstock, Vermont
    2. Where to Eat in Woodstock, Vermont
    3. Sag Harbor, New York
    4. Hartford, Connecticut
    5. New Haven, Connecticut
    6. St. Augustine, Florida
    7. Palm Beach County, Florida
    8. Ten New England Cities to Explore during Fall
    9. Ten Places to Walk in Newport, Rhode Island
    10. Free Things to Do in Boston, Massachusetts
  1. Travel Tips:
    1. Whaling Museums Kids Will love
    2. Ten Marriott Hotels We Love
    3. Six Tips for Booking the Perfect Hotel

We are grateful for your ongoing support, likes, retweets, comments, follows, and repins on our posts and we hope you’ll stick around in 2023 for more adventures.

New England based, part high school English teacher, part non profit founder, part road tripper who LOVES hopping in the family SUV to explore America. Our bucket list includes National Parks, MLB stadiums, presidential libraries, and eating wherever the locals eat!

Similar Posts

  • | | |

    10 Kid Friendly Restaurants in New York City

    Our family is fortunate enough to live just a short train, or car ride from Manhattan. We can be in “The City” in under 90 minutes any day of the year. We try to take advantage of this opportunity frequently and have explored so many great places (see this index, this collection of rainy day activities, and this collection of holiday activities). Of course, whenever we’re in The City, we stop for at least one meal. Over the years, we’ve found several restaurants we keep coming back to: good food, good prices, good ambience, and attentive staff. Here are places, as a family with children, we especially enjoy:

  • | | | |

    Museum of Discovery in Little Rock, Arkansas

    This past summer, we spend a fun weekend exploring Little Rock Arkansas. I was happy to find tons of family friendly places to visit and things to see and do. You can check out our full adventures here and see other family friendly spots, places to eat, and places to stay. We spent a lot of time in two spots: The William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Library (read about why kids will love it here) for lots of presidential trivia and the Museum of Discovery for lots of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics) fun.

  • | | | | | | | |

    City Guide: St Augustine, Florida

    Located in the northern part of Florida, St Augustine has the distinction of being known as the oldest continually occupied European settlement in North America. It was founded in 1565 by Pedro Menendez and his soldier and colonists, fifty years after Ponce de Leon claimed the area now known as Florida for Spain in the early 1500s. St. Augustine was under Spanish rule until 1763 when Britain took over for 20 years, followed again by Spain until the United States took over in 1821. Florida later became a state in 1845. The St. Augustine area became popular with tourists in the 1820s as a spot to escape cold northern winters, and the popularity grew when Standard Oil co-founder Henry Flagler founded the Florida East Coast Railway and began building hotels, churches, and a hospital throughout the area. Today, St. Augustine is a popular spot to be immersed in rich history and culture and the city offers plenty of family friendly adventures. 

  • | | | | | |

    City Guide: 11 Places to Explore in Old Québec City during the Winter

    Last year, we were fortunate to spend during the December break exploring the beautiful city of in Old Québec City. The port town is filled with rich history, vibrant culture, inviting people, and tons of family friendly attractions. Algonquin for “where the river narrows” , the area now know as Québec was first founded in 1608 by French explorer Samuel de Champlain. The land is on the banks of the Saint Lawrence River and provided ideal access to transport good to various parts of Canada. While the city is bustling with activity all year long, winter is an especially good time to visit- the city is still decorated for the holidays well into the new year and there are plenty of outdoor adventures to enjoy (with or without snow).

  • Legoland Discovery Center in Boston, Massachusetts

    Legos are an iconic part of everyone’s childhood. I still find myself helping my almost nine year old son recreate model villages, race cars, and “monsters” with his boxes of legos all the time (and making sure that my son cleans up every stray lego so we don’t step on them!) He can spend hours pouring over step by step directions to make a model ship or superhero.

  • | | |

    Playing “I Spy” at Victoria Mansion in Portland, Maine

    Ruggles Sylvester Morse and his wife Olive Ring Merrill Morse were prominent New Orleans hotel proprietors in the 1850s when they decided to leave the summer heat of the South and build a house in Portland, Maine. The house, built in the Italian Villa style, was finished in 1860 and the couple lived there until Morse passed away in 1893. Olive sold the mansion, and all its contents, to J.R. Libby, who lived there with his wife and five children until the parents died in the early 1920s. After the Great Depression of the 1930s, the children could not afford the upkeep and taxes on the mansion and abandoned it. William Holme, a local teacher and historian who loved the Queen Victorian era, bought it to be preserved as a museum, named after Queen Victoria. 

    The Victoria Mansion Museum opened in 1941 to the public, who are welcome to tour two of the four floors of the mansion. Each room has been restored to its original, mid 1860s glory, with authentic furnishings purchased by the Morse family. 

2 Comments

  1. Nathan was surely with you in your many adventures this year in spirit, remembering all the wonderful travel experiences you gave him with great joy.
    Each of your blogs is filled with exciting ways to enjoy each town, city, museum, tour, as well as all the unusual highlights, interesting food, and creative ways to have fun.
    Thank you for sharing these experiences for us to share too.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *