The year of 2021, in a lot of ways, has been dominated by the pandemic. Everything from school to work to travel has had a new layer of uncertainty and difficulty enveloping it. Although I was vaccinated early in the year, it took until late in the year for the majority of our family to be.
As far as travel, there were cancellations and changes and flexibility in the trips we made. There was also constant worry in planning travel in a safe and responsible way. I remember early in the year when we were in a new city and searched and searched for outdoor dining in the cold, thinking, “What’s the point in trying if no one else is?” In this country and in the world, so many have lost so much. We are privileged to be here, healthy, and in a spot where we can travel and take our kids. I’ve loved being able to reminisce and highlight our year and have listed out our travels and posts from the previous year below… Here’s looking to a brighter 2022. (Don’t jinx it!)
January
We stuck close to home this month but took a brief one-night trip to Bowling Green, KY where we stayed overnight at a hotel, did an outdoor walk and visited some dinosaurs.
February
We took a weekend trip to Asheville, NC to do some hikes, explore some breweries and enjoy the snow.
Later in the month, we drove to Louisville, KY for a weekend where we visited the zoo, splash pads, and Derby Museum and explored outdoor breweries.
March
For spring break, we took some time off and drove to Rocky Mount, NC and Myrtle Beach, SC for some time with friends, beaches, seafood, mini-golf, and heated lazy rivers and pools.
April
We love making the quick drive to Huntsville, AL to connect with one of our college friends. This city is full of great outdoors and our favorite: breweries!
St Louis, MO is a city we hadn’t taken the kids to prior to this year, and it was a blast. The city museum is one of the coolest places in the country for kids. We will definitely need a repeat trip soon.
May
One of our friends wanted to take a birthday trip, so we all headed to Asheville, NC to see some familiar and new sites. Three cheers for 3 new breweries!
Later in the month, literally the day Kindergarten ended, we headed out on a long road trip. We played at the beach in Orange Beach, AL , ate so much crawfish in New Orleans, LA and used our fancy hotel perks to meet some cool longhorns and play all day at the pools in Lost Pines, TX . We also stopped by Dallas, TX to visit friends, old and new.
June
Ben’s race life picked back up and we took a quick trip to Chattanooga, TN where we enjoyed familiar parks, spent some time at the Children’s Museum and enjoyed good food at the farmer’s market.
One of our friends hosted an anniversary party so we traveled to Bozeman, MT and Helena, MT for some mountain hikes and gorgeous (GORGEOUS!) views.
July
We were fortunate to be able to work remotely and spend some time with family in Honolulu, HI on Oahu. My family lives here and we make this trip yearly, but it is still always a special trip full of food, family, and wonderful sights. We were able to disconnect for a few days at the end of our trip and visited the Hyatt Regency in Maui, HI.
To cap off the end of the summer, we spent some time in Princeton, NJ and NYC, NY to visit friends and explore the Big Apple.
August
With the start of school and the start of the Delta wave, our travel schedule lightened up a little. We were able to take a road trip to Louisville, KY to meet up with some friends and play at the zoo in between Olympics watching at the AirBnb.
September
We were blessed to be able to spend time at a wedding of a dear friend in Houston, TX.
On a rainy Saturday, we took a quick day trip and explored a fun new playground in Owensboro, KY.
Ben continued his sports-ing life and we joined him on a fun adventure to Augusta, GA where we were able to explore the waterfront areas of this cool city.
October
After postponing this trip from earlier in the year, we finally were able to make a trip to Mexico! We had an absolute blast swimming in Cenotes, seeing ruins, and eating so many tacos in Merida, MX. We finished up our fall break by relaxing at an all-inclusive hotel in Riviera Maya, MX with awesome hotel perks and a kid’s club that was loved by both our kids, and us, the parents that enjoyed time without them.
At the end of the month, we made another trip to Asheville, NC to visit friends and see some excellent fall leaves.
November
We flew to Chicago, IL for a weekend to see friends, eat pizza, and play at the many great science museums
After Thanksgiving, we took advantage of the long weekend, and drove to Pensacola, FL to visit family, the beach, and some fun indoor spots.
December
We took yet another trip to Asheville, NC for what I hope will become a yearly tradition where we reunited and celebrated with close college friends from several different cities and enjoyed each other’s company, playing games and exploring breweries around town.
We had planned a family trip to Paris, France for Christmas this year, but with the rise of the new Covid variant, Omicron, and after a lot of thought and consideration, we chose to cancel our trip. You can read more about our process of decision making here.
We are definitely bummed, but we know we made the right choice for our family. We were able to book all refundable tickets and still hope to take this trip soon.
