Palm Fronds & Nom Noms

This is the view from our super lux comfy bed in Barbados.   It is my visual proof/reminder that sometimes the best laid plans gone awry can actually turn into a surprisingly treasured vacation memory.   For years I have daydreamed about spending in entire day in bed, preferably with Mr. Cowan for company, but this was definitely NOT how I had ever envisioned it happening… I woke up on this lovely sunny morning feeling like the infamous “John Hurt scene from Alien”.   Not in a panicky way, like food poisoning or a hangover gone wrong, but still horribly uncomfortable and woefully fatigued.   There was nothing to do but take handfuls of ibuprofen and wait it out.   At home, I would have rallied and pushed through the work day in misery.   On vacation, I oscillated between pissed, sulky, and tearful.   Fortunately, I am married to a man who refused to allow me to also feel guilty for something I had little control over.   I worked up the...

One of the first conversations Adam and I ever had was centered around travel.  A follow up discussion included my gentle insistence that Disney World was not the only place in this world to safely travel. Since those early conversations, we have samples a variety of vacation types.  Of course, the Disney World vacation, but also European road trip style vacations, and all inclusive Caribbean resorts.  We've stayed in hotels, resorts, rented homes, driven in foreign countries, and used local public transportation.  In short, in the nine years that we've been married, we've gotten as well rounded as our travel budgets and available time off from work will allow: 6 Disney trips, 4 Dominican Republic all-inclusive trips, 1 Mexico all-inclusive trip, and activity heavy trips to Bermuda, Iceland, and Portugal. For us, that variety also represents different levels of vacation activity, planning, and attentiveness.  Sometimes we like the idea of finding our way...

If you didn't see the "before" photos of our camp project, you can find them in this  post .  If you did, you may recall the clutter and inefficient use of space that was a cramped reminder of another generation's camp ideal.  Those pictures, by the way, were only the half of it!  I couldn't find the ones that showed the ancient and crumbling green rug, my grandmother's (god rest her soul) hoarder tendencies, and no picture could convey the musty smell that the camp had no matter how much you aired it out.  (hint, that gross disintegrating rug held 30+ years worth of smells and dampness...) I'll do another post with just pictures of Phase 1's renovation process.  For this post though, I present the result of 10 weekends worth of hard work and the end of Phase 1.

The planning started months in advance.  This photo from January 2019 detailed all of the camp dimensions and was just the beginning.  Using the Homestyler tool online the work of figuring out the logistics of this renovation project began in earnest.  Budgets, product selections, figuring and refiguring a hundred details.  I easily filled half of my notebook before we were through. We had never taken on a project of this size before, or even most of the necessary parts.  But hey, we watch a lot of HGTV and its camp, we can learn as we go... Step 1:   Remove the "bathroom" in the middle of the room and say goodbye to the gross composting toilet that we endured for years.  Step 2:   Take out the 1000 little nails my grandmother had everywhere, and remove all of the random, patchwork of stray pieces of wall paneling.   Step 3:   Remove the old bunk beds and frame up the new bathroom location in their place.  The...

Youngest child has one more year of high school.  Oldest child still has a room at our house, but hasn't lived with us in almost a year.  Keeping up a nearly 3 acre  yard has gotten more tedious every year.  Cleaning out our 100+ yard sloped driveway, that tends to ice up, gets more tiresome and dangerous every year.  While I like our house, once the youngest is off to college, it really is going to be much more house than we need or want. More importantly, our travel habits are getting more expensive.   The first vacation Adam and I took together was to the Dominican Republic.  We were gone for 5 nights and spent about $2000 on flights and an all-inclusive resort.  These days we spend a minimum of 6 nights if we go to Disney, 7-8 if we are doing a beach vacation, we stretched things to 10 for our Portugal adventure.  Really the only time we do shorter trips now is if we have kids or parents in tow - and that is more about trying ...

We sacrificed three months worth of Saturdays and half of our June "staycation" to our camp renovation project.  Besides the sweat, tears, but surprisingly no blood, involved we invested the rough equivalent of two vacation budgets.  A calculated expenditure to set us up for the empty-nest/semi-retired years that are now within sight. In the nine years that Adam and I have been together this is only the 2nd time we have taken a full week off from work together and NOT traveled somewhere.  Yes, we are spoiled.  I did not quite realize though that Adam has become just as addicted to our getaways as me.  Until, that is, the last day of our "staycation".  That Sunday morning as we were packing up the camp to go home, he stood in the middle of the room, hands on his hips and announced, "I've learned something about us this week."  I thought it was going to be some profound or sentimental testament to our teamwork and project accomplishments.  Nope. ...

Adam and I have visited 4 different all inclusive (AI) resorts in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic (DR) since December 2010.  We thought that would be our AI go-to location for years to come with easy flights from Boston, and a good balance of price and quality.  We even were pretty well dedicated to a specific resort brand having had two very comfortable experiences with them.  Then the early 2019 wave of news stories hit suggesting an ominous uptick in suspicious incidents and deaths involving US tourists in the DR. It is easy for my data hungry brain to rationalize that with millions of visitors a year moving through Punta Cana, some  are bound to die there.  Eventually articles began to focus on practicality to  downplay  the conspiracy theories.  There is truth to the "ignorance is bliss" adage though and despite my healthy level of skepticism, the sheer number of sensationalized incidents had me spooked. This is what launched me into resea...

Arriving to your much anticipated travel destination on an overnight flight.  In coach.  Is a bad idea.  Picking up your rental car on that arrival and attempting to start your vacation before dawn is an even worse idea.  Ok so, it sounds good on paper and in theory: Saves us a night in a hotel and a day of paid vacation time at work Lets us jump right into vacation on the morning of day one Will get us to our final destination earlier If we push through it will help us adjust to the time change All of these points are technically true, and sometimes it just cannot be reasonably avoided.  I'm here to tell you though, that planning to start your vacation fresh off from an overnight flight (perhaps unless you have had the luxury of lie flat business class) is an inherently bad idea! I've never been successful with catching some much needed sleep on an overnight flight.  When I flew them for work,  I chalked it up the the subconscious hyper al...

Sao Lourenco do Barrocal, Monsaraz, Portugal Adam and I have seen similar machines in our Dominican Republic hotel rooms before, but never used them.  During our trip to Portugal though, we allowed ourselves to be introduced to the real deal - espresso.  Adam will take the rest of the story from here... Sometimes the best intentions don't always work out the way we plan.  How often do you hear that? Of course we always expect things to be flawless, that's how it happens on the silver screen.  One morning in Portugal, however, was far from it... We had a beautiful apartment rental for the week - right on the coast, sweet ocean views, walking distance to a quaint market well stocked with fresh meats and vegetables.  The home had everything we needed, we were blissfully content.  Other than some slight operational errors, namely a television and three remotes that we never quite figured out, the spot and amenities were ideal.  My wife is a wonderf...

The Original Camp, Grandma Style - an all white, clutter filled, poor use of space The 2012 Refresh Fresh color, new flooring... ...and a more family friendly use of the limited space We usually travel 2-3 times a year.  In 2018 though, we began seriously thinking about what we wanted our simplified, "empty nest" life to look like.  Namely, not working 40 hours a week until we are 65+ and not spending the next 20 winters in Maine. The result was a 2019 shift in spending priorities as we began phasing our very basic lakeside camp into a viable 3 season option.  After a midwinter trip to Disney World, we redirected the rest of our annual vacation budget toward a substantial camp refresh. Phase 1 is happening this year: wall insulation, wall boards, paint, replacement windows, cabinets, overhead and exterior lighting, and an incinerating toilet.  The bathroom will be relocated and enlarged while opening up space for a more functional kitchen...

So I made a vacation survey and forced my family to take it. Wait.  Let me back up a bit.   Adam, Caleb (then 14) and I went to Iceland in 2016. Noah (then 16) opted to stay home. We weren’t terribly surprised by this because he had never really seemed all that into traveling. We knew he was game for a trip to Disney World periodically or an all-inclusive beach vacation – but even then, there was borderline begrudging agreement and questionable enthusiasm. So we decided that for Iceland, and going forward, we would give him the option.   Noah politely sat through our stories and photos when we returned home, seemingly content that he had made the right decision for himself. I mention all of this to give you context. In the spring of 2020 Caleb will graduate from high school and Noah will graduate with an Associate’s Degree from college.  A perfect excuse for celebratory family trip!  We know Caleb will go just about anywhere.  Choosing somewh...

Some rookie international travelers are more brave and adventurous. One of my 20-something coworkers and his new wife chose Australia for their first international adventure. This post is not for them. This is really for the “I don’t speak the language...know the customs...understand the culture...is it even safe to leave the country?" crowd. Those individuals that are drawn to the idea of traveling outside of their comfort zone, but either don’t know where to begin or need a confidence boost to nudge them on. That brings us to Bermuda. The lovely little overseas British territory just off the coast of North Carolina. Though most people speak of it as a single island, Bermuda is actually a chain of 138 islands roughly 22 miles long and just a mile wide. Eight causeway and bridge connected islands comprise the larger fishhook shaped landmass that most people envision when they talk about Bermuda. I think it is wise to first address who should NOT go to Bermuda, if...