Tag: North Carolina

Posted on in entertainment, family, lifestyle, travel

Top ten travel happy acts for 2022

Stormy beach in North Carolina
Carolina beach before the storm

Normally in December, I do a round-up of my favourite happy acts of the year. But as I’ve said more than once during COVID-19, it’s tough blogging about happiness during a pandemic. So this year, I’ve decided to choose my top ten list of travel-related posts to give us something to look forward to in 2022. Some of these are great staycation ideas, others involve finding adventures further afar.

  1. Explore the backroads and hamlets of Eastern Ontario in Take a Scenic Drive and Visit an Amazing Place.
  2. Experience the feeling of skating until your feet chafe in The world’s longest skating rink turns 50 celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Rideau Canal in Ottawa.
  3. Bridgerton fans: experience what life was like in Regency Europe by visiting English and Irish manors in Of manors and mansions when lords and duchesses attended balls, paid morning visits and strolled in stately gardens.
  4. On a glorious autumn day, there is no better experience in the world than picking grapes and helping with the harvest in Harvest the grape.
  5. In Walk through a sky with a thousand suns, we explored a sunflower farm in Prince Edward County.
  6. The Carolinas have always held a special place in our hearts, find out why in Carolina on my mind.
  7. On a wintry day, one of the best places to visit is an aquarium. Read about my girls’ weekend winter getaway to Ripley’s Aquarium in Discover an undersea world.
  8. There’s a reason why British Columbia has “Beautiful British Columbia” on its license plates. See why in Happy in beautiful BC.
  9. Hamilton, Ontario, a great tourist destination, really? Explore all it has to offer in Challenge a steadfast belief.
  10. Make a date to explore your local zoo or one of the smaller zoos in your region where you can get up close and personal with the animals in Have a Zootastic experience.

Where do you plan to visit next year? Leave a comment and here’s to a happier 2022 with many more travels and adventures ahead!

Daughter Grace in a garden in South Carolina
Grace at a manor house in North Carolina
Daughter Clare in a sunflower field in Prince Edward County, Ontario
Clare in the sunflower field in Prince Edward County
Posted on in travel

Carolina on my mind

Palm trees at sunset

When the snow finally melts, my thoughts turn to the warm breezes of the Carolinas and just like James Taylor, I’m gone to Carolina in my mind.

For the past several years, the Carolinas have been our “go to” vacation destination in April. We’ve explored Kure and Carolina Beach, Kill Devil Hills, the Outer Banks, Beaufort and Savannah.

The Carolinas have a way of luring you into their rhythm. At first, it’s the palm trees, warm air and soft, sandy beaches that entrance you. But as each day passes, you succumb further to the beauty and relaxed vibe of beach life until you have officially become a beach bum. You pass the days watching dolphins and pelicans dart in the waves, letting the ocean sand and waters tickle your feet and eating fresh seafood al fresco at places with names like Bonzer Shack with surfboards on the wall.

Can’t you see the sunshine. Can’t you just feel the moonshine? I think I may have heard the highway call. Yes, I’m gone to Carolina in my mind. Here are pictures from some of our last vacations.

Ed. Note. James Taylor, a native of North Carolina wrote Carolina on my mind more than 50 years ago in 1968 when he was overseas recording for the Beatles’ label Apple Records in London, England and was homesick. It has become the unofficial anthem of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is played at athletic events and pep rallies and sung by the graduating class at every university commencement.

Father and daughter on patio

Storm over North Carolina beach

 

Family at Kitty Hawk Memorial
Kitty Hawk Memorial, Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina