Throwback Thursday - 20 of My Favorite Experiences in 2020

Will and I don’t often share a lot of our personal life on our blog. Every now and then after an amazing travel experience, we feel inspired to share some of our favorite photos from the trip. And I always enjoy looking back through those photos when I come across the blog posts. So for today’s Throwback Thursday, I thought I’d put together some of our favorite experiences of 2020. My hope is that I’ll stumble across this post quite often. I’m so afraid that as a society we’ll look back on 2020 with such disdain that we won’t remember the good moments. And for all of us that survived the year, I think it’s safe to say that we all had at least a handful of good moments. To be honest, while many of the moments that make this list were actually happening, I didn’t realize they would be the memories that would define the good aspects of 2020, and I didn’t even think to take photos at the time.

1. Ringing in the New Year - We spent last New Year’s Eve with our good friends Margaret and Scott and their neighbors where they have a tradition of burning Christmas trees in a giant, festive bonfire.

2. Mast Farm Inn - We won’t be continuing this tradition this year, but in January 2020 and the two year prior, we visited the Mast Farm Inn in Boone. If you’ve never been, check it out. They are SOOOO reasonably priced. They bring charcuterie each afternoon and serve the best breakfast every morning. And we just love playing games and relaxing in between. As always, we fit in a little bit of hiking as well!

3. Cruise to the Bahamas - In hindsight it’s very ironic that we chose 2020 for our second cruise ever. It was the last weekend of January, so even though I was worried we’d get the flu and be miserable on the boat, covid never even crossed my mind! Our favorite part was our day on Carnival’s private island - Half Moon Cay! Some of our favorite memories from the trip were from the day before we left as we explored Charleston.

4. Texas - As if it wasn’t crazy enough that we chose 2020 for a cruise, we scheduled a trip to Texas that had us coming home on March 4th… You know just when covid was popping up across our country. Thankfully we didn’t get covid then and I also didn’t have a healthy enough fear of covid yet to even let it consume many of my thoughts. So, our memories of Texas are incredible! Big Bend National Park has always been high on my list, but it is literally in the middle of nowhere! Driving 6+ hours across the Texas desert was totally worth it though! We saw so many beautiful sunrises and sunsets, a variety of wildlife, and so many lovely views.

It was also on this trip that we took a sketchy boat ride across the border into Mexico where we then paid a gentleman named David, $10 each for a donkey ride into the town of Boquillas where we ate delicious food and had margaritas. I didn’t even wonder if the water used for the margaritas was clean until after the fact. And it was more than a month later that I fessed up to my parents that we had left the States in such a sketchy way. All jokes aside, it was an incredible experience.

After Big Bend, we spent a night in Guadalupe Mountains National Park and also crossed Carlsbad Caverns and New Mexico off our lists, before returning to the hill country and finally wrapping up in Austin. Oh yeah, we also revisited Luckenbach twice on this trip. What I would do to be there again!

5. Outside with Rory - Some of our favorite memories from last winter were spending warm days outside with Rory. I was so excited when Will got me this cat carrier for Christmas that would give her the opportunity to spend time outdoors!

6. Rumours - Oh yeah, back at the end of February, we saw a Fleetwood Mac cover band in a packed little club, while the nation was on the brink of the covid outbreak. Ignorance was bliss.

7. Quarantined Birthday - With an April 3rd birthday, we were still very much in the midst of lockdown. We made the best of it. And we were together. There was lots of smiles and laughs. Even Rory joined in the fun!

8. Puzzles and Games - There were only so many projects around the house we could do during lockdown, so we made some memories with puzzles and board games. We watched most of Tiger King at our dining room table while we put together puzzles. I think this was Rory’s favorite part of lockdown, even if I did find myself frustrated with her laying on my work!

9. Beach Days and Paddleboarding - Sunshine can cure any bad mood!

10. Shenandoah National Park - We were thrilled to be able to cross another national park off our list. What a blessing it is that hiking and tent camping are social distant activities that just happen to be two of our favorite things to do! We also picked our own peaches and cherries for the first time as well!

11. West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky - This was a bittersweet trip for us. We were scheduled for a trip to Iceland during this time. By the time that trip was cancelled, we were slowly coming to the realization that this pandemic was not coming to an end anytime soon, so we wanted to plan a trip somewhere that was new to us, but was also within driving distance. While I would love to report that this trip was all fun and games, the trip was marred by a phone call informing us we had been exposed to covid at a wedding. Thankfully we had spent the trip in masks, tent-camping, and engaging in socially distant activities, so we knew we hadn’t put anyone else in danger, but we did come home a few days early to get tested in time for our next wedding. Also, these states in late June/early July are very, very hot. And we also learned that while the bugs are bad in eastern NC, there is nothing like the flying biting flies of Kentucky! But overall, we were thrilled to see beautiful mountain views, to disconnect from the world, and to reconnect with the beauty of nature! Oh yeah, and this inquisitive goat was at our campground where we literally slept in a field!

12. Picnic in Our Friends Yard - I don’t have a picture to share, but at the end of August we got together with some of our closest friends for a socially-distant front yard picnic. We hadn’t been together as a group since March, so it definitely did my soul some good to see everyone!

13. Will’s Birthday & Outdoor Movie Nights - We had a wedding on Will’s birthday and because his October 3rd birthday was in the midst of our busy wedding season, we were 100% happy having an at-home celebration where we didn’t give a single thought to covid. We made our own charcuterie board. For his birthday, we got an outdoor projector and screen where we spent many evenings watching movies and sometimes just regular ole’ TV. Sometimes you have to make your own adventure, and if watching Jeopardy outside by a fire feels like an adventure, then do it!

14. Watching the Local Deer - This summer we went for a lot of walks. One night we decided to take a route that we had not taken in our 8 years of living here. We found ourselves on the country club property and saw some deer. We decided to start this route for our nightly walks and fell in love with the deer that we saw each evening. We loved watching the babies grow and named some of the families. Johnny and June’s family was our favorite, but we loved seeing Ellen and Portia’s twins, Emily and Olivia, grow up too!

15. Camping in the Smokies - We’ve been to the Smokies together more than a dozen times, but our trip this year was definitely a highlight. It was more crowded than ever, so we chose to tent camp on the Cherokee side of things. We took trails that we never would have before because we knew they wouldn’t be crowded. We cooked at our site instead of eating at our favorite restaurants. But it was all so very good.

16. Bringing Gypsy Home - Losing Rory on Labor Day was one of the darkest times of my adult life. I know she was “just a cat” but she was my best little buddy and her death brought about an immense amount of pain. We waited just a few days and went to meet the sweetest little cat that looked so very much like Rory. Welcoming her into our home brought us so much joy! She’s still one of my favorite parts of 2020, even though she keeps us up many nights wanting to play with her toy mice.

17. Camping at Raven Rock State Park - A completely spontaneous trip the weekend after Thanksgiving, but it ended up being just what we needed after a very busy wedding season!

18. Camping at Cedar Point - Another spontaneous trip inspired by good weather and an itch to get out of the house while wanting to be socially distant and responsible.

19. Late Summer Trip to Boone - This was another bittersweet trip for me. We had lots of fun, but one of the memories that sticks out to me is that I completely “failed” at a trail. We attempted to summit Grandfather Mountain from the state park side of things. I made it about a mile and a half from the end and my anxiety and fear of heights got the best of me. I had fallen on a flat piece of trail earlier in the day and was so consumed with the fear I would fall near the ledge that we threw in the towel and turned around. In hindsight, who cares? But at the time I was embarrassed, even though Will and I were the only two people in the whole world that knew I was scared. Also, I had a weird premonition on this trip that something was wrong with Rory. Sure enough, the day we returned home, she was sick and four days (and 2 weddings later) we had to make the tough decision to euthanize her. I’ll always remember that about this trip, but I’m so thankful we have memories of the beautiful sights we saw and the memories we made.

20. Carving Pumpkins - Well to get technical about it, I painted mine!

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Diana’s Vaccine - If we’re being completely honest, I would have put this at the top of my list of 2020, but I don’t have a photo of it and it’s kind of boring to the average person. But it was an AMAZING day for me!

Our Attempt at Saving This Bird - We named her Princess Beyonce. Unfortunately, she did not survive, or else this experience probably would have made the Top 20.

Thanksgiving and Christmas at Home - We feel so blessed to have masked, socially distanced visits with our parents on Thanksgiving and Christmas, but we knew it was safest to enjoy holiday meals at home. We loved the opportunity to make our own turkey and fixings.

Backyard Kiddie Pool - When it was time to make the decision whether or not to join our local pool in late-May, so much was still uncertain. So I used a target gift card to order this little pool and the neighbors may have thought I was crazy, but I enjoyed the sunshine from the comfort (and safety) of our backyard many, many afternoons!

So while 2020 wasn’t exactly what we expected, it was full of really, really good memories! We’re off to a good start with 2021. Realistically this won’t be the year that we cross Iceland off our bucket list. And we won’t make it to Ireland for our 10th wedding anniversary as I have always dreamed. But if all goes well, we’ll spend 2021 together and at the end of the day, that’s my biggest goal in life!