Backyard Bugs of New Hampshire
Backyard Bugs of New Hampshire

Across from my house growing up, there was a large area where milkweed grew. I don't know how many people know this, but milkweed is the only thing monarch caterpillars eat.* One of my favorite things to do when I was a kid was to find the pupa hanging on the milkweed or a monarch caterpillar and put it in a small terrarium with some milkweed leaves. I would then eagerly check each day to see if the caterpillar had turned into a pupa, or the pupa had hatched to become a big beautiful monarch butterfly.

Read More
New Hampshire, White MountainsCarrie PowersComment
One Year on the Road: Carrie
One Year on the Road: Carrie

I first realized we were coming up on our one year anniversary of being nomads when it occurred to me that I have absolutely no idea how long we plan to be nomadic. It’s not really something we ever talked about. Well, we did in the sense that we said we would do it as long as it's fun and we're enjoying it. But we never put a number of years to it. So as we celebrate our one year nomad anniversary, I thought it might be a good time to reflect over the last year.

Read More
Carrie PowersComment
Northwest Pennsylvania
Northwest Pennsylvania

We adventured north from Virginia to spend a day in northwest Pennsylvania: a sweet mix of rural landscapes and small towns and home to the Allegheny National Forest, the heart of Pennsylvania's oil and gas economy.

Our time was short and our focus was (socially distanced) visiting with Jim’s dad and his wife, but we managed to fit in the important things like a sunset pizza picnic on Lake Erie, an afternoon snack of frozen custard from Hank’s, and some delicious in-season corn with dinner.

Read More
PennsylvaniaCarrie PowersComment
A Visit to the Biltmore
A Visit to the Biltmore

Believe it or not, in all of our travels, Jim and I had never been to Asheville, NC. Since we were only about an hour away in Bryson City by the Smoky Mountains, we knew we had to pay it a visit. Tim and Amy, our nomadic friends from Denver, who were staying in Asheville at the time, invited us to join them for a visit. Because they invested in an annual membership, we were able to spend a day at the Biltmore as their complimentary guests.

Read More
North CarolinaCarrie PowersBiltmoreComment
Tubing Deep Creek, Bryson City, NC
Tubing Deep Creek, Bryson City, NC

Tubing is a popular activity in the NC Smoky Mountains. Our favorite spot for morning walks was right along Deep Creek, just about ten minutes away from our Airbnb. Looking down at the creek, we would watch people floating through the calm areas and laughing through the little waterfalls and rapids. After seeing how much fun everyone was having, we had to try tubing…

Read More
North Carolina, Great Smoky MountainsCarrie PowersDeep Creek CampgroundComment
The Great Smoky Mountains, North Carolina Part 1
The Great Smoky Mountains, North Carolina Part 1

Google maps and Airbnb to scope out where we would want to spend time here in the good ol’ US of A. We wanted to minimize the amount of flying we would have to do but still spend our time in places with cooperative weather and plenty of interesting things to keep us occupied without crowds. I'm not a shopper so whether stores are open, masks are required, or any other hot issue didn't matter. I googled “best hiking towns” and found Bryson City, NC.

Read More
North Carolina, Great Smoky MountainsCarrie PowersComment
Our Summer of Covid-19
Our Summer of Covid-19

Our summer travel plans continue to evolve as the Covid-19 situation unravels. Although at the time of writing many places have begun to reopen, virtually every country in the world will not allow Americans to enter their borders for the foreseeable future. So we’ve completely scrapped all international travel until early December…

Read More
Jim GossComment
Rocky Mountain National Park
Rocky Mountain National Park

If you’ve been following along on our adventure, you know that our plans this summer have shifted quite a bit. Instead of heading to Istanbul as planned in April, we ended up in Denver, Colorado a full month earlier than planned. Our first two weeks were spent in our 14-day required quarantine coming from Spain. Fortunately our Airbnb was right next to a nice park allowing many opportunities for socially-distanced socializing with friends. We took advantage and had many picnics and walks catching up with friends. Our last week in Colorado led us into the mountains for some hiking, the best social distancing activity there is!

Read More
Colorado, Rocky Mountain NPCarrie PowersRocky Mountain National Park Comment
Continuing Impacts of Covid-19
Continuing Impacts of Covid-19

We wrote earlier about how Covid-19 has impacted us, such as forcing us to cancel our trip to Istanbul and we spent more time in Barcelona and Denver as a result. And, as expected, Covid-19 continues to be a thorn in the side of our travel logistics.

Read More
Jim GossComment
Finding the Perfect Airbnb
Finding the Perfect Airbnb

The logistics of travel planning take up more time than you would expect. On the one hand, the stakes for choosing your Airbnb as a perpetual nomad are low, because it's temporary and you’ll only be there for a few weeks to a couple of months. On the other hand, the stakes are high because this is where you’ll be living! When you're learning a new city, dealing with language and cultural barriers, finding new gyms, grocery stores, and more, you really want a place that is comfortable and well suited to your needs. So how do we choose a place to stay?

Read More
LogisticsJim GossComment