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Out And About In Aruba: California Lighthouse, Bushiribana Gold Mill, Casibari And Ayo Rocks, and Arikok National Park

Out And About In Aruba: California Lighthouse, Bushiribana Gold Mill, Casibari And Ayo Rocks, and Arikok National Park

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After a really rough start to our trip, I was finally able to get myself close enough to normal to start exploring the island with Ariel and the kids. Amazingly, despite blowing the first 4.5 days of a 7 day trip, we managed to reach basically every corner of the country. Which really isn’t saying a whole lot as the entire island is only 69 square miles. For reference, Middlesex county in New Jersey (where we live) is over 300…

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On The Mend, On An Island

On The Mend, On An Island

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So… the first half this trip has been C-H-A-L-L-E-N-G-I-N-G. My situation did not improve after 48 hours and I went from just feeling generally ill to a full-blown flu-like nightmare. It was just your classic nasty upper respiratory bug: feverish feeling, post-nasal drip, runny nose, chills, and finally a truly nasty cough that kept Ariel and I up all night. So by Sunday I was frantically seeking some medical assistance. Turns out in Aruba, that’s not very difficult at all….

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Two Kapoanos Enter, Three Kapoanos Leave

Two Kapoanos Enter, Three Kapoanos Leave

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So… that happened… Hard for me to believe that I started this blog after Ariel and I decided we were ready to start a family, but wanted to have one last big adventure before we did. Now it is six years to the day later, and all the things that I was pondering as we finished planning our New Zealand trip are finally coming to fruition. I’ll never forget standing on top of Mount Sunday (the Lord of the Rings…

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A Final Note On Iceland: Europe With A Wild And Fantastical Twist

A Final Note On Iceland: Europe With A Wild And Fantastical Twist

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Something I was not expecting about visiting Iceland was just how European it would be. This might seem obvious, since it’s similar culturally to Norway, Sweden and the rest of the Nordic countries. But I’ve never actually been to any of those places, even though I’ve been to much of Europe. And Iceland is… you know… an island… kind of in the middle of nowhere, with wide stretches that are nearly uninhabited and extremely wild. Not the typical European experience!…

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Today In Iceland I Learned That Viking Helmets Didn’t Have Horns And That Hobbit Houses Were Real

Today In Iceland I Learned That Viking Helmets Didn’t Have Horns And That Hobbit Houses Were Real

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So day 3 started with… more rain. Turns out the beautiful valley we roamed around in the last post wasn’t quite ready to give up on the rain after all. Rain which didn’t let up all day. Like a constant downpour from the minute we left our cabin, through 8+ hours in the car – our longest driving day of the entire trip. But we had no choice but to keep moving forward. Our destination for this day was Vik,…

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Iceland? More like Rainland am I right folks!

Iceland? More like Rainland am I right folks!

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After recovering from one of the more miserable travel experiences I’ve had, Ariel, Jacob and I wasted little time hitting the road on days 2 and 3 of our Iceland adventure. For the first time since our trip to Alaska (which perhaps not-so-coincidentally was the last time we were going away in advance of a baby), Ariel and I have been immersing ourselves in just totally epic landscapes all day every day. Sure Hawaii was beautiful and incredible, but this…

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Walking along the Reykjavik Rainbow Road
We Made It To Iceland

We Made It To Iceland

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You’ll notice the title does not include the exclamation point I would normally include… Let’s just get right to it – we’re really excited and happy to be here, but man getting here was a classic “not a pony ride in May-sunshine” experience. Our saga started sitting in above-average Belt Parkway traffic on the way to JFK. After getting through security, which for some reason closed the TSA Pre check-in line at 7:30 pm (is this a thing at JFK???),…

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Find Your Own Rivendell

Find Your Own Rivendell

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When traveling, especially on a long journey, finding an inviting, comfortable, and safe place to get some rest is critical. During the pandemic, when we weren’t traveling as much, it was still important to search for places of refuge from the mundanity and quiet but omnipresent low level anxiety of virus-driven daily life. Regardless of the circumstance, finding an oasis of peace and rest amongst the chaos can go a long way towards restoring both mental and physical stamina. In…

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A father and son at Haleakala
Haleakala National Park In Maui With A 4 Year Old: A Review

Haleakala National Park In Maui With A 4 Year Old: A Review

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One of the things I was most looking forward to during our Hawaii trip was taking a drive up to the top of Haleakala National Park. I was excited to visit one of the most remote national parks in the entire system, and the pictures I had seen made it look like a far easier version of our somewhat ill-fated attempt to “simply walk into Mordor” aka the Tongariro Alpine crossing. The Red Crater really does look a lot like…

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The Pools of 'Ohe'o
The Road to Hana and the Piilani Highway (aka the “Forbidden” Road)

The Road to Hana and the Piilani Highway (aka the “Forbidden” Road)

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So I wrote this right after we got back from a rather epic driving day. After leaving the house at 8 am in the morning heading east via the Hana Highway, we staggered back at about 7 pm after heading west on the Piilani Highway. In short, the trip was incredible. But you already knew that, right? The Road to Hana is one of the best-known drives in the entire world. Nicknamed “the Divorce Highway” because of all the supposed…

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