Lecco was the second town on our “where shall we live?” tour of northern Lombardy. Before our trip, we made a list of the qualities of our ideal location, and Lecco seemed to check all the boxes. But the natural beauty of the area, the food, and the warmth of the people all exceeded our expectations.
Our week in Bergamo marked the start of the second half of our autumn 2025 trip, during which we planned to visit several cities in northern Lombardy to “try them on for size” as possible places to live when we move to Italy next year.
On our last Saturday in Sestri Levante, the day after our classes ended, our language school offered an excursion to walk along the Ligurian coast from Santa Margherita Ligure to the famous resort town of Portofino. It promised to be
The Cinque Terre (literally, the “five lands”) are a string of five centuries-old fishing villages perched on the rugged coast of the Italian Riviera between Genoa and Pisa in northwest Italy. The villages—Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore—were
After visiting Genoa for a few days, we took the train along the Ligurian coast to the beach town of Sestri Levante, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) to the east. The ABC School of Italian Language and Culture, which we
Our first stop in Italy was in Genoa, in the region of Liguria. Earlier this summer, we had been considering the Ligurian coast as a possible place to call home, but since then, we decided that we were more interested in mountains than beaches. We left a few days in Genoa on the itinerary, though, just for sightseeing and to give us a chance to recover from the jet lag before we started language school.
After a week in Port Angeles, we drove to the west side of the peninsula, not far from the coast. With several days of rain in the forecast, we headed out early in our stay to explore two of the area’s scenic beaches and the Hoh Rain Forest, one of the finest remaining examples of temperate rainforest in the United States and one of Olympic National Park’s most popular destinations.
On Labor Day, David walked across the Mackinac Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the western hemisphere, taking part in a 61-year-old Michigan tradition.
California’s Yosemite National Park is truly one of the most breathtaking places on Earth. Glacier Point, on the Yosemite Valley’s south rim, was at the top of our list of places to explore during our month-long stay at Park of the Sierras, a beautiful Escapees co-op park in the Sierra foothills. And being there in October allowed us to miss most of the crowds that tend to choke Yosemite during the summer, as well as the winter weather that will inevitably close Glacier Point for the season within the next few weeks.
We got our first taste of sea kayaking–and checked another national park off our list–on a spectacular guided excursion with Seward tour company Liquid Adventures to Bear Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park on June 23, 2017. After meeting our guide, Libby, and