Monthly Archives: February 2022

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Napa Valley is a lot of fun, and that’s not just the wine talking. Rugged mountains, steamy hot springs, rolling vineyards, and 260 days of sunshine is as appealing for tourists as it is for vines; although I’m willing to bet that we have more fun!

But is there anything to do in Napa besides drinking a lot of really good wine? Well, yes! Lucky for us, wealthy California winemakers threw their “I’m so rich that I don’t know what to do with my cash” money into developing Napa Valley – but there are also some fantastic budget-friendly hidden gems in Napa.

Like a glass of great wine, discovering Napa Valley is all about balance. We are lucky to have Aubrey Terrazas, an Advanced Sommelier and wine buyer in San Francisco who has spent the better part of a decade visiting the Napa region, guide us through the best things to do in Napa. (She also created a guide to the best wineries in Napa for us!) Take it away, Aubrey!

Psst: Looking for more California getaways? We have a bunch! Browse them all or take a look at these posts:

Napa Valley FAQ’s

Before you plan your trip to Napa, here are a few things you should know!

Is it “Napa” or “Napa Valley?” Are they different?

The town of Napa is located within the Napa Valley, a 30-mile long stretch of valley, ringed by mountains.

Napa Valley takes its name from the biggest city in the area, Napa, and the town of Napa was named after the Napa River which runs through it.

The Napa Valley AVA (American Viticultural Area) includes the towns of Carneros, Napa, St. Helena, Yountville, and Calistoga. It takes less than an hour to get from one end of Napa Valley to the other, so it’s a geographically small area.

But when most people say “Napa,” they’re typically referring to ALL of those regions and towns throughout the Napa Valley – not just Napa, the city! So you might hear a Bay Area local say something like “I’m visiting Napa this weekend, we’ll be staying in Calistoga.” Make sense?

If you’re not sure whether someone is referring to Napa the town or Napa the region, just ask!

Oh, and to be totally clear, this post is about things to do in Napa Valley, NOT just Napa the town.

Is the wine in Napa really that good?

Napa is famous for making really good wine. And yes, it’s really THAT good!

Napa Valley is ideally situated to make some of the world’s best wines, thanks to the combination of California sunshine and cool, foggy mornings. Mountains surround the valley on both sides: the Vaca Range to the East and the Mayacamas to the West. Between these two mountain ranges, wineries and vineyards are sprinkled throughout!

Napa was just a quiet, unknown California wine country until the dramatic Judgment of Paris in 1976, when Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars and Chateau Montelena shockingly defeated two excellent French wines in a blind-tasting competition, officially positioning Napa as the New World’s most famous fine wine region. At the time, wine professionals outside of France weren’t taken seriously, so when California stole the show, it was a huge upset.

The movie Bottle Shock dives into the dramatic story, and the day that put Napa officially on the map forever!

What’s the weather like in Napa?

Napa Valley is about 40 minutes east of Sonoma (a neighboring wine country) and the Pacific Ocean, and its daytime temperatures climb much higher than foggy Coastal California. Daytime – especially in the summer – can get to over 100 degrees, so wear something breathable and comfortable!

But if you’ll be staying overnight or past sunset, bring warm layers. It’s much colder during the night than it is during the day – temperatures can plummet 20 degrees within hours.

I’m from Chicago, so I thought I had thick blood for cold weather, but the chilly Pacific breeze is guaranteed after sundown! You’ll be shivering in your sundress, so pack a change of clothes and a warm sweater for the evening.

Things to do in Napa

Soak in Natural Hot Springs

What better way to detox after a day of wine tasting than a soak in natural thermal springs? Soaking in hot springs promotes well-being through detoxification, increased metabolism and blood flow… plus it’s just freakin’ relaxing.

Napa’s center of hot springs and geothermal pools is the town of Calistoga. The Wappo tribe, the area’s original Indigenous inhabitants, settled in Calistoga around 8,000 years ago and believed that the hot mineral water had healing powers (which it does). They called the land coo-lay-no-maock (“the oven place”).

But during the Gold Rush, Samuel Brannan, a Mormon settler hoping to turn the area into a Mormon mecca a la Salt Lake City, established Napa’s northernmost town of Calistoga in the mid-19th century to attract tourists to its natural hot mineral springs. He also became the richest man in California, attempted to overthrow the Hawai’ian King, and led a gang of “vigilantes” to enforce whatever he considered a crime. He died broke and alone after his wife, fed up with his womanizing, violence, and infidelity, divorced him. Isn’t history fascinating??

Today, most of Calistoga’s natural hot springs are located on the properties of hotels and spas, so if hot springs are a must-do, you’ll want to book a spa treatment or a night at one of these resorts.

Note that During the summer months you may want to plan your soak after dark (or not at all) as the town is hottest in Napa Valley (literally! It’s around 20 degrees warmer during the day than Carneros).

There are several options for hot springs in Calistoga:

• Meadowlark Country House & Resort: If you’re a free-spirited type, you might prefer this clothing-optional resort – welcome to Northern California! While the other spas tend to be more covered, Meadowlark welcomes Calistoga’s sunny Mountain scenery with shorter fences and a more open layout  (don’t worry, you’re well tucked away from the nightlife and wine tastings).  The close proximity to the hills and trees gives this resort a house-in-the-woods sort of feel. Oak trees nestle around the ranch-style resort and pool deck, which makes it feel more private. In addition to their volcanically-charged geothermal springs, Meadowlark has a dry sauna and flagstone terraces for total relaxation. Day passes are $50.
• Calistoga Hot Springs & Spa: The resort property features multiple covered pools, including a 104-degree geothermal pool, an 80-degree lap pool, and various spa services. The water is naturally filtered by Napa’s alluvial soils, leaving trace elements of minerals behind. You can stay overnight, or pool passes are free with the booking of any spa service.  From the pools, you can see the sun-soaked Vaca mountain range, which is perfectly golden in the morning light. Palm trees line the deck, and a glass dome covers their geothermal pool, which helps trap the steam and at times gives a foggy, mysterious feel. 
• Indian Springs Calistoga: Indian Springs seems to be the most recently renovated of the three spas, with modern and understated decor influenced by Mission-era property. Built in 1913, their Olympic-sized soak is the largest natural mineral pool in Napa Valley. The 17-acre property contains three thermal geysers and a hotel, with two-story white Spanish-style buildings that overlook a pond surrounded by palm trees and non-native tropical vegetation. Their pools are one of the few kid-friendly options in Napa, so if you’d prefer something – um – quieter, you can also pass the time at their smaller adult-only mineral pool. 

For a few more suggestions, head over to this guide.

Go Kayaking

The 55-mile Napa River offers excellent waters for an afternoon of kayaking (or paddle boarding). The river extends from Mt. St. Helena to San Pablo Bay, switching from vast, open waters to narrow, wooded areas lined with dogwood trees.

As you paddle, you’ll be able to see wildlife like otters, turtles, and native birds. Beavers are very active here as well, which stir up the natural (and harmless) algae (making the water a bit murky at times).

Oh, and here’s a fun river fact: After the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco, they used the rocks from the bottom of the Napa River to rebuild the city!

Take a two-hour guided kayak tour to learn more about the area’s wildlife and history from a local. They can help you identify specific bird species, as well as point out historic buildings damaged by the 2014 earthquake.

Take a Hot Air Balloon Ride

Part of Napa Valley’s allure is its majestic wine country beauty, and a hot air balloon ride is the ultimate way to soak in the undulating hills and mountains, Californian-Mediterranean scrub and pine trees, densely packed vineyards on every twist of the Valley, and luxurious chateaux built by the musings of multi-millionaires. 

The balloon can feel very hot, but it’s that hot air that gently lifts you off the ground and gently floats you over wine country. The floating sensation is extremely peaceful and serene; the physical sensation is very soft. 

Balloon rides are usually early morning and include pastries and coffee. Note that this is not exactly a budget-friendly option, especially if you’re trying to be romantic: group tours average $300 per person for a one-hour flight, and the price climbs quickly for a private tour. But for a special occasion, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime activity that’s well worth the expense!

This hot air balloon ride takes off from Yountville and lasts for about an hour, and you’ll learn about ballooning’s colorful history as well as local highlights. You can also book with local companies like Napa Valley Balloon Inc and Balloons Above the Valley.

Visit Napa Valley Wineries

Wine tasting is likely what brought you to Napa Valley in the first place, right? Even if you’re not a big wine person, the sloping mountain views and historic châteaux make visiting Napa wineries essential to your trip. Napa Valley famously produces some of the world’s most iconic Cabernet Sauvignon, and you can also find lush Chardonnays, sexy Merlots, and spicy Zinfandels throughout the valley. 

$30-50 is about an average price for a tasting, and yes, that’s per person. Napa is pricey! That said, you can usually get this fee waived by buying a bottle or two of wine. You can also sometimes find two-for-one tasting deal coupons by stopping by the Visitor’s Center.

It’s easiest to visit the wineries by car, but if you don’t have one (or don’t have a DD), there are plenty of tours, like this day trip from San Francisco that you can book. Uber and Lyft are available in Napa Valley, but just give yourself some cushion time, as it’s common to wait 15 minutes even from the more easily accessible tasting rooms. 

I’ve highlighted my top five “must-see” wineries, but you can find a complete list in our Napa Valley Winery post! The wineries below are all relatively easy to find near Oakville, the heart of the Valley.

• Far Niente is known as “Napa Valley’s Finest Winery” with a storybook-style Chateau at the end of a long, acacia-tree-lined drive. The property was built in 1885, and was later renovated to its current glory. Complete with a vintage car collection, a reflection pond, and lush trees that turn golden in the fall, Far Niente‘s estate is the making of Napa daydreams. The winery focuses on two varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. They’re known to save back vintages, so this is also a great place to taste older Napa – but be ready to shell out some cash for it!
• Beringer Estate is one of the oldest wineries in Napa, and the historic Rhine-style chateau is worth a visit in and of itself. The founder moved to California from Germany in the 1870s; the German influence on the property gives the estate a storybook feel. The ornate chateau could be straight out of Beauty and the Beast, except that it’s landscaped by California succulents and hydrangea! Stroll the cobblestone path around the manicured gardens or explore history in the wine caves. 
• Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars: Napa may have never reached its prestige without a 1976 wine tasting where Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars overwhelmingly outperformed First Growth Bordeaux and Burgundy in a blind tasting. The event, now dubbed “The Judgement of Paris,” turned the world’s attention to the quality and potential in this unknown area in Northern California. Today the winery has expanded to include an ultra-modern visitor center, filled with artwork and bronze finishes that overlooks the vineyards so you can experience the beauty of nature in all seasons. Come enjoy a tasting inside or outside with stunning panoramic views of the vineyards. Stag’s Leap remains the epitome of quality California Cabernet Sauvignon, made from estate fruit in state-of-the-art facilities.
• Robert Mondavi is the modern-day father of Napa Valley and the man who traveled the world to champion its quality. During a time where post-prohibition tastes often favored sweet wines, he focused on planting Cabernet vines with superior quality. As a result, his To-Kalon vineyard in Oakville is arguably the most famous in all of Napa. Now led by a female winemaker, the wines continue to be a standard-bearer for Napa greatness. The sunny ranch-style estate wraps around a courtyard with hidden views of Oakville vineyards and offers tastings in a range of styles, from Cabernet Sauvignon to oaked Sauvignon Blanc. You can book a tasting, a tour, or a dining experience. The winery even offers concerts, pending seasonality (and pandemics). 
• Opus One Winery is among the most coveted wines globally and in the cellar of any serious wine collector. Owned by the Mondavi family (and just across the street from the flagship winery), the project is a brainchild of the family behind one of the five Bordeaux Châteaux to be awarded First Growth status (which is to say, they know their sh*t). The estate vineyards are right off Highway 29. Every vintage of their rare Cabernet flies off to allocations (pre-arranged agreements to sell the wine to specific collectors or restaurants), but you can taste it by the glass with a tasting (by appointment only, and you’ll want to book well in advance).

Party on a Rooftop

Depending on the time of year you visit Napa Valley, the wineries might close before you can catch the sunset.

But if you’re staying in the town of Napa, Sky & Vine’s rooftop bar has breathtaking views of the Vaca Mountains and Oak Tree forest to watch the day sink into night. 

This local favorite sits atop the Archer Hotel in downtown Napa, complete with seating arrangements for all group sizes and heat lamps for the chilly nights. Enjoy a cocktail and bites while you play with their giant Jenga set, or kick back and enjoy the stunning mountainside landscape.

Northern California is one of the furthest western points that you can easily access in the US, so the late afternoon light here is perfectly golden. On a clear day, you can sit back with one of their many on-tap cocktails (I vote for the Margarita) and catch the orange and pink sky play off the crevices in the rugged mountain terrain. They even have great non-alcoholic drinks like the “It’s Just Alchemy” with seedlip spice, tamarind, orgeat, and lemon. 

Happy Hour is 8-10pm, which includes specials on both food and drinks. One classic California bite is the Shishito peppers, but be careful—they say every 10 out 20 peppers are hella spicy. 

For more rooftop bars in Napa, take a look at this list.

Go Olive Oil Tasting

Napa Valley’s Mediterranean climate is perfect not only for growing grapes but for growing olives! As with wine tasting, you can taste through olive oils to discover their nuances and flavor. Also like wine tasting, you’ll want to take a bottle home!

A few tips for olive oil tasting: 

• The three essential words to describe olive oil are delicate, medium, and intense. 
• Food changes the flavor of olive oil, so many tastings are not served with bread. 
• Coughing is often considered a sign of good olive oil! That shows its more peppery personality, which a lot of enthusiasts love.

Best places for olive oil tasting in Napa

• Roundpond Estate has ripe, round Cabernets from Valley fruit. Their winery’s location is equally ideal for olive oil production! The Rutherford property is very close to Highway 29, but feels more secluded as you enter via their long drive lined with palm trees and vineyards. Most of their tastings are held on their expansive terrace with a view of the Vaca Range. The tasting experience includes a walk through their Italian and Spanish olive trees and a full overview of olive oil production for $40. Their oils tend to be more traditional, with an emphasis on olive quality. 
• Longmeadow Ranch is easy to drop in without an appointment for a $5 olive oil tasting. You can find their olive oil tasting at their gift shop and café just next to their restaurant Farmstead, which is chic and elevated casual, despite the fact that it’s in a big blue barn. It’s a charming and easy break from wine tasting, thanks to its St. Helena location and tasty menu options (the restaurant also has a killer burger). They grow their olive trees at their Anderson Valley location in Mendocino, so the flavors tend to be more peppery and subtle than the Roundpond Estate. 
• Napa Valley Olive Oil Manufacturing Co. is a local favorite that has made various gourmet oils for nearly a century. Their black truffle oil has an interesting umami kick that makes a lovely compliment to pasta, and their blood orange oil is lovely for a summer salad. The tasting takes place in an Americana-perfect white barn with an American and Italian flag hanging from the window. The low-key atmosphere is contrasted by the many luxurious Napa estates, but their quality of product is nonetheless impressive. 

Take the Napa Valley Wine Train

Napa Valley’s Historic Wine Train will bring you from Napa to St. Helena and back on a relaxing, scenic 3-hour train ride. While you enjoy a multi-course meal (with wine, of course) you’ll watch vineyards and mountains roll by out the windows. The rail line was originally built in 1864 to bring guests from downtown Napa to the resort town of Calistoga. The train itself has the sort of feel that you´d expect from riding first class at the turn of the 20th century: plush seats, white table cloths, and Honduran mahogany paneling. 

If you’re not particular about which wineries you visit but prefer not to drive, you can book an excursion that includes lunch and a visit to an iconic Napa Estate. The most popular experience is the Vista Dome, where you can enjoy a multi-course lunch or dinner with panoramic vineyard views. For more entertainment, book the Murder Mystery Dinner, where the killer is hiding subtly behind their glass of Pinot Noir. 

All experiences come with California-style cuisine and a glass of wine (or two). Note that this is not a party bus – the operators of the Wine Train will kick off rambunctious groups, leaving them stranded in Napa.

Shop for Local Specialties

Napa is the largest town in the Valley. It’s small and very walkable, and over the last 180 years, it thrived as the center of local commerce. Merchants from the early Napa trading town built Victorian-style mansions around the local saloons and shopping centers (luckily, the wealth is more diversified now).

Today, things are less quaint and a little more upscale, but there are still plenty of local specialties and treats to discover on a stroll around the charming, historic downtown Napa. Just leave some room in your suitcase for souvenirs!

Shop for gourmet products in Napa

• Oxbow Market is a riverside marketplace and food hall. You can stop in for lunch from a local chef, then meander around sampling artisan chocolates, coffee, and cheeses. 

• Ritual Coffee roaster. Founded in San Francisco in 2005, offers preciously roasted coffee to perk you up between tastings. Try a cup and bring home a bag of beans, or sip on your latte as you sample some of Anette’s Chocolates. 
• The Olive Press. In case you didn’t make it to an olive oil tasting (see above), you can take home a bottle from The Olive Press – the most highly awarded olive producer in the US! 
• Anette’s Chocolates. Anette and her brother have been making local confections with the finest ingredients for over 25 years. Their famous brittles and chocolate truffles make great gifts, or you can get a sample gift box with an assortment of Napa sweets. 
• Whole Spice. If you’re working on wine tasting, pay a visit to Whole Spice and smell the spices from around the world (this is something sommeliers actually do, by the way). Imagine how cool you’ll sound the next time you’re sniffing your Cabernet…”Hmmm, I detect hints of curry and fenugreek!”

Local boutiques in Napa

Local boutique shops line First Street in downtown Napa. When you’re not exploring the wine-country chic fashion, you can easily pop into a local art gallery or wine tasting. 

• Macbella. A women’s boutique with an Italian-chic mix of both European and American designers like Klaudia Karamandi and Aggi. This is the perfect place to pick up a tasteful dress for the French Laundry, or a meet the parents night.
• Kalifornia Jean Bar. Here you can perfect your California casual look with curated denim, sweats, and tee shirts for men and women. In contrast to chic Macbela, KJB has more of a Tahoe-inspired outdoors-y vibe. 
• Nostalgia of Napa. It’s easy to get lost exploring the local treasures, including antique furniture and bar ware, clothing, and vintage accessories.
• Milo and Friends Pet Boutique. Don’t forget the pup! Especially after he was so patient while you’ve been away all day drinking. Milo & Friends is a (fancy) pet store that offers natural treats, California-themed toys (like this kayak), and stylish accessories like tye-dye leashes and bow ties. Instagram cats shop here, too.

Take a Cooking Class

Napa Valley cuisine is the epitome of farm-to-table. The rich agriculture of California inspires colorful, product-driven plates that will teach any meat eater to love veggies.

The access to the fresh, delicious, locally produced food — and wealthy investors — attracts the world’s best culinary talent to Northern California. So take a class from a chef to sharpen your knife skills, make homemade pasta, or even learn how to pick out the best produce at the farmer’s market. 

• Cooking with Julie: Julie Logue-Riordan is a private chef and cooking teacher of 25 years. After training under Master Chefs in France and living abroad, she developed an international toolbelt to prepare diverse cuisine with local produce. Her classes revolve around “cooking from the season.” This is a must-have skill for anyone wanting to reduce their carbon footprint by shopping locally! Walk around the farmer’s market and discover the local heirloom varieties. The 3-course menu will be inspired by what looks good at the market, such as Grilled Figs with Almond Picada and Prosciutto, Grilled Steak with Mediterranean Herb Rub and Arugula Salad, and Buttermilk and Mascarpone Ice Cream with Fresh Peaches.
• Culinary Institute of America: The (other) CIA is one of the most esteemed schools for aspiring chefs. You can take a private class with one of their instructors in Napa. Depending on the length of your stay, they also offer “Boot Camps” and multi-day group classes. You can take classes to leasrn how to perfect flatbread, prepare a dim sum brunch, or even taste wine in under 90 seconds. They even provide a partnership with America’s Test Kitchen, so you experiment with new techniques from celebrity chefs!

Learn Napa Valley History

Before Cabernet Sauvignon took over the Valley with massive agricultural gentrification, the Wappo tribe called the area home for close to 10,000 years. In fact, the Northern Californian paradise didn’t become part of the United States until the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the Mexican Cession in 1848.

Learn a newfound appreciation for Napa Valley’s dynamic history, from immigrant labor to wine mavericks that put Napa on the (wine) map at the Napa Valley Museum in Yountville. 

The museum’s colorful architecture and local art are worth a visit even for non-history buffs. They attract some noteworthy exhibits too, like recently, a showcase of artwork from actress Lucy Liu! 

True to California form, many of their rotating exhibits highlight pop culture, like their “Dangerous Games” exhibit where you can take a tour through the dangerous and toxic toys we used to play with as kids, like the Slip ‘n Slide or the gooey Creepy Crawlers. Another popular recent exhibit is the Tiki: Art of the Exotic exhibit where you can brush up on Polynesian Pop history while you sip on a rum cocktail from their curated Tiki bar. 

Go Craft Beer Tasting

After a full day of tasting wine for Palate Club, do you know what I want? B-E-E-R! Luckily there is a half-mile radius in downtown Napa with multiple craft breweries to cleanse the palate. 

• Stone Brewing overlooks the Napa Valley in the historic brick Borrero Buildings. They highlight local, organic products for their dining menu, but I wouldn’t call it healthy — they’re best known for their BBQ. The smoky flavors are perfect with their most popular beer, the Stone IPA. Leashed dogs are welcome for their outdoor patio, and service dogs are welcome indoors.
• Fieldwork Brewing is located in Oxbow Public Market offers a rotating list of draft beers and flights. This is an excellent option for groups with diverse palates, as you enjoy their various craft beer selection with food from any of the many stands in Oxbow. Personally, I love El Porteño Empanadas for a savory beer snack. Many of their beers are inspired by the classics of Germany and Belgium, which tend to be a bit less hoppy and sweet than American beers. I’m a fan of the Cobra Mai, a Maibock German Lager, which is a pale and hop-forward lager. 
• Trade Brewing offers a variety of classic pub food with Jamaican cuisine from Vibrant Foods. Committed to the artisan method, their claim is, “Craft is our Trade. Beer is our Passion.” Their most popular beer is the Bricklayer American Blonde, which is a pale and malty ale with a crisp finish.

Go Hiking

Napa Valley is as much about its natural beauty as it is about its full-flavored Cabernets. The area’s status as an Agricultural Preserve means thousands of acres of scenic mountainside trails, Redwood alcoves, and diverse flora to explore. Here are some of the top hikes in Napa Valley:

• Alston Park is a dog-friendly area with three miles of unobstructed hills bordered by Redwood Creek. The hike is lovely and very open, but with little shade protection (which you can witness by the matted dry grass on the trails). It feels more prairie-like than the other hikes here and fairly easy to do as a jog. Canine Commons is the off-leash area section in the upper area of the park, leading to a shady canon and sprawling views of Napa. Read more about Napa’s Dog Owner guide.
• Skyline Park has over 25 miles of trails for all levels. The 3.4 mile River to Ridge Trail meanders through a variety of landscape, from sunny oak trees to grasslands and even a  Bay Laurel forest next to a small lake. Those ready for a workout can take the Rim Rock Trail from here with a steep elevation change that leads to rewarding panoramic views of the San Francisco Bay and Mt. Tamalpais. The trail parking starts at $5/day. 
• Linda Falls is a hidden gem near St. Helena in Howell Mountain. You’ll pass one of Napa’s most diverse displays of Douglas fir, oaks, and the local yellow Mariposa lily on the 15-minute hike. Lizards are active in the warmer months, though it’s more common to catch the Black-tailed deer or the adorable Desert cottontail rabbit. The cherry on top is a 50-foot waterfall dubbed Linda Falls. Only 20 minutes from Highway 29, this hike is an excellent option for a quick but rewarding escape from the tasting room bustle.

Visit a Distillery

The Napa Valley Distillery offers tastings at their speakeasy-style Grand Tasting Saloon ($30). Their classic copper alembic still influences their Old-West charm down to their Probation-era batched cocktails. You can tour the distillery or just go straight to their 1300 sq ft saloon with Gold Rush-era decor. As the first distillery in Napa after Prohibition, they host various rooms and vibes inspired by all of our favorite drinking trends: tiki, Speakeasy-style art deco, and the Wild West. 

Although they offer Rum, Gin, and Brandy, they set themselves apart with their bottled cocktails. Try their Negroni, which is a favorite cocktail in the Bay Area traditionally made with Campari, gin, and red vermouth. Their quirky sensibility and love for history even pours into their ongoing events. You can tune in to learn about a different type of Spirits during their Ghost Stories live from the distillery on Thursdays. Speaking of…

Go Ghost Hunting

Of course, a historic booze city like Napa will have lingering spirits! Paranormal investigators Ellen MacFarlane and David Sisk are more than college kids with a spooky summer job — they use their skills of other-wordly communication to help families and even law enforcement gain clues into missing persons cases, demystify UFOs and life energy theories, and advocate for spirit crossings for trapped souls. Expect not only a freaky history lesson, but conversations with the spirits.

On this 90-minute walking tour, you will explore local folklore and both the current and former Napa courthouse areas where they used to conduct public hangings. Without giving away all the surprises, your guides take you to various haunted areas in downtown Napa, including sites of infamous murders such as the Fred Coombs murder-suicide (as in, the brother of Napa’s founder, Nathan Coombs).

Ellen and David attempt to contact the spirits using dowsing rods or paranormal sensitivities. You may even get the chance to speak to the legendary serial killer Billy Roe, who confessed to 26 murders after his arrest! The Napa Ghosts tour starts at 8pm and lasts 90 minutes.

Eat an Incredible Meal

The idyllic climate of Northern California that attributes to its world-class wine also lends itself to a rich assortment of local products year-round. And these local products are in good hands with some of the top chefs in the country. The same type of person that is attracted to the region’s prestigious vineyards also usually seeks out a top-notch dining experience, so restaurants of all budgets push the envelope for quality. 

Here is a list of some of the best restaurants in Napa Valley. Since meals range from $10-1000, I arranged it by budget. 

• Pro tip: Many people forget to arrange a ride home after their meal and can end up waiting up to 45 minutes for a cab. If you’re planning a night at a destination restaurant, ask your restaurant how long the meal usually takes and schedule an Uber or cab. The nicer restaurants will often offer this for you if you ask at the start of the meal. 

Budget-friendly restaurants

• The Pickled Pig in Calistoga has low-key farm to table bites, and specializes in, you guessed it, pork! Check out their award-winning smoked wings or their Piggy Deluxe Burger with black garlic mayo and homemade dill pickle chips.
• The Model Bakery which has a location in Napa, St. Helena, and Yountville is an artisanal bakery which specializes in cookies, muffins, and breads. Try their fan favorite the Morning Glory Muffin with apples, carrots, cinnamon, raisins and coconut or their English Muffins, which were one of Oprah’s “Favorite Things” in 2016!
• The Station, which is located in an old gas station, is a great place to stop for organic coffee with grab-and-go bites. They have really good cappuccinos as well as some solid avocado toast, and a really cute outdoor patio to sit out back to enjoy your coffee and snacks!
• Oxbow Public Market is a 40,000 square foot market that has over 20 local vendors and a riverside deck. Check out El Porteño Empanadas, and try the carne empanada with Grass-fed beef, onions, green olives, raisins, and cage free hard-boiled eggs, or stop by Hog Island Oyster Bar and try some fresh, California-coast local Hog Island Oysters, Manila Clams, and Tomales Bay Mussels!

Mid-priced restaurants

• Zuzu is a Spanish-inspired restaurant and tapas bar in downtown Napa overlooking the Napa River. Try their Akaushi flat-iron steak with roasted jalapeno chimichurri, or the Tunisian brik pastry stuffed with Dungeness crab, organic egg, and green onions.
• Boon-Fly Cafe is on the southern side of the valley near Carneros. Although the setting has a casual roadhouse feel, the farm-to-table cuisine takes a more polished approach to classic American dishes like burgers, fried chicken, and porkchops. If you make it in for their daily brunch, the donuts are a must. 

Swankier restaurants

• Oenotri is a stylish restaurant in the heart of Napa serving southern-Italian cuisine. They build their rustic dishes from locally-sourced food, so this is a place to get a  super fresh and delicious meal. Try their Chef’s 6 to share with the table, which includes house-made salumi with marinated olives, spiced nuts, pickled onion, and house-made crackers. If pasta is more your thing, try their gigli with pork ragu, tomato, garlic, onion, and parmigiano-reggiano.
• Press is a swanky, modern steak-house with a world-class Napa Valley Wine list, and the perfect place to have a fancy dinner in St. Helena. Check out their truffle-glazed chicken with smoked bacon, salanova lettuce, sauce vin jaune, or their pan-seared scallops with honey tangerine, heart-grilled fennel, habanada broth. Really you can’t go wrong with anything here, and the knowledgeable staff will help you pair your meal with an excellent glass of wine. Most restaurants in Napa will have a great wine list, but if you’re ready to geek out on back vintages, Press is an essential visit!

Visit a Castle

Some wineries you visit for the wine. Some you visit for the scenery. And some, you visit because they’re so absolutely ridiculous you just have to see it for yourself. Morbid curiosity, perhaps?

Castello Di Amorosa is in that last category. Meant to be an authentic replica of a 13th-century Tuscan castle, the owner (who also owns V.Sattui winery) used more than 1 million antique bricks taken from Hapsburg palaces and imported handcrafted hardware from Italy. The castle is sprawling and no expense has been spared, from the lake to the terraces and courtyards to the armory to the …er, torture chamber.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your personal preferences) it’s not a functioning torture chamber – it’s just for show. And because, according to the owner, real 13th-century Tuscan castles have torture chambers, so in order to achieve true authenticity, Castello Di Amorosa has to have one, too.

Whether you chalk that up to “people with too much money doing ridiculous things” or you have a deep appreciation of medieval replicas, you just have to go see it for yourself. Ah, maybe that’s the true reason behind the torture chamber…

Explore Your Senses

Jean-Charles Boisset is a larger-than-life wine entrepreneur with roots in Burgundy and business in Napa. He loves to push boundaries in everything he does, including his Raymond Cellars winery. Here, you can experience the “sensory wall” where you can feel and smell all the textures and scents that we use to describe wine. 

If you get friendly with the tasting room associate, you might even get to peek into their Crystal Cellar, which includes go-go girl mannequins and purple lights. Raymond also offers fun experiences like “Winemaker for a Day” where you can blend your own wines (even artist John Legend made his own blend here). After your tasting, you can visit the property’s house peacock. Yep, there’s a peacock. 

Another of his wineries, Buena Vista, hosts a full light & sound show that walks you through the history of winemaking (ok, it’s technically in Sonoma, but only 25 minutes from the town of Napa).  Buena Vista was founded in 1857 and is also packed with history. After you immerse yourself in lights, sounds, and Cabernet, visit their winemaking museum with tools used for harvest and vinification that look like ancient torture devices. 

Go on an Art Walk

Napa’s Art Walk is a rotating collection of installation sculptures from regional artists scattered throughout Downtown Napa. The city requires large real estate projects to donate 1% towards a public art fund, so the city is bursting with free art installations. I love this option because you can absorb a piece of the rich local culture and explore the town of Napa for free! Free is hard to come by in Napa!

Every two years, the city juries commission 10 sculptures to display around town. The most recent collection features seven artists from Western states with ten sculptures built with kinetic art—art defined by movement or light to create dimensions in the space, or that requires movement for the full effects.

For the complete experience, download the free Otocast app and look up “Napa Artwalk” for a guided audio tour.

Watch live music

Wine has a way of making people dance, and luckily the nightlife in Napa is flooded with live music. The first thing you need to know is that Napa Valley is home to a number of summer music festivals, including  Yountville Live in March, BottleRock Napa Valley in May, Napa Valley Jazz Getaway in June, and Robert Mondavi Concert Series and Festival Napa Valley in July. 

If you’re visiting outside of festival season, here are some of the best places to catch live music. 

• Blue Note Napa is an intimate jazz bar & restaurant on the first floor of the Napa Valley Opera House. Expect dim lights with a Greenwich Village vibe and classic cocktails.
• RH Yountville Wine Vault is a luxe two-story wine bar with cedar walls and plush seating. They sometimes offer live music in their tasteful outdoor dining area that incorporates art, design, and wine. However, the only dancing you can expect here is watching the fire pit glimmer off the chandeliers. 
• Downtown Joe’s Napa offers a very no-fuss alternative to the chic setting at RH Yountville. The American restaurant & brewery has river views, plastic chairs, and a judgement-free setting. You could take your mama dancing here.

How to Get to Napa

The easiest way to get to Napa is to fly into either San Francisco, Oakland or Sacramento and rent a car. Napa Valley is about an hour north of San Francisco and Oakland, and an hour west of Sacramento. 

You can rent a vehicle from the airport you fly into, or directly in Napa. Note that California roads are often winding, so if you get car sick, opt for a comfy SUV rather than a sports car!

• From Downtown San Francisco: If you are staying downtown but HAVE to see the Golden Gate Bridge, take Highway 101 on the way North to Napa but I-80 on the way back. This route will save you from the $8.35 southbound Golden Gate bridge toll. Be sure to plan your route from your hotel, as going downtown to the Golden Gate Bridge adds about 30 minutes to your course. If you’re not interested in driving over the Golden Gate bridge, you can take the Bay Bridge from downtown to get to I-80.
• From Oakland: If you plan to go directly to Napa, you can save 20-30 minutes by flying into Oakland and bypassing the jam-packed Bay Bridge and San Francisco traffic. 
• From Sacramento: If you fly into Sacramento, your route will likely be I-80 W. The path between Sacramento and Napa is efficient, but you’ll miss the coastal views of the Bay. 

Travel Tip: Keep in mind that the Bay Area is rated one of the worst areas for traffic in the country, so give yourself plenty of cushion time, especially during rush hour (7-10 am or 4-7 pm). Be prepared to get stuck behind a tractor or bus without a passing lane, which can significantly pressure test your schedule. 

If you want to skip driving, there are options to get from San Francisco to Napa Valley. Extranomical Tours and Gray Line San Francisco both have reputable wine country tours that include San Francisco pickup. Uber and Lyft will also get you there for around $120 one way. 

You can also take a bus and train combination through Amtrak to get from San Francisco to Napa Valley in 3-4 hours for around $40 round trip – this is definitely the cheapest option!

How to Get Around Napa

It’s definitely easiest to get around Napa with a car – but if you won’t have one, or you just want to focus on enjoying the wine, you do have a few options.

• Rent a Car: You can rent a vehicle from the airport you fly into, or directly in Napa once you arrive. It’s challenging to get around Napa without a car, so draw straws and pick a Designated Driver (another pro tip: be sure that everyone pitches in to get the DD a nice dinner at the end of the day).
• Ride Sharing Apps: Lyft is available in Napa Valley and start around $15 for a 15-minute drive. Wineries could be 45 minutes away from one another, or just up the street, so I suggest planning ahead. In my experience, it takes around 10 minutes for a Lyft to show up, but expect longer for more remote locations. If you have appointments, plan with extra time, as you may need to wait for your ride to show up in more isolated locations.
• Rent a Limo: If you’re balling out or looking to party, limo or party bus rentals are the best way to get around Napa Valley. Napa Shuttle Limousine provides custom packages depending on your itinerary. Limos start at $99, depending on the company.
• Hire a Driver: Companies such as Designated Drivers Napa Sonoma offer local drivers. Because they drive your car, the cost tends to be lower than private shuttles or tours. Make sure your driver is licensed and insured by referencing the California PUC’s Transportation Carrier Lookup. Their name should be listed there if they are licensed. 

Travel Tip: Most of these options require you to pre-plan your itinerary. Many wineries require reservations, and they can fill up quickly during the busy season. In general, I suggest making reservations, as you can plan your route and you won’t waste time getting turned away if the tasting room is full. 

But If you’re not particular about where you go and want more guidance from a local (and transportation as well), consider one of Napa’s many wine tours!

Where to Stay in Napa Valley

Napa Valley is actually a region that includes several small towns, all of which typically have a little walkable area and are close to wineries. So before you pick a place to book, think about which part of Napa Valley you want to base yourself in: Napa, Yountville, Calistoga, or St. Helena.

Keep in mind that it takes anywhere from 35-90 minutes from upper Nappa Valley to lower Napa Valley depending on traffic, so it’s helpful to think of which wineries you want to visit before you book your hotel to keep your driving time down!

Napa, the largest city, has fabulous boutique hotels and plenty of restaurants – plus, it’s got a scenic river to go kayaking on. St. Helena and Yountville are charming and walkable towns, with phenomenal world-class restaurants. But you might also consider staying in Calistoga, which has more of a romantic-getaway vibe and a plethora of spas thanks to its natural geothermal hot springs!

Here are my picks for where to stay in Napa:

• The beautiful Archer Hotel in downtown Napa is a great place to base yourself for a romantic weekend getaway, right downtown and within walking distance to wineries and shops. The rooms are luxurious (look at that tub!) and the hotel features a swanky rooftop bar that is frequented by locals!
• La Casita is a charming little Spanish style bungalow located in Napa’s Old Town, walking distance from all of downtown Napa, with a hot tub and a cute backyard patio.
• If you plan on visiting wine country with a group (hello, bachelorette party?) this stunning hill-side retreat with breathtaking 360’ views of Napa Valley in Calistoga is what Napa dreams are made from. Wake up to mountain views, hang out on the sprawling decks with views of the rolling hills and vineyards, and sip wine by the gorgeous fire pit!

About Our Guest Poster: Aubrey Terrazas is a wine writer and Master Sommelier Candidate who has lived in San Francisco, Chicago, and Lyon, France. She is a Co-founder and wine buyer at Palate Club. Aubrey also runs Terra Vine, a wine marketing agency between the USA and Europe.

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Which of these amazing things to do in Napa are you most excited about? Tell us in the comments below

Psst: Planning more boozy travel? We have done lots of research in this area, you’re welcome.

Things are changing rapidly – please double check what’s open before your trip and follow all local guidelines to keep yourself and others safe! Also, ads are how we pay our bills and keep our blog free for you to enjoy. We also use affiliate links; if you make a purchase through them, we may receive a small commission at no cost to you.

Most of my year in review posts have had some sort of theme to tie them together. The year I went full time in my blog, or the year a pandemic hit and we almost went under … you know, juicy stuff. This year? This was like the year of its-still-2020 and also the year of its-not-2022 yet. It was also the year I had some extremely unpleasant health complications. So the original working title of this post was “the year of in-between,” and then I added “and puke” to spice it up (there is … a lot of puke in this post, fair warning).

But as I wrote, I realized there were some big highlights: like, we got vaccinated (!!), and I got pregnant (!!!). And as my mindset shifted and I started looking ahead to what my life post-baby will look like, I started making significant changes in my business. I stepped way back from the day-to-day of Practical Wanderlust, empowered my team to make decisions without me, and even began sending them on trips on my behalf. I also started a whole NEW blog (because why have just a human child when I can also birth a brand new business baby at the same time?). And at some point, I stopped thinking of myself as a “travel blogger” – because at this point, am I? I’m really not so sure anymore…

So I’m calling this the year of metamorphosis. Not only did my body go through a Kafka-esque transformation that completely changed it into a foreign entity that I hardly recognized and had almost no control over (so much puke) – more on that later – but because over the course of the year, bit by bit, almost imperceptibly, everything shifted.

But before we dive into 2021, we have to do a little bit of time travel. Because I wasn’t entirely forthcoming last year…

Looking for more year-in-review posts? We’ve been writing them every year since the beginning of our travel blog. Here they all are:

What We Didn’t Tell Y’all in 2020

OK, so, quick recap: last year in August, there was this crazy lightning storm that lit 300 fires in California overnight. A few days later, the sun stopped rising, the air went a sickly shade of dark orange, air quality was 300+, and we were all hacking and coughing. A few weeks later, deeply anxious and worried about Mulan’s little lungs and our own mental health, we hopped on a plane to stay in Louisville with my family for 2 months. Which I wrote about in last year’s review, in detail.

But what I didn’t mention was that while we were in Louisville, Jeremy had the bright idea to go house shopping. He thought it would be fun. We’d been binging on House Hunters and late-night scrolling Zillow in a pandemic-induced, fire-crazed panic, and besides, we’d talked about maybe moving to Louisville one day for years. So why not just look at some houses? What harm could it do??

Well, my friends, 4 hours of house-hunting later, we’d put in an offer on a damn house.

Why, you ask? I don’t know. Like I said, pandemic-fire-induced terror. And I mean, this house was gorgeous – a fully refurbished 1870’s Victorian, all redone with brand new everything that same year. It was beautiful, and Jeremy fell in love with it immediately.

And I knew that if I was going to drag my California husband away from Lake Tahoe and Highway One and wine country and otters to go live in Kentucky, I needed to provide him with the perfect house, or (I feared irrationally) he would grow to resent me and we’d end up miserable.

So we put in an offer on the house. Could we afford it? I honestly had no idea. I’d been staring at my financial spreadsheets for so long I’d gone cross-eyed, and we didn’t even have financing lined up. But what harm could it do to put in an offer and just, I don’t know, see what happened? We’d have some time to call banks and arrange for a mortgage, right?

HA. We had no f***king idea what we were doing. We literally did not realize that an offer isn’t just a “see what they say” kind of deal, or that in Kentucky – unlike the Bay Area – you aren’t competing with 196287836 people who all have more money than you.

So even though we offered LESS than asking, our offer was – to our compete shock – accepted. And we were now in a legally binding contract with a home that we weren’t even sure yet that we could actually afford.

What the hell were we thinking? 2020 jumbled up all of my practical-ness, y’all. We got caught up in pandemic anxiety and fire season panic, and that house looked like an escape.

So we spent the next few weeks scrambling. I have never Googled so many things I’ve never heard of in my entire life. What is escrow? What happens if a home inspector misses something important? What does a house appraisal actually evaluate? (To be honest, I’m still not entirely sure I understand the answers to any of those questions.)

We managed to secure financing – not at the dirt-cheap rates I kept reading about on reddit, but whatever – and somehow managed to arrange for home inspectors, roof inspectors, foundation inspectors, and appraisers – all from my sisters house in New Jersey.

By the time we closed on the house, we’d spent about an hour total in it.

And then came the next incredibly stupid, jaw-droppingly obvious question: now what?!

It was November 2020, and we’d just panic-bought a house in Kentucky. But we lived in California.

We knew we couldn’t up and move right away. We had a lease, and Jeremy’s job could call him back from working remotely any day (they didn’t, though).

So, we figured, we’d just move in the summer of 2021. Except now we had a mortgage to pay. And a pricey AF California rent (which was, incidentally, double our mortgage in Kentucky).

I furiously played with several more spreadsheets, trying to make numbers work. It’s not exactly like our business was doing well – in fact, we’d barely begun earning money again around the latter half of 2020 when folks started traveling domestically again – but we were doing okay, and thankfully, we had savings to spare, since for absolutely no reason, the stock market was doing weirdly well.

But then we finally came up with an actually decent idea (maybe the first of this whole, hare-brained scheme): why don’t we get a tenant?? If we can find someone to rent out our house for the next 6 months, we can cover our mortgage and pretend this whole house-buying debacle was just a totally normal, reasonable decision we made to I don’t know, invest in real estate or whatever.

Cue more scrambling and calling people in Kentucky. A few weeks later, we managed to find a property manager with fantastic online reviews who seemed confident they could rent our place out at a rate that would cover our mortgage, property taxes, and home insurance. Only they recommended a longer lease than 6 months – a 6 month lease is really rare, especially in a market like Louisville where hardly anyone rents houses (because they’re cheaper to buy)!

So we thought about it. We couldn’t do a traditional one-year lease, because that would put us back in the middle of the school year. But we could do a year-and-a-half lease, ending in summer 2021. That would give us another year of Jeremy’s salary to make good and sure we were financially stable (since running a travel blog during a pandemic is not a safeguard for financial stability), and it would give us more time to say goodbye to our beloved California.

So, in mid-December we listed the house for EITHER a 6-month lease OR a year-and-a-half lease. We figured we might need to eat the mortgage for a month or two – I mean, who moves over Christmas? And we weren’t really sure we’d find tenants at all, since Louisville is not a house rental kinda area.

As we neared New Years Day, Jeremy and I both realized something: we were actually both ready to leave California and move into that big beautiful Victorian home in Kentucky. We wanted to move in the summer of 2021. And we really didn’t want to wait an extra year and a half.

But it was the week of Christmas, so we didn’t call our property manager to let them know that we only wanted to offer the house for a 6 month lease. The office would probably be closed anyway, and honestly, who rents a house on Christmas? So we figured we’d wait until after New Years Day.

We got a call on December 29th from our property managers. A tenant would be moving in on December 31st, and they’d already signed a 1.5 year lease.

We were shook. We honestly did not anticipate how quickly our house would rent, and we really didn’t think anyone would be spending their holidays looking at houses and moving! But the tenant was starting a job in January and needed to move to Louisville right away.

Honestly, we were gutted. It hit us then how badly we’d both been wanting to move, and how excited we were to move into this big, beautiful house we’d spontaneously bought.

So we did something kind of desperate: we offered to buy out their lease. Just throw cash at them so they’d forget they ever saw our house. It was unprofessional and probably made our property managers look terrible, but we were irrational and confused and emotional. (I cannot stress how much 2020 wreaked absolute havoc on my decision-making abilities, y’all, we were a HOT MESS).

But they didn’t want our money – they just wanted to live in our house! Turns out, they’d actually found ANOTHER home before ours, signed a lease, and were getting ready to move in – when they suddenly found OUR house listing, fell in love with it, and broke the other lease on the spot. They’d already lost a bunch of money breaking their lease because they were so into our house.

And I mean, we couldn’t blame them: this dang house has a logic-bending effect on people, it seems.

So, we entered into January 2021 feeling really, really sad. In addition to two close family deaths in the very last week of 2020, we’d gotten all excited about moving back home, being close to friends and family, exploring Louisville, and living in that stupidly beautiful house. A year and a half felt like a longggg time. And so we hunkered down to wait it out.

Psst: You probably want to see the house, right? (We’re not the only HouseHunters addicts, right?!) We’ve got a full walkthrough in our Instagram Highlights – feel free to skip the slides of me talking because I’m telling the same story you just read through!

2021 has to be better than 2020, right?

Although we began the year on a sad note, we also started 2021 with hope. A new president, a new vaccine on the way – surely, this would be the year we put this whole pandemic thing away for good, right?? HA.

But for the first several months of 2021, we were in a holding pattern, like the last year was just dragging on. We were still pretty much in lockdown, as we’d been since March 13, 2020. Jeremy was teaching remotely – both a blessing and a curse – and aside from the occasionally outdoor weekend day trip, we weren’t really going anywhere or doing anything.

Because, you know, horrifying terror plague lurked in the air all around us. Casually.

But with the rollout of the new vaccines, everything changed. Because he was a teacher, Jeremy was able to get vaccinated February, and because I have a pacemaker which makes me immunocompromised, I was able to get vaccinated in early March.

And honestly? Getting vaccinated was incredible. I honestly teared up both times. It didn’t hurt, but it was just such a flood of … overwhelming relief. The mental weight that had been tethering me released. We probably wouldn’t die every time we stepped within a few feet of someone! I hadn’t even realized how much constant, unending anxiety I’d been dragging around until the vaccine lifted it from my shoulders.

I would like to personally hug every member of the scientific community who made the vaccine possible. But I guess I’ll wait until the pandemic is really and truly over.

Getting vaccinated was the first step of our 2021 metamorphosis. With our newly vaccinated status, we were able to resume a level of normalcy that felt entirely foreign. We ate at restaurants again (still mostly outdoors, though). We took weekend trips and stayed in hotels. We saw friends!! Things we once took for granted came back in a flood of happiness and excitement.

And, of course, we started traveling again.

March-July: That Post-Vaccine Life

We started with a weekend getaway to Jeremy’s favorite place in California, Lake Tahoe. Snowboarding isn’t the riskiest activity even before we were vaccinated, but we waited anyway – we have a very low risk tolerance, y’all!

As spring blossomed, we foraged for flowers and celebrated the spring equinox. Jeremy made edible flower pasta and cookies, and we dyed eggs with cabbage and onion skins. Y’all, we have been sleeping on celebrating the solstices, and I’m so into it now! It adds a new holiday almost every month, and they’re so much fun!

For spring break in early April, we made what felt at the time like an extremely risky – but incredibly exciting – decision, to take a freakin’ vacation. Like an actual trip. On a plane! This would be our first vacation since 2019 , and we were so stoked.

We decided to visit Maui, Hawaii for a few reasons. First, because it’s a non-stop flight flight for us, and I wanted to minimize travel through airports (where mask wearing is not enforced like it is on a plane) as much as possible. Second, because it was one of the only places at the time requiring vaccines or negative COVID tests and enforcing quarantine. And third, because we had a free place to stay and a free car to use thanks to a family friend.

Besides, our first trip to Maui was only 3 days long, and it really wasn’t enough! I wanted to dive deeper and explore more of the island, and get to know more about Hawai’ian culture and history.

Back in 2019 I wrote about how I travelled so much, I’d started to take it for granted a little bit, and I wished for a break to help me regain my sense of wonder and awe for traveling (lol, f**k 2019 me). Well, wish freakin’ granted. I can’t remember the last time I had this kind of excitement for a trip, like, keeping me awake in the middle of the night levels of excitement. I savored it.

I packed like 2976827678 bathing suits and we were off. The plane wasn’t full, the island was blooming and half empty, and we took full advantage! We spent an absolutely heavenly week eating outdoors, snorkeling, swimming, taking a whale-watching cruise, watching the sunset, and taking long, luxurious walks on the beach in the warm evening air. You can see exactly what we did in this Instagram highlight!

It felt like we were finally, finally getting back some level of normalcy, and it rejuvinated us both.

For the rest of April, I reveled in springtime. I sat outside under our wisteria-covered pergola eating strawberries and painting or reading. We took Mulan to the beach almost every weekend and discovered several new favorite parks.

Around this time we received some incredibly disappointing news: the owners of our home were returning from where they’d been living abroad due to the pandemic, and we would need to leave our rental.

Honestly, we were gutted. That house was the perfect place to hole up during a pandemic, with its enormous, beautiful backyard, garden plots, lemon trees, and a spacious bathtub that I still dream about. It was where we’d brought Mulan home and the first place that really, truly felt like a home and not just an apartment we were renting!

But, that’s the life of a renter. So we started looking for a new place to live – thankfully, we’d been given 3 months notice, which was huge because finding a house to rent in the Bay Area is incredibly difficult. Most of the open houses we went to were so competitive we knew we didn’t stand a chance.

One place rented out while we were touring it – the property manager awkwardly kicked us out before we’d even had a chance to see the place. Another place promised us to send us the application to submit and we thought we had a good shot – only to email us an hour later and tell us they’d rented it to someone else. We were having no luck, even after raising the amount we were willing to pay in rent by a ridiculous amount over what we’d been paying!

In between house hunting, we took two more weekend trips in April and May, both times heading down Highway One to the Central Coast (where Jeremy grew up) for a weekend of wine tasting in Paso Robles and otter-spotting in Morro Bay. Like our trip to Maui, this was just for us – not for work. This year was definitely the year of revisiting places I’ve already visited and gloriously leaving my camera tucked away in the hotel room!

For our 5-year wedding anniversary in May, we took a staycation in San Francisco. We booked one of the hotels from our Where to Stay in San Francisco post, took a food tour through Chinatown, and bought tickets to a Giants Game (major kudos to them for requiring & enforcing vaccine cards)! It was romantic AF, and a ton of fun to be a tourist in our own home.

We spent Mother’s Day with Jeremy’s mom in Los Angeles – it was the first time we’d seen them since the pandemic began, and it was soul-quenching. Being able to see and hug our family meant the world to us.

Oh, and during the pandemic they’d put in a really baller pool, which I didn’t leave for the entire weekend.

In June, we were still scrambling to find a place to live, with only a few weeks left to go. We raised our rent comfort level even higher – cue me panicking and refreshing Practical Wanderlust’s financial spreadsheets – and begged our current property managers to help us out. Did they know of anything, anything that wasn’t on the market yet? We were striking out like crazy, and we figured knowing about a place before it listed would help our odds.

As it turned out, it did! Our property managers had a tenant moving out of a place in our old neighborhood, just a few blocks from the apartment we’d left only 2 years before. The house was bigger than our current home, still a 3-bedroom, but with a much smaller backyard that was shared by a tenant in another unit in the back. Oh, and it was about $1,500 more than what we’d been paying.

Whatever. F***k it. We jumped on it, signed a year-long lease, and moved for what we knew would be the last time in the Bay Area.

In June, we mostly stayed at home, unpacking and settling into our new place. Moving is stressful both for people and fur-babies, and we didn’t want to stress Mulan out further by leaving her at home(even though she’s quite used to it by now).

We did, however, take a glorious road trip all the way down to San Diego, stopping along the way to visit family again. We booked a lovely dog-friendly hotel near the dog beach and found an awesome doggy daycare to drop Mulan so we could spend a day at the Zoo. And we pretty much followed our exact 3-day San Diego Itinerary (which was already published, so again, very little work for me to do. Love it!)

I also picked up a new hobby: swimming! In our old house, we lived just down the block from a pool – but it closed down in March 2020 and didn’t open back up until over a year and a half later, when we’d already moved a mile away. And y’all, I was so damn excited to use that pool. I was going to walk there 3x a week – as soon as it got warm again, I said. But we moved in November, and the pool shut down in March. Dammit.

Well, the minute it opened back up, I was the first one in line, fully outfitted in my beloved swim leggings. I started swimming laps 2-3x a week and within a few months, I was swimming a mile at a time.

In July, we took our first big, international trip since 2019 and headed to Costa Rica for 10 glorious days!

At first, I was nervous – traveling is like a muscle, and I hadn’t exercised mine in a while. On top of the usual traveling-in-a-pandemic anxiety, I was worried about all the usual pre-trip things. Would we be able to communicate, or was our Spanish too rusty? What if we got lost? Would there be enough WiFi or should we get data plans? Did we pack everything we needed, what if we forgot something? Should pack our stuff in suitcases or would a backpack be better? It had been such a long time since I’d traveled internationally, I felt like I was brand new to it again!

But as soon as we arrived in Costa Rica, tired from the flights and thrown headfirst into a new place where we only half speak the language, we felt … at home. Stepping into the humid tropical air, speaking not-great-but-also-not-terrible Spanish to taxi drivers, and trying to navigate our way through a new, unfamiliar place together felt like slipping on a favorite pair of worn-out jeans thinking they might not still fit, only to find that they still fit perfectly.

Honestly, it was incredible. Since it was our first big trip in years, we splurged, booking all private shuttles rather than taking public transit (honestly, it barely even cost much more and was well worth it for how much easier it made everything) and even spending several days staying in a luxurious eco-resort.

The eco-resort was a place my parents took us on a family vacation when I was 8 is called La Paloma Lodge, and I’ve been dreaming of returning to it for literally over 20 years. It’s the kind of place you go on during your honeymoon, and in fact, my sister actually did honeymoon there! (During the part of our year-long-honeymoon that spent in Costa Rica, we only stayed in hostels.)

To my delight, it was as wonderful as I remembered it being decades ago – and although it was certainly much pricier than we usually feel comfortable paying, the price felt justified as it includes meals, activities, transportation (it’s in a fairly hard-to-access part of Costa Rica).

We went snorkeling, rode horses on the beach, attempted to go kayaking but got freaked out by rapids and crocodiles and wimped out, saw a bunch of sloths and monkeys and toucans, hiked through a cloud forest, crossed hanging bridges in the tree canopy, ate Costa Rican food in a treehouse restaurant, and revisited a hostel we stayed at during our honeymoon 5 years ago. It was heaven.

I am fully planning to write up our entire itinerary, but it’s a beast and I’m still slowly working away at it! In the meantime, you can see everything we did in this Instagram highlight, and I published 35 Things Nobody Tells You About Visiting Costa Rica.

The memories of our time in Costa Rica will stick with us forever, and we fully plan to return again. But I have no idea when the next time will be that we’re able to travel internationally, because ….

Surprise, I’m pregnant!

If you follow us on Instagram or are on our email list, this probably isn’t a surprise – I’ve been complaining about being pregnant for a solid seven months now. (For everyone else, surprise!)

We found out that I was pregnant a few weeks after returning from Costa Rica (I cannot wait to bring our kid to La Paloma Lodge and thoroughly traumatize them by pointing at various beds and telling them that’s where they were conceived). It was very much planned – after several months of low COVID rates, it seemed like everything was finally getting back to normal (haha) so it seemed like a good time!

We’d actually pushed back our timeline by a year to account for COVID already, which really just helped me to feel extra-ready. (Jeremy has been ready for the last decade, and I’ve been working on feeling ready for the last decade.)

So anyway, I was feeling emotionally ready, finally, and I’d been swimming my a** off getting my body physically prepared for whatever the hell it was about to go through.

Too bad none of that would prepare me for the absolute hell of first trimester…

First Trimester SUCKS

I wish I could put this in like, all caps on a banner and fly it all over the world letting everyone know, because nothing prepared me for how brutally, horrifyingly awful first trimester was. First trimester SUCKS. HARD.

When I first found out I was pregnant – which actually means I was about 5-ish weeks along by medical standards, but only 2 weeks post-conception, a concept that still confuses me and most lawmakers, it seems – I was still super fit and active. I had plenty of energy. I was still swimming a mile at the pool a few times a week, walking a few miles a day and even biking a few miles a week I felt great! Pregnancy was going to be no big deal!

And then, in week 7, it all came crashing down.

First came the unrelenting nausea. Y’all: the phrase MORNING SICKNESS is a f***king LIE. It is ALL DAY, NONSTOP, NEVER ENDING SICKNESS.

I woke up needing to puke and went to bed needing to puke. And in between, I puked. Anything triggered the absolute gut-wrenching nausea: eating. Not eating. Thinking about food. Smelling food – that was the worst.

One time Jeremy innocently asked me what I wanted to eat for lunch, and at the word “lunch,” I immediately projectile vomited across our bedroom. I wish I was exaggerating.

I had food aversions to literally everything. The only thing I could usually stomach was sour candy and the smell of lemons. So I went around all day with a lemon in my pocket, huffing it like a drug and dry-heaving.

Finally, my OB put me on Zofran, the drug they give to cancer patients who have severe nausea during chemotherapy. It didn’t resolve my nausea, but it took the edge off of it, which helped me to manage a few morsels of food a day.

I still ended up losing about 10 pounds during my first trimester, despite only eating sour candy.

But nausea is only ONE horrible symptom of the first trimester! What they don’t f***king tell you in health class – what NOBODY tells you until you’re pregnant and suddenly inhabiting the body of the main character in a Kafka novel as it goes through a horrifying and unfamiliar metamorphosis – is that you will experience every horrible feeling ever, and it’s all incredible normal.

You will be so tired you will sleep all day. You won’t be able to leave the couch, you will be so exhausted. The thought of leaving the couch will make you cry, because it feels like you have to go climb Mount Everest.

This is normal: it’s because your body is currently not only growing a human, it’s also growing a literal BABY-GROWING, LIFE-SUSTAINING MACHINE at the same time, as well as creating 50% more blood, ALL FROM SCRATCH. Everything else is secondary. You are now a baby-machine-growing-robot, and you might as well tuck the lifeless husk of yourself away in a closet for a while and wait it out.

In addition to creating a human, an organ, and a bunch of blood out of THIN FREAKIN’ AIR, your body is also busy rearranging all of your organs to make room for all the new stuff it’s growing from scratch.

So around week 10, I lost the ability to use my abs, because they … just… stopped being where they used to be, I guess? I couldn’t sit down or stand up without excruciating pain.

This lasted for about a month. During this time, I attempted to go back to the pool and swim the mile I’d swim just 4 weeks earlier.

I could not even make it a single lap. My abs would not work. I could not make my body go straight in the water. I could not use my legs. I had to keep my legs tucked up under me, like a shrimp, and doggy-paddle with my arms. I made it one horrible, slow, miserable, embarrassing lap and then collapsed in Jeremy’s arms sobbing so loudly that the 3 surrounding lanes stopped to stare (and then immediately console me when I told them I was pregnant).

I was only a few weeks pregnant, and I didn’t recognize my body. It didn’t work anymore. It was just this constantly tired, permanently nauseous, non-ab-having baby-growing machine that I happened to be trapped inside. And it was a mind-f***k.

And you know what’s crazy?? My experience isn’t unusual. MANY pregnant women go through this (though, I should add, some pregnancies are much easier than mine). Everyone’s mother has to go through pregnancy.

And despite that, pregnant people still have to go to work and function as usual. We don’t even have paid maternity leave, the idea of paid sick leave to cover the agonizing first trimester, or any of the difficulty of pregnancy, is a laughable DREAM.

I have no idea how anyone functions during first trimester. I literally spent 3 months laying on the couch, puking, and crying. And I feel lucky that I was able to do that from home, on my couch.

The Second Trimester Doesn’t Suck (As Much)

By the time 14-ish weeks rolled around, I was feeling a bit better. My nausea was not reducing me to a vomiting puddle of tears on a daily basis anymore (just some days), and there were days that I was able to work from the couch and occasionally even go on a very short stroll around the block. This was a massive improvement!

The reason why most pregnant people feel better in their second trimester is because after the incredibly taxing work of the first trimester, the fetus is now relying on the placenta to sustain it, rather than sucking the literal life-force out of the human it is inhabiting. So yeah, it was worth all that effort for my body to grow a baby-sustaining machine.

Y’all, the placenta is a ridiculously rad organ. The female human body is incredible. I mean, pregnancy is a super sucky process, but it’s still pretty darn neat.

Anyway, me feeling a little bit better meant we could tentatively start doing some fun stuff again. In September, we flew to Portland, Oregon for a beautiful outdoor wedding of a close friend, and it felt semi normal (thankfully we rented a car so I didn’t need to walk much).

Here is one thing about travel that I never quite realized: airports are HUGE. Walking through airports is SO MUCH WALKING. Like you have to walk in, stand in security, walk to your gate, walk out of your gate – I mean, it’s a LOT. I had to sit the entire time in security and take breaks every few minutes during the incredibly long walk to and from our gate.

Thankfully, there are resources like wheelchairs and golf carts for folks who aren’t able to walk for very long, and I happily utilized them. I will never take my ability to walk through an airport for granted again!

We also took a weekend road trip to beautiful June Lake to catch the fall foliage (yet another already-written-about trip!) You can see stories from that trip in this Instagram highlight.

And in late October – after we’d both been boosted – we hopped on a flight to one of my favorite places in the country: Savannah, Georgia!

Every year, 2 of my best friends and I (including Practical Wanderlust’s Editor-in-Chief) take a friend trip. We’re all spread out across the country, so we make it a priority to travel somewhere together each year – sometimes with husbands and partners in tow, sometimes without. This year, we were celebrating Halloween in Savannah – something I’d been wishing to experience for years!

We truly and deeply love Savannah – we fell in love on a 3-day springtime trip back in 2019 – and this trip only deepened our enchantment with this incredible, beautiful town. The food, the ghosts, the gravestones, the nightlife, the riverfront – it’s just freakin’ amazing.

And to my delight, I was actually feeling pretty okay, most of the time! I was even able to walk, like, a LOT – one day, I walked 14k freakin’ steps, which felt like a damn marathon.

Well, I mostly felt okay…

Yeah, so I have this ear thing?

You see, I have this other health issue that popped up this year. I’ve been having like, ear issues? Basically, overnight, I lost hearing in one ear. And also developed an extremely loud, disorienting ringing in that same ear. Which was terrifying.

Tinnitus and hearing loss, it turns out, are not reversible. There’s no cure for tinnitus. And it sucks.

But then a few months later, it got worse. I started getting debilitating episodes of vertigo, which were so bad that I couldn’t even move my eyeballs without the world spinning and me projectile vomiting. (You guys, maybe this post should be called “The Year of Projectile Vomiting,” because I did a LOT of it in 2021.)

It was incredibly scary. I couldn’t figure out what was causing my vertigo. I’d literally wake up, try to get out of bed, and immediately fall over puking while the world spun around me. And then just have to lay there on the ground, for hours, waiting for everything to stop spinning enough to make it to the couch.

I had no clue what was happening to me.

I took an MRI, a hearing test, and saw 3 specialists. Basically, everyone was kinda stumped. I had some symptoms of Meniere’s Disease, some symptoms of Vestibular Migraines, and some symptoms of a post-viral infection that caused vestibular neuritis (feel free to google any of those things if you’re curious, but I couldn’t really even begin to explain them).

There has been some evidence linking these kind of symptoms to COVID-19, but I’ve never tested positive for COVID. The only time I suspect I may have had it is in February 2020, right after a trip to Disney World and right before we all started paying attention to symptoms that, at the time, I brushed off as a very mild cold. At this point, I’m not sure I’ll ever know.

Long story short, the doctors were all kinda stumped. I didn’t get a diagnosis. I did get a suggestion for a bunch of stuff to try to see if it helped, and some of it did. For instance, cutting out salt helped a LOT. So did cutting out sugar.

Unfortunately for me, not being able to eat salt or sugar without immediately developing debilitating vertigo f***king SUCKS when you are pregnant and extremely nauseous with food aversions to everything. On the rare occasion when I’d get a craving for something I thought I might actually want to eat, I’d have to make a no-salt version of it that tasted like stale cardboard and held absolutely no appeal for anyone, especially not a pregnant person whose body has decided to reject the concept of food. I’d like, sadly dip salt-free potato chips into straight vinegar trying to pretend I was eating salt and vinegar chips. It was not the same.

Everything I ate made me sick, and eating nothing … also made me sick.

I was living in a 24/7 hell of nausea and food aversions, and also a 24/7 hell of of dizziness and vertigo after eating. For months.

At one point, during our trip to Portland, I lay on our hotel bed sobbing because I knew I needed to eat, and that we needed to go get food at a restaurant, but I also knew that eating was f***king torture. I just kept crying “please don’t make me eat” to poor Jeremy and panicking over the thought of smelling food, and the inevitable vertigo attack that would come afterwards.

It was truly awful. (Though I should say that I am incredibly thankful that none of this seems to have triggered the eating disorder I’ve been in recovery from for the last 16 years! Yay for that.)

So … it was rough. Eventually, another doctor suggested I start taking some supplements that helped people with migraines, including magnesium, COQ10, and Vitamin B2. And later, yet another doctor suggested I try popping Benadryl to help fight the constant, debilitating vertigo.

All of these suggestions helped a LOT. The benadryl did indeed significantly help the vertigo episodes, so I started popping the maximum safe amount, which is 3 pills a day. Was I awake at any point? Mmmmm … Kinda?

But the pills and supplements and being extremely careful about what I ate did, mostly, keep my symptoms somewhat manageable.

Although there were a few slip-ups here and there. The worst was during our trip to Savannah.

You see, it was my best friend/Editor-in-Chief Richie’s birthday, and he wanted to celebrate at the nicest, most beautiful historic restaurant in Savannah: the Olde Pink House. It’s a beautiful Victorian mansion serving up some of the best food in a town full of incredible food, it’s super haunted, and our server was telling us ghost stories. We were having the best time!

I’d ordered carefully – literally just some scallops and asparagus with absolutely no salt or seasoning on them – but somehow I guess not carefully enough. About 10 minutes after I finished my meal, I felt the world starting to tilt. A vertigo episode was coming on – fast.

I hustled/waddled my pregnant a** to the bathroom and made it just in time to projectile vomit (bingo, if you’re playing) all over myself, the stall, and the entire general area. In between heaves, I apologized to the other horrified patrons. “Don’t worry,” I heaved, “it wasn’t the food, I’m just pregnant.” Everyone was very understanding.

I limped my way out of the bathroom and went right outside, completely covered in vomit and barely able to walk because the entire world was spinning like a top.

The poor employees were so nice, y’all. I mean it’s not every day that a puking pregnant woman collapses on your front steps, and they could NOT have been kinder about it. They went and got me water (which I promptly threw up) and collectively sympathized with me.

I sort of just lay outside covered in vomit and answering polite questions about my pregnancy (17 weeks, no we don’t know the gender yet, I’ve been craving sour candy, etc) until someone went and told my friends what was going on, at which point they all came outside and found me puking in a bush. I was later informed by my extremely understanding friends that the bush I’d chosen to discreetly puke into was directly next to a table occupied by a couple celebrating something romantic and important. Oops.

That night, my darling husband carried me up to our vacation rental and gently sponge bathed me and detangled the vomit from my hair while I tried not to move my eyeballs too much, lest I puke again.

One thing I’ll say about my marriage this year is that it has really reached new levels of intimacy. Levels that I really never wanted to reach, but here we are. So sweet.

But you know what? After sleeping through a walking tour the next day and popping 3 benadryls, I was able to keep everything down for the rest of our trip to Savannah. And that is … honestly, a huge victory! I truly had the best time on that trip. Puke notwithstanding.

Want to see everything we did? Head to this Instagram highlight for our Savannah stories.

October through December: Travel and Stuff

After Savannah, my health did actually continue to improve. At this point, I was ready to just go all in. I didn’t know how long I’d be feeling up to traveling, rates were pretty low, we were boosted, and I wanted to take full advantage. So for a solid 2-month stretch, we booked a trip every single weekend. What is this, 2019?!

Since rates were low and we felt fairly confident about hopping on a plane, we were able to spend Thanksgiving with my family in New Jersey. As a major win, I was both able to eat a bit and also did not puke at all (!!!). It was wonderful being able to spend the holidays with my family – we missed them so much!

By our next trip – a lovely paid partnership to nearby Monterey, sponsored by a luxurious hotel brand who put us up in the most comfortable hotel bed I’ve ever slept in – I was feeling pretty darn okay. I did have to get pushed around the Monterey Bay Aquarium in a wheelchair, but … you know, I didn’t puke, so. (Psst: you can see those stories on Instagram.)

A few weeks later, we headed down (yet again) to Jeremy’s hometown, Morro Bay – this time so Jeremy could complete a sprint triathlon! You see, a million years ago when I was like 5 weeks pregnant and felt like a young, healthy woman and not a decaying, decrepit half-human, I had the brilliant idea to start training for a triathlon. I was already easily swimming the distance I needed, I was pretty sure I could train myself to bike 12 miles without too much difficulty based on my fitness level, and the running bit – well, you can just walk that, right?

Anyway, it was a pipe dream that I’ve officially shelved for post-baby. But Jeremy caught my enthusiasm and signed up for a beautiful half-tri in his hometown. The route is a freakin’ dream: first you swim in the Pacific Ocean in a bay surrounded by otters, then you bike 12 miles up and down Highway One with sweeping ocean views, and then you run 3 miles along the beach while dolphins and sandpipers serenade you. Y’all, his hometown is ridiculous, I’m barely even exaggerating.

Jeremy did a pretty good job training for his tri … for like 3 weeks. Then he fell off the wagon, never to recover. (To be fair, he was waking up early every morning to clean the house, running out at all hours to pick up random food and pills for his pregnant wife, and generally keeping everything together while I mostly lay around crying in a puddle of vom.)

But thankfully, he’d gotten one of his best friends to agree to it. So a few days before the tri, when he was fully ready to just not show up and eat the $100 entry fee, his wonderful friend talked him back into it with a pep talk that I can only assume was similar to the one he gave me when I wanted to not hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu and eat our $400 downpayment.

Luckily, their triathlon turned out much better than our Inca Trail disaster! Jeremy completed the triathlon (despite possible the least amount of training that anyone’s ever done for a triathlon). I have no idea what his finishing time was, but I do know that he finished dead last – not actually just because of his (lack of) training, but because he and his friend wanted to complete the triathlon together, and her start time was like 15 minutes after his. The time isn’t what matters, anyway: they had a blast together, and most importantly, he DID IT! He’s already looking forward to seeting his sights on another one in 2022.

Meanwhile, in the time it took Jeremy to bike 12 miles, I managed to waddle across a parking lot, use the bathroom, and find a nice spot to sit and wait with Mulan. (They say that pregnancy is the equivalent to running a marathon every freakin’ day, though, so … there’s that.)

Around this time, my mom drove across the country in an RV to visit us and also drop off the RV. Yes, y’all: my mom bought an RV. And she’s letting us use it! (Though we are paying her to rent it.) It’s a beautiful Winnebago Solis Camper Van, and we’ll be using it to drive cross-country next year with the baby when we move back to Louisville. (And then, at some point, go camping in like, as often as possible.)

Shortly afterwards, we drove up to Lake Tahoe to cozy up in a cabin with Jeremy’s little sister. Jeremy went snowboarding, I lay around by a fire, it was wonderful! On the way out, though, we did get caught in an insanely bad snowstorm – we made it out (barely) but Jeremy’s sister was stuck in Tahoe for the next 2 days. It was very Donner Party.

And then, it was Christmas! We usually travel on Christmas because Jeremy gets a nice long 2-week break from teaching, and this year would be no different: we decided to head to Maui, Hawai’i.

Yes, again. For, honestly, the same reasons as we did in March: a short(ish) and inexpensive direct flight, good vaccine and masking requirements, and a free place to stay and car to use. Only this time, instead of it being just the two of us, we’d be joined by my mom!

Our two weeks in Hawai’i was a dream. Jeremy spent a few days getting scuba certified, and my mom and I went off on our own adventures. Y’all, my mom is a daredevil. I mean, my dad may have backpacked all over Southeast Asia and Europe in the 60’s, but I’m pretty sure my mom’s side – including her mom, Katy, my travel idol – is actually where I get most of my wanderlust gene.

One rainy day, my mom was like “let’s go on a scenic drive!” And I was like yes great that sounds up to my pregnancy abilities. We stopped at Safeway to get me fried chicken and potatoes, because in 2nd trimester all I’m eating is junk food and I’m honestly just glad to be able to eat anything, and then she took me to what I can only describe as the most terrifying road I’ve ever had the pleasure of driving on.

Y’all, they say Road to Hana is scary. No. Road to Hana is like Highway One: kinda windy and next to the ocean. But the Kahekili Highway?! IS TERRIFYING. It is a road full of hairpin turns, one-lane death traps, and cliffside plummets to unseen horrors below. You spend most of the road terrified that another car might come, at which point one of you has to pull over and let the other pass, or you both end up careening off a cliff, probably in flames. (Apparently, tourists aren’t even supposed to be driving on it, but I’m not sure whether that’s actually true.)

My mom, of course, knew this. She’s spent a lot of time in Maui, and she’s driven this highway before. When she said “let’s go on a scenic drive,” what she really meant was “let’s go on a death-defying adventure.” Only – she admitted – she didn’t tell me that, because she knows I am a ball of anxiety and might not agree to come. Then she lured me with grocery store fried chicken and took me (and her unborn grandchild) on a death-road to a lava field full of geysers where she once broke her ankle (keep your mothers away from the Nakalele Blowhole, y’all).

Incidentally, my mom turned 70 this year. Y’all: I have great genes.

Anyway, other than white-knuckling my way down theKahekili Highway, we had a very relaxing time. My mom was in no rush to do anything, nor was I, so most days we just sort of lazily went to the beach, or to an outdoor restaurant, or to the outdoor aquarium (Jeremy pushed me in a wheelchair). Every evening, we watched the sunset. One night we saw 6 manta rays feeding in the waves as the golden sun descended and a rainbow appeared overhead.

It was heavenly, and the perfect last-trip-for-a-while.

Blog Stuff

A lot of things shifted this year in the blog. For one thing I took several steps back, and for another thing, my mindset shifted – a lot. And honestly, I’m not really sure I’m a content creator anymore … or even a blogger.

It’s not that I don’t like my job anymore. But my job has changed. Frankly, I don’t have the creative energy for it anymore.

The reality is that travel for the purpose of content creation is exhausting. Before your trip, it starts with weeks of researching and planning your itinerary, plus researching photo spots and planning in time on your itinerary to collect content (we usually reserve a full day just for photos). We even pack for the photos we’ll be shooting, choosing our outfits based on our selected photo spots. And we’re often researching and purchasing new travel gear to bring with us for the purpose of testing it out, shooting it, and reviewing it on the blog.

Then during your trip, in addition to the usual stressors of travel, you’re constantly shooting photos. Just a never ending stream of shooting. That means timing everything ~just right~ with the lighting – lots of waking up early and rushing to get places during golden hour (which, to be honest, we’re too lazy to do most of the time).

And if you need to hop in front of the camera like us, there are extra complications. You gotta make sure you look camera-ready all the time, which does not come naturally to me. You’re schlepping around a tripod, setting it up and putting it away all the time. And you’re spending so much time waiting patiently for crowds to clear so you can nail the shot (all while ignoring the judgemental looks you’ll probably get while you pose, waiting.)

Shooting while traveling means that rather than being in the moment, you’re constantly stepping out of it to document it with your camera (and phone) and taking notes for the posts you plan to write.

Add on video and it’s another layer of complication – now you’re shooting for two separate mediums, while running around experiencing stuff and taking notes on it. Add in tiktok or instagram reels/stories and that’s a 3rd shot you have to get of everything you do and see. Now in addition to posing for photos, you’re also shooting videos of your travels, and you need to be “on” and funny and entertaining and creative (at least we do, since let’s face it, cinematography isn’t our strong suit and never will be)!

Posting stories on IG that night? Add on 2-3 hours of extra work each day of your trip, making sure everything is properly tagged and referring back to your notes to make sure you’re giving accurate information.

Then when you get back home, you have hundreds or thousands of photos to go through and edit. Video footage to sift through. And several 4-6k word blog posts to write, all of which will need additional research because your pre-trip research and notes are never enough – you will always have discovered something during the trip that needs more digging into.

All in all, a single blog post takes me about a month to create from start to finish – at minimum. And then the marketing and promotion for that blog post takes about another week or two, or else nobody will ever read it.

Content creation and traveling is easily a full time job, and it’s why so many full-time travelers are also full-time creators – they go hand in hand!

But my energy for this kind of travel has been depleted. Honestly, it was depleted after the ridiculous amount of travel I did in 2019, and 2020 just sucked the life out of me in new and different ways. I felt it coming back in Costa Rica my creativity always feels the most fueled when we’re traveling, and I wrote this post mostly during our trip. But then, ya know, pregnancy – and there my creative energy went again!

The truth is that the majority of our blog posts published this year were written by contributors (look for their bios at the end of each post) and edited by my amazing editor-in-chief, Richie, (who I was able to expand to a full-time role this year!) and that most of our social media posts were published by my wonderful social media manager, Melissa.

And I don’t think that’s a bad thing. It’s just different. I’ve moved into a new kind of role: I’m no longer a travel blogger or content creator, but the CEO of a travel publication (er, two).

These days, when Jeremy and I go on trips, we don’t find ourselves as excited to document the experience. We’re more content to just experience it. And that’s OK, because it’s more important for me to remember why I’m so passionate about travel than it is to churn out content about my travels.

I’ve also been incredibly quiet on social media. As an introvert, I have limited capacity for being “on” and for social energy – and this year, in between growing a child and constant vertigo/puking attacks, I had hardly energy at all. Besides, though this may come as a surprise from someone with a public platform, I hardly use social media at all in a non-work capacity. (Like, I have absolutely no desire to download TikTok, although my social media manager is working on getting our account up and running. If you use TikTok, want to follow us?)

Sharing my private life publicly feels draining and emotionally exhausting, and scrolling for too long pulls up all these amazing, talented content creators doing better than I am at using social media, which just makes me feel like sh*t. It’s just not good for me. So I don’t do it very often.

Which means that my energy – that silly, fun, talkative energy I used to share daily on Instagram Stories? These days, it’s pretty much all going towards my team. I’m spending all of my social energy to support them, guide them, train them, make sure they feel appreciated and that they have what they need to succeed.

Over the past year, I’ve stepped up for my team in ways I’ve never been able to dream of before. We have weekly team lead meetings and quarterly all-team meetings. I’m able to send my team on my behalf on press trips and sponsored travels, equipped with a company camera and credit card and the full support of myself and the rest of the Practical Wanderlust team. And I’m able to help my team to chase after their own dreams by sharing with them everything that I’ve learned and all of my experience, so that they’re able to run their own businesses while traveling and seeing the world, too.

With my time freed up from the content creation side of the business, I’m able to focus on expanding Practical Wanderlust’s reach in exciting new ways. I find that running a business requires a different kind of creative energy, which I also deeply enjoy. It’s not just about growing bigger and earning more money, but about growing more meaningfully – because I find that there’s no point in running your own business if it’s not fulfilling. If I wanted to be unfulfilled, I’d just go back to the corporate world!

Without needing to spend my creative energy on content, I’m able to explore our core values. Like, what do we stand for? How can we help our readers connect more deeply with destinations, and have more meaningful experiences during their travels? How can we ensure that our impact on the destinations we cover is positive? How can we have a larger, more positive impact? Those are the questions that I’m able to think about now, come up with solutions for, and then execute with the help of my team.

And that creative energy is going towards new endeavors, like my new Louisville blog, Let’s Go Louisville, and a really exciting new business in Louisville that I can’t tell y’all about yet (because it might jinx it), and the non-profit that we put on hold this year to wait for the pandemic to improve.

By not shouldering all of the responsibility of the business anymore and instead stepping back to take on a leadership role instead of a solo-preneuer role, I’m able to expand and do more. And, if I’m being honest, I’m able to better conserve my energy. Because living even slightly in the public eye is exhausting. Being “on” is exhausting. Documenting what you’re doing makes it incredibly difficult to be in the moment while doing it. And I want to be in the moment as much as possible.

And so, to wrap up this insanely long, monster of a post… here’s how Practical Wanderlust did this year. And to reward y’all for making it this far, I’m going to do something I haven’t done in YEARS (since I stopped posting income reports) and be totally honest about our 2021 numbers:

• Total gross revenue: $341k, yay!
• Highest grossing month: In November 2021, we earned $41.8k – WILD!
• Total traffic: 3.9M page views, which is 30% higher than 2020, but still -11% less than 2019. The pandemic + a Google Update affected our numbers quite a bit.
• Highest traffic month: In May 2021, we had 415k monthly visitors. Way less than our early 2020 numbers, but we’re slowly getting back there.
• Social followers: 65k total. Social has never been our strong suit!
• Email subscribers: 29k
• Posts published: 26 on Practical Wanderlust, 12 on Let’s Go Louisville

Next year, I’m aiming for some major growth. Fingers crossed that the pandemic is FINALLY over, that we can get our two Louisville businesses up and fully launched, and that I can hit a major milestone I’ve been chasing for the last few years – $500k+ in gross revenue! (And then 7 figures, here I come…)

Oh, and we’ll be moving across the country. And having a baby. Just a few major changes…

So, in an extremely long nutshell, that’s how 2021 went. And if you made it this far, you’re probably my mom I just want to give you a huge THANK YOU. Because as always, absolutely none of this is possible without y’all. I hope our blog has helped you in some way to chase after your dreams this year, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping me to chase after mine.

See ya next year!

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Looking for more year-in-review posts? We’ve been writing them every year since the beginning of our travel blog. Here they all are:

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Our Top Travel Tips & Resources

Here are our favorite travel tips & resources for saving money and planning travel logistics! For more tips, check out our travel tips resource page or our guide to planning a trip.

• Booking Flights: To score flight deals, search on Google Flights or Kayak. Money-saving tips: fly mid-week or on the weekend; fly carry-on only on a budget airline; and take red-eyes or early morning flights.
• Accommodations: We usually stay in budget-friendly vacation rentals, boutique hotels or private rooms in hostels. We use Booking.com to book hotels (we love their flexible cancellation policy) and Hostelworld to book hostels (low deposit, easy change/cancellation, and excellent reviews). For vacation rentals, we prefer to book using VRBO because they’ve got lower fees and better support than Airbnb, and we’re not fans of Airbnb’s unethical track record. You can also book vacation rentals on Expedia and Hotels.com. We also use TrustedHousesitters as both hosts (for our home and our fur-child) and travelers!
• Travel Insurance: We always, always, ALWAYS buy travel insurance for international trips, and we STRONGLY suggest it – visit our Travel Insurance Guide to find out why. We recommend either World Nomads or SafetyWing for international travel insurance. SafetyWing is one of the few policies that covers Covid-19, and they have excellent monthly policies that are perfect for Digital Nomads and long term travelers!
• Travel Credit Card: We book all of our trips on our favorite travel credit card. Not only do we earn cash back that we can spend on more travel, but the card offers fantastic travel perks like travel insurance, trip delay and cancellation coverage, lost baggage reimbursement, and rental car coverage, which helps protect us on our travels. Learn more here.
• Vaccines & Meds: We use the travel guides on the CDC website to research recommended medications and vaccines for international trips. We always recommend getting every vaccine recommended by the CDC! You can get them at your primary care doctor’s office or a walk-in pharmacy.
• Tours: We love booking guided tours, especially food tours and walking tours, to get a local’s perspective and a history lesson while sight-seeing! We book our tours using Viator and GetYourGuide.
• Transportation: We use Rome2Rio to figure out how to get from place to place, and book local transportation online using Bookaway wherever we can. When we book a rental car, we use Kayak to compare rental companies and find the best deal.
• Luggage Storage: Whenever we’re checking out early or taking advantage of a long layover, we use LuggageHero to safely store our luggage while we’re running around. Use the code PRACTICALW for 2 hours of free luggage storage on us.
• VPN Service: A VPN keeps your digital information (like website login details, bank info, etc) safe, even when you’re connected to an unsecured network while traveling. Plus, it lets you use Netflix & other streaming sites abroad! We use NordVPN. Use the code WANDERLUSTPROMO when you sign up!
• What to Pack: Here are the travel essentials that we bring on every trip. We also have packing lists for hot weather, cold weather, and many more. Take a look at all of our packing guides!