Our annual winter cabin visit was just as cozy as last year's. Funny enough, winter is definitely the "slow season" on Lookout Mountain. The area is very active in the fall, summer, and spring. The winter, however, does not draw in as many visitors which always shocks me as it is my favorite time of year to visit! Perhaps it's because we are coming from Michigan rather than the Southeast (where most of the travelers in the area reside). Winter on the mountain consists of crisp mornings, temperate (50s-60s) afternoons, and beautiful early sunsets (we love that we could catch them just before it's time to put Brooks to bed!)

We recently returned home from our second time snowbirding in 30a! We stayed for one month (spending one of the those weeks at the cabin in GA). We cherished each day down South as a family. Brooks absolutely LOVED playing in the sand. Each time we went to the beach, he would squirm in my arms the minute we crossed the walkover and could see the sand, eager to get down and play! He could play on the beach for hours. I'm pretty sure he crawled several miles during this trip!

Ty here. My favorite annual post (and only consistent contribution to the blogosphere other than editing) as become somewhat of a fan favorite...yes, I am looking at all 11 of you who have told me you look forward to this post each year. Post Brooks, I did not think we'd be able to make it to as many coffee shops, ut we surprised ourselves. With Hannah's new role, there was much more travel and plenty of opportunities for new additions to the list! This year, we tried 45 new coffee shops. As always, any shop on this list must be a new addition to our repertoire; we try to avoid repeats! And with that, here we go…

Wintering down South has been a goal of Ty and I's for years. There are many things we love about Michigan...mainly, our families and the summer and fall seasons. The winters, however, are grueling. While we invite the white fluffy snow for Christmas, we would like to bid it goodbye shortly after! Once February rolls around, we long for sunshine and outdoors, as many Michiganders do! We were incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to spend 6 weeks of this past winter down in Florida! This was something we had worked so hard for. The idea of getting to enjoy the outdoors in the winter is a driving force behind our business. It's this goal that has motivated us to create a life with more location independence! We recorded a new podcast about our WHY as to embarking on the snowbirding lifestyle. and more on why we selected this particular location!

This post is long overdue, but who's keep tracking except Hannah and I ? (and my mom, probably!). We ventured back to the beautiful state of California for our baby moon--and spent a week at an incredible AIRBNB in Corona Del Mar, walkable to coffee, restaurants, shops, and most importantly, the pacific ocean! We walked all over Corona Del Mar (CDM is a neighborhood within Newport Beach), choosing a slower paced vacation than usual--featuring a lot of beach time, walking every neighborhood we could, and trying a plethora of new coffee shops and eateries. The sauntering was just what we needed to gear up for the super busy summer season which commenced right upon our return.

We love to make a good travel guide...we felt it was about time we do a travel guide for Lookout Mountain/Chattanooga! We had an amazing week at the cabin this January and enjoyed relaxing and taking it the solitude. The cabin is booking up quickly for the Spring! In preparation for the upcoming Spring and Summer seasons, we are sharing our favorite things to do near the cabin! Link to rental here

On the way down to Florida, we spent some time at the cabin (VRBO link here). It was our first time visiting the cabin "for fun." We had been once to tour the cabin when it was for sale, and then twice furnishing the home in preparation for renters. This was our first time visiting for enjoyment. We did do some small maintenance projects and ran a few errands, but overall, we got to take in the peaceful views and enjoy time as a family. Bringing Brooks to the cabin for the first time felt nothing short of monumental; we will truly cherish these memories! We hope for the cabin to be a place that we will make many memories in for years to come. That reality sunk in, envisioning our future...family hikes, kids playing ping pong in the basement, board games overlooking the mountains. It felt like a first of many family visits.

We had an unusual travel year, where we traveled to the same places multiple times, and didn't venture on any other trips, except for our baby moon to California. As such, we only hit about 30 coffee shops this year--down from probably around 75 last year! That said, we have a STRONG list of bonafide coffee shops for those local, and those traveling, too. This was also the year we hit our 200th coffee shop! Ironically, it was a mere week or two before having Brooks and we haven't gotten to add more to the list yet. Excited to do so in 2022!

In a year with an insane amount of unpredictability, one thing remained: we drank a lot of coffee. We compiled our top 10 list of best coffee shops in America for 2020. While we weren't able to "dine in" many of these establishments, we still accounted for the vibe in our scoring method. That said, as it should, the actual coffee took precedent! We did a majority of our travel this year in January and February with hopes of escaping winter. Thank goodness we did! Additionally, in the spirit of never double dipping, coffee shops listed in our 2019 and 2018 top 10 coffee shop posts have not been included.

We'd always heard the fall colors in the northeast were unparalleled; especially in Vermont. We added this trip to our bucket list a few years back, and when the opportunity came, we jumped at it! We didn't have an abundant amount of time, so we had to be strategic in our planning of this road trip. The fall colors exceeded both of our expectations and made for an incredible fall foliage excursion out east!

Big Sky is a place that exudes serenity. It's hard not to slow down and to take in the 360 degree views of mountains, pines, and you guessed it--a sky as blue and beautiful as it is big. We scooted away for the Labor Day weekend, and were able to drive an hour down to Yellowstone and The Grand Tetons as well! It's a road trip that EVERYONE must do. These national parks are as good as it gets!

We recently embarked on a little road trip to 30a, Florida. We blogged a 30a travel guide here. As described in our travel guide, 30a is truly a special place, especially for anyone with a deep love for home design! The curated neighborhoods, unique architecture, and West Indie color schemes are unexplainably dreamy. Today, we're sharing a few snippets of our most recent trip. Honestly, we love this place so much that we want to share it with everyone, while simultaneously want to keep it a complete secret so that it doesn't get too busy, ha! One of these days I may delete all 30a content for that selfish reason. TBD. she types while laughing nervously

Like many of you, this year our Spring Break trip has been cancelled. We are truly disappointed, but understand the rationale. That said, we had the incredible chance to spend a week on three separate occasions in my former home of Rosemary Beach, Florida last year. I was fortunate to live there while in college studying at Florida State, often making the commute to campus. I couldn't wait to share this place with which I have been able to enjoy since birth with Hannah, and a few years ago, we made our first trip here together. Needless to say, Hannah fell head over heels in love!

The second largest American state, Texas, is an underrated place. Fun fact, my beautiful wife used to live in Dallas way back in 2015. Things have changed, and DTX is on the up and up from eats to coffee and more. And trust us when we say, it really is bigger in Texas, y’all!

One of our greatest pleasures is waking up while on the road and finding a local cup of coffee. It's about so much more than the jolt of caffeine to get us up and going. It's the experience that makes one feel as if they are living amongst a new city, with new people--immersed fully into another's scope and experience. We love a great cold brew or americano with oat milk, don't get me wrong--and that's mostly what this list is about. However, a coffee shop that offers a welcoming aesthetic that is customer centric and people-forward helps it climb the ranks in our books.

Since 2017, we've visited 140 coffee shops. We made a top 10 post in January of 2019 that covered our top 10 shops from our first two years of searching. This new list adds an additional 10 coffee shops, all of which we visited in 2019.

Believe it or not, in first place, we had a tie. We couldn't decide which was first.

When it came to planning our trip to Hawaii, we were as overwhelmed as could be. Which island(s) should we go to? For how long? With so many beaches and locations to see, which were the most beautiful? Typically, we like to have at least a rough outline for our travel excursions. This time around, we decided to rely on Hannah’s aunt (a Maui resident) and gut feelings. Below, we have a step by step guide of how to do Hawaii, removing some of the confusion and clutter.

Hi, Ty here! I have to admit that one of my favorite elements of travel is when you explore a place you perceive will be average; only to have it turn out extraordinary. This was precisely the case with the beautiful, central Californian city of Santa Barbara. While on our multi-week, cross country road trip from Michigan through Arizona, up the entire coast of California, through Salt Lake City and then back home, we found Santa Barbara to be our most pleasant surprise of all! Read more to find out what made our time in SB particularly magical.

With summer in full bloom, there's no better time to explore northern Michigan. Not only will you find cute, quaint towns, you'll also find some of the best weather in the country (during the summer!). Of the many small towns we absolutely love in Michigan, Petoskey, and nearby Harbor Springs, are our favorites.

We love coffee. You love coffee. Who doesn't actually love coffee? About 5 years ago, Hannah and I set an ambitious goal of finding the "best coffee" in the USA. As such, we've traveled to 40+ states, we've tried over 100 coffee shops. (No kidding, we counted!) but now, January 2019, we feel as if we have mutually reached an agreement on the top coffee shops in America.

On Instagram last week, we chatted a little about our travel philosophy - about how we like to pack our days with activity rather than simply sitting on the beach. Typically when we travel, we leave our hotel first thing in the morning, and return late at night. We try to fill our days with activity, and often embark on “day trips” to other locales within a few hours of our hotel (like the time we went to AZ and did Phoenix, Sedona, Flagstaff, and the Grand Canyon in 3 days 😂).