White Sulphur Springs, Framily Trip 2020

I think there’s a debate how many years we have been doing this trip. I thought it as five, but maybe its six. Regardless its a favorite. We manage to get away to White Sulphur Spring, West Virginia every summer for a long weekend. We all enjoy doing the same staple things every time, time at the pool up top the mountain, one evening getting all dolled up and heading to the Greenbrier, one nice home cooked meal (thanks Em), put put (too late at night for me) and lots of quality time. This year it was fun to end the trip adding hopefully another tradition to the mix, listening to our friends from the band Lucy play us a few of their songs.

Lake Michigan | 2020

In a surprisingly good turn of events amidst these stay home/quarantine times during covid-19, Ryan and myself found we had a long weekend off together after his scheduled drill weekend was canceled. Originally, we had plans to go stay at my favorite interior designer/nursing school bestie’s lake house in Michigan a few weeks ago and had to cancel due to Michigans strict rules of no travel at the time. Now with this new time off together, I checked with her if the lake house was open; AND IT WAS, cue the happy dance. With Michigan lifting their strict travel ban, we headed north to go spend some quality isolation/stay home time but with a change of scenery…(one with a view). Brittanys lake house sits right on Lake Michigan in an area called Lake Leelanau on Michigans famous Highway 22. We really enjoyed lounging around and cozying up by the wood burning fire while also supporting locally and ordering some of the areas best take out food. For two days in a row we went about 30 minutes north just past Northport and hiked a really easy 1 mile hike to the shoreline to go play on the sand dunes. The first day was pretty foggy with little visibility and the next day was bright sun, which made for two completely different experiences despite “doing” the same thing. We are home now and so glad we took the leap to take the long drive north.

We can’t express how thankful we are to have had the opportunity to get away while still feeling safely socially distanced. If the house catches your attention, check out Brittanys interior design services over at Will+Blu, she has always been my go to inspiration on styling my home and can’t recommend her enough.

Boho Box | Hocking Hills

For Valentines Day, I reached out to my best friend Emily and check if her airbnb rental, the Boho Box, was available for a couple nights. Sure enough it was, so my sister took the toddlers and we headed southeast with the baby for a couple days to rest and unwind. If you haven’t heard of The Box Hop, you’re missing out. These dreamy shipping container rentals are located just 45 minutes away from Columbus. Once there you are a short drive from all the Hocking Hills attractions. This getaway we ventured over to Ash Cave. To get to the cave/waterfalls is a short easy hike from parking. Guys, this place was awesome. The waterfall was full from rain all week and since it was the middle of the week in the winter, there was no one around. So naturally I set up my tripod and made Ryan and Baby boy take a million pictures. While at the container we did a lot of normal day to day things, made food, (pancakes for breakfast & heart shaped pizzas for dinner) watched TV and SLEPT, slept IN might I add. To top off all the ways to relax and unplug, there is one king size bed, hot tub, and huge soaking tub.