Our Return to San Diego!

Two years was WAY too long to go without visiting California, and certainly too long to not see the Needhams! But we made up for as much as we could, with all the classic activities and photos.

We had a couple of days before the Seattle contingent arrived, which we spent enjoying the Fallbrook property, hitting the beach (fabulous waves!), and hanging with the Lyons gals.

From then on it was Cousins Club in full swing!

Everyone but me went whale watching - no whales sighted, but an acrobatic pod of dolphins entertained!

Meanwhile I caught up with Jen and Jill, which was wonderful!

We of course hit Old Town - and Cousins Candy! We also returned to the beach - more great waves! - and shopped in La Jolla, watched Olympics, dined on many sumptuous meals, and even enjoyed a gorgeous pool on our last day.

As always, it flew by - but many memories were made! (Watch “The Moose Man” for some nostalgia.)

Seymours Go West, Part Three: Park City

Being the brilliant travel planner that he is, Tim knew we would be ready for civilization and city offerings - so we ended our trip in Park City! We stayed at an absolutely gorgeous and spacious three-bedroom condo in the heart of a ski village (with laundry!). Here we rested, reconnected with WiFi, swam, and lounged. It was glorious!

We went into the city for dinner both nights, as well as lunch on Saturday. Plenty of great offerings, and it was clear Park City is a summer destination, too!

Our favorite meal was the tapas spot Tim identified for our first night. After a few days of mediocre dining in Yellowstone, we relished every morsel - as Laura and Danny illustrate!

From here we had to bid farewell to Tim, who headed back to reality in the ATL while we headed to San Diego. It was a wild and wonderful family vacation, perhaps slightly more cherished as we get ready to send Clare to college!

Seymours Go West, Part Two: Yellowstone

Yellowstone was much more varied in landscape than the Grand Tetons - and more challenging to capture in photos, too. So much of what we saw is hopefully etched in our memories, because I don’t have decent photos of everything! For example, the Old Faithful Inn where we spent our first night inside the park. After exploring some of the *many* thermal features, we made our way to the most famous of them all, Old Faithful. We checked in to the hotel, and managed to snag seats on the terrific upper-level deck overlooking the geyser, just 20 minutes before it went off. We saw it go off again later that evening, and then again the next morning, where I grabbed the above photo. 

When I say there are a lot of thermal features in Yellowstone, that is a bit of an understatement. Some of them were eerily beautiful, such as the prismatic pool above. Many others were referred to as “gunk holes” by Laura. Most all of them smelled pretty bad. Oddly enough, bison really seemed to flock to these areas, which baffled us given the many other, much more scenic options.

Chief among the scenery was Artist’s Point, in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Just wow! A stunning waterfall surrounded by majestic canyon walls on either side - we could have gazed at this all day (too bad “Beed’s bored”). Well worth the steep hike!

From here we headed into the Lamar Valley, hoping to see wildlife. We were rewarded with sightings of elk crossing a distant river, and hundreds of bison!

These rapids were a nice respite from the heat, and obviously lovely!



Despite fellow travelers assuring us that the water was frigid, these three weren’t going to be satisfied until they swam in Yellowstone Lake. They frankly made it farther than I guessed they would! 

As we drove back to the (spartan - no TVs or Wi-Fi, only so-so food) hotel that second night, we saw a bear! (No photos.) We also saw the same elk we saw at the start of our day. This guy really liked this same location! The kids and I got up extra early the next morning to try to add to our wildlife viewing tally, but didn’t see much else. Watching the sun rise as we drove was worth the wake-up, however!

Seymours Go West, Part One: Jackson, WY

The larger the occasion (and quantity of photos), the longer I procrastinate on posting about it. An adventure this big calls for multiple posts, for sure! So we begin with our first leg, Jackson, WY (by way of Salt Lake City).

After making the lovely but lengthy drive from SLC to Jackson, we very much enjoyed a relaxing evening at our rental townhouse with a picnic and stunning views. We were looking at the next day’s adventures: hiking in Grand Teton National Park.

I knew we would be doing some hiking, but in retrospect I don’t think even Tim - who painstakingly planned our entire trip - realized quite how much walking we’d do. We started off with a bang, taking the ferry across Jenny Lake to explore Hidden Falls, Inspiration Point and the Cathedral Group. Absolutely breathtaking, all of it!

Hidden Falls



Inspiration Point

Cathedral Group

All told, we hiked at least 10 miles - more for Tim, Danny and Clare who hikes around the lake rather than taking the return ferry as Laura and I (wisely) did! As a result, we very much enjoyed a nice dinner at a local Jackson restaurant that night.

The next day we divided and conquered: I went rafting with the big kids, while Tim and Laura went exploring Grand Teton Village’s gondola. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed their outings - and kudos to first-time rafters Clare and Danny for their excellent front row paddling (coached by our awesome guide, Athena). Laura and Tim even saw a baby moose!

After a leisurely afternoon back at the townhouse, we headed into town for souvenir shopping and another good dinner.

The next day we headed to Yellowstone, but Clare persuaded us to do one more hike through the Tetons en route. We chose the reasonably short trail around Taggart Lake, and it did not disappoint!

Next up: Yellowstone!

Tooth Fairy Chronicles Continued

True to form, Laura wrote another illustrated note to the Tooth Fairy upon losing a tooth! We love this series!

Fourth of July, 2021

Overall, it was a relatively low-key holiday weekend. But we did manage to get out of the house, which is more than we can say about last year!

Saturday, Tim persuaded us to drive to Athens to visit UGA, since after living in Atlanta for 16 years, none of us had ever been. Especially given that many of Clare’s friends are headed there this fall, it was fun to get a visual of the campus. We probably were not the most reverent of visitors…but we enjoyed ourselves!

Sunday, the 4th, we had a very relaxing day and then headed to 6pm mass before trying a new tapas restaurant for dinner (primarily because our usual spot was booked). We had a great dinner, and then headed home for traditional sparklers and dessert: Clare’s Firecracker Cake!

Laura has always loved this holiday, and donned her most festive attire. She also grabbed her sparklers with total ease, which was a vast improvement over the major tentativeness of last year!

A lot to celebrate, as usual!