The Best of Travel in 2020

The Best of Travel in 2020 sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it? What travel was there in 2020? And how could there be any "best of?" I've mentioned in my last post that I originally thought that 2020 was going to be one of my best years of international travel yet - we had trips planned to Norway, the Netherlands, Nova Scotia and a cruise of the Greek Islands. Of course, that didn't happen but I did manage to sneak in a bit of travel, albeit much closer to home. So here's some of the "best of" 2020:

February

Before the corona virus was a glimmer in anyone's eye here in the Southeastern US, we took a trip to southern Florida for the purpose of scattering my mother and father in law's ashes. It was a family trip for a long weekend with good weather and I think, for such a somber occasion, it was still quite the success. We rented an air bnb in Fort Myers, Florida that fit the 7 of us and we had two "scattering of the ashes" ceremonies along with some meals out and visits with friends. 

June

Jump ahead to June and a road trip around the South for the purpose of visiting a couple of retirement communities that I deemed the Tour de Lakes (the two retirement communities we looked at were located on lakes) I felt safe as most of our travel was just the two of us and mostly outdoors. We stayed at a cabin resort and an air bnb that were both safely no contact and had kitchens so we could cook in. We rented boats on two of the three lakes we visited and explored  several state parks seeing very few visitors with the exception of Cloudland Canyon in Georgia which was quite crowded. 

August

Way back at the beginning of the year we managed to score a flight to Denver for a bargain basement price of $100 round trip. I couldn't book it fast enough! We kept an eye out on cases and risks, and decided we felt safe enough to go. The trip was planned to avoid people - other than our son and daughter in law - as much as possible.

 We spent the two weekends visiting with them and when they were at work during the week in between, we headed north through the wide open spaces of Wyoming heading to Park City, Utah. We had visited southern Utah before but not explored the northern part. What an incredibly beautiful area! We visited Little Cottonwood Canyon, Big Cottonwood Canyon, Antelope Island State Park and marveled at Sundance Resort. There will be lots more to come on this in the future but suffice it to say it was a definite favorite place to visit.

September

Mr. UR found out in August that he needed to take a portion of his vacation days by October 1. So we scrambled to plan a close to home road trip. We had a deep sea fishing trip planned for the first weekend in October so we decided to do a coastal trip starting in southern Georgia and visit some places we had never been before. We started in St. Simon's Island for a day and then headed over to Jekyll Island. The plan was to then take the ferry to Cumberland Island - a barrier island off the coast of Georgia with limited accommodations and deserted beaches - but thunderstorms threw that plan awry. (Luckily, we were able to reschedule for the end of March)

 After that we rented an Air bnb off the coast of South Carolina on Seabrook Island and enjoyed the kayaks and bicycles that came with it. We also tried out a new to us winery and brewery  (with outside seating)on John's Island and finally visiting the famous Angel Oak there. Our next stop was a Travel Zoo deal on Litchfield Beach - just south of Myrtle - with an off season beachfront hotel room for $79. Which then had us landing in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina for our deep sea fishing trip and a fun day exploring Morehead City. This trip proves that  you can still see new places close to home and safely, with some precautions.

For a year with a pandemic, including lockdowns, I was pleased we were able to go anywhere. Almost all of our travels were heavily concentrated on the outdoors and I felt safe everywhere that we went with the exception of a few crowded spots - but only a few. As I look back on it, I feel quite lucky that my travels turned out so fantastically and I am beyond grateful that my family and friends are all safe. And I'm looking hopefully towards travel in 2021!

Starting off the year linking up with: My Corner of the World at Photographing New Zealand!