2025: Year in Travel Review, Part 1

In 2025 I think I traveled more than I’ve ever traveled in my life (I feel like I was rarely home in 2025). John retired at the end of 2024 and we sort of went crazy with our new found freedom in 2025 (plus our beloved dog Mike had passed in July 2024 so we had no restrictions on planning travel – no more dog sitter needed).

We started out slow with one big trip a month and then picked up speed around May with cramming in more than one trip a month (you’ll see how crazy our summer got later in this post).

I didn’t post about all the trips – I as taking a blogging break for my mental health in the first quarter of 2025 and then I just couldn’t keep up with writing about my trips and traveling. If there is a related post I have linked it.

I’ve organized our 2025 travel summary by month and I did not include any day trips/playing tourist in Colorado for the day. We did have a lot of spontaneous day trips, especially when the weather was nice, in 2025.

January 2025

We began our year of travel with a trip to Las Vegas, Nevada so John could attend a poker tournament. I did not post about it.

Here we are on a chilly day at the top of the Strat Hotel Tower and Observation Deck in Las Vegas which has a 360 degree views of the Las Vegas Strip and surrounding areas:

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February 2025

Mid-February we headed to Phoenix, Arizona to attend QuiltCon and see some of the sights around the Phoenix area.

Post: QuiltCon February 2025, Phoenix Arizona

Visiting with designer Elizabeth Hartman (whose patterns I love) during QuiltCon:

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March 2025

In March we had a wonderful trip to the Sacramento, California region to hang out with our Northern California friends.

I didn’t post about the trip, but here is a photo from the trip during our wander around downtown Auburn, CA at the top of the stairs on the Placer County Superior Court on a gorgeous day (by the way I am not actually that much taller than John it was the angle/pose):

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April 2025

In April John traveled to Portland to visit his son; and I went to spend a couple days with my sister in Baltimore, WA on her business trip. I did not post about it.

Here I am at this amazing and legendary Italian deli/grocery store in Baltimore we ate at twice – DiPasquales Italian Market:

There was seating right in the corner of the crowded market/deli where you are crammed in with the spices and pasta while you eat! But for me nothing beats East Coast Italian food (well short of actual Italian food in Italy…) so go ahead and cram me in among the groceries!

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May 2025

In May we began having more than one big trip a month; and May was a month filled with travel to two concerts in two different parts of the US.

A trip mid May to Charlotte, North Carolina to see Joan Jett and Billy Idol in concert with North Caroline based friends: Concerting in the Carolinas and More

And then later in May, to celebrate my milestone birthday, we went to Las Vegas, Nevada and saw Bruno Mars – Birthday-ing with Bruno 

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June 2026

In June we had two EPIC roadtrips through Colorado.

Early in the month we traveled to Dillon, Glenwood Springs, Leadville and Breckenridge, Colorado – Birthday Colorado Roadtrip Part I: Glenwood Springs and Birthday Colorado Roadtrip Part II: Leadville and an Emotional “Divide”

Hundreds and hundreds of miles were traveled early in June and then if that wasn’t enough roadtripping for the month, we did a truly epic roadtrip across Colorado (like from one end of the other) in mid June (because we are truly insane…).

I never got around to posting this “across Colorado” roadtrip but in the span of a week we traveled to Pagosa Springs, Durango, Mesa Verde National Park, Four Corners National Monument (where Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico intersect), Ouray, Gunnison, and Crested Butte, Colorado. From the Denver Metro area to across the entire state and back! EPIC!!!

I do plan to write some posts in the future about this cool trip as I’d like to share some memories on my blog. It is one of my favorite roadtrips of all time…to date!

Here is one of my favorite photos from this roadtrip: John peeking in on the poker game of a group of taxidermied raccoons at a gift shop in Ouray, Colorado!

I think I will end this post before we get to July 2025 – a lot more traveling adventures to share in Part 2…