The Casual Travelist Turns 7 – Another Year of Adventure (Mostly) Near and (A Little) Afar

Suffice to say 2020 did not turn out the way any of us imagined. The pandemic turned our world upside down and social issues made us take a painful look in the mirror. This time last year I was expecting 2020 to be my best year yet here at The Casual Travelist. I had trips planned to the Yucatan and Scotland, as well as campaigns and partnerships here in the US but the pandemic kept me homebound. 2020 may not have been the year I wanted, but this year more than most I am grateful for what I have. I’m still amazed with the opportunities I’ve been provided thanks to this blog and thanks to you guys that have decided to join me over these past 7 years. Let’s take a look at what I did in 2020.

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I travelled (just not nearly as much as I would have liked).

I started the year off as I normally would with a few trips. My first trip was a romantic getaway to the Omni Homestead in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western Virginia. Steve and I spent the weekend skiing, spa-ing and supping in this grand dame of a hotel. A few short weeks later I joined my friend Tamara of We 3 Travel for a girls weekend in Gulf Shores, Alabama. We found powder soft white sand beaches, amazing food and breathtaking sunsets.

Close to home

Shortly after my Alabama trip the world shut down as Covid-19 spread like wildfire. Working as a physical therapist in an outpatient setting I was not on the front lines but I was able to provide support to those that were. When I wasn’t working I took the advice to stay at home seriously. When my front door closed other doors opened, this time at home allowed me to try some things I’d been wanting to try as well as discovering a few ways to simplify the way I had been living.

I started a food blog!

I’ve always been a prolific home cook and had toyed with the idea of starting a food blog for a while. The downtime at home gave me the time to set up the site and start writing up some of my favorite recipes. I hope you join me over at the Casual Foodist where you can find some of my favorite recipes like Smoky Beer Cheese Dip and drinks like Cranberry Gin Fizz.

I wore a lot less makeup and a lot more yoga pants

Being at home and not really seeing anyone other than Steve I got out of the habit of wearing makeup every day. As I started to venture out masked up I would occasionally wear eye shadow and mascara but overall I’ve saved a ton of money on makeup. Also when my gym was closed at the beginning of the pandemic I shifted my fitness focus to strength based yoga and I’ve been very impressed what a good workout I can get without any gym equipment.

We renovated our house

This was planned before the shutdown but we did some major renovations to Casa de Casual Travelist. All new hardwood floors downstairs, remodeling our staircase, new paint and lights in the dining room and new tile around our fireplace made such an impact on the look and feel of our house. If you have to spend that much time at home you might as well love the way it looks, right?

I finally started to venture out again

I largely stayed home most of the summer, venturing out to the beach only on weekdays to avoid the crowds. Come fall I was in need of a getaway but I wanted to do it smartly. We opted for smaller inns over hotels, traveling during the week and activities where we could easily social distance. We enjoyed two trips, one focusing on hiking in Shenandoah National Park (where I plan to spend more time in the spring), and another trip to find some new to us wineries in Virginia Wine Country near Charlottesville (expect more wine country posts shortly!).

Again, I am eternally grateful you have decided to join me on my little corner of the internet and I hope your 2021 is filled with love, happiness and adventure.