October | 2026 | MarkandJim.com

A wonderful visit in San Francisco with my brother John and his family: Ava, me, Jasmine, Alma, John, Jim, Nico

We usually spend July and August traveling, in order to escape the brutal New York heat and humidity. But this year we did things a bit differently because we’ve so badly wanted to spend time in Southern Italy, which is lovely in the early fall but unbearably hot in summer.

So we divided the “summer” into two pieces — July in Bali and September/October in Southern Italy.

That left us about a six-week gap in August and early September. And somehow that gap got jam-packed with domestic travel opportunities — to Delaware, Vermont, Michigan, and California — that we somehow couldn’t say no to. It’s made for a pretty crazy year (and possibly just too much travel!) but I guess that’s what we like to do.

In mid-August we did a little three-day journey to Delaware to visit our friends Dan and Lorraine at their beach cottage. Their place is in the lovely town of Lewes, just north of the much busier and more chaotic Rehoboth. Quite a few political types from Washington, DC have places in Lewes, and we really enjoy spending time with Dan and Lorraine and their super interesting friends in that community.

On previous trips to Lewes we’ve rented a car in New York and driven down, though we really hate the drive out of and back into NYC — as well as the two hours on the dense New Jersey freeways. So this time we took the Amtrak train from Penn Station to Wilmington, then rented a car for the shorter and relatively relaxing journey across Delaware to Lewes. Big improvement!

We had a lovely time on the beach with Dan & Lorraine — until a little rainstorm came out of nowhere and chased us away

Our next trip was supposed to be to Michigan to visit my parents. We got to LaGuardia airport nice and early that morning but soon got word of a 20-minute flight delay. It had the ominous tones of bigger problems, and the next few hours produced extended delays over and over, as we watched dreary clouds move into the city. At one point Jim said, “Why don’t they just cancel it?” About 60 seconds later we each got the text message that indeed the flight was just plain canceled.

American Airlines offered new flight options starting the next day, but we were unable to do anything but reschedule the trip for two weeks later, because we had a trip to Vermont in the mean time. It was really the first time in all my travels that a flight got canceled and there was simply no way to re-book anything without postponing the whole trip. But in truth, we went to Michigan two weeks later and found ourselves kind of happy to be there then and not have the whole visit already long over with!

It’s been almost a year since my mom had a stroke, which has left her bed-ridden. After several months in a hospital, a rehab hospital, and two nursing homes, we were able to get her back home with excellent full-time care. It’s so much better to see her there! And she always seems thrilled to see us when we visit.

The other thrill of visiting my parents was hanging out with the friendliest cat in the world, who just appeared out of nowhere recently

An amazing sunset just up the road from my parents’ farm

The poor kitty when everyone has gone inside!

Our Vermont visit was built around our friend and former business partner, Nathaniel, who hosts an annual bonfire at his family farm. He always has 2 or 3 dozen interesting people from various parts of his life. People have meals together, engage in various sports and entertainments, and crash on couches or in tents or cute cabins. On Saturday night there is a huge bonfire.

The accommodation options being a little rustic for me, we actually stayed in a boutique hotel in nearby Hanover, New Hampshire. We enjoyed the little glimpse of the town and the Dartmouth college campus. And we greatly enjoyed spending time with Nathaniel and his interesting and eclectic set of friends. We attended the bonfire about 16 years ago, and were glad to make it back again after all that time. After a couple days there, we then traveled to central Vermont to spend a couple days at a really posh inn called Twin Farms. The trip gave us some really nice exposure to beautiful Vermont, a state I hadn’t spent much time in.

Jim relaxes by the pond at Nathaniel’s family farm

Nathaniel is truly a Renaissance man with a very wide variety of hobbies. In recent years he has built a 7-mile long 18-hole disc golf course through the woods of the farm. It was incredible!

Nathaniel just starting the fire that a few hours later would be a massive bonfire. Note the gigantic circle of wood around the perimeter. We would be feeding that fire for hours from wood cut to make the disc golf course.

The raging fire later that evening, as the guests toss endless logs and branches in to feed it. It turns out: It’s really fun to burn things!

Wandering around the pretty Dartmouth campus

Biking near Twin Farms

Relaxing by a cozy fire at Twin Farms

Another fun way to get around the property at Twin Farms

The last trip squeezed in between Bali and Italy was to Northern California. We planned this trip a long time ago in order to attend the opening night of our friend Thea Musgraves’ opera, Mary Queen of Scots at the San Francisco Opera. A big group of friends joined Thea at the opening in London last year when the English National Opera staged the show. And now the same production was moving to San Francisco.

Since we were flying across the country we decided to add a few days outside of San Francisco someplace. Our theater producer friend Jacob has a winery in Napa Valley and also runs Hollywood & Vine, which brings Broadway stars to perform concerts there. A great singer was performing, so we got tickets and booked three days in San Francisco and three days in Napa.

Incredible redwoods at Big Sur

A couple weeks before the trip we got an apologetic email that the singer had to postpone his appearance in Napa. While a bit disappointed, we re-thought the trip and decided to go to Big Sure instead, someplace we’ve never been. Suddenly we were even more excited about the trip.

Then as we arrived at Big Sur we heard worrisome news from the San Francisco Opera. Their orchestra was on strike! They ended up working out a deal to end the strike before we got to San Francisco, but it was too late to rehearse and pull off opening night of the opera. So that got canceled, too. So our big music-driven trip to California ended up entirely music-less.

Hardly a problem. We spent three days in stunning Big Sur. We visited some friends in San Francisco. And we spent lots of great time with my brother John and his family in San Francisco. It just so happened to be the weekend of John’s block party, one of his favorite events of the year. John sets up an amazing wine bar in his driveway under a canopy of palm trees, and many of his extended family and friends gather and celebrate. It was a super fun time! Who needs to get dressed up and go to the opera anyhow?

And now that all that travel is out of the way, we’ve just arrived in Italy, so stay tuned.