This first-time trip to Seattle featured a stay at the Sorrento Hotel with visits to iconic attractions like Pike Place Market and the Space Needle with a last-minute whale-watching tour to the San Juan Islands, plus an overnight trip to Portland, Oregon.

I never thought I would like Las Vegas, back in a time when I didn’t understand casinos, the games, the way it all worked, and just how glamorous they could be. This wasn’t our first time in Las Vegas, but in some ways, it seemed like an age since we were there last; yet, when the iconic strip rolled by outside the windows of the Bellagio limousine, the rush of familiarity melted the time away.

On my last day in Hawaii, I decided to get on a standup paddleboard for the first time and paddle out into the lagoon….

A first-time visit to Long Island and the Hamptons in June including a weekend at the Manhattan Waldorf Astoria, a drive through the Hamptons to the Lighthouse at the tip of Montauk, followed by another scenic drive through the northeastern wine country to Greenport.