Beyond the Postcards

The day of the dead - México

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

墨西哥亡灵节 Oct 25 - Nov 3, 2025

I have been planning this trip for many months. I first heard about it from a friend’s social media post. I immediately got interested in it. Later, people told me about the cartoon Coco. After watching it, my excitement went up! I want to experience that celebration.

I planned way ahead, but made big changes towards the end when the date of the big parade got changed from Nov 2nd to Nov 1st. We wasted more than $200 on the buses, plus changed almost all hotel bookings. :( Well, that is part of the planning I guess.

Yosemite 优胜美地国家公园

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Sep 18 - 28, 2025

I had the idea of going somewhere in Sep. I thought about going to the country of Georgia, but due to many reasons, I ended up planning a trip to Yosemite and some other places nearby. It turned out that I really really needed this break. But, I will see if I can truly unplug from my life in NOVA for a week.

心里早就想九月出去玩，本来想去格鲁吉亚，但种种原因，最后决定转几个国家公园。最近工作上有复杂的事情处理，希望这周假期可以放松换个心情。

Sep 18, 2025 flew to Fresno. Uneventful.

A weekend at Lake Anna

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Aug 15-17, 2025

Even though it is not a rule, but I just feel like we need to do something different each month, especially in Aug, our anniversary month. Then I got this idea about camping and fishing. When I saw there was a yurt in Lake Anna state park, I booked it right away, and tasked Erik to plan the rest. :)

闲不住的我总要计划些什么才觉得踏实，前几个月去了丹佛、在大雾山看了萤火虫、去了海边儿两次，八月做啥呢？去露营钓鱼吧！安娜湖，离家不远，还能体验蒙古包👍 于是我订了帐篷，剩下的就交给老艾去计划了：）

Aug 15, 2025 First night 第一晚入住

Bolivia 玻利维亚之天空之镜

Tue, 11 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Feb 11-20, 2025

Another one on my list for a long time. I finally got to it. It is planned to be a more relaxed easy trip: La Paz for couple of days, join a tour for three days in Uyuni, then back to La Paz. Looking forward to the local culture and the beautiful nature Bolivia has to offer!

听说玻利维亚的天空之镜好久了，雨季1-3月。总是觉得刚从国内回来不久就又出去，有些匆忙，但该走的旅途还是要踏上的啊，期待…

Feb 11, 2025 Fly to La Paz 飞拉巴斯

Fall in Pocono Mountain 还是去吧，秋之旅

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Oct 11 - 19, 2024

年中工作有变动，几个月出差近十次，弄的我筋疲力竭，也忙的我没时间计划我们的旅游，本来想出国的，但想起来就累，也就打算十月不出去了。可看着网上秋色的美，忍不住啊。心血来潮，问老艾要不要远程工作一周，去北边儿呆几天，他说：“为啥不？” 呵呵…他最了解我…就这样，我看了看叶子红的时间，宾夕法尼亚北，我们出发了。

Oct 11 周五

大周五的还很忙，一直工作到5点我们才出发，晚上到酒店，又加班儿。睡觉想的是工作，一早起来还是工作…

Oct 12 周六

离目的地还有2个半小时的车程，本想早出发，但有老艾的生活节奏不是中国人的节奏，是老艾的节奏，收拾完出发11点了。

老样子，我开车，他找地儿吃饭、看路线。想不出吃什么，但不想吃我们经常吃的，我说要不然找个地儿名字以A开头，明天找个以B开头…他便找了一家叫ABE的三明治小店，在拜登出生的小镇。好吃吗？一般。价钱呢？超级贵。$45吃了两个很一般的三明治，一小杯鸡汤，一份红薯条。老艾很少对餐厅有不好的评价，这一次都吐了真言…A餐厅体验不好，是不是明儿就不去B了？

越往北开，叶子颜色越多，快到我们的目的地，已经是满眼秋色了。每年都拍很多照，这次决定少拍、多欣赏，像老艾学习。

我们到Lake Wallenpaupack 湖边的Shuman’s point trial 徒步了一圈，又去了很短的Lake Wallenpaupack trial看了日落，就回酒店住下了。加班、计划了一下明天做啥…

Oct 13 周日

下了一天的雨，乡间小路开了一天的车，沉浸在满满的秋色中，太满足了…

虽是无意，但找了一家以B开头的越南小馆Ba&Me. 一看菜单，品种极少，价格很贵，但老艾说既来之则安之。我俩都点了牛肉越南粉，天冷喝碗汤面想着就舒服，可是，他们竟然没有牛肉！越南粉诶…我们没吃离开了。B也失败了，只有C, cook, 自己做了 😟。边看橄榄球，边吃我们带的空气炸锅烤的鸡翅，上好的选择👍

Utah 犹他州

Mon, 20 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This wasn’t a planned trip for this year. But since I have a business trip to Utah, and we already got a national park pass, it became a good idea to explore Utah’s parks!

犹他州出差，提前一周和老艾过去游玩儿

May 19, 2024 Home to Bryce

Four hours of flight, four hours of driving and about four miles of hiking were a good start for this trip. Somehow there was miscommunication that Erik thought it was a vacation, but it was actually an Utah boot camp trip. Erik wanted to call it a death march, but I think he was exaggerating it and negative thinking is not good for us.🤭

New Mexico, the Wilderness April 19-27

Sat, 20 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Several years ago, a picture of the wilderness in northern New Mexico on the internet caught my eye. Wow, What a world is that? I needed to be there!

Our week long trip to New Mexico begins today, to see white sands national park and will spend more time than Erik wants in the wilderness.

几年前一张新墨西哥西北荒原的照片引起了我的兴趣，这种地方我要去看！

几年后，终于安排去新墨西哥了，4月19-27号，去看几个国家公园，再去荒原徒步，我期待! 老艾嘛…

April 19, 2024 Home to Albuquerque

We had late flight today. By the time we checked into our hotel, it was after the midnight. Tired…

Turks and Caicos - Feb 2024

Sat, 17 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

特克斯和凯科斯群岛潜水游 2024年2月

2024, we wanted to have a dive trip. For some reason I thought we dived last year in 2023, but I was wrong. That was Jan 2022 in Virgin Islands. Oh well. I was looking at Cayman Islands this time, but the plane tickets to Turks and Caicos were more attractive, so here we are. This is our second trip to Turks and Caicos. Last time was in 2006, 18 years ago when I got my diving license.

Home with Mom & Dad❤️

Mon, 20 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Wherever mom and dad are, it’s called home, and it is even better when your home is in Florida while it is November.

Nov 17-18, 2023 Orlando

Erik and I arrived Friday hungry. Both of us felt Crazy Buffet sounded really good and it didn’t disappoint us. This Chinese buffet was literally called Crazy Buffet. With $19 per person, it had everything you could think of on a Chinese buffet, and everything tasted delicious.

Fall Foliage: New Hampshire (Oct 6 - 12, 2023)

Sat, 07 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

After last year’s fall trip to West Virginia, I decided the best leaves were from New England. Couple months before, I booked the trip, White Mountain it is for 2023.

又到秋天看红叶的季节了。红叶还是要到北边看，几个月前我就订好了，今年目的地-新罕布什尔州的白山。

Oct 6, 2023 Arriving in Boston

Instead of driving for 10 hours each way, we agreed on flying this year and rent a car. The trip to the north did seem a lot easier for our older bodies. ☺️

Road Trip Around Iceland 向往已久的环冰岛之旅

Sun, 18 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Jun 17 - Jul 1, 2023

We planned to go to Iceland in 2020 but Covid hit. In 2021, the day before my visa interview, I was informed that they stopped issuing visa again due to rising covid cases. Now it is the 3rd time and it is HAPPENING!

However it wouldn’t happen without covid story. Three years, others were getting covid. I was in China during the time almost everyone had it. We both survived the whole time. Three weeks prior to our trip, I got covid and Erik got covid and we didn’t know where it came from🤔. Timing couldn’t be more perfect. Protection preparation before the trip! :)

Georgia Road Trip 佐治亚州自驾

Sat, 18 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

After I came back from China, I wanted to go somewhere else for fun. Nothing happened during the long weekend in Jan because it was too late to plan. It wasn’t early to plan anything for Feb with a reasonable price either, but when I saw the article about 7 wonders in Georgia, I knew we were going.

Read some articles about each wonder. I decided we didn’t need to plan too much, but just go…

A Journey to Home in China。最美逆行者

Tue, 13 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Covid had changed our lives and it prevented me from going home for more than three years. During the past three years, my hope of going back has been up and down with Covid news and policies in China. Fear has been built up with disappearing hope. Fear of the unknown, the uncertainty, and a country that I no longer understand.

疫情三年，三年半没回家了，上次回去还是2019年的夏天。疫情这三年使我对这个国家越来越陌生，熟悉的只有视频中父母的笑脸。每每提到回国，心里就充满了向往和恐惧，想回去吗？说不清楚…

I began to find excuses not to go back. I prayed to God to give me peace for a decision when it is the right time. God’s timing is definitely NOT our timing. While I was refusing, Sunday Dec 4th, God put this idea in my head to go back in Dec, NOW! In less than 30 mins, I was convinced and felt peace with the decision. Unbelievable…BOOM! Bought the one way ticket the same day leaving in 6 days!

Fall Foliage 2022 繁忙的十月

Sat, 22 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

I fell in love with fall foliage in recent years. After a trip to NY and VT for the past two years, I began to wonder where we should go for 2022. Checked couple places far away, but, why not West Virginia？今年看红叶，咱就家门口吧：西佛吉尼亚

Like always, I read many blogs. For my travel style, I.e., wanting to go as many places as possible, this one was not easy. The leaves are not turning their colors at the same time! 这次攻略不好做，因为叶子变颜色的时间不同。从北到南，有早有晚。为了一次尽量都看了，我决定快到十月中去，这样可以看月初红叶的尾巴，月中红叶的极至…

Pacific Northwest Road Trip

Tue, 07 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

俄勒冈州之开车旅行：俄勒冈7大景观+几个周边国家公园

Jun 3 - 20, 2022 Erik & Jeri

A Pinterest article about 7 wonders of Oregon caught my eyes and that is where we will go next! While gas price is super high, Jeri is planning a road trip :)

We planned to take a longer time off since we both could work remotely. We can drive some and work some, but, the free time ended up with being filled up with more FUN, as usual!

About

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Welcome to Beyond the Postcards — a travel blog about the places, people, and moments that don’t fit on a postcard.