Atlas Insider
Atlas Insider: Out and About in Puerto Vallarta
For the better part of the last decade (two COVID years notwithstanding), I’ve made an annual late winter trip to Puerto Vallarta with my sister and two or three friends. We rent the same house, we spend the same amount of money (not a lot, which is one reason we keep repeating the trip) and we have the same glorious time every year.
Over the years, we’ve done a variety of things: whale-watching boat trips, jungle hikes, food tours … look, once you search for one of those things, Instagram suggests about fifty others, so there’s never a shortage of potential daredevilry and derring-do on offer (we’ve aged out of ATVs and ziplines … and maybe Instagram, if I’m being honest). But the best days are the days spent with no plans whatsoever, whether we end up never leaving our little private compound or if we just wander the streets as if we were being paid to find just one more churros stand.
My sister owns a knitting shop here (in the States, as travel sophisticates like us say), so we’ve looked every year for a Vallarta yarn store. And because of translation issues or sheer confusion on our parts, we’ve ended up in fabric stores, art supply stores and in one wonderful case, a tiny little shop that held nothing but thousands and thousands of spools of thread. But we never found a straight-up yarn shop, and finally a friend we’ve made down there confirmed that there wasn’t one for us to find.
Until now! This year was different! A little bit of sophisticated reconnaissance (read: Googling) revealed that a small yarn shop had opened during the pandemic in the Versailles area, a short taxi hop from our Alta Vista casa on the hill (JEALOUS?). My sister and I planned a day around visiting it while the others in our party were out slapping their paddles around in the icy February waters of the Pacific. (Look, I don’t care if it IS sunny Mexico. Winter is still winter, and the water ain’t fit for swimming in, temperature-wise.)
It was a nice shop—full of cotton and linen and other withering-heat-friendly yarns. I’m not sure we saw a single skein of wool, to be honest, and why would we? It was a billion degrees outside already. My sister made a few purchases (and then we strolled to the, oh, I’ll admit it: Apple Store), and for the rest of the day we felt very self-satisfied, having traveled all around the city without once getting lost or confused.
We made it home in time for naps and the delicious dinner casa cook Carmen always whips up for us. We spent most of that having the same conversation we always have when things go our way in Vallarta: why don’t we live here? I swear we have this same talk every year.
We then spend a morning gawking at real estate listing printouts plastered in realty office windows and try and figure out where the grocery store is and how we could live there without a car and oh, my sister could open a yarn store and gee, people could come visit us and stay with us and—wait a minute—not too many people, though, you know? And it feels like each year, we get closer to it, closer to calling Mom and telling her to sell all of our things and we’re not coming back, never never never, not ever are we coming back.
But we always get back on the plane. It gets tougher every year, but we always come home. Tal vez algún dia.
A Giveaway!
You CAN take it with you! Pack your yarn into our Baggu Skill Set Tote.
How to enter?
Two steps:
Step 1: Sign up for MDK emails, right here. If you’re already signed up, you’re all set. We have a new option for texting, so when you sign up for those, you’ll get a coupon code good for 10% off your next MDK order.
Step 2: Where is your regular vacation happy place? Take us there in a comment below.
Deadline for entries: Sunday, April 16, 11:59 PM Central time. We’ll draw a random winner from the entries. Winner will be notified by email.
Come Shop With Us
For our September birthdays, we always visit Harpswell, Maine for a week, where the sea, rock formations, fall gardens inspire the next fiber project.
Mayo in Ireland. My spirit home.
What is a regular vacation? We did pass thru Puerto Vallarta once on the way to a yoga retreat further down the coast. Lovely spot. Yes, why don’t you live there all the time?
De todos modos gracias por el generoso regalo!
We’ve never had a regular vacation spot as we like to see different places. We do visit SW Virginia every fall to catch up w/ relatives & old friends. The mountains offer beautiful changing leaves & some hikes that I can handle.
Bridgton, Maine or any part of Maine!
My sister moved to Bridgton and I love that whole area. Definitely one of my favorite places to visit, then off to Portland for a few days of glorious food.
Lake Tahoe, South or North Shore.
Favorite vacation place – Portland Maine and surrounding area. And yes, they do have some great LYS which I frequent every time I visit. Great food, art, local craft beer and many, many lighthouses which delight my photographer husband. It’s a win, win!
We recently moved to a wonderful new house after spending years and years in rental units. Right now my favorite place is a staycation on my screened in porch overlooking my backyard view of a tiny patch of forest.
Maureen, my family went to Bridgetown every summer in my younger years. We stayed at Adam’s Lake Cottages and loved every minute of it.
Bandon OR, home to excellent beaches, great shopping, including a yarn store! And it is just awesome and wonderful!
CapeCod, MA – Every chance and every year!
Scotland is my favorite place
Yes, it does rain every day but it’s green and there’s tea and scotch and knitting.
New Hampshire. Where my mother taught me knitting.
Try Oaxaca de Juarez for nicer weather and several yarn shops. It’s a lovely mountain town famous for textiles where I live and knit on Tuesdays at the Oaxaca Lending Library with lovely people from all over.
Popham Beach in Phippsburg, ME hands down.
Anywhere there is a golf course!
It had always been Kauai, but it sounds like we need to give Puerto Vallarta a try.
when our daughter was little, we spent time every summer in a little stone cabin at Pickett State Park in Tennessee
I like to go to Val David, a small town in the Laurentiens just north of Montreal. I’ve been 10 or 12 times for Xc skiing and once in the summer to bike. It’s beautiful, friendly and relaxing. I always think I want to move there and learn French
Tuscany. Florence and Montepulciano are my favorite places to stay, but anywhere in Tuscany is wonderful. It is very hard to get a bad meal or a bad glass of wine. The people are lovely and tolerant of our halting Italian. And there are several yarn stores in Florence.
Emerald Isle, NC…where the water really is that color and where you can see both sunrise and sunset.
I second Emerald Isle, NC!! My favorite days there include breakfast looking at the ocean, a morning walk or ride, the hottest hours knitting something light in the shade, and watching sunset on the beach❣️
I have knitted many, many things on the beach at Emerald Isle! It is our regular summer vacation spot. But we also love Maine.
Another vote for NC. Except, go west to the Great Smoky mountains. Especially in the Fall!
My favorite vacation spot is San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. The architecture, meals, and people are lovely. There is an a abundance of art, and music, and color. Perfect!
I realize it’s a cliche, but we’ve loved Paris ever since our first trip in 1996 and return whenever we can.
Aruba in January. The water is warm enough to swim in!
Anywhere with good bookstores and some gentle hikes!
No one location. Just someplace warm! I happened to cross a parking lot on a hot summer day encountering an elegant woman wearing a stunning, sophisticated tank top that made her look so cool and fresh. She had knit it, of course. I never thought of knitting as a cold weather sport again. Chloe
The beach is my happy vacation place. . . preferably in ocean front lodging with a porch where we can enjoy watching the waves roll in. . . we really love Carolina Beach in North Carolina.
I really enjoy reading of the places to visit little yarn shops. When I travel I’m on the lookout for the same. I don’t have a favorite spot to visit yet, but I keep looking. Until then I do like to visit family.
Cape Cod. We visit other places, but always return to the Cape.
We are still traveling to see all that we can while we still can. However, the one place we’ve been back to the most is Breckinridge, Colorado. We starting going there to ski before kids, with kids and now with our grandkids. We love it. It’s a beautiful town with great skiing. The closest yarn store was in Frisco but sadly that closed a few years ago. I’m surprised there isn’t another LYS closer to Breckinridge. In the meantime I need to plan accordingly and bring enough yarn/projects for the trip.
Pam, there is a lovely yarn shop in Buena Vista and a new opening in Salida this spring. I know it’s a drive from Breckinridge, but the BV one carries incredible yarns.
My happy place is Long Beach Island, NJ for our 2 week vacation, laying on the beach, swimming in the ocean. Memories of the same vacation with my parents and friends as a child and the promise of making those memories for our children. Just love it!
2nd happy place is Ireland, where we plan to retire- and guess what! Tons of wool there! Better learn to knit faster!
Happy Easter everyone!
I love the lower peninsula area of Michigan, particularly Sleeping Bear Dunes and Pyramid Point vistas. Lake Michigan is stunning!
Southport NC is a lovely winter retreat -a small waterfront town where the Cape Fear River meets the ocean.
We “Glamp” at Myrtle Beach for 2 weeks every Sept at the same campground my family has returned to for 50 years! It’s our home away from home.
Every September we go to Ogunquit, Maine, “beautiful place by the sea”. It is truly beautiful!
My happy place during summer vacation is finding a good bike path to enjoy with my oldest son to explore.
Our cottage on Lake Michigan in the Leelanau peninsula of Michigan. is our happy place. The sunsets are magnificent, and Wool and Honey, a wonderful LYS, is just a few miles away!
We travel every year (except the two pandemic years) to Povoa de Varzim in Portugal. After more than 30 years, it feels more like home than a vacation place.
We haven’t travelled a whole lot, but one place we want to spend more time is on Mackinac Island in Michigan. We were there for the Lilac festival and it was a beautiful and magical spot.
Akumal, Mexico
A house by the ocean with a private pool
Love it!
Although Iceland and its lovely wool is my favorite spot on earth it’s not a feasible yearly trip! We love Oak Island North Carolina where I can sit by the ocean everyday for a month and knit my newest or oldest projects!
My grandparents used to live at Yaupon Beach and we would walk three blocks from their house to the ocean and spend all day, every day. Great memories there! I’m sure it has changed quite a bit since then (1970’s).
So many Outer Banks fans! That is our day trip fun — dogs allowed at Topsail Beach all year which makes our wave riding lab very happy. We were just there on Wednesday and it was so lovely: we even went swimming! Most summers we rent a house on the sound for a while and kayak, fish, crab, swim, snorkel, paddleboard and KNIT!
I very rarely go back to the same place. There’s too much world to see.
We like spending summers at home in Nova Scotia , weather is nice and lots of places to explore and re-explore and many yarn shops. Happy am knitting.
My regular vacation spot has become a weekend in Michigan with about 10 other ladies where we rent a house, take our “toys” and stitch, eat, drink, laugh all weekend. It’s always over way too fast! My latest get away was a ski trip. My husband was on the slopes, I was in the lodge…knitting!!
I’ve never had a regular vacation spot. Or regular vacations, to be honest. (Thanks, awful American work culture!) I guess the closest is the house where my husband grew up in England. (His father has since moved house, which is sad.) My husband and I spent a couple summers there after he’d moved abroad when we were both teaching and had longer breaks. It was about a 30-minute walk into town, and I did that at least once a week. I’d visit the charity shops (so many charity shops!), the yarn store, pick up ingredients for dinner at Sainsbury’s, and walk home. I loved it.
Anywhere near the ocean but I am particularly fond of the North and South Carolina coast.
Ireland, where you can find all kinds of yarn, and the language is just different enough to make any conversation thought provoking.
The Washington and Oregon coasts!
Fiberarts camp in Maine
My favorite vacation spot? It must be time because when I look out my window the grass is green again and there are yellow and purple flowers blooming and buds blooming and trees opening their leaves!
Vacation? Mother Nature provides !
Jackson, NH is where I long to be. We stay high on a hill where the wind blows strong and the mountains loom in the distance. We can be below, in or above the clouds and through large windows I can knit and watch it all!
The NC mountains is my happy place and we bought a second home there during the pandemic – a purchase that we have never regretted for a second.
Bermuda with my sister.
Home. As a recent retiree, after commuting 1.5 hours ever.single.day.,
I treasure my home, knitting or crocheting on the deck or porch, or in the sunroom with the natural light outing through the windows.
It’s Staycation for me in my lovely small town in northern Michigan.
I’m with you, Trudy! I have seen a lot of beautiful places, but a stretch of time in my own home with no serious obligations has become my favorite!
We alternate between Estes Park, Colorado and the Black Hills. This year we are doing both! Estes in June and SD in September. We take our camper and two dogs and relax in the mountains. There is also some knitting and wine!
Pentwater Michigan. And yes there is a wonderful yarn shop in nearby Ludington. —— nautical yarn.
We used to visit Stone Harbor, NJ each summer. We’ve had issues and pandemic to keep us away.
I now live in Newport, RI so I’m on a perpetual vacation. Newport Folk Festival is my annual happy place.
New Orleans for the last week in April through the first weekend in May. JazzFest for the last 25 years. IYKYK.
Beach time or mountain time is ideal.
New York City! Since I live on an isolated farm going in to the city for the museums, opera, plays, book and yarn shops, all the restaurants and the simple energy of the place and people is heaven to me. And of course it is always fun to think I might get a glimpse of Kay in her natural habitat.
When you get married later in life both of you already have your own homes, in our case on different continents. Our holidays have never taken us to the same place twice.
So many wonderful places mentioned! My favorite place is Santa Fe, New Mexico. We go every Christmas and stay at the historic La Fonda hotel. Hacer yarn shop is a stop. The food is heaven, the architecture, the museums, the art. We go in winter because it does get crowded in the summer.
Sulphur, OK. A group of off-grid cabin rentals. Complete out of touch-ness.
Since we moved to Surf City on Topsail Island in NC – we haven’t had to go on a vacation but hope to do a cruise up the coast from Boston into Canada or someplace else cooler.
Petoskey, Michigan or Leelanau Peninsula, Michigan. Up North life at its best!
Saint Augustine Florida, or Destin. We seem to always pick them . Also Nashville . Been there a few times too and always have a good time there . We always pick somewhere within a five or six hour drive. Nowadays though travel is not as often and we tend to pick where our kids and grandkids live. Spending time with family is the best.
I love visiting St. Augustine!
The Virgin Islands, where I spent a marvelous New Year’s with my family, my brothers, and their families. We had our own boat and it came with a chef. Hooray!
Maine. All day long. Every day. All year. In wind, cold, rain, sun. Maine. Wish I lived there.
Thank you
Hawaii, nature everywhere you look.
My favorite place is by the ocean in Stone Harbor NJ. Or the Amalfi coast…but NJ is closer!
Southern Thailand. Warm water both ocean and lake, sunny days, wonderful Thai food of course.
Castine, Maine on Penobscot Bay where we sit and supervise the tides, swim in icy water, and watch osprey teach their young to dive for fish.
We have a daughter who lives in Southern California, so we leave the cold of Minnesota and visit her each winter at least once, sometimes twice. Sitting in my sons in laws beautiful garden wiith my knitting is one of my happy places.
We love the Eastern Shore of Virginia. We stay in a B&B called the Spinning Wheel (yes, really!)in the town of Onancock. There’s a lot of porch sitting time. We can walk to the wharf and to restaurants. Beaches are a scenic drive away, and there’s plenty of good seafood.
It used to be any weekend we could get off work and get away in our camper always with lots of knit projects and some wine. We would bicycle to nearby town for a couple different meals and have a campfire every day weather permitting. We no longer have our camper so enjoy sitting in our yard birdwatching (and knitting) with beverage of choice. Life is good!
Big Horn Mountain Range near Sheridan Wyoming. My husband’s family has a quaint rustic cabin. We read, fly fish everyday – which I’m really surprised at myself that I enjoy, and of course knit.
Visited London twice and felt strangely at home-if I could live anywhere in the world, that is the place. Haven’t been to New Zealand yet but that’s where I tell my kids I’m running away to!
In my estimation nothing beats the Lakes and woods of Northern Michigan, as we down staters call ‘Up North’. Set me on a shady hiking path that ends at water’s edge, and I am one happy lady.
Atlantic City, 1968
For me, it has always been up north in Michigan, and I’ve been to all the places mentioned here so far and it’s unbeatable–but I’m newly single and hoping to have new adventures and find a new favorite. Trips booked for this year so far are Seattle in May and Vancouver in September. Next year, who knows?
Near a warm beach in a more kind place with a yarn store
I like seeing and doing different things when I’m on vacation and I love them all for different reasons, so I don’t have just one place I call my ‘happy place’. I’m not a young person and have lived in the Midwest all my life and have been to a lot of places, but FLORIDA is one place I’d never visited. So earlier this year a friend of mine went there. The first half of the visit was in Orlando seeing what we could of Disney World (OMG!) while the second half was spent at a beach where I got to walk in the ocean FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER! The water was too cold for a long walk and we didn’t go out very far, but I got my wet up to my ankles. BEST, FLORIDA. TRIP. EVER!
London is my favorite city to visit. Has been since I spent 3 weeks there for a January term in 1982.
My husband can’t drive anymore, but we used to take 1 or 2 trips a year to the National Parks. We have been in every state over the years.
Pensacola Beach, Florida. I love it because I can park my car and not get back in it until it’s time to leave. For me everything is in walking distance and I like that!
Cindy, I dog-sat last summer for a friend who lives in PB. Almost two full weeks and it’s just as you say – the only time I got in my car was to go to the grocery at the halfway point.
I haven’t had a real vacation in about 15 years, maybe more. Time gets away from me. I remember going to St Kitts in 1999 and Mexico a couple times after that. But sadly vacations are just not in my cards lately.
hiking in europe
Traveling everywhere. I love discovering new places or rediscovering old favorites and seeing how they’ve evolved. If I have to choose 1 or 2 places they would be ones with mountains or water. I can’t limit myself.
We recently found the Florida Keys. A boat trip to the Dry Tortugas National Park was definitely a highlight. Lots of beach walking and parks to explore.
Cape May NJ draws us every summer from our Denver home. A week of ocean, sand and dolphin spotting with kids and grandkids is the best
Hiking in the Smokies, diving in Belize, Scotland, Ireland and England
Burlington VT
Living on the Bay of Green Bay in Michigan, we have a yarn shop, quilt shop and a brewery. When we travel that is the places we visit…we have been to 374 breweries! Last year visited Duluth, MN and liked it so well we are going again this year. Most travel is road trips.
The hubby is from the Adirondacks, so that’s our happy place. We drive through the North Country, enjoy the sights & stop in little holes-in-the-wall spots to eat.
I love spending time at the beach. Any beach. If there’s sand and big water, it’s good.
We’ve had many, many wonderful family trips to Sanibel Island and were so sad to see all the destruction from the hurricane last year. But we know it will rise again and we will be walking that beautiful beach, riding the trails and enjoying the turtles, alligators and birds once again in the future.
I very much like Rockport Texas. We spend time there in the winter to get away from the cold and snow. We just bought a little casita to stay in our own. Rockport is on the gulf coast with a vibrant art center and lots of good food. Knitting on the beach is the most relaxing way to spend an afternoon.
My favorite vacation place is my family room. I love it there!
Hatteras, NC on the Outer Banks. There is a lovely store there called The Blue Pelican that has yarn, local art, jewelry and all the fun things!
Cortona, Italy. I am going again next week and, yes, every time I go, I think about just staying. I feel so at home there and life is so beautiful.
PARIS.
For my 70th birthday, I decided I needed a new tradition. For my birthday in February I go to Gatlinburg, Tennessee and hope it snows. But even if it doesn’t snow, the moonshine tastings are a blast. You meet the friendliest and craziest people there.
We don’t have one. I like to try new places but am happiest if there is a beach, good food, and lots of interesting places to wander.
Any beach where the sun is warm and the water is too.
For me it is the journey of discovery–the road trip–riding “shotgun” and knitting and having those deep conversations that happen when you are “on the road.” I love going the length of the Oregon coast. Just before the plague my daughter and I visited all the California missions, with great yarn store stops along the way. My future hope is for what’s left of Route 66.
Because I have lived away from my childhood home for over 3 decades, I always love being back on the property in central Wisconsin that has given me such grand, idyllic memories. Farmland, ponds, cedar and birch woods. I love visiting.
Sag Harbor is my happy place. Knitting on the little bay beach while my adult children master the paddle board…. Priceless!!!!
The beautiful mountain vistas of Gunnison Colorado are my happy place! The summers are incredible and the wildflowers in the valleys are amazing. Outdoor knitting the best!!!
Newport, OR is the default when we just need to get away. Not often warm and sunny, but always wild and fresh walks on the beach and good restaurants.
We lived in Bucerias 18 k north of Pv. We sold up everything from Nova Scotia and moved. I do not regret it as it was a life experience but was really homesick after 6 months. I could not get used to the quaint ways of getting things done like getting gas or water. My anxiety skyrocketed and we moved back to spend some time i Florida. We learned a lot but the magic has gone from Mexico after living there.
Up North in Wisconsin where our family has a reunion every year. Started going with our parents when we were children and now we go with our children and grandchildren ❤️
Ogunquit, Maine
Sisters, Oregon is a real favorite place.
We always go to south Texas in August because….it’s the best time of year to go?
I live at the (New) Jersey Shore, so why would I go somewhere else? I do some traveling but usually because my daughter or friend take me along on their trips. I always say I will do a staycation, but never quite make it. But knowing I can go to the beach anytime I want to is all I need.
I’m enchanted with Scotland and am visiting there in two weeks for the third time. The hiking, food, and beautiful vistas are hard to beat. Everywhere you look is breathtaking. I would like to visit the Scandinavian countries as well as i admire their sense of design as well as being incredible knitters.
I share your enchantment. Wishing you a happy time!
Siesta Key! Been going there as often as possible since a family trip when I was 10 years old. The crowds these days can be frustrating but once I get to the beach it is wonderful. (Just be sure you miss the Red Tide.)
Since I live in Vacationland (Maine), I don’t like to leave in the warm months. I love escaping Maine in March and seem to go back to Bonaire for warmth, sunshine, and most of all scuba diving. Floating underwater and looking at all the fantastical creatures is so calming!
The mountains. Real mountains.
The Cascade mountains.
Yes. Agree!
The closest we have to a repeat vacation spot is some acreage we bought in the hilltowns of Massachusetts. It’s cooler up there, there’s a barn full of hubby’s projects, there’s very old apple trees, all the ticks you could ever want
We love it
I would very much like a little house up there
Anywhere near an ocean is heaven to me.
Gosh, I haven’t been on an airplane since the first week of March 2020. The place I like to go back to is Houston Texas because it feels like home. Although mostly I would prefer to go someplace I have never been!
I really enjoy the Outer Banks, NC . I don’t go every year but would love to go back again
Regular vacation places? Haven’t had one of those in decades. Pretty open to anywhere i can get to. I
Anywhere I can be with my kids and chill. This summer it will be The Jersey Shore.
I pick a new city/state I’ve never visited that check all my boxes: history, culture, food, music and of course yarn stores. I plan a long spring and fall weekend get-away. This replaces my annual beach trip because….I no longer wear bikinis and I don’t need any more wrinkles. My next trip planned May 13-17 is Nashville, TN. I need lots of suggestions where to go what ti do!
Many Pines campground in the Little Belt Mts in Montana. Memories were made there ♥️
In 2010 my husband was looking for a place to cycle and found a town at the foot of Mont Ventoux in central France called Vaison La Romaine. We loved it so much we have returned nearly every year except covid, sometimes twice in one year. We have been lucky enough to rent the same house from people who have become close friends. Other friends there store our bicycles, clothes, and sundry items like my 8″ knife, spice box and knitting supplies. Sitting in the garden knitting and listening to audiobooks after a long ride with my husband, lunch and wine, friends nearby, is my happiest place anywhere.
Lovely reading everyone’s choices. We’ve done repeat visits to San Francisco, Vancouver, NYC, Boston. Then there’s Salamanca and various cities in Spain, and Berlin and various cities in Germany, both because of family. I love ‘real’ cities because I live in LA which is a giant sprawling suburb. Promise me cafes, museums, bookstores and lots of city streets to walk and I’m headed to LAX!
We also favor big cities. I love the walking or convenience of taxi rides, food choices from many cultures, a show, an old bookstore, museums, and of course a yarn shop.
Mendocino CA. Historic village surrounded by the Pacific. Thanks to the Coastal Commission the town and headlands have been preserved. 5 star restaurants!! We rent a lovely cottage with views of the Pacific. Perfect knitting spot. Lovely yarn shop about 7 miles north in Fort Bragg
Well, to be honest, we have never ventured anywhere that exotic! Canada is just across the border, and we love Canada!
But my happy place is the cabin we own, no utilities, the last place on a non-maintained dirt road, high on a ridge, deep in the Maine woods. Perfect.
For 8 years my sister, daughter, granddaughters and I rented the same house on Captiva Island. Best days of my life. Sadly, Hurricane Ian May have ended our tradition.
Kaanapali,Maui! My home away from home since 1995! Views of the ocean and Molokai…while knitting away…what could be better.
Disney, or anywhere beachy. I know a couple who lived in Peurto Vallarta for a year pre-Pandemic. I think they were very, very happy there.
I could so relate to this vacation story. Just change out PV to San Miguel de Allende. We had a ten year run prior to Covid. There are a couple of yarn shops and a knitting group.
Kapaa, Kauai, Hawaii was our go-to for years, and now we live there!
Mammoth mountains in the Sierras. We do the same thing, rent the same condo. Every year, take hikes, explore, visit the old historic town of Bodie. Vacations in a familiar place are very relaxing, the comfort of home with the ambiance of a different place.
Any beach in North Carolina. They’re all beautiful.
Yachats, Oregon is our go to place. We have a favorite dog-friendly place to stay, the beach I’d great and the food is wonderful.
My mom and I love cruises ! take the needles and yarn and GO !!! I have had some strange looks on cruise lines when I ‘m sitting in the sun knitting:) my happy place
We used to go to Poipu Beach on Kauai, Hawaii, and stay in an original plantation house, when the whole area was covered in sugar cane instead of condos. A one- block walk to a fabulous snorkeling area, where we saw all sorts of amazing critters. It is a happy place for me to go to in my mind.
I live in Colorado, and it’s still my favorite vacation spot! I have traveled to other states and to Canada, but Colorado remains my favorite place to be. I love sitting outside the tent in the woods while supper’s cooking in the Dutch oven and knitting while listening to the birds. Or hiking to a caldera and finding a big rock to sit on and knitting. Within an hour of us we have skiing, the Colorado Trail, river rafting, horseback riding, great fishing, camping, the Sand Dunes, and two LYS, lucky me!
My dad loved Mexico and in his retirement he purchased a motorhome and spent November thru Feburary in a town just north of the airport for Puerto Vallarta called Bucerias. For more than 30 years we all collected there to visit and have fun in the sun with him. We had weddings, birthdays, and his last toast of tequila as we scattered his ashes in the place he loved.
Almost forgot! DG, have you seen the green flash at sunset? Just as the sun dips below the horizon? That was always the time when we would gather to see if today would be the day we all saw it.
We never saw it!
In all the years of traveling to Bucerias and PV I have only seen the green flash a handful of times. I read an article about the atmospheric reasons for it but it was more about the camaraderie and togetherness that made it the sweetest.
Lol, some of us can’t afford to go on vacation away from home, if at all.
We vacation here, in town. Many naps are had.
New Orleans. I’m not much of a traveler, but it stands out as a favorite if only for the food
The Big Island! Aloha!
For a number of years we would take a spring and fall vacation on Nantucket. I think we had rented every available private home there was to rent. Loved the beach, sunset, lunch in town, and especially the ferry ride to and from the ferry terminal on the mainland. Great memories.
Anywhere in the mountains!
Maui is a great place to vacation. But after reading your adventure in Puerto Vallarta, I’m seriously rethinking a new vacation spot.
As I type this, I am sitting on the sun soaked balcony of the condo we routinely rent in Puerto Pensaco Mexico Breezy, warm and relaxing. We have been driving the 4 hours from Scottsdale AZ twice a year for almost 10 years now!
Although I’ve only been there once, Lerwick, Scotland stole my heart. I feel that I must have lived there in a previous life. So now to arrange to be there during Wool Week. Then, truly, I might not leave!
Sounds heavenly!
Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons! National treasures everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime. Also love New Zealand, a wonderful country to travel in.
Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles! We’ve been going there for years to scuba dive. The weather is perfect, the reefs are beautiful, the people are friendly, and it’s always a sad day when we have to return home.
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii in March
Wintergreen in the Blue Ridge Mountains is my favorite getaway. Tucked in with nature and the view of the beautiful Blue Ridge! Heavenly!!
Two weeks near Hayward Wisconsin. We have been going there for almost 45 years!
My favorite is the vacation home on Lake Michigan in Door County, WI that my parents bought in 1969. Since then the house has come to me. I’ve been there every summer, and all the other beautiful times of year, too. It’s a wonderful corner of the world. And here’s a shout out to Knit Whit’s! https://www.knitwhitsyarnshop.com/
For years when our children were young, our annual summer trip was to a lake in north central Arkansas at the foot of the Ozark Mountains. Beautiful untouched wilderness and nature. I wish I had knitted back then – a perfect place for knitting.
I live in a cold, damp place, so anywhere warmer and drier than here. The silver lining is that it’s always, always sweater weather.
The Porkies in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula on the shores of Lake Superior- hiking, waterfalls, beaches, and family.
Anywhere in Oregon. Cascade Mountains, Willamette Valley (wine tasting), Pacific Coast, Columbia Gorge, desert hiking. Much more. Pick the right hotel, camping, or b n b spot and you can make them each day trips from there. Really!
We visit our son and daughter-in-law in Kelowna BC a couple times a year. Not too far away for us in northern Alberta, but a lovely place to go with an earlier spring, lots of fun restaurants and wineries, several yarn shops in the area, and lots of relaxing time for visiting and knitting 🙂
I love to hop the ferry and spend time in Victoria, B.C. It’s a lovely and walkable city with yarn shops, book stores, tea and cakes, and gardens galore. I never get tired of visiting.
We live on our boat so every place we go is our favorite, from the Bahamas to Maine.
As an adult we spend most of our vacation time going to see aging parents in Kansas and Missouri. When I was young I remember mom and dad packing up the station wagon is the early evening and then leaving to drive through the night while the three of us girls slept. We would wake up in the morning in Colorado Springs for a week. We always stayed at the same motel with a small kitchen to help cut costs. We always enjoyed the cooler breezes than what we got in a Kansas summer and the scenery was magical.
In my head. Does that count?
The beach in Sitka Alaska
I remember a wonderful stay at Mismaloya and a wild boat ride to the little beach across the bay. I started collecting the beautiful bead covered works by the Huichol people.
I think everyone who goes to PV has a terrifying boat story that involves Mismaloya or Yelapa!
Santa Fe NM is my spot. It has yarn shops and scenery plus wonderful food. It’s nothing like Fort Worth, TX. Hot in Santa Fe is like Texas in the spring. And strangely, winter doesn’t seem as cold as Texas. It makes you want to get out and walk. At home, I have million reasons not too.
Oh, thank you for this article. It’s a particular kind of trip that is the same favorite place every year. Ours is Yosemite and we usually stay at The Yosemite Bug, which is perfect in every way except the need to drive into and out of the park every day. Last time, my husband and I imagined ourselves as summer employees in the park, him a bus driver, me working at a registration desk.
Belize! We go there every year (partly work for me, all good experiences). Beautiful place, nice friends.
Santa Fe during the 2d week of August for the opera – 5 operas in 5 days, with wonderful classes with Oliver, opera lecturer extraordinaire. Oh and its also my birthday!
Muskegon, Michigan on Lake Michigan. We camp there every year with our family. It’s not the place (although it’s great) It’s the family. Our two kids (long since adults) and their eight kids and their significant others. Swimming, bocce, euchre and lots of food!!
Glamming with my wonderful husband, and sisters and family. The wonderful husband does 85% of the work and we all enjoy it on Detroit lake in Oregon.
Nantucket! They have a great yarn store!
My vacation happy place is Colorado, because my family is there. I grew up, had a long career in teaching and retired in Colorado. Then my husband and I moved to Hawaii, our previous vacation heaven. Ironic, isn’t it? Now I go back and revel in all the familiar faces, places and activities.
Our family did something similar. We would go to Maui and stay in the same condo building each time. Well except for one year. It was being renovated so we stayed at the condo building next door and watched the renovation. ☀️
St. Anne’s, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada
Kind people, fabulous traditional music, and spectacular scenery.
The high country in the Sierra Nevada south of Yosemite. Nary a yarn shop, but there are marmots, and if you’re lucky, a pika to see…
I love Sanibel Island – it’s my happy place!
Williamsburg, VA
Cruising around Alaska while enjoying the scenery, and knitting of course.
Awesome! We go back to PV in a couple wks. I was going to say I would look
For
You. Glad you found one this time! My fave place hands down is our annual trip to Japan, no question
Our regular vacation happy place is the Marl Inn in Yorktown, Virginia. A lovely and friendly bed and breakfast, a short and scenic walk to the river (also scenic, and home to several shops and restaurants), the Yorktown Monument, and a load of historic buildings. But honestly, mostly the river. I’m fond of rivers. And the Marl Inn is a happy place indeed.
For almost 40 years my hubby and I have spent a week in Stratford Ontario at the Stratford Shakespeare (and more) Festival for a week of world-class theater. The Avon River runs thru town, beautiful parks and flower gardens abound. At least one yarn shop in town.
Outer Banks , North Carolina. It’s our happy place. We’ve gone almost every year since 1982.. We love it.
My regular vacation happy place has shifted over time. It used to be on Sunset Beach in Cabo San Lucas, but now that I’m retired and can escape the summer heat of TX, my new place is Dillon, CO in August.
I love Lake Como in Italy. It is kind of a hassle to get too, but it is so pretty and quiet.
Duck NC on the Outer Banks … all my siblings and their families plus our mom rent a house together the week beginning Father’s Day (US) in honor of my dad who passed after our first Duck beach vacation. We’ve been going every year since 1996 (except for a pandemic year). Puerto Vallarta sounds fabulous for a winter getaway.
Our favorite vacation is Casa Grande, AZ, where we go each winter.
The island of Kauai up until the passing of my parents. Now we’re looking for places we haven’t been.
Charleston, SC…friends, food, amazing history, and great shopping.
My husband took me to his favorite place, a wilderness cabin a float plane ride out of Ketchikan Alaska, for our honeymoon 35 years ago. We went back every 5 years or so with two good friends until we neared retirement, when we starting going back to Ketchikan every other year. Now it’s every year, staying in the outskirts of town and fishing on a charter boat with our favorite skipper. Cathy and I take our knitting and crochet projects and we all fish, my husband is the cook, and we have a wonderful time. Plus there is always a trip into town to the local yarn shop, of course.
Bethany Beach, Delaware, with my brother and his family, where we always rent the same house. We love the beach, and there is a nice yarn store a few blocks away.
The Oregon Coast, the smaller the town the better. I grew up in places close to Big Water (Scotland, Michigan) until my early teens, when we moved to the Desert Southwest. I loved parts of it, but not all of it. So when I married an Orygun Person, who was dreadfully homesick, we packed up and moved here. We live inland, but we’re lucky enough to go out there a lot. I love the ocean: the sounds, the scent, the weather, the cold water, the boats, the sea life, the lighthouses. It doesn’t matter if we’re tent camping in the summer or in a hotel or cabin in the winter, watching the storms roll in over the waters. And we get some rockin’ winter storms! It just feeds my soul. And unlike Puerto Vallarta, there are yarn shops o’ plenty out there. Pro-tip: most of our state parks out there have yurts and a few “deluxe cabins” which are frequently less than a hotel room if you’re out for adventure. (In this case, deluxe means your own bathroom, a tv with a dvd player and no reception, and a sink, fridge and nuker inside and a propane grill outside. Yurts are heated and wind and rain proof, but have no bathrooms or kitchen stuff) Cape Lookout cabins have the best view, but Fort Stevens has more cabins, so it can be easier to get in there.
The family cottage on Lake Huron called Point Clark famous for its sunsets and light house. Going there I always feel relaxed and happy. My mom and I knit on the front porch with our fur babies we are a short walk to the beach and boat launch. The best part is spending time with my parents and my siblings and all the little people. We laugh play games boat play in the sand and take turns cooking amazing food! What more could you want??
Altea, Spain. It’s a beautiful mediterranean little town, wth warm sea water!!!
We love to go to St. Simons Island in Georgia again and again.
Squam Lake in New Hampshire has become an annual pilgrimage. Lots of knitting time on the dock. Next favorite is Quebec City. Not so much knitting but lots of great food!
For the past 10 years or perhaps more, a bunch of us meet at the Vanderbilt Beach Resort in Naples, Florida. It is truly “Old Florida” being a 2 story hotel on the beach. It’s a quick 2 hour drive over Alligator Alley to the west coast. We laugh, we eat, we veg out on the beach and watch the sunset. Last year right after our visit Hurricane Ian did almost destroyed the resort. The resort is well loved by many and all pitched in however they could. The staff and owners are resilient and they are back open. We can’t wait to congregate there yet again!
The Delaware shore. While it’s been a few years since I’ve been, I grew up vacationing with my family there (50+ years). My mom’s family vacationed there when she was a child, so it’s quite a tradition for me.
Every year i go on a week long backpacking trip with a friend We’ve done this for over 20 years now, every year to a different place. Its long days of nothing but walking and talking or just being quiet and taking in the beauty of nature…no phones, no t.v., no work or family obligations. And when we get to wherever we’re camping for the night i pull out my knitting and knit a few rows.
We have a small (really small) camper. We bring it to several deep woods places where we unwind and enjoy walks in the woods, long conversations and no electronics due to no cell signals. It’s heavenly!
My all time favorite place on earth is the North Shore of Lake Superior. I’ve been going up there every year (sometimes several times per year) since I was 10! When I was a kid, my mom (who was a teacher and had summers off) would rent a little cabin on the lake for the whole summer! I now go up with my husband (usually in the late fall or winter) and with some of my girlfriends for a long weekend. The magic of the great lake always fills my cup! I truly believe I could live on the shores of that great lake, if real estate was not so ridiculous!
Beaufort, NC is my happy place. Historic houses, wild horses you can see from the waterfront, dolphins playing in the channel, antique stores, good food, close to the beach.
I don’t go back to the same place on vacation, but a favourite day trip is to Pinery Provincial Park near Grand Bend in southwestern Ontario. You can rent or bring your own canoe, paddle boat or bicycle and paddle in the canal or cycle a trail or even the main road. You can walk the beach or swim, and dogs are allowed on two of the beaches. There are trails through the different landscapes to walk, and in winter, cross country ski trails. You can bring or cook a meal. Sometimes you might see deer. For those who like to camp, that’s available too. It’s perfect.
That sounds like my kind of vacation.
Anywhere and everywhere on the Oregon Coast.
Assisi in Italy followed by Oahu in Hawaii.
So jealous that you have this regular vacation to look forward to. It is definitely something that I need in my life.
As much as I love Paris, it’s really the French countryside and smaller villages that I love, especially Sarlat.
A vacation happy place for me is Seeley Lake, Montana, in the summer.
I live 5 miles from a vacation destination. Other than groceries and the bank I stay away. Home with a couple of free hours is my vacation (that would be time for indulgences of knitting and sewing).
My vacation happy place is where I live – on Cape Cod.
My husband and I want to go wherever there is a beach.
Our regular vacation happy place is the beach in toronto Ontario, near where I grew up 🙂 it’s only about an hour (in bad traffic) away from where we live now, but it feels a lifetime away from our sleepy suburb!
Ever since moving away – my hometown is my favorite place to visit because that’s where family is. However, my husband and I love going to coastal towns.
Well, I prefer home sweet home, but Folly and Myrtle Beaches are a close second. Yes, I knit while on vacation.
Cernobbio, Lago di Como, Italy. Our very favorite vacation spot and it never ever ever gets old!
I live in Southern California, and my favorite vacation spot is the Santa Barbara/Solvang area north of Los Angeles. Solvang is a Danish village with lots of yummy bakeries with Danish pastries and cookies. The restaurants and cafes offer delicious breakfasts and lunches, with Danish breakfast specialties like Aebleskivers (a pancake shaped like a sphere) with Lingonberry jam. They turn the Aebleskivers in the special pans with a knitting needle to keep it from deflating. The highlight for me is Thumbelina needlework shop with supplies and kits for cross stitch embroidery by the best Scandinavian designers. Their upstairs store has yarn and knitting supplies. It’s been a favorite of mine for years.
Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming is truly wonderland for us! We have been several times and are planning a new trip. 2024 can’t get here fast enough ❤️
It has been over 20 years since my last vacation, but it was a doozie…Scotland. I would go again and again if I could. Instead, I go home to Maine whenever I can. The light, the starry skies, the many colors of the water, the water everywhere, the North Woods, the ice age granite boulders, that clerks become friends, that the default attitude is trust rather than distrust, and the feeling of an ancestral link to Scotland makes this my vacation.
Anywhere on the North Shore on Lake Superior, in Minnesota. It’s like being at the ocean but not so far from home in central MN for me. There’s lots of small resorts to pick from where you get your own small cabin by the lake.
live in Montana and vacay in Montana
Th Big Island of Hawaii. The crowds aren’t bad and there’s so much to see. Huge variety of climate and terrain.
Siesta Key. Florida. My husband and I bought a condo there back in 1988 and have made at least one visit a year- we were there in 2020 when the lockdown went into effect. Now that we are retired we have fulfilled our dream of spending the entire winter in sunny Florida instead of cold and dreary Chicago.
My favorite annual vacation spot is a small cabin in the bush in Alaska! You have to fly there as there are no roads or stores! Just relaxation in nature with lots of time for knitting!
Somewhere with a peaceful warm sunny beach like Hawaii.
Chautauqua institute in western New York. An amazing little gated community center around life long learning. I went every other year as a child, took a bit of a break, but have found it continues to charm and delight me in visiting as an adult.
The beach — Great Lakes or Gulf of Mexico!
Prince Edward Island ☀️
Center Harbor New Hampshire on Lake Winnipesaukee
The rocky northern California coast
Gairloch in Wester Ross on the North West coast of Scotland. Beautiful and not too busy, still possible to have peace on the beaches after walking in the hills. Coffee shop and bookshop, museum and groceries all available in the village and surrounding area. You can even swim…if you are brave!
We go to the same holiday cottage we rent every year we can, it has a tiny porch just big enough for my Mum and I to drink our tea watching the gannets diving into the loch while everyone else is still asleep. Heaven. (Apart from the rain and midges of course).
Asheville, North Carolina, is the vacation place I love going back to. It has mountains, yarn shops, flowers and an acceptance of eccentricity that I find compelling.
I live in Maine—Vacationland!—and take a daily trip to Acadia National Park. All the vaycay I’ve needed for 25 years!
Mmy happy place has been the beach in Destin FL for years, but now the I finally got a passport the world has opened for me.
Cost Rica on the Caribbean side is heavenly! Mid 80s daily and when you are staying at an all-inclusive resort, all you have to do is put on your suit and enjoy! A good book or a light weight yarn makes your time sitting poolside heavenly!
home! srsly—we live way the hell north, and summer is the best season, plus i don’t want to let the yard & garden go too long. but we went to PV last fall w/ my cousins, and it is indeed wonderful!
I love Saugatuck, Michigan!
Anywhere warm ,salty,and sandy
Sanibel Island, Florida
Looking and finding LYS is a plus in any vacation spot. And meeting fellow knitters is the best!
We love going to Estes Park/Rocky Mtn National Park
Northern Michigan ☺️
Anywhere there is a beach upon which I can sit and knit socks!
Camping in the shore of lake ossippe
So many great places to visit in a lifetime. We used to go to Ocracoke and the Outer Banks a lot when the kids were little. Great times.
Favorite vacation spot is actually my in-laws place in Ormond Beach FL. Close enough to the water to enjoy the sea breezes and far enough to be away from the traffic of Daytona Beach.
Corfu, Greece! It’s a magical place where Odysseus told all his tales about his journey, his last stop before home.
My favorite vacation place is Fire Island NY, a beautiful barrier island without cars, just ocean
I am such a homebody that knitting on my couch in my livingroom is a vacation paradise to me! But if I had to pick another physical place, I would love to return to Krakow, Poland where my daughter and I spent some happy time years ago and found some lovely yarn shops!
Martha’s Vineyard . . . beautiful anytime of year.
The mountains are my favorite vacation spot.
I used to always enjoy a quick trip to the Oregon Coast, but now that I live on the other side of the country I am most happy anywhere there is water, from lakes, to the bay, or if I’m lucky all the way to Assateague Island.
Something about the water is just so relaxing any time of year.
My happy place is the ocean wherever I can find it. The breezes and salt air are the best!
I am now content to be on an island, any island, for vacation. Extra bonus vacay vibes if it is an island in the North Sea! Shetland, but Scotland’s Western Isles work, even Iceland 🙂
I don’t have one favorite place but I love the Southwest desert. Zion, Bryce, Arches, the bottom of the Grand Canyon. I love the silence of the desert, the colors of the sand and cliffs.
I aspire to have a regular vacation place one day! Maybe someplace I can watch puffins and sea otters (if you know, you know ).
Vacation happy place: any beach with my sisters at Sisters Weekends!
I don’t have that one favorite place but have a great love for our national parks.
Current fave vacation place in the Azores in Portugal.
We rarely travel to the same place twice, but most of our trips include long hikes and beautiful scenery, like Maine, Oregon, Colorado, and last year, Iceland.
The Pinky of Michigan’s lower peninsula. Benzie county where there is only one traffic light in the entire county.
Door County, Wisconsin
Campobello Island. Rocks, beaches, hiking trails, Tea With Eleanor.
I love to go to Ghost Ranch in New Mexico. It is beautiful and remote, a painting everywhere you look and the whole area is exciting , including Santa Fe.
A little town in northern Virginia called Purcellville. My son and his wife own a 1740 era farmhouse and have renovated a former canning kitchen building for us to stay in. Surrounded by lovely weather, scenery and family – what could be better?
North Carolina beaches. We go at least once a year if not more.
The North Fork of Long Island, NY. Vineyards, beautiful Long Island Sound and Peconic Bay for boating and beaching. Still untouched….
since 2013, every two years, i’ve found my way back to squam lake in NH, so i think it might be my happy place and i’m very happy and hopeful with this being an odd year that i’ll get back up there soon.
My regular vacation happy place these days is the Blue Ridge Mountains. I will spend hours on VRBO looking through cabins for just that right cabin with a beautiful view where I can spend hours knitting and gazing at the mountains 🙂
Lake Michigan. Better than any ocean.
My favorite vacation place is with people I love. Today is the last lazy day of vacation with family at an old family house on Cape Cod Bay. Warm for April, spacious views, plenty to walk to and little incentive to do more than knit, read, chat and play games. And catch up on Snippets for once!
Does it count if I *wish* I had a regular vacation place? I just love the giveaway and for a chance to win.
I love a tropical beach vacation but don’t have a regular beach.
My HVP is OBX – Outer Banks, in the Carolinas, with my BFFs. Ocean. Waves. An LYS here and there. Peace. Quiet. What could possibly be better? Seafood! Got that!
St Martin and we just happen to be here now!!
My happy place is Mohonk Mountain House, an historic hotel in the mountains of NY.
October, my birthday week on Vanderbilt Beach, North Naples Florida. Last year we had to evacuate due to Ian. Grateful to have lost only a vacation and not everything I own, like others.
Northern Maine along the Canadian border was a special place for our family for several years. It took two days of driving to get there but there was loads of canoeing and swimming which was not easy to do back home. Discovered Briggs & Little yarn when we had to resupply food at the closest grocery which happened to be in Canada.
My vacation happy spot is wherever there is a fiber fair with sheep and fiber classes in spinning and knitting and felting and vendors of handmade fiber crafts.
A small house directly on a small lake in the Adirondacks. Required daily agenda includes reading on the deck, kayaking, watching the sun set and ideally nothing else…
Any mountain range… “the mountains are calling, I must go” ❤️
Monterey Bay, California
I love Tokyo. It probably doesn’t sound relaxing, but I love the solitude of a big city.
My lifetime favorite vacation location is the gulf coast, anywhere from Pensacola to Gulf Shores, Alabama. I prefer early Spring or Autumn so it’s not too hot to knit. Besides indulging in local seafoods, I love to visit the LYS shops & Coastal Art Center for inspirations! I’m headed there next week, actually and already packed my knitting!
My husband likes to travel, so we get to go lots of places, often by train. My daughters and grand kids don’t live here, so a trip to either daughter is a happy trip. But my true happy place is right here at home with my husband, cats, kitchen, garden, and room full of yarn and other things to play with.
Somewhere with a lake I can look at.
In the states: Oregon or Washington coast
Otherwise, France !
Vermont, preferably camping in Vermont.
My favorite vacation place is a level camping spot near some water. Today it is in Beaux Bridges LA. Last year it was St Augustine Beach. The year before San Onofre CA. I love that you can get out and go anywhere.
Favorite vacation place so far has been Costa Rica. The people are so nice and it’s beautiful there.
Our cabin in northern Minnesota
Anywhere in Asia…getting tougher to execute!
I’ve lived in Florida my whole life, so my favorite vacation spot is anywhere where the daily temperature does not exceed 60 degrees. I got to visit Ashville NC a couple years ago and would love to make it my annual vacation spot!
I like to head to a state park with a river. I take my kayak, my little camper and my knitting!
Kansas City. My son lives there, and there’s so much to do! Some day, hope to visit Paris….
I used to head to California about three times a year to visit family, but everyone has since moved. Next month I’m on my way to visit my sister in North Carolina. Major knitting involved!
I enjoy finding those spots that aren’t crowded with other tourists and reflect the character of the place. Those can be found all over if you look.
Visiting family in Steinbach, Canada. It’s a beautiful area & a wonderful place to explore!
Nuevo Vallarta is a lil slice of hot heaven in April. First timer, but not the last. Love the color of the water, sky, the tiny flecks of purple shells and some days the great stripe of red tide. Mother Nature is designing her next knitting project with all these great colors.
A summer week with family in St George Island, Florida is my happy place, complete with books and knitting to do in the car, in the house, and on the beach! A pina colada or a glass of wine make a great companion. And I devote one day to shopping in nearby Appalachicola where there is a tiny book/yarn store where I purchase my souvenir – new yarn!
Thousand Islands, NY! We have family there and it is so relaxing to in the village of Clayton and watch the boats on the St. Lawrence River. You have everything from JetSkis, rowboats, yacht-type boats and super sized freighters. I really like to watch the sailboats though as they glide by.
NYC – museums, shows, people watching, warm pretzels, window shopping, walking everywhere, restaurants
For more than 20 years (minus a couple for COVID), my brother and I have gone to an island in Ontario to fish. We start planning the next trip on the drive home.
My fave: a heavenly barrier island getaway so close to NYC and so far from that reality, Fire Island. No roads, no cars, no locked doors. Sit by ocean or bay and knit.
From my childhood, the Adirondacks but my favorite adult trips have been to Ireland and Iceland.
Mid-coast Maine is the most sublime, spirit-refreshing place I know. And, of course, Maine is one of the centers of both the knitting and the woodworking universes. What bliss, to have a chance to travel to that beautiful place.
My favorite vacation spot is a small lake on the Canadian border in the Turtle Mountains of North Dakota.
I am at peace, yet energized, anywhere I can get my feet in the ocean. Next stop, a return to Maui.
Our regular spot is Whistler BC which sadly doesn’t have a yarn store, but we just got back from a week in Maui and boy was it nice there!! No yarn stores there either.
My vacation happy place is the ocean. Any ocean. Anywhere.
A hotel anywhere BY. MY. SELF.
Viva Las Vegas!
By the sea….any sea. There is no place better for me
I live on a beautiful lake in Tn. And this is my perfect vacation spot to watch nature and of course knit.
The mountains of southern New Mexico, southern Utah, Northern Arizona, and the beach of Southern CA.
We love the national parks! There’s one near us that is beautiful but smaller and lesser known–which means not busy–so we love to go there and enjoy the peace of nature.
My peaceful back deck.
So many places…but I guess my favorite place — today — is on an expedition ship to Alaska where I can knit and watch the AMAZING scenery go by! And my second favorite place is in the sunroom of my Cape Cod home.
I love to spend time at the beach . I love hearing the waves and watching the sea birds. I also do my best knitting there!
We love love love the mountains of NW Colorado- the Zirkel Wilderness and the mountains, waterfalls, FLOWERS, wildlife- all the things you’d expect in a high mountain wilderness- with a cozy campsite to return to after a long day of exploring,
Chatham, Massachusetts. An old sea captain’s house near the beach, with the coffee maker running all morning long and piles of library books on the mantel. Unfortunately the LYS in town closed, but there’s still one we can drive to.
any place where I can sit by a lake and knit
Grand Cayman! I was given an annual bonus: a trip there, expenses paid. I stayed in the boss’s condo on 7-mile beach and could take up to three friends with me (they paid their own air fare). I did that at least four years before they stopped that bonus. I would still love to go back.
Just outside of Grand Marais, MN in a cabin with a deck that leans over Lake Superior. Perfect place for knitting while wearing knits.
The Oregon Coast! Favorite place on earth. Wild, rocky, windy,chilly beaches. The best.
My favorite vacation place is….sorry…my own home. I love it at home!
not a place but an activity. Bike trip in Europe. We bike for about a week and get to see various places in a completely different way, from a bicycle.
We don’t always go to the same place, but we do head for warmer places every winter. A sunny sky and blue water can really lift you up.
I loooove cinque terre in Italy. Hopefully some day I can retire there
Charlevoix, Michigan. Every other year our extended family – aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, baby grand-nieces and nephews and on and on — get together for a week of (almost always) beautiful, temperate weather, sunshine, beaches, COLD water and evenings on the porch of the cottage that great grandfather George built. Our kids have grown up vacationing in this beautiful little town and now our kids kids are experiencing it too. ❤️
My regular happy (vacation) place is anywhere near the water. Vancouver Island, the Sunshine Coast of BC, Canada are truly pieces of heaven on earth.
My favorite place for a Vaca is right at home. I’ve gotten so use to not traveling from the last two years that I don’t enjoy the getting there and back of traveling.
Having traveled a lot, and being fortunate to have lived in many places, I still find that the Oregon Coast is one of my very favorite places to spend time, particularly in the late fall, early spring.
Two weeks on Monhegan Island every year
Sun Valley Idaho…my heaven!!
The Finger Lakes of upstate NY. We are lucky to live nearby, so we go and check the wine, the food, the views, the produce, on a regular basis, through the seasons. Every other year or so we rent a lake house for a week and do nothing but swim, paddle, cook amazing meals and go get ice cream in the evening. It’s my happy place!
We love New Orleans… and this year had our first trip to Hawaii. We will go back!
Our regular vacations always involve visiting with family. Longest running fav is Harwichport, Cape Cod — my parents took us there from 1968 onwards, and had the good sense to retire there. Who can say no to the clear warm waters of the Sound. Even the sharks have decided to love it there. 2nd Favorite (you didn’t ask, but … ) is Ashley Lake, MT, at my brother- and sister-in-laws lakeside cabin. Aquamarine glacial waters, mountain backdrop, and until recently, very deserted. Nothing like knitting on the deck and dock and boat with my sister-in-law, an avid knitter.
Love the lake in NH
We have a lovely little place alongside a creek, just a 20-minute drive from our home. The magic for us is not how easy it is to get to, but rather how devoid of city noise it is. We enjoy the birds and the wind in the trees from the gazebo and we forget there is anywhere else. Pure magic!
I’m currently at my favorite vacation happy place, Canyon Ranch
I love Williamsburg VA. Been there at least six times. Include the archaeological site at Jamestown. My kind of vacation.
My hammock tied to the trees in my yard in CT…
I’ve always found Door County Wisconsin to be my happy place — just to kick back and relax without having to really do anything.
We change up our vacation locations but every 5th year we return to the big island in Hawaii. If we could live there and still see the grandkids regularly, we would.
Since I live in Blue Hill Maine, one of my favorite New England spots is in Quechee Vt. It is near Woodstock Vt, Hanover NH and White River Junction Vt….lots of wonderful places to explore and revisit!
Ventnor, on the Isle of Wight. It’s a lovely and relaxing bolthole.
Anywhere there is water. Waterfall, salt water pool, in door or outdoor pool and best of all the ocean.
As some others have said, I don’t have a regular vacation spot because there is too much of the world to see.
Washington Coast at La Push – gorgeous and serene, wild Pacific Ocean beach walks!
Most certainly anywhere on the water is my favorite vacation destination, and lately that is the Oregon Coast.
My happy place is up north in Michigan where I already live
The green mountains of Vermont in the summertime!
Clover Hill Farm in Virginia. Such a lovely place. Many places in Florida (I live here but that is the best thing— live and vacay in a place you love!). Also Snowshoe, WV or Killington, VT for snow skiing!!
Wish I had a favorite regular vacation place – does visiting family & friends in Florida count?
Glacier National Park in Montana
I don’t have one, as we don’t regularly vacation. We do live on a beautiful coast, so it’s always gorgeous and the ocean is always available.
My happy place is a rustic little cabin in Northern Minnesota where my grandparents took us on vacations. My grandmother taught me how to knit, hem a linen towel, put together old wooden puzzles and cheat at cards. I was lucky enough to buy the cabin after my grandfather died and spent many summers there knitting on the porch. I recently sold it, but had 70 years of memories to recall as I knit now in my apartment.
A good beach anywhere will do. Or a mountain cabin.
St.. George Island off the coast of North Florida—the state park part, not the condo-filled part! Beautiful beach camping in February and March!
It always was the Delaware beach…and then we moved there!
Westin Lagunamar, Cancún
My happy place is Rovereto, Italy where I used to live. They have a lovely yarn shop in Cenro Storico with super friendly owners. I Roverto!!!!
I haven’t done lots of traveling, but my family camping trips are my happy place. They are mostly in our state parks in Indiana.
Loved the,whole posting today, especially the part about Kitchen Stories. Love stranded knitting and wooly wool!
We live in Ohio and absolutely love Northport, Michigan. Tiny town with a lot of heart. We stay right on Traverse Bay. One week of heaven each July!
Growing up, we would spend summers and many of our weekends in the Poconos, where my mother was born. We still go there but vacations are now spent traveling. We love river cruises in Europe and are planning a trip to Norway next year.
By the way, there are always knitters on our cruises!
Tahoe!!
We love the beach. There is something calming about walking barefoot in the sand and listening to the surf wash your worries away.
Happy Place-Madeline Island in Lake Superior by Bayfield Wisconsin.
My vacation happy place is a little lake near Rutland, VT. My grandfather bought the property in the 1940s. It has some cottages and dozens of cousins come from across the country to celebrate July 4th in the Green Mountains. It’s heavenly!
I have the family cabin on the shore of a Minnesota lake in the northern part of the state. Quiet… less populated…
The only bummer is the local yarn shops have dried up. There were three in the nearest town but now even the numerous quilts shops are gone as well. If I need yarn while in the wilderness I must do it on line.
Cape Cod especially Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro. Simply love this area.
southwestern US
I love to travel & I like to visit different places so no regular vacation place for me.
My best friend of forty plus years has a condo on Sanibel Island. Early on, my husband and I would revel in the knitting time while she would look on, utterly confused as to why anyone would KNIT in ninety degree weather. Then one year, I taught her to knit. She has never looked back.
Home cooked feasts, family of choice, and knitting: Nothing could be better.
Carolina Beach in North Carolina is our family vacation spot. Besides a beautiful clean beach with a weekly fireworks show, Carolina Beach has amazing treats; Michaelangelo’s giant pizza, Britt’s Doughnuts and The Celtic Creamery are spots we always hit when we visit.
One place I’ve enjoyed visiting several times is Sedona, Arizona. The city is nestled amid huge sandstone cliffs and mesas, and is surrounded by desert. There’s plenty of hiking for many levels of fitness. Such a beautiful place!
My fave vacation place is anywhere that has temps above 60 in February (and yarn…lots and lots of yarn).
Beaches of all kinds.
Home.
Bend, OR is my favorite place to visit in the fall. Great waterfall hiking in the daytime & sitting by a fire pit in the evening.
If I could go on a vacation, I’d go to Shetland. Since I can’t afford vacations, I visit a yarn shop that is off my regular route— Tolt in Carnation or Wildfibers in Mount Vernon. Both are about an hour away from where I live.
Deep in the Adirondack Park of NY!!! Knitting wool in summer is possible… lots of fresh water easy access swimming places. Quiet. Waterfalls. Peace.
Hawaii, for the better part of over thirty years, Hawaii. People, weather, cultural activities, but sadly, only one or possible two yarn shops left, and not for long. Still, it’s a beautiful place for sticks and string, and me to just be.
Baseball spring training in Florida for the last decade, with the hope that going forward we’ll be switching to the Catus Leagues and Arizona.
Point Reyes Station, CA. Kayaking, bookstores, wonderful food, and a landscape that makes me feel like I’m at once in my native habitat and entirely somewhere else – one potential universe over, or just on a different continental plate.
Cambria, California is my happy place! Lots to do and nothing to do if that’s what I want. It even has a wonderful knit shop I live to visit.
The NJ Shore
My favorite vacation spot is Yellowstone National Park. Always fascinating seeing so much wildlife in this spectacular place/.
I own a small business, so no vacations for me. As a child, I went on vacation every year with my parents and siblings, all across this great nation.
Beaches of Maine in the fall or late spring.
My vacation happy place is on a cruise ship. Not in ay port, just onboard, being pampered. And you don’t move to PV because – summer.
Favorite vacation Friday Harbor in the San Juan Island. There are fiber farms, beaches, few bugs, great place to relax and knit.
I know this is anticlimatic, but my happy vacation place is home when my grandchildren, son and daughter-in-law visit. I look forward to our visits and cherish the time we spend with them. Getting to spoil them, and love them! We moved to a warm, sunny state (we’re from the midwest) and have hosted the children here for summers and for winter holidays for 12 years (with the exception ofl the 2 pandemic years) and it’s been my very best vacation time ever. Family is the best medicine for what ails you!
Bonaire, part of Netherlands Antilles which includes Aruba and Curaçao for those of you who’ve never heard of it. 2 weeks of pure bliss. Scuba diving the coral reefs and snorkeling off the dock at the small scuba resort where we’ve stayed for years. Occasionally renting a car to revisit favorite sites. We also walk into town, to visit the local shops and enjoy the local restaurants. Now that you’ve forced me to think about it, it’s time to start planning our next visit.
Just staying at home. Not letting anyone know we’re home during Spring Break.
NC coast
My vacation happy place was in Hawaii
Door County, Wisconsin ❤️
My favourite vacation getaway spot (How I Spent My Summer Vacation) is a little island way up north and way WAAAY off the grid. I’ve been going there since I was 4 years old, so very soon that’ll be 60 years! We have a cabin and propane for cooking & refrigerating food, but everything else is old OLD school! Yep, we shop where the Amish shop to get the best in off-grid low tech! No TV, no Wifi and no cell service either. It’s just too far away to get any of that modern convenience in there. Radio… we do get radio reception and night time baseball is de rigeur (go Guardians go!). Grudgingly, we are looking at potentially adding some solar panels and wifi because of hubby’s work needs and, if family wants to come with us, aging parents are potentially into medical issues that might require faster medical response than the 2+ hours it’d take us to boat out… 2 hours that is IF it’s already daylight… But the best part of all is that, being on an small island, every view is a water view, the neighbours are loons and beavers and otters and eagles, with some jays, woodpeckers, chickadees, hummingbirds, chipmunks & red squirrels to entertain at our feeders. Soooo much knitting gets done and it’s more zen than any knitting anywhere else! Heaven!
Every July we go for one glorious week to Long Beach Island, NJ. We rent the same house every year with dear friends since our children were very small and now they are all college-aged or better. They still come to LBI with us!
to the author DG Strong. Can you tell me the name of the yarn shop in the Versailles area of Puerto Vallarta? We spend a week in PV every March. I love to knit, and would love to visit the yarn shop. Thank you for your article, Sonja Myklebust
Puerto Morelos, every year for the past 3… but next year: India!
Our vacation happy place is in northwest Wisconsin – the small town of Birchwood. We have a fifth wheel there on Lake Chetac where we can enjoy the pine trees, loons, eagles, and deer. It my place to just be and enjoy nature.
It’s difficult to choose a happy, regular vacation spot, as we don’t have annual regular spots. I like going to Houghton, Michigan and the Keweenaw Peninsula. The air smells so clean and the beach on Lake Superior is great. It’s our Riviera of the Midwest.
Door County, Wisconsin Loved it so much we stayed. Lots to do or not. And a wonderful yarn/craft shop Knit Whits in Baileys Harbor. And a Quilt shop Barn Quilts in Sturgeon Bay.