Future Plans in 2027 – Are We Leaving the US?

 is a2025—what a year it was! As usual, we did a lot of traveling, but this year was also filled with some HUGE future plans, decisions, and life changes that will shape our 2026, 2027, and beyond. More details on that later, but I will share this here one thing about our future plans: Gene is officially retiring at the end of 2026!!! Before I get into that—and if we will temporarily be leaving the U.S.—I thought I’d share our year in travel through pictures.

As I mentioned earlier, it was a very busy year filled with travel. We started the year in Nashville, TN, where we spent time with friends Bill and Chris—such a wonderful way to begin the year. While in the area, we did a lot of exploring along Broadway, checking out the honky-tonks. The musicians there are incredibly talented, and we could (and did!) sit for hours listening to them play. One thing we noticed right away was that many musicians announced they would play “Free Bird” if they collected $100 in donations. Almost all of them did this, and even though we thought it was fun—and contributed—we still don’t quite get it, lol. If you’re from the area or understand the reference, please share. 🙂

Of course, we didn’t spend all our time on Broadway (it’s loud and crowded). Each day, we made it a point to visit a museum or local landmark. On our first full day, we visited the Country Music Hall of Fame. It was so interesting, and we learned a lot. It was fun seeing items from artists we knew well, as well as discovering some we didn’t. We also checked out the Johnny Cash Museum. While we both knew a few of his songs, it was wonderful seeing his memorabilia and learning more about his life and legacy.

While in the area, we also had to visit the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. It’s a phenomenal place—especially since it was still decked out for Christmas! We went with our friends, and we all had an amazing time. I loved the musical notes hanging from the ceiling throughout the hotel.

On a historical note, we also spent part of a day touring the state capitol building. Built between 1845 and 1859, it is one of Nashville’s most prominent examples of Greek Revival architecture. The building—one of only 12 state capitols without a dome—was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and named a National Historic Landmark in 1971. Another unique feature is the tomb of James K. Polk, the 11th president of the United States, located on the capitol grounds.

We also visited Stones River National Battlefield in Murfreesboro with our local friends. The battle—also known as the Second Battle of Murfreesboro—was fought from December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863. It was fascinating to walk the grounds and reflect on the history that took place there.

We then made our way down to Amarillo, Texas for Valentine’s Day, and I was surprised to wake up to snow—in TEXAS, lol. After a bit, we realized that Amarillo sits at nearly 4,000 feet in elevation, so it wasn’t completely unusual for the area. We finally made it to Tyler’s BBQ, which had been on our list for a while, and happily for Gene, we also visited the Texas Air & Space Museum. It is an interesting museum, and the docent and Gene had a lot of aviation talk—lol, way above my head—but they clearly enjoyed it. We were especially excited that the area had just opened a brand-new Buc-ee’s less than a month earlier. We’ve been to many others (including the one here in CO), but I’m happy to say we were among the first wave of customers at that location, lol.

In March, we took a short road trip with our fur-baby Dolly to Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was another quick trip, but we did get to visit Pecos National Historical Park as well as Los Alamos. That area was incredibly interesting, as it was once a secret Army post and home to Project Y, part of the Manhattan Project. Today, it continues to serve as a center for nuclear and other scientific research.

Happily, we made our way to California for the first time in almost a year and a half—and for the first time in nearly two years, we were there not for a funeral or memorial service. It was SO nice to simply spend time with family and friends and catch up on each other’s lives. Happily we were able to attend Easter service at our former church, King of Kings in Garden Grove. Seeing so many former members was truly delightful.

Later that evening, we made it to the beach, and seeing the ocean up close again was absolutely spectacular. We walked along two different piers with family and friends—something I definitely missed. Before heading home, we also met with the tenants of the house we owned in Garden Grove (the beginning of some of our future plans). It was a much-needed visit for both Gene and me.

May is always exciting since it’s our anniversary and Gene’s birthday. This year, we decided to take a long road trip to Winnipeg, Canada. On the way, we traveled through North Dakota and stayed near Fargo, spending a few hours exploring before continuing north into Manitoba.

We had a fabulous time in Winnipeg, though I was a little worried about how Americans might be perceived. Thankfully, people understood that U.S. citizens are not the ones causing problems across the world. One highlight—something we haven’t even done in the U.S.—was touring the Royal Canadian Mint. It was fascinating, and I was thrilled to see the medals made for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. So beautiful.

One of my favorite experiences was exploring The Leaf Horticultural Exhibit at Assiniboine Park. It is absolutely beautiful and I loved the waterfalls and watching butterflies fly around in the conservatory. Besides the beautiful atmosphere, it was also where we ended up cementing and putting into motion some of the HUGE future plans I alluded to earlier (again, more on that in a bit). Let’s just say, it is a monumental day!

The place Gene probably enjoyed the most was the Royal Aviation Museum. Aircraft are displayed on the floor and suspended from the ceiling, and include one-of-a-kind aircraft, military jets, bush planes, and commercial aircraft. They are clustered in zones representing different aspects of aviation history. What is really cool is that there is a mezzanine level with a view of the adjacent Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport runways.

Eventually we left Winnipeg and headed west to Moose Jaw in the province of Saskatchewan. We spent most of our trip in Winnipeg, thus only had two days in Moose Jaw. On day one we both wanted to do different things, so we separated for part of the day. As Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, is known as “Canada’s Most Notorious City” for its Prohibition-era tunnels linked to Al Capone, the tunnels of Moose Jaw were definitely high on Gene’s list. While I wanted to see them too, I chose to visit the Saskatchewan Burrowing Owl Interpretive Centre. I got to see a lot of owls, and learned so much about different types of owls. It was amazing to just walk around and explore. It was also fun sharing our separate adventures afterward.

The next day, we explored the area and saw Mac the Moose, said to be the world’s largest moose at 34 feet tall and roughly 10,000 kg. He’s huge, lol. Sadly, the visitor center was closed—possibly for Victoria Day—but hopefully we can check it our next time we are in the area.

The highlight of Moose Jaw was the Temple Gardens Mineral Spa. Relaxing in the indoor/outdoor pools was the perfect way to end our stay and reflect on the future plans we’d made in Canada. We’re now up to five of the seven Canadian provinces that border the U.S. After leaving Moose Jaw, we headed a little further west, reentered the US (another thing I was a little worried about) and made our way to Billings, Montana to spend a couple of days visiting with my niece and nephew before we headed home.

At the end of June, I flew to Tulsa, OK for the LWMS National Convention, which was amazing as always. Gene drove out on Saturday and made it in time for the closing service on Sunday. We spent a few extra days exploring Tulsa and even met up with a friend from Fort Smith, AR. Together, we visited the Oklahoma Aquarium, home to the world’s largest bull shark exhibit. Fun was had by all, lol.

Besides hanging out with our friend, we had an interesting time driving around Tulsa and checking out a lot of the sites we had heard of and seen on tv. We also loved seeing all the little stores/gas stations along Route 66. We even saw the huge Tulsa Golden Driller Statue. Located in front of the Tulsa Expo Center since 1966, this statue depicting an oil worker is 76-foot-tall and 43,500 pounds. Supposedly it is the seventh-tallest statue in the United States.

After leaving Tulsa, we made our way to Dodge City, Kansas for a few days. This city, popularized by the TV show Gunsmoke, was a place we had talked about visiting for a while, but never made it for some reason. I mostly wanted to go because my great aunt owned a Saloon called the Long Branch Saloon, and was often called Miss Kitty due to her red hair, lol.

Thus we had to visit the Boot Hill Museum. We were both surprised to find out that they have over 20,000 artifacts in the complex, including more than 200 original guns. Gene was really interested in checking out all the guns. We both really enjoyed the simulated gunfights and saloon shows. In between the shows we enjoyed a nice drink in the Long Brach Saloon and talked about my late Aunt. We also enjoyed walking around the old stores, jail, dentist, post office, etc. It was fun.

Besides the regular shows we paid extra to enjoy their Country Style dinner of roast beef, mashed potatoes with brown gravy, corn in butter cream sauce, green beans, hot biscuits, apple crisp, tea & lemonade. After a tasteful dinner, we were entertained by what they call the Long Branch Variety Show. We really enjoyed the show and talked to the actor who played Miss Kitty. The day was over way too fast.

Another day we explored the area via their historic Trolley Tour. It was very informational, and took it us to many places that we probably wouldn’t have found on our own. Later that afternoon we explored the town taking pictures of some of the murals and statutes located throughout the city. After dinner we ended up checking out a local craft brewery.

While in the area, we took a trip to Liberal, Kansas to tour a farmhouse that is staged to look like the home from the 1939 Wizard of Oz movie. It is often called Dorothy’s house, and the docents are all dressed like Dorothy. Lol There is also a Yellow Brick Road, and an animated “Land of Oz” exhibit. It was interesting and we both enjoyed our visit. We ended the day at a local distillery before going back to our hotel to pack for our trip home the next day.

One more note about our visit, we both that it was hilarious that when we were packed and headed out of town, we both looked at each other and said “Let’s get the hell out of Dodge” lol For those that don’t get the reference, or too young to know Gunsmoke, Marshal Dillon often told troublemakers to “get the hell out of Dodge”. We just thought it was funny we both said it at the same time.

Later in July, then in August and again in early September, we made several trips to Oregon related to our future plans. Then in late September, I flew to California for my niece Madison’s baby shower. It was a quick trip, but it was nice seeing some family and my friend Lynn for an hour or so. Update: her baby boy was born in early December and I look forward to meeting him later this month. 🙂

October was busy for us but did include a week trip to New York City. Sadly we were a day late due to flight delays and cancellations. 🙁  Even though we were a day late we still had a great visit. We did a few things we have done on previous trips, but also mixed in a few new things. I can happily saw we finally made it to Washington Park. Not sure how we never made it there before, but it was nice hanging out, listening to music and people watching.

The last time we were in NYC we had booked a pizza making class, but they had to cancel due to the chef leading the class came down with covid 🙁 Thank you NOT stupid Xi. Anyway, we still wanted to do some culinary creative while in NYC so we ended up taking a Ravioli making class. It was a lot of fun, and we had a wonderful time. We hope to do some more classes on a future trip to NYC.

Of course we couldn’t leave the area without visiting Coney Island for part of an afternoon and getting a hot dog at Nathans. I always enjoyed walking along the boardwalk and watching everyone play on the beach. We still haven’t been there when the amusement park is open, but we’ve found that it is a popular area even during the off season.

In November we stayed close to home but did head up to Billings to enjoy Thanksgiving with my niece and nephew. We had a marvelous time, and then spent part of the weekend at a gun show my niece’s husband was in attendance at as a vendor.

Christmas here in December was nice, but it was 71 and 72 on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We have been here for almost 20 years and it has never been that warm in December. I was pretty warm most of the month until we left on the 27^th to head east to spend New Year’s Eve in Saint Louis. It was a wonderful trip and got to see a few family members in the area. We were there for most of the week, but it seemed more like a long weekend. Hopefully we can make it back there one day soon.

So that is pretty much our 2025 in review. All together that makes 15 or 16 states we traveled through this year, or where we changed planes. How many states will we visit or cross through in 2026? We are not even sure yet. We will see how the year goes, lol.

That pales in comparison to our future plans —but first, some big news. We sold our house in Garden Grove, CA! It was a long time coming, and we realized we never wanted to settle back in California. Thus we talked to our tenants who had been renting the house for the last 18-19 years. We wanted to give them plenty of time to find a different place. We weren’t sure how that would take it, but they had been making their own future plans. They had wanted to talk to us to see if we would be willing to sell them the house. Talk about timing, huh? So we got together with them, and hashed out some preliminary plans on timing, costs, etc. Our future plans were officially in motion.

So now that we had a possible buyer, we had to start looking for another place we wanted to buy to rent out until we were ready to settle down after Gene retires. We couldn’t just sell the house out right due to tax reasons, but did a 1031 exchange which is a legal way to defer taxes after we rent it out for two years. This was great for our future plans as we want to travel for a few years (more on that in a bit) before settling down.

We always loved Oregon so we worked with a real estate agent whose husband we met four or five years earlier at the craft brewery. You never know who you will connect with in a brewery, lol. So, we started looking into houses with her and also started looking into property management companies since we would still be here in CO for a year and a half or so. Well oddly enough they had a property that was being sold, also under a 1031 exchange, and it wasn’t even listed yet. Click here or on the picture below for more pictures.

We had our agent look into it and it is a beautiful place. It’s was built in 2020 and was bought as a rental property. The same tenant has been in the place since it was built. The best part – the tenant wants to stay! I still can’t believe how it all came together. I can definitely see God’s hand in this and our future plans. Long story short, we are now owners of a beautiful 3-bedroom home near Eugene, in Springfield—yes, that Springfield, where The Simpsons is supposedly located! 😄  It’s like an hour from the coast, so day trips or long weekends will be a regular occurrence.

Future Plans

So what are our future plans for 2026 and further into 2027? Well as far as 2026 goes, we are booked for our next international trip. We are headed to Osaka, Japan in May for Gene’s birthday! I’m especially happy for him to visit the area where his family lived years ago. It’s a little scary too due to the language barrier, but we are both very much looking forward to this trip. We have already have a few tours scheduled, as well as some activites. Follow us on social media for more details as we get closer to our trip.

Some other future plans for 2026 hopefully include another international trip for my birthday in October. We are looking into going to Spain or Portugal, with a quick trip to Marrakech to mark off Africa. We will see how it goes. A trip to Australia is also on the list, but we do that over New Years to watch the fireworks from a boat overlooking the Opera House in Sydney. Wouldn’t that be cool? We have a lot of other things planned, so these trips might be delayed a little bit. With that said, I will share some non-travel related 2026/2027 updates.

More big news – At the end of 2026, we are selling our house and leaving CO, as well as the US for several years. We don’t know for sure when we will return for good, but it will definitely not be until 2028/2029. We both love this country so much, and have learned so much history while traveling all 50 states. Sadly we are both in shock at the state of our country right now, and I can’t stand seeing it slowly destroyed from within. 🙁  If it wasn’t for some benefits of Gene’s work, I think we would have been out of here at the end of 2024 Check out some of the posts I’ve shared about my most touching patriotic and historical experiences (in no paticular orderr:

Museum of the American Revolution – Philadelphia, PA
Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument – Montana
Trinity Site – Socorro, New Mexico
Kitty Hawk – North Carolina
Fort McHenry – Baltimore, Maryland
Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center – Great Falls, Montana
Middleton Place Plantation – Charleston, South Carolina

Anyway, we are looking to do what many people are now calling slow travel (spending 3-4 weeks in one place).We are still working out details and looking into visas, health insurance, travel insurance, etc. There is SO MUCH to think about and look into before making the jump. However, I think we are going to start somewhere in South America, maybe Colombia or Ecuador. The thought of spending a couple of months in Panama is also on the short list before heading further south. I will keep the social media accounts up to date to if you want to follow us as we literally travel around the world!

We know things don’t always work out the way we plan, and all things are in God’s hands, but we are feeling blessed to officially be in the last year countdown before Gene’s retirement. With that said, I am very very busy going through our stuff and either purging, donating, or digitalizing. I have lists, upon lists, upon more lists, lol. Wish us luck as we cement our future plans, navigate this last year, and all the emotions that come with it, the high’s and low’s. Please feel free to reach out and share any thoughts, suggestions, encouragement, etc. Happy travels to all who have trips planned this year.