Time for me to take a look back at 2025, my 53rd year on this planet. Coming into 2025 I think we all knew it was going to be challenging, but I don’t think the real shock of the 2024 election could anyone be prepared for how really really bad things would be. I don’t want to dive into the politics and horrors of the year. Instead, I am going to highlight the good.
March
Spring Break trips have been something we look forward to over the years. A few years ago I took my daughter on her trip to the Oregon and the PNW and in 2026 it will be my son’s turn for a solo trip with dad. Unsurprisingly we are heading back to the PNW, but this time to Seattle. Should be a blast. Since my daughter had rowing she couldn’t take any trips, but I promised my son I would take him back to Rochester for the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester, NY since we had a limited time during a college visit. We spent a whole day this time and then stopped at Niagara Falls since it was not far off the way home.
April
Not much happens in April other than my son turned 15 and I turned 53. Oh and I my 5th year at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland occurred too.
May
For 2025 my oldest child finished her high school rowing career (I rented a large lens for my micro 4/3 camera for this moment). It’s been a wild ride learning about the sport of rowing over the 4 years of her high school. We’ve become close with a few other families because of it. It was a bittersweet ending to her rowing career just missing the championship round in the Midwest Regional Championship in Michigan.
June
The most exciting month of 2025 occurred in June. From the daughter graduating high school to just a few days later (June 11-25) we took a family trip to Great Britain to celebrate this moment as a last large trip before she headed off to college. More on the trip below.
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High School Graduate
When asked where she wanted to go for this trip she’d said London. Neither my wife or I were super enthused about it, but then a Rick Steaves tour planted the seed. We soon figured we were way over our heads and Kate got a name for a travel agent. Soon we were hashing out the details of starting and ending the trip in London. For two full weeks we were hitting England, Wales, and Scotland. We used a lot of public transit as much as possible, which worked out great, and the travel agent planned out the rest for hotels and things to do. Using JetBlue was the cheapest and most decent airline. The only negative was a long layover in Boston on the way there and back. JetBlue has wonderful “extra space” seating that was well worth the upgrade and their food was phenomenal. We flew into London Heathrow which arrived earlier than expected. Getting through UK Customs was super painless. Scan passport and then walk through gate. This only took 30 seconds to get through, but had to wait about 20 minutes for our luggage to arrive.
We started the journey by spending the day and one night in Richmond upon Thames just outside of London. For AppleTV fans, this is where Ted Lasso takes place. In fact, we had lunch at the pub. Lovely little suburb of London.
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Richmond (London), England
The next morning we had a private driver pick us up for Bath, England with a stop at Stonehenge along the way. Stonehenge was more intriguing than I thought it would be. Fascinating ancient history that is still a mystery. When we originally scheduled Bath my wife and I were just okay with it. It sounded nice, but didn’t think much of it. Bath ended up being a surprise highlight of the trip. There is a free Mayor’s tour which is a walking tour pointing out the history that begins and ends outside the Roman Baths. All for free. Highly recommend the tour if visiting Bath. What a fabulous old English city full of history (Roman, Medieval) and wonderful architecture, We really enjoyed the stop here in Bath.
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Stonehenge (England)
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Bath, England
From Bath we picked up the GWR train to Cardiff, Wales taking us through Bristol where the train stopped to switch to a bus the remainder of the way. There was planned maintenance on a tunnel that was the cause of the transfer. It worked out because we each had plenty of space on the bus and was able to see a lot as we entered Wales. Fascinating that as soon as you get to Wales everything becomes bilingual (English and Welsh).
We would have liked to spend more time in Wales. Such a lovely small country. My wife’s father is of Welsh descent so we wanted to visit Wales when we planned this trip. We decided to go to Cardiff which is the capital of Wales. It’s an old port city with blue collar ties to heavy industry. It reminded us a bit like Cleveland. The next morning we had a full day tour called the Cliffs, Coast and Castles. We saw the wondrous tight hedgerow streets, “cliffs of insanity”, the coast and many castles. We also had a stop at St. Fagan’s National Museum of History. Wales is such a lovely country. Highly recommend. That night the wife and I went out for a traditional Welsh dinner. One of my favorite meals the entire trip. (Also, a flight of beer apparently are full bottles in Wales.)
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Cardiff, Wales
Next stop, Scotland. Originally we contemplated a train ride from Cardiff up to Scotland hitting things around Glasgow, but the travel agent talked us out of the 9-10 hour plus excursion. Instead we would fly up to Scotland. Only thing was that we had to head back to Bristol, England since it was the only place that a direct flight up to Inverness (of the Scottish Highlands). We booked a bus direct from Cardiff to Bristol Airport. We flew EasyJet, the low cost carrier in Europe. The seats were tight for sure, but luckily it’s just an hour and a half flight to Inverness Airport.
Inverness Airport is a tiny airport. Fitting for a small stature Highland city. I don’t we realized how far north we were going to be until 10pm sunset with bright sun, yes sunshine in northern Scotland, at 9:30 in the evening. We get a taxi to the city and soon began exploring lovely Inverness. This was going to be our central point for the next few days to visit Isle of Skye and Loch Ness. The River Ness runs right through Inverness where it empties in the North Sea.
What more can I say about Scotland? It is now my favorite place in the world. The people, the landscape, the food is all just divine. Yes, haggis is an acquired taste, but it’s still something worth trying and no better place than where it’s authentic. My namesake originates between Inverness and Aberdeen. It just felt like home to me. Isle of Skye is otherworldly. No other way to describe it. Loch Ness is one of the most wild bodies of water you will ever encounter. The water is thick and you can understand why people see a monster in its dark, murky depths. All and all Inverness is a must visit for Scotland. A great centralized location to visit much of Scotland. There are many tour groups to choose from, but the absolute best group is WOW.
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Inverness (Isle of Skye & Loch Ness), Scotland
Leaving Inverness was tough. The apartment at Glen Mohr (which has a brewery and distillery on the premises) was the perfect location and a great space for all of us to spread out. Next stop, Edinburgh, Scotland. We took the LNER train from Inverness to Edinburgh (Waverly station). I booked a first class car since it was not much more than a regular booking. It included meals (I got a proper English breakfast) and the high speed train passed through the Highlands providing us spectacular views.
Edinburgh, Scotland. What more can I say about any place in Scotland really? We absolutely adored Edinburgh. So much to see, do and eat. A very lively town filled with incredible history, architecture and people. Kate and I are trying to figure out how to get back there so we can hike. We’ll make it happen.
Anyway… Edinburgh is quite hilly in Old Town. You have many steps and passageways (Close) to navigate. Prepare for plenty of steps so where comfortable shoes! We dropped our things off at the hotel and started exploring. It’s a magical place let me tell you. Only issue we had was the hotel we booked was over a nightclub open till 2am. We did find a new place that was right on the Royal Mile that we moved to the next morning. Next time we’ll check all of the details better. The hotel did a full refund and were very understanding. No harm no foul. Kate and I hiked up to Arthur’s Seat that evening. Nothing like ancient volcanos to provide you with a wealth of parks with views. The kids bailed on us, but we got the treat of seeing people setting up for Summer Solstice.
The next day we had an Edinburgh Underground Vaults Tour and then the girls went to make their own Harris Tweed handbags while the boy and I hit up the National Museum of Scotland. This place is incredible. It’s like a giant combination of all of the Smithsonian museums in DC all under one giant roof. An Edinburgh must.
Also Pride Edinburgh occurred during our time there! I love this place because love is love. Love to see a full city support LGBTQ+.
On our last day in Edinburgh we decided to have a leisure day exploring the city via bus. This was simply the best way to see a lot of Edinburgh with a hop on/ hop off buses with 3 different routes. We bought the fare for all 3 routes which us up to Firth of Forth at Leith (port) where we had a nice brunch at Teuchter’s Landing and afterwards I got a Scotch tasting at the Port of Leith Distillery.
We had so much fun in Edinburgh. It’s my new favorite city in the world. I need to get back there.
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Edinburgh, Scotland
Just like our travel from Inverness to Edinburgh we had an LNER train to catch from Edinburgh to London Kings Cross. The train had minimal stops that took us along the coast. Once we got off the train we navigated the “Tube” to our hotel close to Tottenham. When you’re in London, make sure your hotel room has air conditioning. Not all do. We had to suffer 78º days in an old hotel without AC.
In London we took up the National Portrait Gallery and then walked to Buckingham Palace to take in the pompous glamour. Later on we met up with a friend of Kate’s that happened to be traveling with her daughter in London.
On our final day in London, and Great Britain, we had a tour at Tower of London where you see the Crown Jewels. After this we headed to Borough Market to take in this open street market experience. It was super crowded and overwhelming. We split up so I could take my son to UK’s National Army Museum while the girls went to explore Westminster and around Parliament. We ended the evening by grabbing dinner at Seven Dials Market food hall. In London do check it out. They have incredible food for averyone.
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London, England
Sadly the trip had to come to an end, but we had an incredible experience. We also had incredible weather the entire trip. Maybe a few sprinkles for a short time, but that was it. Great Britain ended being more than we imagined it would be. We’ll be back Wales and Scotland!
Funny (yet absolutely terrifying) incident occurred on our way to London Gatwick Airport. We were using the Underground and at a station for an express train direct to the airport my daughter lost her Passport. She dropped it. We were on the train on the way and had to hop off at the next station to head back. Luckily cameras caught it and Underground station workers retrieved it immediately. We found the next train to the airport and still had plenty of time to catch the plane. That would have been a disaster, but it didn’t and now we have a story.
Full Great Britain trip gallery
Be sure to check out all of the photos from this once in a lifetime Davis family trip on Flickr.
July
Hard to believe this, but July brought Kate, my wife, and I large milestone. We celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. How can it have been 25 years since we said “I do” that Monday afternoon on a beautiful, sunny British Columbia Gulf Island?
August
This is the beginning of the end chapter for the daughter at home. She begins her journey in college life.
September
September brings the girl’s birthdays. Daughter turned 19 and the wife is still in her 40s is all I’m going to say. Creeping closer to 50! We did have a couple of weddings to attend including our niece’s! I surprised my niece wearing my Davis family tartan kilt. I am her crazy uncle after all.
December
As like in years past, we spend time between Christmas and New Year Day on Hilton Head Island, SC close to where my mother-in-law lives. Just like 2024, I stayed behind to watch friend’s dog while they got away to visit family for few days. Once they returned I flew down to Savanah, Georgia to meet up with the fam. I was getting a little worried about the flight from Cleveland due to a damaging wind warning, snow and rapidly dropping temperatures. Other than the jet bridge gate not fully connected to the airplane causing the -3º windchill to make for a very chilling entry to the plain the plane had to get de-iced causing a minor delay. You could feel the wind whipping the plane which does not create a very enthusing takeoff anticipation, but I have to say this pilot and crew were some of the best I have ever experienced with the conditions. Other than a few minor sudden dips on the climb it was smooth and quick flight to Washington DC to pick up my connecting flight. That huge polar cyclone had made its way to DC at that point, but the pilot landed it like butter.
Of course as I arrive the temperatures were set to drop from 70s to upper 40s-50s the remainder of the trip. Got a nice moment on the beach and even though it was in the 50s one day it was still sunny and the wife and I sat on the beach for a few hours anyway. Yes, I wore my Midwest male uniform (see below).
So for 2025 it was filled with many great family things. Great memories and experiences. Now here’s to 2026. Hopefully the country turns itself around.