Pete & Lori's Retirement adventures

We are proud Brooklynites who, after more than thirty years in one of the city’s great neighborhoods, traded the subway for hiking trails and swapped the skyline for the Berkshire hills. We retired at the start of 2024 and became “full time” in Sheffield, Massachusetts — though Brooklyn still has a firm hold on our hearts. A quick train ride brings us back to Prospect Park, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and the friends we love to see, so the best of both worlds is never far away.

Sheffield suits us. We are slowly transforming our half-acre property into a cottage garden — all trial and error, all on a budget, and all deeply satisfying. Lori grows plants from seed in her greenhouse and haunts local nurseries at season’s end to find next year’s blooms. She’s an active member of the Sheffield Gardeners and is currently planning a presentation on New Zealand flora following our winter 2026 trip. Pete has discovered a genuine addiction to bridge, playing regularly at the Great Barrington Senior Center, with neighbors, and with anyone willing to sit across the table from him. When the weather cooperates, you’ll find him on the golf course in Canaan, Connecticut at least three times a week.

The Berkshires have given us something we didn’t fully anticipate: a rich cultural life surrounded by nature. Tanglewood, Jacob’s Pillow, MassMOCA, and the Clark are practically neighbors. Dozens of hiking trails thread through Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York just waiting to be explored. It is, honestly, a wonderful place to be.

We always knew we would travel in retirement. We have loved going to the national parks in the US, and many explorations abroad with friends and family in France and Italy. What we didn’t know was that our first overseas retirement adventure — six weeks in Chilean and Argentine Patagonia — would completely reframe what travel could mean. Meeting people from all over the world who share a love of remote places, challenging hikes, and extraordinary wildlife lit something up in us. Adventure travel, it turns out, is our thing.

We have just begun. Patagonia was first, New Zealand is now, and there are more wild corners of the world ahead of us for as long as our legs will carry us. Six weeks feels like the right rhythm — long enough to settle in, slow enough not to rush, and deep enough to actually see a place.

This website is really for the small circle of family and friends who want to follow along. Our two children and their wonderful partners know where to find us. We’re not broadcasting to the world — we prefer it this way. For us, it is also a personal diary, a place to hold the memories so we can return to them easily long after the bags are unpacked.

We’re glad you’re here.
— Pete & Lori