WashingtonExec: What is your favorite city to visit? What do you enjoy doing there?
Kelly: I had the benefit of growing up the son of a foreign service officer, so by comparison, I have seen quite a bit more of the world than the average person. The cities I visit most often are the cities I work in. By contrast, when traveling for pleasure, I try to visit different cities to satisfy my own curiosity and desire for adventure. However, there is one place I keep returning to, and it isn’t a city at all –– Sonoma County, California. Years ago, my wife Monica and I traveled to Healdsburg, California, for a long weekend in California wine country. For both of us, the peaceful, organic, down-to-earth people, combined with the unique cuisine, scenery and overall culture make this my favorite destination. There’s something about the rolling hills of Sonoma County and the unpretentious, relaxed and warm nature of the people there that keeps pulling us back there. Perhaps it’s just that it offers a pace of play that is 180 degrees apart from where we live and work in the D.C. area, and while I may not be able to tolerate it for more than a short period of time, it has become my favorite respite from the world I live and work in every day.