What Happened to 2023?
2023 was, I think for many of us, a year of transitioning from Covid back to normalcy. That included connecting with new people, re-connecting with family and some very dear friends, and some disconnecting as well - as we continued to say good-bye to those who have recently left us or will soon do so.
After tip-toeing into travel during 2022, this past year we went all-in with some well-timed escapes, several weddings, and a fair amount of work - which for the most part has been a very good thing. Still, I am often frequented by a vision of sitting on a warm beach listening to a soft symphony of waves lapping languidly while the wind purrs through palm trees as they wave down at us from above. Oh wait. I’m hallucinating. That’s the Corona Beer commercial. Funny, how so many of our thoughts are shaped by media. Isn’t it? Maybe not, as we move into 2024.
You are invited to join me for a quick stroll through the year, or feel free to skip to the 2023 yearbook gallery. Because “every picture tells a story, don’t it…”
Getting in Shape: January to March
That first day. Think I’ll stop and take a few pictures as I catch my breath - and watch everyone else recede beyond the horizon.
How many New Year’s resolutions contain the words ‘get in shape’ or similar? In this case it took on special meaning because I had been invited to join a sailing trip to Norway’s Arctic Coast that would include climbing some real mountains and skiing back down. Each day. Every day. And the first day was less than three months away. I kicked off by up-hilling at Snoqualmie. (For those not in the know, this refers to getting up a ski slope without using the accompanying ski lift.) Good news: I made it to the top. Bad news: my legs had turned to jelly on the descent. And this was just a small sample-sized hill compared to the Norwegian Alps. Good thing I could remember how to snow-plow.
The efforts continued in Sedona where we spent nearly two months working on the house. Jon-Erik and Emily joined us for a few days as he had an ultra trail run down amongst the cacti down at Cave Creek. He got me started a few days earlier by going when a five-mile walk turned into a very slow trail run. Ok that was doable. The night before his twelve-hour run at Cave Creek, we were walking through the town park and saw a big tent full of people. Religious sect? Let’s have a closer look. Turned out to be the packet pick-up for the Sedona Half Marathon, the next morning. I figured, what the heck. Can always just stop at any point. So I signed up. And finished. Then drove down to Cave Creek to watch JE finish.
I also got a free uphill pass at the local ski area, Snow Bowl, which is actually quite high up - the base is 9500. I didn’t have my skis with me so I ended up renting a snow board, cramponing up, and riding down, in the sunset, every other day for a few weeks. Each evening I was accompanied by a fairly large group of headlamp-clad up-hillers including a number of runners from Flagstaff’s ultra community. Gasping in the thin air and clomping up, half-step by half-step, snow board in hand, the entire way up I was passed by runners in stretch pants or shorts crisply jogging past. “Cheers!” “Uh huh,” I sputtered.
By the end of the two months I felt the ‘call of the canyon’ and went back to do a round-trip to the bottom and back up, using crampons to get through the snow pack at the top. This was a replication of an eerie mid-Covid trip back in 2021.
Road Trips
Basically Every Other Month
Lost in the Alvorod
No sooner did I buy an EV - at the end of 2022 - than it seemed we needed to make a large number of road trips back and forth between Seattle and Sedona. The animals quickly adjusted, and we had a full year of adventures driving long distances in the alternative universe of non-Tesla EV ownership. One experience, in October, epitomizes the adventure. Feeling a bit cocky, I thought we were ready to make the entire drive by two-lane highway, letting go of the apron strings of frequent charging stations offered along the Interstates and instead searching out the quirky byways of Oregon’s Alvord Desert and ghost towns of western Nevada. One evening we pulled in to the Chevron station at the Nevada mining town of Austin where my app told me a charger should be located. Sure enough, there it was, as usual located at the far end of the property. But we needed to download an app first, to use it. And there was no cell service. So off we drove, waving our iPhones out of open windows (it was below freezing) in hopes of snagging a few electrons from a cell tower. On the slope outside of town we made the download, coasted back to the charger with a scant percent or two of range remaining, and charged up in time to make it to our Victorian-era hotel in Tonopah - an old bank - to get burgers and a couple of 805’s on tap at the long bar, moments before it - and the rest of the town, minus the Casino - closed for the evening.
Blogs:
Trips to Europe: Friends and Family
April and September
How do you back this thing up?
April was the ski trip to Norway. It was the right place at the right time as a perfect transition out of Covid - though we all went through the by-now familiar testing and reporting process before meeting in person, in Tromso. If you think about it, we were going to be inside a cramped boat for eight nights - so if any of us had it, we would all get it. It was also a timely transition because it afforded the opportunity to hang out with a bunch of really wonderful people - some of whom I have known for over 40 years, and some whom I met for the first time. In hindsight, it seemed that we all reveled in each others presence while discovering and experiencing some of the simple things that life has to offer. Oh and I learned to sail. Sort of.
Blog: To The End of the World
Galleries: A Visit to Scandinavia and A Week in the Lyngen Alps
In September we spent two weeks ‘living’ in Amsterdam while house- and dog-sitting for family. It was a great chance to spend time on our own, writing, and enjoying the beautiful Indian Summer.
Gallery: An Indian Summer on the Amstel
The room with a view. The Amstel River.
Jungle Trekking in Vietnam
June
Getting to the trailhead. Then 10k in and another 10k out.
In-between the two Europe trips, we went out to Vietnam for some face-time with the staff of my two businesses. The Qamera Design team spent a long weekend trekking in a national park. Fran and I missed the memo on what to wear to protect us from leeches and dangling spiders. Actually, I’m glad we didn’t read it. And I’m not including the photo from when Fran took off her socks at the crocodile swamp lunch in the jungle. Nope.
..and to end the year, a tip of the hat to Colin for a view of our sanctuary…