Southwest Utah RV Tour, 2022

September 30th, 2022

After a spring and summer of almost monthly 4-5 day RV trips, the opportunity to take a longer tour kicked off with Liz’s “Class of 70 Turns 70” COVID-delayed reunion. Camping at Dad’s gave us the opportunity to check out his organic garden and do our traditional morning hike on the beach. On Sunday morning, we waved goodbye and headed east to explore the national parks and monuments of Southwestern Utah we’d missed on previous trips. We learned that every national park in the region has its own distinct flavor of awesome that really must be seen in person to be appreciated fully. That said, here are the photo albums attempting to share our experience.

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Holiday Cheers 2021

December 28th, 2021

From Liz, Dan and Don

Despite lockdowns and pandemic surges, 2021 turned out to be a year of reconnecting to family and friends, thanks to having an RV. In addition to two multi-week road trips, we regularly used Sally (salir in Spanish means to go out) to transport our bikes or paddleboards to fun locations in the Bay Area and as our own portable bistro. In early December, we spent two weeks in Baja California for adventures on and in the Sea of Cortez. And on the home front, we finally installed a beautifully designed front yard with California native (drought tolerant) plants, just in time for the rainy (fingers crossed!) season.

Christmas card 2021

See my annual holiday letter and enjoy our year in photo albums from 2021, all listed here.

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Happy (and safe) Holidays to you! (2020)

December 1st, 2020

From Liz, Dan and Don

Boy, do we all need to celebrate making it through 2020! We felt very fortunate to have skied through mid-March in 2020, including a trip to Japan — before the pandemic lockdowns sent us home for the rest of the year. Like everyone else, we adapted: biking, doing a lot of hiking, and exploring new places to go stand-up paddle boarding. In November, after months of research, we found and purchased a barely-used 2020 Winnebago Revel (Mercedes Benz) campervan! Our plans to visit Dad four hours south fell through due to high coronavirus numbers, but with vaccinations on the horizon, we expect to have plenty of RV adventures to share by this time next year.

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2020 Events and Travels


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Skiing in Hokkaido, Japan

Dan had a dream, to ski the famous bottomless dry powder of northern Japan, known as JaPow! So he signed us up with a company called Savour the Journey, specializing in both skiing and food. Liz dreamed of being able to communicate with the natives, so she immediately started working through the Duolingo Japanese lessons in order to master the basics: Hello, thank you, where are the toilets? English menu please. Truly an excellent adventure for January, and just in time!
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August Road Trip to Hike in Montana

We grew restless after sheltering in place the second half of ski season and all spring at home. When Zephyr Adventures announced a safety-adjusted Beartooth Hiking Adventure in Red Lodge, Montana, we jumped at the chance to plan a camping road trip to and from the location, including two days in Yellowstone National Park. Of course, we followed strict safety protocols for our two weeks among the Sturgis motorcycle rally folks passing through the region.
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Local Recreation in Covid Times

Dan worked successfully from home with only a brief layoff, and solidly retired Liz did Fitbit online workouts, Zoom Yoga classes and local hikes with a pal. We prioritized local weekend adventures outdoors, feeling grateful to live in such an outdoors-friendly climate.
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Home and Hometown

The Wembly habitat is a wonderful place to spend a pandemic shutdown. Don was like the Energizer Bunny over summer, planting a stupendous display of flowers, helping us with the pandemic garden experiment, keeping up with the raking and managing the swimming pool. A few home improvement projects kept us all busy off and on.

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COVID Summer Road Trip 2020

August 27th, 2020

Mountain portrait, Dan/Liz

Glacier Lake in the Beartooth Mountains

The natives were restless after spending 6 months in home quarantine against the COVID-19 pandemic. When Zephyr Adventures announced their safety-adjusted Beartooth Hiking Adventure based in Red Lodge, Montana in August, we immediately signed up, and started planning a road trip to and from the location. Dan mapped out outbound and return routes that included two days in Yellowstone National Park and a first-time look at the incredible Leslie Gulch in Oregon. We wore masks around other people for the entire 2 weeks.

We returned to a lightning-struck California on fire amidst a severe heat wave and drought. With smoky skies forcing us to keep indoors and windows tight shut, it seemed like end times had arrived!

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Japan Photo Albums 2020

February 15th, 2020

Dan had a dream, to ski the famous bottomless dry powder of northern Japan, known as “JaPow”! So he signed us up with a company called “Savour the Journey,” specializing in both skiing and food.

Liz dreamed of being able to communicate with the natives, so she immediately started working through the Duolingo Japanese lessons in order to master the basics: “Hello, thank you, where are the toilets? English menu please.”

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Happy Holidays! (2019)

December 1st, 2019

Happy Holidays and a prosperous New Year!

From Liz, Dan and Don

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Iceland Photo Albums 2019

August 27th, 2019

Storurdh, eastern Iceland

Storurdh, formed by volcanic activity in eastern Iceland

Dan and Liz spent two weeks in Iceland, the first with Kim and Rich (daughter and son-in-law), and the second week with Zephyr Adventures. The large number of albums below reflects how much gorgeous scenery we saw there! Iceland is truly a nature lover’s paradise.

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Happy Holidays 2018!

December 10th, 2018

Happy Holidays to You, Happy Retirement to Us!

From Liz, Dan and Don

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Christmas card 2018

2018 Events and Travels

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Ode to Fall in Danville, CA

November 16th, 2018

Closeup of leaves and mushrooms on a Danville lawn

Art by Nature

As a new retiree, I have time to take long walks with eyes wide open. Here are the word pictures Mother Nature shared with me this Fall:

Neighborhood sycamore trees shamelessly flaunt their Autumn glory like can-can dancers flashing gold and red skirts. A single glorious specimen hosts clusters of yellow, green, orange and magenta leaves, blending into the graduated shades of a Neapolitan popsicle. Later in the season they prolonged the show with an elegant starburst of tenacious orange clingers on near-bare branches.

Two blocks further on,  Japanese Maples convert to a richly saturated, almost blinding crimson, while citrus tree fruit finally ripens from its camouflage green to bright yellow and orange, begging to be snitched. The leafless branches of persimmon and pomegranate adorned with red and orange globes trigger thoughts of both Christmas decorations and holiday recipes. Like holly surrogates, clumps of cardinal-red pyracantha berries drip from dense shrubs in front yards, while street-side ranks of California pepper trees drop a crunchy hot pink carpet on the sidewalks.

Down the frontage road, a long sound wall of newly planted ivy is brilliantly gilded with orange, gold and red, in wedges shaped like an assortment of exotic geisha girl fans.

After the first heavy rains thrashed the trees, washing mountains of leaves onto pavement and gutters, hints of green finally appeared on the slopes of omnipresent Mt. Diablo and surrounding hillsides, signaling at last, the end of brown season and the coming of green season.

These are more than enough hints that it’s time to get well and truly festive for the holiday season!

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Photos: 5-week Winter Vacation in Chile

October 13th, 2018

At the time of our August/September 2018 visit to Chile, we were on the verge of retirement. The goal of this trip was to explore living in Santiago for the skiing in the Andes, and get a taste of everyday life in a foreign-language country. Unfortunately, climate change, ski logistics and the language barrier put an end to the future expats plan. As you can see by the list below, many excursions helped us make the most of our visit:

  1. Santiago’s Providencia, El Centro and Bella Vista
  2. Skiing at Valle Nevado in the Andes
  3. Active Lifestyles in Santiago
  4. Vina del Mar, Valparaiso and Casablanca
  5. Santa Cruz Wine Region
  6. Santa Cruz Winery Tour in Valle de Apalta
  7. Atacama: San Pedro de Atacama and Casa Sorbac
  8. Atacama: Valle de la Luna + Laguna Cejar + Ojos del Salar
  9. Atacama: Geiser Tatio + Trekking de Guatín + Termas de Puritama
  10. Atacama: Pucara + Baltinache + Cordillera de Sal + Mirador
  11. Atacama: Laguna Miscanti  + Laguna Chaxa + Toconao
  12. Independence Day Fiestas

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