The hiatus is over... I'm back

  

After losing my loved ones close together, in 2019, it really took the wind out of my sails.  And since we were basically staying in one place, who wants to hear about that! I certainly didn't want share the mundane stories of just plain ol' everyday life.

And then 2020 happened and we all know that story.  But 2020 caused us to do lots of reflections on our life: how we approach it and our future plans and goals. The biggest thing we missed was being able to travel and explore.  Late last year, after some international destinations started to re-open, we planned a return trip to Costa Rica.  I had air miles for tickets, the rental car and all our accommodations booked.  And then, after lots of conversations on 'is this really the right thing to be doing' at this time, under these conditions?', we cancelled the whole trip.  Heavy sigh at this decision, but we ultimately felt it was the right one.  When the right time comes around, I will already have our itinerary done!  Well, maybe. I may have found some new locations to check out!

Then 2021 rolled around and with it a case of Covid-19 for both of us.  Happy New Year, NOT! We were able to handle it at home, mostly experiencing extreme fatigue which lasted for almost 2 weeks.  Finally towards the end of February we felt good, really restless and adventurous.  We are now both fully vaccinated and feeling great.

We put together a camping trip to explore Organ Pipe National Monument at the beginning of April.  The plan was to go before it got too hot to visit.  Well, after 5 days of at or near 100, sleeping on the ground - our mats are so-so, and no showers, we decided we'd really like to go back to a small trailer like we had in Baja. 

Two weeks later, we now own 'Lucy', a 15' trailer!  We've had our 'shakedown/up' cruise, as we like to call it.  No biggies that we couldn't handle.  We outfitted her to suit us, and have set out to explore the SW states.  

The images in this post are from a couple of outings we did during the 'self quarantine' time in 2020.  Nothing quite like isolating in a kayak on a lake! And since we had so much stay at home time, I've started to go back through older images.  The one below is from many years ago on Vashon Island, and an even called the Minto Mingle.