Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!
We made the most of the pandemic challenges of 2021 even though many of our planned excursions overseas were cancelled because of Covid. We quickly switched our focus to exploring the U.S. and it worked out well. The photo above is from our bike tour of Vermont and jaunt through New England. Since we couldn’t find any available bicycles to rent in Maine, we rented these very cool scooters instead to buzz around Bar Harbor. We really enjoyed our week-long fall-colors bike tour through the beautiful hills of Vermont with Backroads.
Mid- summer, we climbed aboard the Truth boat at the Santa Barbara Harbor for a day-long kayak adventure out to the Channel Islands. The surf was really high that day with lots of wind, but we powered through those monster waves for four hours. Gladly we also ventured into the many caves in Santa Cruz Island with our able guide.
A trip of a lifetime to Alaska proved to be such a memorable experience, complete with salmon fishing in Prince William Sound, air boat rides on the Knik River with lunch on the Knik Glacier, kayaking on Kachemak Bay, and a plane ride from Talkeetna landing on the glacier on the majestic Mt. Denali. What a joy it was to share part of the trip with Dennis’ son, Jeff, and to spend time with good friends living in Palmer and Whittier.
Cynder’s daughter, Pam, and son-in-law, Jeff visited us in July, and we made sure they enjoyed touring our nearby wine country and tasting many of our area’s award-winning wines.
In August, we loaded up the car and took off for a 10-day tour of Seattle, Whidbey Island, and the San Juan Islands to visit Dennis’ son, Brian, his partner, Cindy, Dennis’ grandson, Gavin, and Cynder’s friend, Kim. While there, we spent a day touring the spectacular Chihuly Museum. We highly recommend this extraordinary experience to everyone! We kayaked through the chilly waters around San Juan Island and rode our bikes through the lush forests. We made the most of every moment on this delightful trip.
Cynder completed her book, My Wild & Precious Life: A Memoir of Joy, Grief and Adventures, and began mailing out lots and lots of orders. What fun it was for her to complete this major “bucket list” accomplishment! She is also still enjoying hosting her TV show, 805 Focus, where she interviews nonprofit leaders about their inspiring work in our community.
In November, Dennis went in for his knee replacement surgery. As we write this, five weeks after the surgery, he is making good progress—getting around easier, even though it is still painful. He hopes to be able to be able to ski before the end of the season.
We wish you all a joyous holiday season and a fantastic New Year!
Love and Hugs,
Cynder & Dennis