Greetings to you all from Steve and Heather in Vermont.  We hope you are staying healthy and safe in the holiday season.

This was quite a year. We had high hopes for 2021 with vaccines on the horizon.   We first had to wait a few months to get our shots.   We stayed close to home, but enjoyed many outings in the woods and mountains.

Skiing with our friends George, Cynthia, Cort and Ginny

A visit from Melissa

Sometimes we were on snowshoes!

Once we were vaccinated, we felt much more free to travel.  We started out with an Easter celebration with the Smith side of the family, and then we decided to head south to NJ.  We had forgotten how beautiful the spring flowers were!

Heather and (BFF) Bobo in Philadelphia

Then it was off to Arizona and Utah for some fun in the desert with our friends George and Lisa.  We found lots of adventures near Page, AZ.

Buckskin Gulch

Horseshoe Bend with George and Lisa

Paddling the Colorado River 

From the Southwest we flew to Seattle to spend time with Dave and Natasha, whom we hadn't seen in 18 months.  The highlights of our trip there were a hot tub boat trip on Lake Union and a week in Bend, Oregon.

Top speed is 3 mph!

Hiking in Bend 

In August, Heather's sister Jan and husband Tom celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

October foliage season is always a treat.  Our friends David and Jani visited from New Jersey.

We decided to take a trip to Mexico in December to take advantage of the cooler weather there.   We started off in Mexico City visiting our friend Catherine with whom we served in the Peace Corps.

Delicious fish and octopus dinner

We then headed to the island of Holbox just north of the Yucatan peninsula.

We found a great rooftop bar to watch the sunset.

We also spent a few days in Tulum, south of Cancun, where we were able to swim in the cenotes, which are freshwater pools formed in the limestone rock.

Luckily we tested negative for COVID and were allowed back in the US.  We still had some time left before Christmas to visit Melissa in Colorado, where she has a fellowship at the Center for Environmental Journalism at CU Boulder.  Dave and Natasha joined us, so we were able to have a family hiking reunion under sunny skies!

We wish you all a healthy and happy New Year.  Let's hope we have relief from the pandemic in 2022!

With love,

Steve and Heather