We survived another pandemic year, with all its challenges and restrictions, but who wants to talk about that? Let's focus on the good stuff!

Spending more time at home than usual, we focused on gardening and home improvements and local attractions and activities. We enjoyed seeing the spring blooms and surprises among the plants. It was another winter of minimal precipitation in California, so we only skied once but we enjoyed the dry weather for hiking. Peter spent a couple days a week golfing with buddies most weeks and also paddled on the lake. When I felt comfortable exercising indoors with others unmasked, I returned to aerobic, strength training and yoga classes at the club. 

Peter and Katya planting new grass

Bowltube iris

Early rosebuds

Freesias, daffodils and other flowering plants

Bewick's wrens eggs

Baby Bewick's wrens

In April, Peter and I traveled to Palm Springs, stopping to camp and hike in Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park on the way there and along the coast and at Wind Wolves Preserve on the way back. In Palm Springs, we hiked together for two days, and then Peter played golf with other Intel retirees for three days while I continued to hike in the beautiful canyons and mountains outside the city, particularly enjoying the spring desert flowers.

Peter on a hike in Big Morongo Canyon Reserve

Sherri in the pool below Tahquitz Falls, Agua Caliente

Sherri and Peter in Santa Monica

Peter enjoying the sunset at Wind Wolves Preserve

In early May, we embarked on a cross-country road trip to the east coast. We enjoyed camping and hiking along the way and visiting with friends in St. Louis and my family in Ohio and West Virginia. Peter left me there and I flew back to Sacramento while he continued to Deltaville, Virginia, to work on our boat Mantra for a few weeks before launching her. I spent the few weeks at home tackling big gardening jobs and enjoying the beauty resulting from our labors.

Peter at Pawnee National Grasslands in Colorado

Peter hiking at the Konza Prairie Reserve in Kansas

Peter, Sherri, Fiona and Tom walking in Forest Park in St. Louis

Flowers blooming in the back yard

Katya painting by the pool

I joined Peter in Virginia, and we set sail on the Chesapeake in mid-June. In a leisurely fashion, we explored the bay and tributaries. One of our favorite spots was St. Mary's City, Maryland, where we spent a day learning about the oldest city in that state as we visited the restored and reconstructed buildings and joined a tour of the recently discovered site of the original fort where archeologists were actively working but stopped to share their findings with us. That evening, there was an excellent free outdoor symphony concert on the adjacent college campus and food trucks offering delicious choices for dinner, after which we kayaked from the shore as the sunset colors spread across the sky and tinged the silver water with subtle shades of gold and salmon. 

Peter celebrating being back on the water after more than a year

Sherri and Peter at the Tides Inn on the Rappahannock River in Virginia

Sherri in a fur wrap typical of the native Yeocomico tribe in St. Mary's

Sherri relaxing as we sail on the Chesapeake

Peter learning about fossils from the Calvert Cliffs at the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, MD

We were in Baltimore around the Fourth of July, staying again at the Anchorage Marina. When not working on the boat, Peter joined me exploring the local attractions. We walked along the waterfront, observing boat restoration being done by the Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Museum (which was unfortunately closed due to COVID); visited historic ships in the Inner Harbor; and learned about a part of history formerly unknown to us at the Memorial for the Katyn Massacre in 1940. At the marina, we enjoyed a great concert one evening. We also met up with friends Steve and Suzanne, who took us out on their boat on the evening of Independence Day for fireworks viewing and watching the iconic Domino Sugars sign being lit again after refurbishing. I spent a day at the National Aquarium, and, when Katya joined us, she and I visited the Walters Art Museum. 

Peter inspecting the controls on the USS Torsk, a WWII submarine

James, Peter, Suzanne, Steve and Anna sailing on Condor on the Patuxent River

The three of us sailed back to Virginia and up the Great Wicomico River, where friends were keeping Peter's car. As planned, I drove the car north, stopping to visit my friend Lori in Washington, D.C., and then across the bay to Oxford, Maryland, where I met up with Peter and Katya, who had traveled by water on Mantra, unfortunately having to motor most of the way because of lack of wind.

Sherri and Lori at the National Cathedral to see the Los Colombes installation

In mid-July, leaving the boat docked in Oxford, we traveled to Ocean City, Maryland, for the annual Rodgers family beach vacation, which had been cancelled in 2020. The whole family was there (including, as is now tradition, Lori and her family) with the exception of our son Matthew, who could not escape from England because he was not fully vaccinated. On one day of the week-long vacation, my brother Terry and his wife Karen joined Peter and me for a day of sailing on the Chesapeake.

A significant portion of the gang after playing putt-putt golf

Terry and Karen on our boat

The Rodgers and Shoemaker/Horan clan on the beach

After a couple of days in Washington with me, Katya flew back to Sacramento and I returned to Oxford to help Peter prepare the boat for dry docking. At the end of the month, Mantra was on the hard, and Peter and I went to Washington to stay with Lori for a few days.

Katya enjoying the National Arboretum

Katya in the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden

Sherri and Peter near the Mall

Peter in the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden

Peter, Lori and Sherri at Georgetown Glow

Peter, Sherri and Lori attending an outdoor movie event in Adams Morgan

At the end of August, Peter and I took to the road again, heading to Flagstaff, Arizona. Stopping to camp and hike, we enjoyed visiting areas around Mammoth Lakes and Big Pine in California as well as Beatty, Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, and Red Rock Canyon in Nevada. Then the true adventure began, as we set off as part of a group of two dozen people to kayak and raft for 14 days down the Colorado River from the Lee's Ferry put-in to the Diamond Creek take-out. Peter was in a hard kayak and I was riding the raft, although I paddled an inflatable kayak on the first day before the rapids surpassed my skill level. The scenery, the geology, the night skies, the hiking, the food, the comaraderie--it was all wonderful! Unfortunately, I fell off a ten-foot ledge on a short hike on the eighth day of the trip. The guides and four nurses (all kayakers) agreed that I should be evacuated because of the possibility of a head injury (which I was sure had not occurred, but I understood their caution), so I waved goodbye to Peter and my new friends from the National Park Service helicopter. At least I was able to get views of the canyon which can only be seen from the air. After spending 13 cruel hours in the emergency room in Flagstaff, I was released with no evidence of head trauma, a diagnosis of one broken metacarpal in my right hand, and five stitches on the back of that hand. On my own for five days, I visited National Monuments and historic sites in and around Flagstaff.

Peter at the Columns of the Giants in Stanislaus National Forest

Peter at Convict Lake near Mammoth Lakes

Sherri at the Goldwell Open Air Museum near Beatty, Nevada

Peter hiking in Red Rock Canyon in Nevada

Peter kayaking on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon

Kayakers preparing for more paddling

Sherri and Peter on the water's edge at the campite near Mile 53 below Nankoweap Rapid

Peter running a rapid

View out the front of the NPS helicopter

San Francisco Peaks outside Flagstaff

Wupatki Pueblo

Walnut Canyon cliff dwellings

Because my hand needed more medical attention, when Peter returned to Flagstaff after successfully finishing the trip down the Colorado without me, we disgarded our plans to spend a few days in national parks in southern Utah and headed home by a direct route, stopping one night to rock-hound outside of and stay in an historic hotel in Tonopah, Nevada. 

Chalcedony near Goldfield, Nevada

Sunset near Goldfield

My hand and right forearm were in a cast for six weeks, which kept me from gardening and doing many things around the house but did not stop me from traveling. In mid-October, Peter flew to the east coast, picked up his car in Annapolis and returned to Oxford to work on the boat. A few days later, I flew to Ohio and spent a weekend at my childhood home in northern West Virginia and visited with my dad. Then my younger sister and I drove to Washington, D.C., where we stayed with Lori and managed to pack in many sights and activities in less than a week. On our first day, we walked miles in the glorious warm weather to see the Titanic, Jefferson, FDR, Martin Luther King, Jr., Lincoln, and WWII memorials as well as the Washington Monument before arriving at Lori's for a dinner with her and other friends. The next day, our sister-in-law April and her mother Lita drove up from Charlottesville, Virginia, to take in the Life of a Neuron installation at Artechouse and have lunch along the southwest waterfront, which has become very upscale since Peter, Katya and Matthew and I anchored there in our first boat twice in the years 2006-08. The rest of the week, we visited several museums and enjoyed eating out. Beth Ann left on Friday, but Peter drove up for the weekend, and he and I visited the National Zoo and the Natural History Museum before I returned home and he went back to Oxford. 

Beth Ann, Sherri, Lita and April in the Life of a Neuron

Peter and Sherri in front of the Smithsonian Castle

My whole family, with the exception of one niece, was in West Virginia for Thanksgiving--including Matthew, whom we had not seen since August of 2019. Over four days, we played games, exchanged early Christmas presents, celebrated winter birthdays and had a party for my dad's 95th birthday. No one contracted COVID, but about half of us ended up with colds. My dad's symptoms developed into severe bronchitis, for which he was hospitalized, but once again he rallied and is now back at his place in an assisted living facility. 

Dad with nine of his ten grandchildren

Our kids flew home, but Peter and I embarked on our final road trip for the year, driving east to west. First we stopped to visit the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. From there, we drove to Birmingham, Alabama, where we went to the Civil Rights Institute, the Botanical Gardens and the amazing Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum and also spent time with our old friends, the Morrison-Low's. In Montgomery, we continued to learn about the US's history of racial injustice at the Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice--enlightening and chilling. Our next stop was New Orleans, where we finally escaped winter weather and enjoyed exploring the Garden District and the French Quarter. We stopped briefly in the Atchafalaya National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana, where we did not see much wildlife but enjoyed a respite from the freeway. Peter wanted to see Tesla's Gigafactory on the outskirts of Austin, Texas, which is still under construction, so we routed ourselves in that direction and, after a quick drive-by, went downtown, where we walked for a few hours along the Colorado River (a different Colorado River). We decided to splurge on a modern boutique hotel there, and it was well worth the cost, unique and wonderful in itself and only a block away from the lively SoCo district where we had dinner. 

Laurel Falls, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Peter in the French Quarter of New Orleans

Peter and Sherri ata the hotel in Austin, Texas

Peter descending into Carlsbad Cavern

Our next destination was Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico. The sheer size of the chambers in the caverns is astounding; the Big Room is approximately 4000 feet long, 625 feet wide and 255 feet high. Interestingly, it is theorized that these caverns were formed not by acidic rainwater and groundwater charged with carbonic acid eroding the rock but by hydrogen sulfide gas rising from below and mixing with groundwater to form sulfuric acid, which dissolved the limestone. We spent hours exploring this underground wonder.

Continuing on, we stopped in the Franklin Mountains north of El Paso and hiked to Aztec Caves. Going back into New Mexico, we hiked at Rockhound State Park. We were going to camp there, but a biting wind and expected nighttime temperatures below freezing dissuaded us. We finally were able to camp when we reached Joshua Tree National Park in southern California. It was cold but not freezing, and a blazing fire warmed us before we nestled into our sleeping bags in our tent. We enjoyed hiking up washes to an enormous monolith of pure white quartz perched on top of a hill and along another trail that led to natural arches.

From Joshua Tree, we spent a truly long day driving all the way home, arriving around 10:30 p.m. The next day, we had to accelerate into Christmas mode. Matthew, Peter and I went to the tree farm and chopped down a perfect if somewhat large tree. We all participated in decorating it. Peter has put up the outside lights, and I have baked batches of cookies for neighbors and friends. There are only a few gifts left to buy and wrap. 

The old Range Rover once again carries the Christmas tree 

This past Sunday, Matthew, Peter and I (Katya must work!) enjoyed a concert at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco; admired the lobby decorations in Nob Hill hotels; visited with our friends Paula and Andrew; and finished the day in Golden Gate Park marvelling at various light installations. 

Peter, Sherri and Matthew in front of Grace Cathedral

Now, we are ready to slow down and enjoy some quiet time at home. We hope that you have been enjoying the holiday season and wish for you and the world peace, joy and love.

Sherri, Peter, Katya and Matthew

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