Dadcation
November was rough…October’s travels meant lots of long days at the office in November, but I did get to see my first Formula One race (a few practice laps until a manhole cover took out a Ferrari) before my bride met me for a weekend in L.A. for the Darker Waves music festival, which we loved. We met my friend Jody and his daughters on our land in Alabama for a camping weekend, and I got Covid in Vegas (right before Thanksgiving), so everyone who was coming bailed,…
February started with a ski trip to Tahoe with friends I met in 1998 via the Tennessee Air National Guard. I skied 40 miles the first day and another 37 on sore legs the second day. A couple of us won a few hundred dollars at blackjack just across the Nevada line. At one point, my ski got caught under a teen’s snowboard on a chairlift, and I fell off. My pride has healed; my left wrist has not. I began working in a new office fewer than…
For 2021’s final month, we started by taking the trip to Disneyland planned for May 2020; we learned to ride (and subsequently bought) a motorcycle; we returned to Cheaha State Park with my friends from childhood and their families; we attended a few holiday parties (better than attending zero holiday parties, a la 2020); we visited my folks at Lake Guntersville, and we experienced New Year’s Eve on Bourbon Street. Here are its 31 seconds: All done, 2021. You were not as we hoped.
August. We went back to school and continued with Zoom meetings, yes, but we also dived Loch Low-Minn, kayaked the Hiwassee, mountain biked in north GA, threw axes, starting rucking, and saw our first concert in…forever! Here it is in 31 seconds:
The start of July 2021 saw another 5 flights cancelled, bringing the total Covid count to 37, but we found new ways to seek adventure, going camping in the rain in Alabama, beaching at Amelia Island in Florida, riding horses in California, and enjoying new experiences in our own neighborhood or backyard! Also, we added a new driver to our family.
We left San Francisco and headed south to one of our county’s newest National Parks, Pinnacles. Pinnacles is small in terms of acreage but offers some great hiking trails and rock climbing. It’s also home to endangered condors and bats, among other wildlife, and the trails offer views over the canyons that send warm air currents upward for gliding condors to hover above; their nests are along the tree branches lining the steep walls. There are a couple caves, too, but they were closed during our July visit…