Blue Planet Journey

Caroline stretching after a bike ride to Great Falls Park, Maryland. Before we left Utah to travel back to the District of Columbia for Thanksgiving, we continued to enjoy the fall weather. Except, of course, the rain that lasted ALL DAY during the Logan Marathon . Like a lot of racing events, the finisher medals in 2020 reflected the novel coronavirus pandemic. Note the mask on the moose head on this medal! My training partner, Wesley, was still in DC, so he ran a solo marathon the day after my race (his first). Below, he takes his first step on his 26.2 mile journey, mostly run in Rock Creek Park to the Maryland border and back. Katelin presented him with a finisher medal, and then she drove him to a country brewery for some relaxation time. Congratulations, Wes! Then our last race of the year was the annual Halloween Run in Logan, with our neighbors. We all performed well! From left, neighbors Jana, Caroline, me, Andrea, Onya, and Brent showing our place ribbons. In October, be...

Covid-19 continued its march across Utah, the US, and the world. We relaxed in Logan, gardening, reading, running, and (Caroline) playing ukulele. I retired officially from USU on 1 July, after 29 years. That milestone certainly was a casualty of the novel coronavirus. No goodbyes, no celebration, no congratulations. No mingling with colleagues, and no opportunity to reminisce. Not even a card!  Luckily, I have a thoughtful family, who brought balloons, chocolate cake, and a bottle of wine. Then, we went to feed the ducks! It gave me a better sense of what was being missed across the world... graduations, marriage celebrations, reunions, and even funerals attended by more than close family. In my case, there will be no "make-up" retirement party. At USU, I was there one day, and not the ne xt. Close out the lab and the office, and my 29-year history passed into oblivion. Remember the adage, nobody on his deathbed ever said, "I wish I had spent more time at the office....

Everyone has their coronavirus pandemic story for 2020, and this is mine. The uniqueness of it is that Caroline and I lived out of a suitcase, away from Utah, for at least half of it. Dancing and drumming at Nokomis Beach Park on January 1. The year started with us in Venice, Florida, visiting family and celebrating the New Year. We kayaked to Don Pedro Island State Park, rode bikes and ran along the beach in Manasota Key, danced at the drum circle at Nokomis Beach Park, toured a rum distillery, explored the Mote Aquarium in Sarasota,  and played with our grand kiddo. It was a great celebration, welcoming a new year of mystery, love, and adventure. Green sea turtle egg fragments on a Florida beach. We were honored to be trusted with transporting grand kiddo back to DC, and we were met by our number one daughter in the baggage area at National Airport. We spent the next 2 weeks being grandparents, walking with kiddo to the National Zoo to watch the marine mammals and the lions, go...