The year 2020 started off normal enough. On January 5, we flew to San Jose Del Cabo and boarded a shuttle to Cabo San Lucas, where we had reservations at Villa del Palmar.
The highlight of our week in Cabo was a whale-watching cruise. We saw a lot of whales, but not a good enough camera to capture them. The arch is the arch and is easy to capture even on my smart phone.
Not a very exciting week, but very relaxing and one that we wished that we could repeat a few months later.
We spent most of the week figuring out how to get from Cabo san Lucas to Loreto. The first time we did this, we rented a car and drove for six hours, then another six hours to return the car to the San Jose del Cabo airport.
Somehow we are now a bit older and more inclined to let someone else do the driving for us. We took an early morning taxi to the bus station in Cabo San Lucas and boarded a bus. This was ten hours instead of six, but we reserved front row seats and enjoyed the ride.
The Villa Del Palmar resort just south of the town of Loreto features access to Bahia de Loreto National Park, one of the largest marine parks in the world. To view this park up close, we did an excursion that included some snorkeling.
On our return to the resort we saw what must have been thousands of dolphins.
The resort is probably best known for its world-class TPC Danzante Bay Golf Course. We played the first time we visited, but this time we merely watched from the sidelines.
Our trip back to Fort Collins was bit more conventional. A flight from Loreto to LAX, overnight at the Hyatt, then a connecting flight to Denver.
February wouldn’t be February without a trip to Tucson and Las Cruces. We call this our Sister Tour, with Linda’s sister Mary Ann in Tucson and Darel’s sister Carol in Las Cruces. We look for attractions along the way, and this year we explored Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument.
Our last road trip before being hijacked by Covid 19 was an overnight trip in early March to Montrose to visit Darel’s other sister Lynn.
By April we were celebrating five o’clock with our neighbors, social distancing in the street.
No cruise through the Panama Canal, no tour of Egypt and the pyramids, no road trip in June through western Canada, no more Mexico in the fall. On the other hand, we consider ourselves to be very lucky. In March, our golf course was closed to play, but we were encouraged to walk the course. We missed our health club, but the hiking and biking trails remained open.
We migrated from travel to starting projects. With the help of Janet and Allen (and others) we rebuilt our deck. It is now a mixture of redwood stairs and Trex decking.
There were a lot of shorter pieces of Trex left over. A few of the leftovers turned into a beautiful deck at Hardy Pond.
After many design modifications, our firepit became a reality.
This was our last fire before a fire ban imposed across Colorado. Numerous wild fires caused very poor air quality. The local golf courses opened in spite of Covid, but were nearly closed because of poor air quality.
By the first of November, cabin fever was getting the best of us and we decided to get a Colorado State Parks Pass. We took a hike in Lory State Park near Fort Collins, then we drove south to explore more parks. Fishers Peak State Park had opened for the first time just a week earlier, and a short hike provided a nice view of Fishers Peak near Raton Pass.
Most of the Colorado state parks promote fishing opportunities near lakes or rivers, but we also found some nice hiking trails at Trinidad Lake State Park, Lathrop State Park near Walsenburg, and Lake Pueblo State Park.
Eventually the fires were damped down by snowfall and the fire ban was lifted. In December, the fires were out, the election appeared to be finally settled, but Covid was still setting new records.
You know things are bad when Time declares 2020 The Worst Year Ever.
At least we can still have a sense of humor.
You may not see the humor in this, but I think it is hilarious.
We are hoping that 2021 will be Time’s Best Year Ever. Be happy, be safe, and be healthy. We look forward to hugs and kisses sometime soon.