It’s been a long time since we’ve sent out a blog update. A lot has gone on in the last year or so and we wanted to update everyone. We’ve been spending our winters in Black Canyon City, AZ; just north of Phoenix. It’s wonderful to be able to spend time with our family there; son Joe and his kids Judah and Daisey and daughter Melanie & Travis and their boys Jack & Harvey. Daughter Avey is in Sacramento with granddaughter, Elena. Unfortunately we don’t get out there very often to see them but it’s a lot easier to fly them to see us.Elena is 7 and loves to fly!
Our summer job has been in Colorado so we get to see our daughter Alisha & her husband Billy and their girls, Kalyn & Allie in Golden. Daughter Karen and her kids, Holden & Bella live in western Kansas so we get there occasionally.
Last summer was our 3rd year working at Lake John outside of Walden, CO. It’s just south of the Wyoming border and is an amazing place for fishing and wildlife. Jim is in heaven there. Besides fishing we have summer snows, pelicans, amazing sunrises, rainbows, mountain drives, wildflowers, balloons, antelope the size of deer and amazing fall colors. (PIX OF LAKE JOHN AND AREA) We’re going back next summer. (Lakejohnresort.com)
Our reward for all our hard work this summer was to spend a month in Cozumel, Mexico. Our introduction to traveling with the consequences of Covid was to stand in line with HUNDREDS of other people at the Southwest Airlines counter in Denver at 3:30 in the morning to checkin for our flight at 6 am! Usually the airport is a ghost town at that time of the morning. Not for us! Unbelievable. We finally got to our gate 20 minutes before they started boarding. Very stressful start to our vacation but the rest of the trip was great.
We stayed in 2 different hotels on Cozumel, El Cid and the Coral Princess. Both were gorgeous and had great food and beaches. Cozumel has one of the lowest Covid rates in the world so we felt very safe. Masks were required everywhere and they took your temperature before entry into any store or restaurant. (Pictures of our hotels and scenes in Cozumel). The food everywhere was amazing. We especially enjoyed the street tacos. Casa Mission was our favorite fancy restaurant and La Perlita is the best for seafood. You can usually get Lionfish there. (Pictures of our favorites)
We managed to find time to dive in between eating and laying around! We dove with friends we met 5 years ago. They now have their own dive shop, Cozumel Diving Trip (cozumeldiving.com.mx) Engin and Xime are the best to dive with. They only take 2-4 divers at a time and you are catered to! Engin has a great GoPro and takes pictures for you and finds the best stuff! Those of you who have dove with a crowd can appreciate this. (Diving Pictures). On our last dive we saw nurse sharks swimming, 2 lobsters out on a rock shelf fighting and a huge free swimming green eel. Engin DID NOT have his camera…….. Go figure.
Our other big adventure was a tour to Chichen Itza. This is a beautifully excavated and preserved Mayan ruin complete with temples, sacrificial platforms and ball court. Amazing place and history lesson. (https://www.britannica.com/video/179586/Overview-Chichen-Itza-Yucatan-Mexico)
Our guide was Mayan and was very informative and entertaining. We met up with my cousin, Sarah. She’s a teacher in Merida, about an hour away. We had a great visit, especially over beers at the cenote where we stopped (Pictures of Chichen Itza and cenote).
We passed our re-entry Covid test, thank goodness, and had an uneventful flight back to the States. We took a small detour to Athens, GA to visit my Aunt Jean and my cousins. Aunt Jean is the oldest member of our family and we’re working on our family pictures and history. I have a picture of my great, great grandmother on both sides. So cool!
After we got back to Golden, granddaughter Allie and I went to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra in concert. What an incredible show! Our Allie is quite the artist. Her painting won an award and now is entered into a state wide competition. (TSO and Christmas) After that we went to Durango to see friends. Jim fulfilled a fishing bucket list item by float fishing on the San Juan River, not once but 4 times. Our friend Randy is an awesome guide and Jim upped his game a lot. Caught a bunch of fish, too. (Durango) Then we took the motorhome down to Black Canyon City. 3 weeks later we drove the jeep back to Golden for Christmas. It was a wonderful visit with family and friends.
Now that we’ve caught you up on the year, here's wishing you a Happy New Year. Please keep in touch and we promise to do so also.
Hugs
Jim and Becky
Sadie and Yaqui
