Reflections on 2016

It's hard to believe we are teetering on the edge of a new year already. Where did this one go? Or, more relevantly, where did WE go in 2016?

Bob and I started out our year in Williamsburg, NM, as volunteers at Desert Haven Animal Rescue. On March first we left Desert Haven and 69 miles into our journey to Tucson we had a tire blow out so it took an extra day to make it to Arizona. We spent a month with our friends, Mike and Retha in Tucson before moving on to Yuma for a few days and then to California.

In California we stayed in Indio, visited our daughter's in-laws in Bakersfield, and stopped in Gustine,where we detoured by car to visit Jill Sanders of Saori Santa Cruz.  There, we also saw giant Redwoods for the first time at Redwood State Park. We then moved on to Groveland just outside of Yosemite National Park where we spent an exciting 5 days seeing Yosemite's beauty.

From Yosemite we drove southeast to Merced and then Three Rivers, CA where we spent four days in and around Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Park.

We stayed a night in Mojave before moving on to Las Vegas for three nights, where we also visited the Hoover Dam.

From Las Vegas we were Utah-bound. We visited Zion National Park and then Bryce Canyon National Park, where we took a tour on horseback.

 

We stopped in the Lake Powell area in Arizona and Kirtland, NM on our way to Santa Fe, NM, where we stayed for a month, seeing the area and visiting Taos, NM.

Before leaving New Mexico we had to see White Sands National Park so we spent two nights in Alamogordo before moving on to Texas. We were heading for our niece's wedding in San Antonio, and stopped briefly in Van Horn and Sonora, TX on the way there.

We had a great time in San Antonio for six nights, visiting with family. Then we were New Jersey-bound! It took us ten days to get from San Antionio, TX to Cherry Hill, NJ. On the way we stopped in Livingston, TX, Monroe, LA, Cottondale, AL, and Carrollton, GA. Bob and I took a breather and visited with Mike and Retha, before moving on to Ashville, NC, and from there to Bridgewater, VA before making our destination in NJ.

Five lovely weeks later we drove up to Massachusetts for a week to visit family. We returned to NJ and stayed a bit longer before heading west to the Grand Canyon of PA, staying in Cedar Run, PA for about a week.

From Cedar Run we stopped in Beavertown, PA, Falling Waters, WV, and Salem, VA before arriving in Pigeon Forge, TN where we visited Dollywood.

We spent almost a month in Tennessee, spending time in Heiskell, Crossville, and Goodlettesville outside of Nashville. We were able to hang out with Mike and Retha there.

Bob and I went to West Memphis, AR before heading to North Little Rock, AR to visit the William Clinton Presidential Library.

We stayed briefly in Texarkana and Livingston, TX before spending a week with family in Temple, TX. From Temple, we met up with friends Ron and Kathy in Kerrville, TX. Then it was on to Fort Stockton and Van Horn, TX before making a stop in Las Cruces where we hung out with our friends Chuck and Linda for a week and were also able to visit with friends John and Joan.

We spent two weeks in Benson, AZ before stopping in Yuma for the winter.

Whew! We sure did a lot of moving around this year, didn't we? And next year we get to do it all over again, except in some new places! Comparing to last year, we stopped at 54 different sites in 2015 but only 48 in 2016. Our goal is to stay longer on our short hops from one place to another, but we shall see if that is possible for us. We get in "gotta get there" mode and just keep pushing.

Happy New Year!