Happy Holidays!
This has been a year to value what we have. We have carved out time for family, friends, and housework, putting a year-long pause on big life changes or goals. We have continued to enjoy hobbies of hiking, movie watching, knitting, and neighborhood walks (now with a dog).
Our second longest backpacking trip this year was a 6 mile round-trip hike in Holy Cross wilderness, where we hiked in a full afternoon cocktail hour and cheese board. A month later, our longest backpacking trip was a 60 mile through-hike of Glacier National Park, where we made our own back-country meals, and ate thimble berries and huckleberries along the trail. We saw huge expanses of Montanna wilderness carved by ancient glaciers, we saw giant waterfalls falling from calm brooks, there were fresh bear tracks in sand on our final night, and we all learned that Nick thought that Tupperware was Tubberware. Hopefully you know better ;)
Much of our out-of-state time this year was spent visiting family and friends in New Mexico, South Carolina, and Houston, TX. Our in-state adventures included a trip to Telluride Film Festival, where we saw 2 good movies a day that we'd love to talk to anyone about. We then we popped over to see the fantastical cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde, which have been occupying my imagination since learning about them in school, and is the area in which Michael's mom worked during her time as an archeologist.
While home, we have spent much of our time training, walking, and playing with our Airedale pup Chaco who we got late last year. It has been really rewarding to see her learn so many things over the year, going from a puppy we could hardly blink around lest she finds trouble, to a pup who can run by our side on or off leash, come when called, and has almost 15 tricks under her belt.
It's been a wonderful year, and we hope this letter finds you well!
Love,
Hanna and Michael