Usually I do a “Christmas newsletter”-style post at the end of the year, either at Christmas or New Years with all the trips and things I did during the year. Well, this school year has been crazy busy, so during winter break I was catching my breath. I was working on this and hoping to post it during the week of Persian New Year (the beginning of spring), but that got busy, too. Then I quit my job in early March, worked on job applications for a few weeks, and then subbed for the last few weeks at the military school I used to teach at. Unfortunately, I got sick at the end of the week, and am still feeling icky, so I’ve been home several days with not much to do. I finally finished these posts up!
So here’s a bit about my journeys and adventures for 2021, at least what I can remember thanks to photos. I’ll try to post more personal photos (with humans in them!) on Facebook for friends to see, but here are some great highlights of the year. I ran out of space with all my photos, so this post is Part I of three.
2021 Highlights Part I
Winter 2021 was busy but fun. We were still teaching remotely then. I went hiking to Blue Pool with friend Tracy and her sweet kiddo for the first time. So beautiful! And went snowboarding with friend Jocelyn for the first time. So hard! And climbed the columns at Skinners Butte in the middle of Eugene with friends from church. So fun!
Then came Spring Break. I decided to get out of Oregon for a bit and visited friend Jesie and her family in the mountains of NE Nevada. Caught more winter there! But it was beautiful. Lemoille Canyon looked like cross between the Garden of the Gods with a little bit of Yosemite. I also went to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival in Woodburn with friend Rainie and her adorable baby before vacation was over.
In the spring, I ate Easter brunch with my cousin Sarah and her family, toured historic Champoeg State Park with my stepsister Tammy and her family, and lots of playground/park visits with Chris’s kids. For Memorial Day weekend, I rafted the Deschutes with my Madras friends, and stopped to explore the Metolius on my way home after hiking at Smith Rock State Park. A beautiful sun-filled weekend!
Summer came with visiting relatives and sunshine. I had a couple weeks break between teaching spring and summer terms. Summer was our first time being back in the classroom in person after a year and a quarter of distance learning! So that was nice. The first two pictures are from activities with my uncle and aunt that came to visit from Nebraska, and got blasted with unusual heat (for Oregon) in June. We went to a day of the Olympic trials at the newly remodeled Hayward Field (looks different than when I ran the track in middle school track meets!) and to cool off at the coast. I went to the coast a few days later with my boyfriend Chris and his kids, and got crab chowder at my new favorite seafood place, Novelli’s.
The school I taught at is a year-round school, so July summer activities were mainly on weekends. My stepsister and nephew and I explored The Grotto, a really neat place in Portland with beautiful gardens, chapels, and a cave recess that is a place of worship. Friend Natasha and I went drove partway up and then hiked to the top of Marys Peak. From the top, you can see the ocean! Friend Sarah and I ate Afghan food at the Saturday Market in town.
To be continued…. in Part II.
The Compass Rose Queen 