In 2022 we entered the third year of the pandemic, but thanks to the miracle of vaccines, it was a year of travel.
I was on the road for about 100 days, Dwight’s travels were a little less than that: my trips to Japan tend to be solo. Of course, that means I was home for over 260 days, which was pretty fine.
Somewhat arbitrarily, I’ve selected one Micropost from each month of 2022. You can find all my daily Microposts, going back almost ten years, here.
Saguaro National Park
Layers of desert, mountain, and sky from a trail in Saguaro National Park West. We’re staying close by for a night before returning to our base near Saguaro National Park East.
Ice Elephant
Walked the skyways of downtown St. Paul. Ventured outside briefly to admire the Winter Carnival ice sculptures at Rice Park.
Yellow Pollen
Temporarily stained our clothes with yellow pollen as we brushed against flowering brittlebush (encelia farinosa) as we hiked above Palm Springs. Everything went in the wash, including ourselves, when we returned to base.
Sausalito Ferry
Flew to San Francisco, then BART to Downtown, then ferry to Sausalito for the night. Behind us, Downtown, and the Bay Bridge. Tomorrow we take a Marin County transit bus further north, then we start walking, ending up back in San Francisco on Friday.
Another Misting Zone
Added a 4th misting zone (M4) to our apartment garden. All the tech in the photo sits in a large, slide-out disaster pan. Normally it’s out-of-sight. Misting keeps plants happy and greatly reduces the population of spider mites. You can see how the garden has evolved in a new post: As the Apartment Garden Evolves.
A Time To Resist
On a day when women lost a Culture Wars battle, and it was clear people like Dwight and me would be the next target, met lovely people, straight and LGBTQ+, at a Pride gathering in our community room.
Up Next: Seville
Nephews and their dad (and the rest of us, off-camera), about to board a bullet train to Seville.
Communication Styles
Tutored, without fear of passing on my lingering cold. Today we discussed Rosa Parks, and different styles of speech and writing when honoring her legacy.
Chicago Day Trip
Flew to Chicago for the day with a friend. Rode the L out of Chicago for a few miles, cycled back towards Downtown along the lakeside. Waves from Lake Michigan sometimes washed our path.
The End of a Long Hike
We hiked a long hike. Towards the end, at Cascade River, our nephews still had plenty energy. How the younger one got on that rock, we’ll never know. His brother was being more cautious.
Aso Kuju National Park
Hiked in Aso Kuju National Park with Mount Aso, Japan’s largest active volcano, smoking in the distance. A few years ago, I walked up to close to the edge of Mount Aso’s sulfurous crater. Today, it’s off-limits. The whole area is set in a huge caldera, 75-miles in circumference.
Delaying Tactics
Today was the day for my quarterly labs. The tumor marker is slowly rising, so I’ll be discussing this with my oncologist this week. The longer I can keep this somewhat at bay with medications, the more new treatment options will become available to me.
