Closing Out '23 and Starting '24

 Placerville, CA

New Years Eve was spent with friends, Jim & Jenny, with a small group eating, chatting and playing a fun card game.  Jenny supplied us with masks and hats and we obliged her with a group picture.

Thank you guys, it was a fun evening and happy to see you once more before we leave.

Bye-bye 2023.

   

We started the New Year with our annual hike.  Mike & Rose joined us for a hike to the waterfall at Sly Park.  It was chilly but sunny.  There was some ice around the waterfall and it was nice to just slow down and get outside in nature.

 

We've had a busy couple of months getting some usual stuff done with the trailer before we head south as well as lots of work on the camper to have it ready when we return in April.  At that point we will store the 5er and head North, to Alaska in the camper!!  Ah, still some things to do first....

Now that Steve is retiring, we need to go to South Dakota to get his drivers license.  Since we changed our AK trip to 2024 from 2025, there was no time to wait.  So off we flew to South Dakota.  We were greeted with frozen, ice covered trees.  It was a foggy, cold 22 degrees when we landed.  No problems with our flights and the entire 3 days went smooth.  You never know how the weather is going to go in January in South Dakota, connecting through Denver!  We feel we got lucky!!

Breakfast at the Mud Hole, then we picked up our licenses and took a little drive.  Awesome Biscuits and Gravy.

We passed the Crazy Horse Memorial quietly covered in snow.  If you zoom in on the picture you can see his profile and his arm outstretched pointing to the right.

Interesting bridge.

Here's Steve logging out for the final time!!  Retired!!  No more Zoom calls!!  Yay!!

We celebrated with a nice dinner out then back to our room for an early flight back home.  Our ties to California are totally cut now. Except of course for our family and friends that we’ll visit each year!

The Rocky Mountains from our seat on the way back.

We had a few more friends to see before we leave.  We met with Ron & Rene for lunch in Folsom.

The Folsom Ice Rink.

We squeezed in one more dinner with our daughter.

And one last dinner at our favorite Mexican hang out with Doug and Deanna.

All that was left was a quick weekend in San Jose to visit the boys and spend time with our grandson.

BUT, the bug caught up with us.  We both came down with a terrible cold/flu/whatever.  We had to cancel seeing the rest of the family.  We just hunkered down and rested.  As of this writing (1/13) Steve is bouncing back and I think I'm headed that way.  Tomorrow we will visit with my Mom once more (I'll keep my distance) and finish a couple of things on the 5th wheel and camper before we head towards Arizona.  And some warmth!!  It's been cold this past week.  Speaking of the camper, here's a little teaser pic.

We're especially happy with how the new barn door for the bathroom came out.  With lots of help from Mike and Rick we have our solar installed and I had some fun updating the inside.  I must say, it really came out cute!  More pics later when it's totally finished.  It' just needs a couple more small things.  We'll be warm and cozy up in Alaska, but for now we're looking forward to getting back on the road!

Jacks UP, Wheels Rollin’!!

If you missed our Year End Summary with

our big news, read it on the last post.