Greetings from Carolyn and Rick

December 2024

Hello from Northeast Ohio! And Happy New Year! With the two of us not working we have been able to do more travelling over the past year. And while we didn't visit any new National Parks, we did make an international trip and return to a favorite one.

In February we travelled to Charlotte for Rick's five-year hip replacement checkup - which went very well. We stayed with our good friends Jeff and Elaine. From Charlotte we drove down to St Augustine Florida. We had never been there and it was a great visit.

Our big trip for the year was to Iceland in July! This had been on our short list of places to visit but getting free airfare from Erin and Adiya made it happen! We stayed mostly in the capital, Reykjavik, and did a bus tour of the Thingvellir National Park and surrounding area. A special treat was having lunch at a hydroponic tomato farm where everything - including the beer - was made from tomatoes. The city is very walkable and the locals are extremely friendly. Almost everyone speaks English so communicating is easy. The Lava Show in Reykjavik was a marvelous experience as we watched molten lava (melted in their extremely hot oven) pour down a shoot and cool right in front of our eyes. We bought a piece of the lava that had cooled overnight. We then rented a car and visited a lava tunnel, the Westman Island of Heimaey, a glacial lagoon where we were able to float right next to icebergs, and so many incredible waterfalls.

To round-out our travels, we made a trip back to the Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks. While it was a quick trip, it was packed with great sightseeing. Once again we stayed at Jackson Lake Lodge. We did a float trip down the Snake River (see the photo at the top of this page) where it rained on us for a bit. We spent one full day visiting the highlights in Yellowstone. On our last day we took the ferry boat across Jenny Lake and hiked to Inspiration Point.

Our grandkids, Wynn and Lola, made three visits to stay with us this past year. In June we were able to take them on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad. In July we hiked the Brandywine Falls trail in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. And just this past week we made a visit to The Workz game arcade in Cuyahoga Falls. We always have tons of fun playing games when they visit and look forward to our next opportunity.

Speaking of our grandkids, last Christmas their family adopted a dog which they named Gucci. She is a very lovey little pug. The family had plans to take a cruise in March but now needed someone to take care of Gucci. Carolyn volunteered to stay at their house while they were away. She and Gucci became best friends and Gucci gets very excited when we visit the family in Columbus.

We are so pleased with the musical performance opportunities near us. We could attend a concert each week if it wasn't just too much for us. This year we attended a nice variety of musical acts:

And last but not least, Carolyn's sister Sue and Rick were able to watch Carolyn perform with the Kent Chorus on the campus of Kent State University! Go Carolyn!

At the end of August Rick's 50 Year Cuyahoga Falls High School Reunion was held. Rick had served on the planning committee and was able to take care of sending out email reminders and printing name tags. The morning of the event included a tour of the old high school where Rick and Carolyn were able to visit the theater where Rick caught the theater bug. More than 140 of Rick's classmates were in attendance at the party and everything went great!

We were very fortunate to be in the right location to see the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse. We had just moved to Charlotte in 2017 and were able to see that Total Solar Eclipse. Two eclipses within seven years is truly incredible. The center of the path of totality passed right over Carolyn's hometown of Amherst where her sister and husband Ron live, giving us a great spot to view the eclipse.

2025 will be another exciting year for us. We are already planning several trips and hope to see all of you when we come to your town or when you visit us here. We wish you health and happiness for the coming year!

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