End of year update (2018)

Well, another year has come and gone. It has been a good year For Susan and I.

First, the travel.
We went to Las Vegas in February to visit Jess and Robbie. While we were there we visited Death Valley. It was an amazing trip. When you think of Death Valley you think of desert but it is much more. We started out at an elevation of over 3000 feet above sea level and ended up 282 feet below sea level. The weather was great with temperatures in the 70's. We went to one area the has sand dunes and watched people sliding down them. We also visited a ghost town which was very interesting. We revisited the Hoover dam too while we were there.

In June we went to the finger lakes in New York to a favorite place of ours, Wine Country. Susan's sister and he husband also went there to camp with friends. We tasted wines and visited many vineyards and came back with a few cases. We usually go there in the fall but it was much more relaxed in June.

We also went to Ocean Park Maine in June. We must go there at least once a year. Heather, Brian and Erica and Erin and Greg were there too. The water was a little too cold for swimming but it was nice just relaxing on the beach. We also had a lobster dinner at Shannon's house which was lots of fun.

In July we went to Yankee Stadium in New York to take in a game. We took the train which was much better than driving in. The Yankees lost but we had a good time. We also went to a couple of Red Sox games at Fenway Park.

I had my 50th high school reunion this year. It's hard to believe it's been 50 years since I graduated. There was a good turnout with over 70 classmates attending. It was nice to see people I haven't seen since high school. A good time was had by all!

Our biggest trip this year was to Ireland in September. It was a great trip! We stayed with Susan's friends near Dingle for 5 days. It was really nice there being right on the bay. We went into Dingle for a concert one night and returned the next day foe shopping. We also went to Killarney for a day. We then went to Doolin for the remainder of our trip. We stayed at a nice B and B not far from Doolin center. While there we visited the Cliffs of Moher and the Doolin Cave. The cave was about 17 floors below the surface and contains the longest free-hanging stalactite in Europe. It rained quite a bit while we were in Ireland but that's normal.

Around the house - We had a room built in our basement where Susan can do her sewing and I plan to work on transferring my many slides to a digital format. We also replaced the two outer front doors. We continue to work in the yard and battle the leaves in the fall.

I'm sure there are many other things that occurred this past year. My Mom turned 95 this year and is doing ok. She still lives at home. We got a cat (Pepper) in the spring. He seems to get along with Zoey pretty good though Zoey does chase him around the house at times. We're looking forward to the New Year and more adventures.