A Year of Recuperation and Travel

2014 has been an eventful year for us.  The year started out with Heather wearing a body brace, recovering from her back surgery.  She broke her L4 vertebra in November of 2013, and was flown back to the US for her surgery.

This is my under armor!

 Heather spent her recuperation time with her sister Jan in Cambridge, NY, until mid-January.  By that time she was able to travel to NJ, where she stayed with her friend Marilyn in Pennington, closer to her doctors.

 The only activity Heather was cleared for was walking, and she did lots of that, even though the winter weather made it a challenge.

Heather even went out on snowshoes

 Meanwhile Steve returned to Panama shortly after New Year's Day to complete his Peace Corps service.  There was lots to be done there, ranging from building more mud-brick stoves to helping with the bean harvest to taking kids on excursions to the mountains.

On a hike to the big waterfall

In March, Heather had recovered enough to make the trip to Panama.  She was greeted with a warm welcome on her first day back in school.

One of the first places Heather went was to the 50th wedding celebration of our host parents, Aristides and Odilia.  We lived with them during our first three months in Chepo.

Not long after Heather's return, Dave and Melissa arrived to celebrate our final days in our town of Chepo.  We met them in Panama City for some tourist activities.

Looking down on Panama City from Ancon Hill

There was a going away party in the school which Dave and Melissa were able to attend.  Here we are dancing in our tipico outfits (Steve is in the back).

Dave and Melissa got to help us lead yet another group of students up the radio tower.

They also got to swim at our favorite waterfall.

All too soon it was time to say one last goodbye to Chepo, as we headed to the Pacific isle of Contadora for some R&R before Dave and Melissa returned to the US.

In July we moved into our new apartment in Montpelier, Vermont.  Montpelier is the smallest state capital at 8000 people.  There are no McDonald's or Burger Kings here!  Summer is idyllic here.  We'll see about the winter!

Montpelier from a cliff behind our building.

In August, it was off to Seattle for some hiking and visiting friends.  Heather was getting a lot stronger, and was able to hike for several hours at a time.   Here she is with her BFF Clara overlooking the San Juan Islands.

We spent the month of September in the town of Leavenworth, on the dry side of the Cascade mountains.  Dave came to visit on weekends.  He took us on a backpacking trip to Spider Meadows and Spider Pass.  This was one of the most beautiful places we saw all summer.

Heather stopped for short workout one day on the trail.  

She's getting stronger!

One weekend were joined by our BFF's George and Lisa for a hike to Alpine Lookout.

We celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary with a trip to Lake Chelan in eastern Washington.  The lake is 50 miles long and 1400 feet deep!  It is literally an inland fjord, formed by a glacier.

In October, it was time to return to Vermont to enjoy the autumn colors.  Here Heather and her BFF Bobo enjoy a walk in a nearby abandoned quarry.

November is not so special in Vermont.  The leaves have all fallen and the snow is not here yet.  It's a good time to travel, so we decided to hit the road.  First stop was to visit our friends Beth and Joe in Memphis, where we took a tour of Sun Studios, among other places.

Then it was off to Chicago to visit Steve's brother Doug and family, followed by San Antonio where his dad, brother and sister live.  We were hoping for some warm weather in Texas, but it was actually below freezing when we were there!

As the sun sets on 2014, we wish you all a Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukkah and a Happy New Year.

As seen from our apartment porch

Love,

Steve and Heather