2020: A Year in Review

 2020 will go down in infamy as the year of the pandemic of Covid 19. I have to say that I was luckier than most. Besides the most important of those close to me staying healthy and safe, I spent time in Maui, Antarctica, sailing across the South Atlantic, a cruise to nowhere, and an unprecedented time focusing on family and what is really important. I was able to safely spend time with my family, including traveling with the family to Savannah to get some time with my side of the family. I was home for everyone's birthday, including mine...which is quite rare. The Christmas holiday season in Vermont was beautiful and it was my first time getting to see the kids really enjoy and understand Christmas. And then to cap off this wild and crazy year, Heidi and I got engaged on Christmas night. 

Writing about the year is an annual tradition for me on this blog so lets look back at this year in review.

 I rang in the new years with a wild party onboard an ultra luxury expedition ship called the Silver Cloud, somewhere off the coast of Antarctica. The guests that trip were a cut above, and they loved having the expedition team among them that night. Expired flares were fired off and people danced in a mass of bodies that would seem unimaginable a few months later. A few days later I left my first rotation down in Antarctica to fly back to Vermont. Heidi and the kids were waiting there to fly out to Maui and move back in to our Maui condo. 

 Moving back into our place went smoothly and it felt great once everything was unpacked and put just the way we like it. We scored a wonderful deal on a great car and settled into a nice routine of meals, naps, and trips to the beach with the kids. My mom came out which allowed the kids to have some great "Grandma Nancy time". And it was the first time I was able to show off our Maui place to my mom. This time went very quickly and before I knew it I was back on a plane to Ushuaia, Argentina for my second rotation in Antarctica. 

   As a guide, it always feels good going back to a place the second time. Once you get to that point you are confident in what you are going to expect and what will be expected of you. Even though this was my second time heading to Antarctica, it would be my first as assistant expedition leader for Silversea. I was anxious, but also excited for the challenge of continuing to learn a new place, a new role, and a new company. I could go on and on about the benefits...getting to work with incredible guides from around the world, driving zodiacs and hiking around places that a tiny fraction of people will ever see, learning from the other guides while getting paid, and meeting all kinds of people who come out as guests. I was also very relieved that I was able to facetime with Heidi and the kids pretty much every day, even from somewhere as remote as Antarctica. 

  The trips all went as smoothly as can be expected in this part of the world. We were hearing murmurs of coronavirus as the trips progressed into late February and early March. First, a large group from China was not allowed. Then people from several countries were not allowed. But that was as far as we got, before leaving Antarctica behind and heading for a trans-oceanic voyage across the South Atlantic from Ushuaia to Cape Town, South Africa. We stopped at the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, and Tristan da Cunha en route, although we were only allowed to do zodiac tours around the Tristan da Cunha archipelago. The islanders who live there are so remote and so isolated that they feared letting any ships in that might be carrying this new virus going around. We were pretty certain that we were clear from coronavirus because we had all been practically quarantined as a group for more than three weeks. All the frivolity stopped once we made it to Cape Town. 

  South Africa was in the process of shutting down ports, airports, and all points of entry when we arrived. No one really knew what was happening or going to happen so everyone on board became stuck in a weird limbo. The finally allowed us to dock, but refused to let anyone depart the ship. Finally, and luckily, we were able to rebook all the guests new flights and send them off the ship. However crew were stuck for good. This point was made fully obvious when the ship left the dock and pointed off to the middle of the ocean. The Captain, who knew as little about what was going to happen as the rest of us, was told to point North, sail slow, conserve fuel, and try and keep moral up as the company figured out where we could take the ship and where we could disembark crew. I can't imagine the stress and frustration of people who's job it was to figure all this out, because the world was changing by the hour. 

  We ended up being stuck on the ship until late April, so about a month. We made it to Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. There a few of us were able to disembark and fly home, but most had to stay on until South Hampton, England a week and a half later. Others that weren't so lucky had to wait over a month more before their home countries opened up for citizens trying to return home. Some crew handled it better than others. Luckily, no one ever brought the disease onboard. I felt like we were some of the last people on earth to live like pre-covid times. However, I was aching to see my family, and so distraught at putting them through the limbo of not knowing when I could make it home. It was a new feeling of losing a small freedom that I had taken for granted my entire life.

  Finally, I made it back to Maui! It felt amazing to be back. Fisher was sleeping better, the Hawaiian Islands were pretty much keeping tourists away from the islands and doing a great job keeping Covid at bay. I stayed under the radar for the two week mandatory in home quarantine, and the beaches were closed except to walk to the water (although this relaxed shortly after returning), and there were practically no tourists. Shops and restaurants were mostly closed but the fact that we could walk to the beach, play in the water, stroll through the gardens of resorts that were empty of people, was pretty amazing when compared to stories of other people being stuck in the houses, or on ships, or in their apartment complex. I went surfing, took the family kayaking (Fisher's first time!), tide pooling, and snorkeling during the next few months. 

  We decided to make the move back East to Vermont in early June. After three different airlines canceled our flights (no one was flying to or from Hawaii then), we finally got a flight back to the mainland and to Vermont. Heidi's parents had spruced up the family's ski house in Stowe for us to move into with a new deck and some kid-proofing inside, but we were both surprised at just how much we fell in love with the place. We were near a town, but in the woods, with a babbling brook below us. Not to fail to mention all the fun wildlife that shared the woods surrounding us. We had five black bears at one time just outside.

 The town of Stowe had a ton to explore and is a very outdoor oriented place...perfect for a family in the pandemic. Plus Vermont was the other 'best' place to be for low case counts of Covid. We were still very careful, only allowing Heidi's parents into our safety bubble. 

   Heidi wasted no time in making the house even more kid-friendly, while I scooped up Catalina to go explore all the trails, waterfalls, and hikes nearby. We got into a nice routine that has continued through the year as summer turned into fall and finally into beautiful snowy winter. We spent more time out at Stave Island than I ever had in the past. Looking back it was truly an idyllic time. My dad and Cheryl made it out for a quick visit in time to see Stave before we closed it for the season. 

  Then the fall was filled with a short trip to NY to see our friends Nate and Kelly, who had a brand new baby, Finn, to introduce us to. It felt great to see them, to socialize a bit, and to change up the routine. We stayed at their family's old mill which was a spectacular place, right on a beautiful stream with waterfalls and rock jumps. I spent the next month in Vermont, being a private tutor for two boys. I taught them anything and everything as we went on different adventures around Stowe and beyond. We ended up canoeing, fishing, hiking, biking, and finally ending up on top of the tallest mountain in Vermont. 

  The big trip came next, three weeks in Savannah. We flew with the kids and then quarantined for a week before getting a test and then joining my parents into our safety bubble. The days were filled with pool time, boat trips, the beach, alligator catching, golf cart game rides, walks on the bluff, socially distant visits with friends, and even a quick catch up with Aunt Lea and Uncle David. It was an amazing time. I was even able to play a few father/son baseball games with my Dad which meant a lot to both of us. Three weeks went by too fast. Pretty soon we found ourselves back at the airport heading north to Vermont. 

  The days starting getting noticeably shorter once we were back in Vermont, but it was nice and cozy back at the Stowe treehouse. Lighting the fire in the morning became a habit now as the days cold colder. We got some amazing snow for Heidi's birthday in early November and again for my birthday in early December. Thanksgiving was a quiet, intimate affair over at Susie and Donnie's house, at least compared to the crowd they normally have. We started taking the kids to the indoor pool in Stowe since we could reserve the entire kids pool. 

   One of the biggest bonuses of having no cruise line work this year was being home for the holiday season. Catalina was old enough now to really understand and get excited for Christmas. So we did a big leadup, with Nobby the Nutcracker, who showed up every morning returning from the North Pole. It was my first time going to a christmas tree farm and cutting down a tree. Heidi really decked out our place with decorations and we put up our tree outside on the deck. It was beautiful, especially when it snowed. 

  We celebrated Christmas over at Heidi's parents house and realized midway through the morning that we got way too many presents. The kids gave up opening them and wondered off to go play outside and read. So it just turned into an all day affair. We actually had to take a few presents back to Stowe the next day. But the magic of Christmas kept going even after they went to bed, for the last present of the night was a little box, tucked deep into the tree. Heidi found it and opened it to find an engagement ring. 

  It was a weird year, and such a sad one for so many people around the world. Just putting my year down into words has been eye opening. Its hard to wrap my head around how the world was when I was heading off to work in January and how it is now. Amazingly, it was such a good year for me. I may not get this kind of family time again. Catalina and Fisher were also the perfect age. I was able to watch Fisher go from rolling, to crawling, to walking, to jumping, all in a year. Catalina holds long conversations and loves coming out on hikes with me. They both got much more comfortable in the water. And for the most part they just wanted to play with us and be held. I know these years in the life do pass by. I tried to soak it up as much as I could.