Yes, we know it’s late January of 2026! 2025 flew by for us – apparently so fast that it has taken us practically through January to put together a holiday letter. And we’ll get back to 2025 in a bit. First, the biggest news for 2026:

We’re campground hosting in Bryce Canyon National Park in August and September. If you’d like to visit us there, start making plans now. Note that you can make reservations in North Campground the usual 6 months in advance. Sunset Campground (where we will be) allows reservations only 14 days in advance. The park also has a lodge, and there are multiple forms of lodging available outside the park.

OK, back to 2025. We started the year by going to Big Bend National Park, this time for vacation. Friends from Colorado joined us for a few days of hiking and sightseeing. Very few people are left from our time hosting there, but we did catch up with someone who filled us in on all the scuttlebutt. The most exciting news concerned a new plant species discovered by a volunteer and a ranger in 2024. Although neither one of us could pick her out of a lineup, we have met the volunteer. She has worked in Big Bend for quite a long time.

Rio Grande in the foreground, Chisos Mountains on the horizon.

Roadrunner in our Chisos Basin campsite, a turtle in the warm springs pool by Rio Grande Village campground and a Mexican Jay along the Lost Mine trail.

El Pico in the Sierra del Carmen mountains in Mexico.

Alan spends as much time fishing as possible and is usually successful at catching. Although he still fishes Colorado, he has discovered Wyoming fish. He and his fishing buddies spend at least a week every summer up near the Wind River Range.

Alan in his backpackable raft with a big brook trout.

Trappers Lake in the Flat Tops Wilderness is one of our favorite Colorado destinations. This year we planned a trip heavy on the hiking which turned out to be a good choice. The fish were rather elusive. The following two photos were taken on the same day. The first is early morning when the sun is shining and the air is still. The second is several hours and many (hiking) miles later, just minutes from our destination where we expect to have lunch. The thunder started just as we took off our packs. It was a wet trip back to our campsite.

The Amphitheater at the south end of Trappers Lake.

Not far from Parvine Lake. We’ve hiked about 5 miles from where we were in the previous photo, and Susannah is ready for lunch.

September found us in New England to see friends and relatives. I suspect all were astonished that after years of promises, we actually managed to get on a plane and fly back East. Visiting Hammond Castle, built by John Hays Hammond, Jr, followed by a seafood dinner on the North Shore with Alan’s brother and wife may have been the highlight of our stay in Boston, but homemade blueberry pancakes were a close second. Below, a guide stands in front of the drawbridge which isn’t actually an entrance to the castle.

Glamping just outside of Baxter State Park may have been the highlight of our trip to Maine to see friends, but once again, homemade blueberry pancakes (and blueberry pie) made an appearance. We think we’re lucky to get to a hiking trail less than 30 minutes from home, but our friends just walk across the street and climb Mt Battie with fabulous views of Camden Harbor.

Looking across Millinocket Lake to Katahdin. Although at heart I’m a desert rat, Maine is beautiful, especially on a clear day.

We also drove down to Pueblo for a few days in October. Steel museum, old mansions, dinosaur tracks, Royal Gorge Railroad and a bit of genealogy in Cañon City. (Susannah’s great grandparents and family lived there in the early 1900s.) All very interesting, but we only took a few photos, and none of them met our standards.

When we weren’t hiking and/or fishing closer to home, Alan volunteered at the Arvada Reservoir while Susannah ushered at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

Alan inspects boats for aquatic nuisance species. The geese prefer the parking lot to the lake, and Colorado Parks & Wildlife staff prepare to determine which species of fish and how many live in the lake. Below, Day of the Dead at Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

All in all, a good year as long as we didn’t pay attention to the news. And when we did? Yeah, there was some protesting.

Happy New Year!