Instead of my usual roundups of the year in photos and the year in running, I’m just going to run down what kind of a year 2018 was. As I reflect on it, 2018 was a year full of adventures. You may not have seen a lot of this on Facebook, because I’m not spending much time there right now… I’m not, like, deactivating my account in protest or anything. I just can’t seem to log in and check my newsfeed without being subjected to somebody’s racist uncle screaming about the wall, or seeing somebody who really ought to know better share a clever meme from the Klan, so I avoid logging in.
As the year wound down, we had our usual Thanksgiving feast. We just finished things off by attending a production of the 1776 musical on the last Saturday of the year, which is only appropriate, since we kicked off the year with the Hamilton musical in January. Before the snow melted, I found an excuse to finally visit the Quincy Quarries, and we explored the Babson Boulders up on Cape Ann. I even managed to explore Peddocks in the middle of February! A late, heavy snow gave me a chance to experiment with snowshoes for the first time.
We did more camping this year than usual, with overnights on our land in West Virginia and at an off-season summer camp in New Hampshire. Of course, we also had our annual yurting weekend on Peddocks Island, and this year we explored a couple of Massachusetts’ other state parks.
From early May to late December, I had the kayak out over a half dozen times, and I got to see a lot of wildlife. Especially, as always, herons.
Throughout the year, we found excuses to visit local (and not-so-local) historic events and sites, like the 17th Century Pierce House in Dorchester, Abigail Adams’ birthplace, a Memorial Day salute at the cemetery by my mom’s house, the 250th anniversary of the occupation of Boston, an amazing panorama of a whaling voyage, and three Spanish missions.
The big-ticket adventures came from two trips to California, one in late June and the other one in early November. The one in November was probably most memorable for the petroglyphs and rock formations we saw at Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada and our hijinks across Mojave National Preserve. The one in June was memorable because of San Francisco, but most of all, well, Yosemite.
As far as running goes, top honors has to go to Ragnar Cape Cod. After jumping onto a team at the last minute and having a great time last year, Nikki and I put together a team of our own this year. Over about 36 hours, we ran about 180 miles from Hull to Provincetown. Near the top of the list of memorable runs is a trip I took along the Sudbury and Cochituate aqueducts one misty fall morning. I also had a great time running along the East River in Queens before sunrise, along the Pacific coast at sunrise, on the Las Vegas strip, and in the Hudson Valley (a couple of times). I didn’t do a whole lot of racing this year, but I got in a few 10Ks (including my seventh James Joyce Ramble 10K), ran an exhausting 9 mile trail race, and completed the BAA distance medley (5k, 10k, half marathon).
What a year you had! Your energy, curiosity, enthusiasm, and photography talent continue to amaze me. I love you. Mom