Happy Super Bowl Sunday, everyone!

Being the advance planners that we are, we now have almost all of our 2021 reservations completed. 2020 was a year of having to be flexible …. hopefully 2021 will go more according to plan! This is officially our second “West Coast” loop and we’ve planned a route that includes a combination of favorite spots and new locations.

We’re starting off in Sedona. Our last visit was just too short, so we’re staying a full month this time. There’s plenty there to keep us busy! From Sedona, we’re heading up to the Grand Canyon, our first visit there in the rig. Jeff has an overnight hike planned, down into the Canyon. After that, we’re off to Utah for a couple of weeks at Hurricane (a favorite place) and a month near Park City (new to us). The Park City area offers downhill mountain biking and a ton of hiking opportunities.

From Utah, we’re scooting up to Kalispell, Montana for a three week stay near my sister. My siblings and parents are flying in for a week, which will be our first time all together since the stupid pandemic began. Family vacations are the BEST!

After Montana, we head back to a familiar campground for a month-long stay in northwest Washington State. Originally we had booked an Alaska cruise out of Vancouver during this time, but …. that’s not gonna happen. As of this writing, Canada has closed its waters to cruise ships until Feb 2022, effectively killing the 2021 Alaska cruise season. We’ll just shift our Alaska cruise plans to 2022 and enjoy beautiful Washington!

Next up, we are spending a couple of weeks next to Olympic National Park. We took a day trip there last time, and want to explore that area more thoroughly. It offers a unique and beautiful temperate rain-forest ecosystem. After that, we head south to Eugene, Oregon (a favorite place) and then west to Bend, Oregon (a new spot). From there, it’s on to Reno / Lake Tahoe for a couple of weeks. We have been to Reno before, but it’s been many years.

From Reno, we head to one of my very favorite RV Parks – The Vines in Paso Robles, CA. That is the only campground restroom I’ve ever seen that boasts chandeliers!! We are booked for a couple of weeks, but will only be physically present for a few days, because we are flying back east for a wedding!

Yes, our son is getting married to his longtime girlfriend on October 23! I couldn’t be happier or more excited! Their wedding will take place at Fontana Village, in North Carolina just south of the Great Smokies National Park. It’s a lovely little spot for a destination wedding and a place that holds fond memories of family vacations there. It’s will be a small group — essentially just her family and ours. What a blessing — looking forward to it so much!

After the wedding, we’re off to Palm Springs for a couple of weeks, will make a brief stop in Quartzite, and then head back to our winter season home here in Tucson. But wait, there’s more! As soon as we settle the bus into its winter site, we’ll be flying out to Florida for a 12 night Southern Caribbean cruise! (Assuming, of course, that cruising is back to normal by then!)

2020 was a very challenging year. 2021 is getting off to a slow start, but here’s hoping for a year of smooth and enjoyable travel ……