Today was our last day in Santa Fe and our last day of covid camp.  It has been a great vacation despite everyone getting covid.THough we’re really sad about Our friend Joe’s passing We are thinking thinking of Kevin, Pat, Martha and joes wife Pam..

THere’s also been a tragedy here in Santa Fe . Matt King, one of the founders of MeowWolf where Max and Becky work also died this week. Today tehre was a memorial gathering for Matt that Max and Becky wanted to be at

We decided to head out on one last hike with Doreen and George

. We chose Grasshopper canyon.. one of our favorites.  (not before surprising violet with a new hat)

We dropped max and becky off at the masonic hall to work on matt’s memorial for a while.. then we met up to take a walk in the beautiful  sunset

One of the surprises we saw was a bunch of hummingbird moths   drinking nector out of 20 foot tall century plant flowers… We could see their long probosci drinking the necter.. So amazing

It was a great end to an interesting and fun vacation.. covid included..

thanks to max and becky for being such great hosts.. and thanks to george and doreen for being such good camp mates !

nite all, nite sam

-me

We woke today to the very sad and shocking news that  our friend Joe  had died in a motorcycle crash the night before. Joe is the father of our very good friend Kevin and Pat.. and the former husband of our good friend Martha . Joe was riding  his motorcycle northbound on the i89 overpass heading out of Richmond when he hit a guardrail .  Diane told me the news when I woke up  and I really had trouble taking it in..  Joe was a good dad to Pat and Kevin . He and his wife Pam saw the boys often.  I hadn’t seen Joe in a whole… but used to see him often every other week or so when he was working in the TSA.. at the BTV ariport.

Kevin is getting married  to Margaret in just 3 weeks. They are goign ahead with the wedding.. Joe will be in everyones minds and hearts.

Rest in peace Joe.

nite all, nite sam

-me

We loved seing Steve, Mathew, Caroline, Shannon and Aaron on the river  yesterday.. but we still wanted to see Kate, Mathew and Carolines 17 month old daughter Anna and Shannon and Aarron’s Great Dane Frank.> So early today  Max, Becky, Diane and I drove out to near where max and Becky used to live. In fact, Steve and Kate were renting and AirBNB  from the same guy we’d rented a house from a couple of Thanksgivings ago. .. Luckily we checked the address, as it wanst the same house.

It was so great seeing the rest of the family. We spent a coupel of hours hanging out and catching up with thes guys,. tey are soem of our oldest freinds.. we met them in pittsburgh when Kate and I were both in grad school.

Annaisbeutifulandfun..sheisaperfectcrossbetweenMathewandCaroline

Frank the 140 pound great dane was pretty cute too !. He’s big enough to ride !

It was so great catching up.
We drove back to town… and dropped max of at the prep for the Memorial Service for Matt King. HE’s workign on soem of the prep for that..

Diane and I took a hikle up in the hills to escape the heat.. t

hen met up with George and Doreen for a walk around the Santa Fe Plaze.. We accidentally stuymbled on  one of our favorite restaurants in Santa Fe . Mucho Gusto.. and had a great early-ish  dinner  of their famous Mole.

  nite all, nite sam,

-me

Today was really special… Our old freinds Steve and Kate and their kids and partners were also in the Santaa Fe area this week. They’re here celebrating Steves dad Marvin’s 90th birthday. We hadn’t been able to meet up with them sooner because we were all covid carriers.. bit by this time we think we’re pretty clean.. and we decided to do something outdoors together. We picked a 3 h.5 hour rafting ride down class 2 and 3 rapids on the Rio Grande. It was . so fun !> The water was up and fast due to the rains… so it pr’omised ”to be a good ride.   We met Steve, , his son mathew.. one of Max’s earliest freinds. , mathews wife caroliine , Steves daughter shannon and Shannon’s huspband Aaron at the place about an hour east of Santa Fe and got our gear.. they then bussed us up several miles on the river..   and  tossed  us  in! Steve, Diane and I were in one boat with a great guide named Brian. Max, Mathew Caroline, Aaron and Shannon were in another boat. There were enough rapids and features to make it interesting.. only a few folks fell in.. none of us did though 

It was so great getting together  !

we headed back to Santa Fe and met back up with Becky and Beckys folks .. We decided to head out to a pop up Pizza restaurant at the  hotel Del Rey. It was a really cool retro place.. we made a picnic in the grass and ate. the pizza was great  !

Very full and dun day !
nite all, nite sam

-me