This is our fourth year living in Montpelier, VT. This winter our days are filled with outdoor activities of hiking, skiing and snowshoeing. We also volunteer at the local food pantry. Heather teaches ESL at Central Vermont Adult Basic Education. Steve continues with his study of Italian and serves as president of the Green Mountain Club, Montpelier section (hiking, kayaking, skiing). He also volunteers at Montpelier High School to help with the AP computer class. This year we also took Tai Chi classes together.
David is in his fourth year as a web developer with Code.org, a non -profit which teaches code to K-12 students and educates teachers of computer science. His free time is filled with rock climbing in summer and skiing, both downhill and back country in winter. His big news is that he and his girlfriend Natasha have just bought a house in the Columbia City neighborhood of Seattle.
Melissa lives in Cambridge, Mass., and continues to work from home for Kaiser Health News, a non-profit based in D.C., where she explores end of life issues. The news service gives their stories away for free to organizations like NPR, Time and the Washington Post. You can read her articles
here:
2017 was another eventful year for us. A big milestone for Heather was that she got back on downhill skis for the first time since her accident in November of 2013.
The winter wasn't the best one. We had several snowstorms, but it always seemed to warm up a few days later. That didn't deter the ice from forming as you can see here on a February hike to Mt Laraway on the Long Trail:
March found us making our first trip to the Grand Canyon. We hiked down with our good friends George and Lisa and camped out two nights at the bottom before making our way back up.
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| Halfway down Kaibab Trail |
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| We did it! |
In April we were off to the Far East for the first time. We visited our friends John and Kate, who were teaching at the Taipei American School in Taiwan.
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| At a Buddhist temple near Taipei |
Then it was down to Hong Kong to see our friend Andy who taught with Steve in London.
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| Reunited after 28 years! |
We also traveled to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon).
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| Beating the heat on the Mekong Delta |
Our next stop was Cambodia, where we saw the Angkor Wat temples.
We celebrated our 43rd wedding anniversary in June by traveling to Montreal.
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| The Fine Arts Museum of Montreal |
In July Melissa joined us for a hike along the Skyline Trail in the Worcester Range near Montpelier.
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| Mt Hunger with a view of Camel's Hump |
In August we flew to Seattle to meet up with Melissa, Dave and Natasha for a hike along the Pacific Crest Trail. Here we are in one of our lighter moments:
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| Mt Rainier in the distance |
After Seattle we stopped in San Francisco for a few days and met up with our friends from the Peace Corps in Panama.
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| Picnic in Golden Gate Park |
During the fall we enjoyed many hikes with our "weekday dog" Bea. Her owner works far away and we take her out for adventures.
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| Heather and Bea on Mt Worcester |
October found us in Chicago for the wedding of our nephew Dan.
Following the wedding we decided to go to Phoenix to visit a former high school student who we taught in Spain in 1977.
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| With Jed Ventura |
We visited Antelope Canyon near the Glen Canyon Dam.
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| Lower Antelope Canyon in Page, AZ |
Thanksgiving with the Wolskis is a family tradition. This year we had a great bonfire.
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| Keeping warm! |
Our Christmas was spent with Melissa!
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| Smile! |
Our winter here in Vermont is shaping up to be a good one, with lots of snow. We hope you all are well wherever you are, and we wish you a happy holiday season and a new year filled with joy.
