Christmas Greetings

Ho, Ho, Ho, a Merry Christmas to you! We hope that you are looking forward to another wonderful year as much as we are.

The big event this past year was our long-anticipated visit to Nepal in February. After a couple of days in Kathmandu getting acclimated to the most Third World-ish country we have yet visited, our group of paraglider pilots flew to Pokhara where we enjoyed ten days of flying with the Annapurna Range in the near distance as a background. We also camped two nights trekking-style flying during the day and enjoying excellent meals prepared by our Nepali guides. Our final adventure was a three-day tour of Chitwan National Park in the lowlands; we did the whole safari thing including riding an elephant through the jungle and sneaking up on several rhinos. The entire three weeks in Nepal was an amazing experience.

Aside from Nepal, our winter activities were mostly hiking (not much snow in ’10), some XC skiing and snowshoeing and, on very rare occasions, paragliding and (for C.J.) hang gliding. By May we were getting tired of the rain and cold so when we got an invitation to a fly-in down in the Southwest, we loaded up the Aliner and took off for two weeks in the canyonlands of Utah and the Memorial Day flying at Alamogordo, NM. Great scenery, and New Mexico was wonderfully sunny and HOT!

We came home to more chilly rain, giving C.J. lots of time to work on scrapbook pages (both digital and paper), but putting our garden way behind schedule. Meanwhile, George had started (finally) to build cabinets to line the upstairs room. At this point we have about ten feet of the 40-some feet completed.

We escaped the western Washington rain for several short trips to Chelan, and were joined by Ginny and Wally for a week of fun in the sun. We also continued our August tradition of joining C.J.s since-kindergarten girlfriend (who lives in North Carolina) and her family for a few days on the Oregon coast. In October we were in Bend, Oregon for a week of chilly but sunny hiking and kayaking followed by the USHPA board meeting. Winter started early in 2010 with close to a foot of snow on our deck the week of Thanksgiving so we were really glad we'd scheduled a trip to Florida for a Farnsworth get-together in early December. Next up is a camping and flying trip to southern California - we’re hoping for that typical SoCal warm sunshine this time.

On the health front, some good news, some not so good. C.J. seems to be weathering the 60’s well. George, however, was diagnosed with diabetes and is taking some medication, exercising more, and (C.J.) is watching his diet. Fortunately the VA (Dept of Veterans Affairs) has accepted George as a fully covered patient (the Purple Heart medal has finally paid off!) so all the tests and treatment are done at no cost (not to mention the free digital hearing aids he scored). At about the same time, George became eligible for Medicare, so he has that health coverage as well.

If you are really interested in the details about any of our trips or other activities, check out C.J.’s digital scrapbook at http://sturtevantcj.blogspot.com and/or George’s travel blog at http://sturtevantg.blogspot.com. Other photos at picasaweb.google.com/GSturtevant

We hope you and your loved ones are healthy and happy. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays! Write and tell us about your 2010. You can reach us both at georges@nwlink.com.