A Very Good Year, All In All

Welcome to Texas (Kathy’s Photo – I was driving!)

I know not everyone is able to share this sentiment, but from my perspective, 2021 was actually quite a fantastic year.  I admit that we were quite fortunate to have not faced a lot of the trials that impacted others.  Luck, circumstance, perspective and attitude make a huge difference, of course, as do flexibility and acceptance.  Kathy & I are happy, positive people with a good outlook on life, a sense of adventure, and it doesn’t take a lot to make us happy.

Evening light at Sandy Bay in Rockport, Massachusetts

What matters to us most are three things: (1) are we healthy?, (2) are our family and friends healthy and safe? and (3) can we pay the bills?  The first two have gotten a little complicated lately, but we deal. The “New Normal?”  Nah, that’s just Life.  And in the words of (Dean Kay and Kelly Gordon made famous by) Mr. Sinatra, “as funny as it may seem, some people get their kicks stompin’ on a dream. But I don’t let it, let it get me down ’cause this fine old world, it keeps spinnin’ around.”

The town of Oatman, Arizona is famous for its wild burros (and tourists) roaming the streets. A Route 66 attraction.

This is not intended to be a political or philosophical post, but I think what gets a lot of people down is that they pay too much attention to shit that doesn’t affect them.  Kathy & I remain peripherally aware of current events, just enough to know what big things are happening in the world.  We spend very little time on (anti)social media, stay mindfully aware of and avoid the hysteria boobytraps that lurk there.  Yes, we’re aware of all the boogeymen (and boogeywomen?) out there, but for the most part the idiot politicians, celebrities and bazillionaires (real and imagined) have very little direct impact on our life or our happiness.  And hand wringing about things that are out of our control is pretty much pointless.  Play on!

The Motel Safari on Historic Route 66 in Tucumcari, New Mexico

We’ve traveled, mindfully and – where necessary – carefully.  We drove over 22,000 miles, visited 12 new states, met some new friends and caught up with some long-time friends.  We even took our first cruise in nearly 2 years.  And I took over 16,000 photos – not quite as much as 2000 but almost!  Some of the precautions and protocols inspire a forehead slap or an eye roll.  But if it needs to be done to do what we want to do?  Roll with it and move on.  Complaining about it just makes you look like another idiot – not the image we want to present to the world.

The Blue Swallow Motel on Historic Route 66 in Tucumcari, New Mexico

So anyway, I took some photos.  I don’t generally feel the need for a “My Year In Review” retrospective, but it is sometimes interesting to go back and look at what I saw and aimed my camera at.  I don’t try to a “Best Of” or even a “Favorites” post, because as we discussed on Joe’s Blog a few weeks ago, the selections tend to change every time we look.  I’ve long contended that for most people the quality of the memory is more important than the technical quality of the photograph.  Which is why you see so many cell-phone-out-of-car-window photos, selfie sticks and other various head scratchers.

The “Cadillac Ranch” near Amarillo, Texas on Historic Route 66

I chose a group of photos that show my year.  I didn’t even limit them to 21 (as in the year 2021).  Some of them are pretty good technically, some of them might even be OK artistically.  But mostly they say, I was here and this is what I did/saw/felt/experienced.  And ultimately it doesn’t get a lot better than that.

Kathy & I send our sincerest wishes to everyone for a healthy, happy, amazing and fulfilling 2022!

Night time in Rockport Harbor in Rockport, Massachusetts. Pardon the noise – ISO 12,800!
Our first view of the rocky Maine coast on Dyer Point near Cape Elizabeth, Maine
Early morning in Boothbay Harbor, Maine
The Maine coast off Ocean Point near East Boothbay, Maine
Pemaquid Point Lighthouse near Bristol, Maine.
Waiting for sunrise atop Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park, Maine
Fall foliage along SR 112 near North Woodstock, New Hampshire. In White Mountains National Forest
White Sands National Park, New Mexico
Freezing conditions at the top of Mount Washington, New Hampshire
“Welcome to Roswell” art installation. Roswell, New Mexico
Prada Marfa is a permanent sculptural art installation by artists Elmgreen and Dragset, located 1.4 miles northwest of Valentine, Texas, just off U.S. Highway 90, and about 26 miles northwest of the city of Marfa. The installation, in the form of a freestanding building—specifically a Prada storefront—was inaugurated on October 1, 2005. The artists described the work as a “pop architectural land art project.”
Big Bend National Park in Texas
Quoddy Head Lighthouse in Maine, at the Easternmost Point in the continental US
The Very Large Array at the
National Radio Astronomy Observatory near Socorro, New Mexico
Titan Missle Museum near Tucson, Arizona
Mirror Lake Inn in Lake Placid, New York
The George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York, on the estate of George Eastman
Saguaro National Park near Tucson, Arizona
Saguaro National Park near Tucson, Arizona
Casa Grande Ruins National Monument near Coolidge, Arizona
Hoover Dam from the
Mike O’Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge
over the Colorado River in Nevada
Nassau Harbour Lighthouse at the entrance to the harbor in Nassau, Bahamas
Hackberry General Store along Historic Route 66 in Hackberry, Arizona
Burma Shave sign along Historic Route 66 approaching Seligman, Arizona
Historic Route 66 in Seligman, Arizona
My very first view of the Grand Canyon. From Grand Canyon Village near the El Tovar Hotel, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
Desert View Watchtower area of Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
The Lawrence Lowell Telescope, which was used to discover the planet Pluto at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona
Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument in Arizona
Wukoki Pueblo at Wupatki National Monument in Arizona
Twin Arrows, an abandoned roadside trading post located along I-40 in Arizona between Flagstaff and Winslow
Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona
Riding the Sandia Peak Tramway to an elevation of 10,378 feet.
Christ of the Ozarks statue in Eureka Springs, Arkansas
Sunrise on the beach on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
The Narragansett Towers along Ocean Street in Narragansett, Rhode Island
Morning along the river in Mystic, Connecticut
Historic submarine “USS Nautilus” at the Submarine Force Library and Museum in Groton, Connecticut
Map of US-60 through the Salt River Canyon between Show Low and Globe, Arizona

4 thoughts on “A Very Good Year, All In All”

  1. What a fantastic year, Tom! I think you’ve said it all in this post wrt attitude. Here’s wishing you and Kathy and equally enjoyable 2022.

    1. We’ve pushed hard to get the states “done,” but now look forward to concentrating more on individual destinations. There are a lot of national parks, cities, countries and even continents that we’d like to get to. They will take time, money and even more planning. But it’s what we love and why we retired. We’ll take as much time as we get!

  2. Very well done, Tom! Even with the losses this past year it has been a very good year. There is hope that 2022 with bring more good things including much healing for this world. I wish the best for you and Kathy, more adventures, more stories and more images.

    1. Thank you, Monte. You have had a tough year, as have others, and I try to keep that in perspective. It seems like we have gotten past the worst of the severest Covid impacts, and I’m optimistic that it will be reduced to more of an annoyance. Not that there aren’t more annoyances, but we won’t go there! 😉

      Colorado is one of those places we want to explore more in depth and is one of several places we’re considering for 2022. Hopefully the latest fires will be contained soon and future ones minimized. And I hope you are staying out of harm’s way, as it doesn’t look like the current situation is very far from you.

Comments are closed.