Our big trip this year was a cruise around the beautiful but isolated Kamchatka Penninsula, east of Siberia and north of Japan. Steve & Lisa's mothers signed up to accompany us, and the 6 of us had a wonderful time. But even though the trip was in June it was occasionally a bit cold...
But not always! Here are two other shots from the trip on warmer days. We got to take a Russian helicopter to see an incredible "Valley of the Geysers" -- similar to Yellowstone -- which was just discovered in 1941. This place is huge, beautiful, and empty. Alaska is crowded in comparison.
We also had a great driving/camping trip around Nevada, including the Ruby Mountains (over 11,000' high) and an Icthyosaur fossil site:
Other trips included our regular visits to Texas to see Lisa's folks and South Carolina to see Steve's. Sirius joined us on the trip to South Carolina and loved the lake Steve's folks live on. It was even worth the plane ride.
We also went skiing a lot, mostly in Tahoe but also in Utah.
We were in Utah because we sold a small rental house in Mountain View, CA...
...and used the proceeds to buy a much bigger house in Ogden, Utah:
We're still not exactly sure what to do with the house in Utah, but Ogden is a wonderful place and we're glad to have taken at least some money out of what looks very much like a housing bubble in Silicon Valley..