Another year has passed by, filled with travel, transitions, good times with family and friends and much happiness. Peter and I are now empty nesters, with Matthew in his freshman year at Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University and Katya in her sophomore year of college, which she is spending abroad in Kobe, Japan.
The four of us started the year quietly at home. In early January, Katya flew back to Honolulu for her second semester at the University of Hawaii. Peter became very busy in his role as mentor with the St. Francis Robotics Team, the Fembots, and remained active with that through the spring. In addition, he continued to volunteer with Boy Scout Troop 380 as an assistant scout master. My involvement with the troop was limited to some work on merit badge counseling and camping trips.
In fact, my first trip of the year was to the northern California coast, transporting scouts to a weekend trip to Fort Ross and Salt Point. I toured the former Russian trading post with the group and then went off by myself to camp and hike at Armstrong Woods State Reserve near Santa Rosa after exploring the Luther Burbank garden there. Had my knowledge of mycology been more extensive, I probably would have been able to identify the abundance of fungi in the damp redwoods and oak and chaparral forests. As it was, I simply enjoyed the wide variety of sizes, patterns and colors that I found on trees and soil.
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| Scarlet Waxy Cap, Armstrong Woods |
At the end of January, Peter, Matthew and I joined Troop 380 for a hike up and down Mission Peak in Fremont, overlooking the south end of San Francisco Bay. The skies were clear, the air was warm and the wind was brisk--lovely conditions for a day's outing. The hike was one of several that the boys and adults preparing to backpack at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico in the summer--including Matthew and Peter--did for training, so they were carrying full packs. Nevertheless, they outpaced those of us moseying along with our daypacks!
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| Backpackers descending Mission Peak |
In February, Matthew and I went to Monterey to visit our friends, the Tuffs, in Pacific Grove for a day and then, the next day, met up with members of the troop to hike in Pinnacles National Park (with Matthew and other Philmont-bound members carrying full packs). Once again, we were fortunate to have fantastic weather. The park is one of the places where the rare California condors can be spotted. In the early morning from the valley, I saw a few perched in the trees on top of a nearby ridge.
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| Matthew hiking at Pinnacles National Park |
At the end of February, Peter and I left Matthew home alone for two weeks, confident he would be fine (which he was) and went to the Bahamas. Our first stop was Lucaya on Grand Bahama, where we converged with many of their other friends and family members to celebrate the 60th birthdays of our great friends Paula and Andrew (who introduced Peter and me over 20 years ago). Prior to the party, there were days of sightseeing. We particularly enjoyed Gold Rock Beach, where Dan (their eldest son), Peter and I snorkeled almost a mile out to the eponymous isle to enjoy the fish and coral reefs. Also wonderful was the guided tour of the Garden of the Groves, a lovely, lush botanical garden where Andrew arranged for one of the founders to give us a guided tour. Evenings were filled with great food and music, both planned and spontaneous.
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| Non-indigenous but striking Muscovi ducks in the Garden of the Groves |
After four days, we took a puddle jumper east to Marsh Harbour in the Abacos, one of the many chains of islands in the Bahamas, where we met up with our friends Gay, Mike, John and Blake to bareboat sail a catamaran for a week. In addition to sailing, we enjoyed rambling around some of the small villages on the islands, eating great meals, swimming, snorkeling (although we had hoped for more reefs), paddling and enjoying each other's company as we relaxed on the boat. Highlights included Hopetown on Elbow Cay (particularly the lighthouse and the key lime pie), the quaint town of New Plymouth on Green Turtle Cay, the traditional boat building workshop on Man of War Cay, Nipper's and Grabber's bars on Great Guana Cay and the mangrove swamps where we paddled with rays and turtles. After our sailing adventure in the Abacos, Peter and I returned to Lucaya to stay for a few more days with Paula and Andrew before returning to the States. More details about this trip can be found on my Back in the Bahamas blog: http://sherrirodgersbrown.blogspot.com.
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| Sunrise over Great Guana Cay |
Three days after our return, I headed south with my wonderful friend and tennis buddy Patty to spend a few days with our generous friends from the club, Laekha and John, who have a timeshare condominium in Palm Springs. They had invited us to join them for a few days of the Indian Wells Tennis Tournament. Among the many stars we watched in matches were Serena Williams, Sloane Stephens, Simona Halep, Carla Suarez Navarro, Jack Sock, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Roger Federer. When we weren't at Indian Wells, we were eating at nice restaurants, enjoying the Thursday evening street fair, walking and hiking. Despite the heat, Laekha and I really enjoyed a trail through Palm Canyon at Indian Canyons, shaded by California and Mexican palms, where we spotted spiked lizards basking in the sun on granite outcroppings. On the way home, Patty and I stopped to enjoy the brilliant California poppies in full bloom in fields near Lancaster and other wildflowers at Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve.
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| Patty by a field of poppies and other wildflowers |
Just over a week later, Matthew, Peter and I, along with other members of Troop 380, took a spring break trip to the desert. The first night, after stopping to enjoy Mono Lake at the edge of the eastern escarpment of the Sierras, we camped at Lone Pine Campground, which we had to ourselves. Rising early in the morning, we witnessed Mt. Whitney and the surrounding jagged peaks to the west emerge from the darkness, coral-tinted by the rising sun. After a short hike in the Alabama Hills, the caravan continued south to Death Valley, where we camped for three nights. During the days, we explored the Harmony Borax Works, Ubehebe Crater, Salt Creek, Badwater, Natural Bridge Canyon, the Devil's Golf Course, Artists' Palette and Golden Canyon, and we took a fascinating tour of Scotty's Castle, the former home of a prospector/con man.
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| Peter, Sherri and Matthew at Artist's Palette in Death Valley |
On the way back to Sacramento, we stopped at Manzanar, a National Park's historic site, one of ten desolate and isolated camps where Japanese-Americans were forced to live during World War II. The museum, the driving tour of the grounds and the cemetery poignantly present the harsh conditions and unfair treatment as well as the resiliency of about 120,000 imprisoned men, women and children at Manzanar and other locations through the West.
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| Cemetery at Manzanar |
Matthew, Peter and I went to San Francisco just a few days after returning from our desert trip in early April because Peter and I had tickets to the San Francisco Ballet. Peter and I stayed in a lovely boutique hotel in Pacific Heights while Matthew enjoyed hanging out with Dan at Paula and Andrew's house in the city. On our way to the city, we stopped in the Marin Headlands and explored Fort Baker. Then we went to Golden Gate Park and took a walking tour of the Japanese Tea Gardens, after which we enjoyed Japanese treats at the teahouse. The next day, we walked around in Pacific Heights and along China Beach in the morning and visited the Asian Art Museum in the afternoon, where we were delighted to learn that there was a free performance that evening by the GenRyu Arts Association featuring taiko drumming, traditional geisha dancing, and shamisen playing by grandmasters from Japan. Of course, we couldn't miss it! The performances were amazing.
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| Grandmaster dance Michikaoru Hanayagi |
Two weeks after our quick trip to San Francisco, we flew to Arizona. Matthew's college choices had narrowed down to the University of Arizona and Arizona State University, so we had arranged for tours of each institution. First we went to Tucson to visit UA. The tour was nice and we were impressed, but the highlight of first couple days of our trip was staying at the historic and elegant Arizona Inn. Unlike most hotels, where we check in just to sleep, this one is beguiling and made us wish we didn't have to leave the property. In addition to the university tour, we visited Mission Xavier Del Bac, a wonderful example of Spanish Colonial architecture in the desert and hiked in Sabina Canyon and the Tucson Mountains of Saguaro National Park. The cacti and palo verde trees were in full bloom and the sky was brilliantly blue. In addition to enjoying nature while hiking, we learned about the ancient native inhabitants at the Hohokam Petroglyphs.
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| Saguaro and Palo Verde |
With a few days between college tours, we headed south to the wooded hills around Ramsey, where we stayed at a cute bed and breakfast, to see the wide variety of hummingbirds that are indigenous to the area. We also visited Brown Canyon Ranch, a preserved homestead and ranch with lovely walking trails. Then we stopped at Tombstone, where we enjoyed a great lunch in an old saloon while being entertained by a country-and-western singer, watched a re-enactment of the gunfight at the OK Corral, visited a museum and walked along the rows of graves at Boothill Cemetery.
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| Matthew with actors at the OK Corral |
We then drove north to Phoenix and took tours of Arizona State's Polytechnic Campus and had an orientation to Barrett, the Honors College. We were impressed and thought the campus was perfect for Matthew. He was down to the last day for making a decision, and ASU was the choice. (It has worked out very well.) We finished our week in Arizona with a two-day visit to the Grand Canyon, spectacular as always.
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| Grand Canyon from the east rim near sunset |
Back home again, Peter and I had the pleasure of a hot-air balloon ride in the countryside near our home. The excursion was my 60th birthday present from Paula and Andrew. We watched the professionals inflate the brightly colored envelope before climbing in the basket. Takeoff was so smooth that we were airborne before we realized we had left the ground. Drifting over the rolling hills was peaceful and enchanting. Back on the ground, we celebrated with glasses of champagne.
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| Peter and Sherri waiting to climb into the hot air balloon |
Katya arrived home from the University of Hawaii in mid-May. Less than a week later, she and I were bound for a four-week trip in Europe that began in the Czech Republic. After two days in lovely Prague, we traveled by train to visit Budapest, Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Split, Graz, Salzburg, Xhendelesse (Belgium), Avignon, Madrid, Granada, Ametlla de Mar and Barcelona. Almost every day was packed with sightseeing, and we were delighted to be able to spend time with our former Rotary Exchange student Sam and his family in Belgium. They took us to many fascinating places in a couple days and extended gracious hospitality. In the small coastal town of Ametlla de Mar on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, we stayed with Peter's cousin and her husband, whom Kayta and I had never met before. It was a pleasure to get to know them and relax with them in town and at their country home. You can read much, much, much more about our European adventure at my trip blog: http://sherrirodgersbrowneurope2015.blogspot.com.
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| Katya and Sherri on the fortress walls in Dubrovnik |
We returned to California in mid-June. Peter and Matthew met us in San Francisco, where we spent two days together walking along the waterfront and around the neighborhoods of the city, which is always a delight. While we were in the city, Peter and I attended
The Marriage of Figaro at the San Francisco Opera.
Four days later, Peter and Matthew set off for a two and a half week trip from the Sacramento Amtrak station with other members of Troop and Crew 380 for the Boy Scouts' High Adventure Camp at Philmont Ranch in northern New Mexico. Most aspects of the backpacking trek were wonderful. Unfortunately, one of the troop members perished in a flash flood at night, tingeing the experience and the memories with tragedy and sadness.
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| Peter and Matthew lost in the woods? |
About a week after their return, continuing our whirlwind months of travel, the four us flew back east, packed up Dad's car (and Dad) and drove to Ocean City, Maryland, for the annual Rodgers family vacation. It was a week of beautiful weather filled with great food, loud games, and lots of laughter. The fourth generation provided constant delight and entertainment (not that those of us who are older are boring!). In addition to celebrating summer birthdays, we also celebrated the engagement of my niece Olivia to her long-time boyfriend Alex.
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| Kes, Cooper, Haiti and Baker, looking better in swimsuits than some of the rest of the Rodgers |
On the way back to West Virginia, the five of us stopped for the night in Baltimore and visited Fort McHenry, where we participated in unfurling the huge garrison flag and watched re-enactments of drills.
During the next two weeks at home, we helped Matthew get ready to leave for college. The original plan was for a family road trip to Arizona, but Katya was tired of traveling and Matthew chose to leave me behind so he could get set up without my interference (who, me, try to control things?). I flew to Phoenix a couple days later. Matthew had retreats for the honors program and for engineering before classes started, and Peter and I had a few days while he was off on his retreats before the weekend welcome party for parents, so we headed east for New Mexico, stopping at Petrified Forest National Park along the way. In Albuquerque, we spent a couple days visiting Peter's old friend Larry Alei (whom he hadn't seen for years) and his family. We enjoyed hiking with him at Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, visiting the historic district of Albuquerque and listening to Larry perform with his band on a lovely summer evening in the desert. From their backyard, we spotted flying flashes of light in the annual Perseid meteor shower.
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| Larry and Peter hiking at Tent Rocks National Monument |
Heading back to Phoenix, we visited the Acoma Pueblo, which we found fascinating. We camped and hiked along old lava flows in the green forests of the White Mountains in eastern Arizona, drove along the Salt River Canyon and hiked to the cliff dwellings of the Salada at Tonto National Monument. It was 116 degrees Fahrenheit in the desert, so, despite the fact that our destination of Phoenix was not far south, we headed north to Flagstaff and then east to the Mogollon Rim area of the high, cool Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest to camp for the night.
After meeting up with Matthew again and going to the family events at ASU, Peter and I continued our Southwest road trip, camping and hiking at many wonderful places, including Lee's Ferry by the Colorado River, Zion National Park, Snow Canyon State Park in Utah, and the White Mountains in California.
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| Peter hiking at Snow Canyon State Park |
Home again for four days, Peter and I, along with Katya, went to the Monterey Peninsula for four days. This trip was prompted by the visit of Susan Hendricks, my best friend from college who now lives in Florida, who was attending a conference in Monterey. On the way to Monterey, we stopped to paddle our kayaks on Elkhorn Slough, where we encountered rafts of otters in addition to great numbers of seals, pelicans, cormorants and herons.
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| Katya watching the wildlife in Elkhorn Slough |
We had dinner with Susan on our first night in town and then met her and a friend for a visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium the next day. Peter and I also kayaked in the waters off Lover's Point in Pacific Grove and at Monastery Beach. Although paddlers are discouraged from approaching the wildlife, the otters are free to investigate the people in boats. One very curious fellow nearly jumped onboard! In addition to our time with Susan and our adventures on the water, we were able to see our good friends the Tuffs, who live in Pacific Grove, a couple times during our brief visit, and also drive through Pebble Beach, stopping for lunch at one of the prestigious golf clubs.
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| Peter, Sherri, David, Philip, Susan, Katya and Simon |
Katya left for her sophomore year abroad in Japan on September 9, leaving Peter and me as empty nesters! The house is much more spacious than the two of us need, but we have been enjoying ourselves and, having travelled so much the first eight months of the year, staying home. Now that our wanderlust has been temporarily sated, I have developed a rather loosely structured routine of exercising most weekday mornings at the club, playing tennis a couple times a week, tutoring after school, volunteering at the local library, and working on developing my language skills in Spanish. The latter is enhanced by semi-monthly luncheons or happy hours with amigas during which we
hablomos espanol only. In my abundance of free time, I also read a lot and work on craft projects that I have put off for years.
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| Mason jar candles |
In addition to his volunteer activities, Peter is playing golf at least once a week and was motivated to buy new (for him) clubs and take some lessons. Most significantly, though, he is now the proud owner of a Tesla and has great fun getting around in it. Our next big trip will probably be a road trip in his sleek new vehicle.
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| Matthew and Peter with the new Tesla in front of our garage |
After a weekend of multiple holiday parties here, we leave on Dec. 22 to join my family for Christmas at my sister Beth Ann's house. When we return a week later, my dad will come with us for a three-week visit at our house.
We feel so blessed to have had so many wonderful experiences in 2015 and to have such great families and wonderful friends and neighbors with whom we share our lives. At the same time, we anguish over the wars, violence and suffering in the world and try to contribute in small ways to bringing peace and prosperity to all. We hope that you have peace in your hearts and joy in your lives and more than enough love to share.
With affection,
Sherri, Peter, Katya and Matthew
11913 Sailor Creek Court, Gold River, CA 95670 USA
sherribro3@pacbell.net and peterbro3@icloud.com
916-989-5184 (home); 916-205-5184 (Sherri); 916-207-5184 (Peter)
