Rodgers Family Unable to Stop the Pandemic

Stuck at home with the coronavirus outbreak, we played the board game Pandemic, a game we've had for 10+ years in which all players need to work collaboratively to stop a viral outbreak from overtaking the world.

We weren't able to stop it; the virus won.

A Somewhat Abrupt End to Joseph's Michigan Career

With coronavirus restrictions expanding by the day, Joseph made the difficult decision to return home to Bellevue from Ann Arbor. Since this is his senior year, this meant packing his car up for a final time and driving all the way home. Joseph started the journey by driving to Margaret's in Indiana, and then on to Chicago, where Dad joined him after flying in, and together they finished the remaining ~30 hour drive over the course of a bit more than two days. Along the way they got to stop off at a new National Park - Theodore Roosevelt National Park, in Medora, North Dakota. An exhausting journey, but glad that everyone is now home!

Flying on a relatively empty plane

No restaurants were open for dine-in on the trip - we started the trip on Friday with
take out from McDonalds near O'Hare in Rosemont, Illinois

Wisconsin Cheese!

We stopped a few places on the way to stretch our legs - this is the
Mississippi River in Minneapolis on Saturday

National Park #29 for the family!

Bison at Teddy Roosevelt Park

The Little Missouri River in Teddy Roosevelt Park

On Sunday, we ate lunch (take out of course!) on the campus of
Montana State University in Bozeman

A final stop to stretch our legs in Spokane - just 3 hours until we get home!

Snowshoeing

With ski resorts closed for the coronavirus, John and Mary Jo go out to the Snoqualmie Pass area to hike to Gold Creek Pond. It's a beautiful day and a lovely spot, about half-and-hour to the lake, and another half-hour to walk around it.

Coronavirus Grips Seattle, and the World

On February 29, the first American died of coronavirus, an elderly nursing home resident in Kirkland. From there, things spiral out of control, with the entire facility becoming a hot zone, many more people falling ill, and it spreading within other cities as well. With no test kits available, no one knows how many cases there are, but it's clear action needs to be taken, with Seattle in the forefront.

For us, the month of March becomes a very different reality for our family. By Thursday 3/5, Amazon encourages everyone to work from home for the rest of March. The following week, Bellevue Schools shut down, so Henry and Jack are home every day. Henry's exchange trip to France is canceled. Jack is still working at Pizza Hut, and Mary Jo is still working as well. Restaurants and bars close over that weekend as well. The University of Michigan moves to online learning as well, and all of Joseph's extracurriculars - trip to Peru and Steel Bridge most notably - are canceled. Joseph's Graduation is canceled, and John flies out to drive back to Seattle with him.

Spring Training for Spring Break !

For Joseph's Spring Break, we took a (somewhat disjointed) trip to Florida for Spring Training. Dad and Joseph went to the Nationals park in Palm Beach on Monday, and got to watch a workout with most of the starters, get autographs from manager Davey Martinez and closer Sean Dolittle, and watched the Nats win a walk-off versus the Marlins.

The following day, Joseph and Dad went to see the Mets, also play the Marlins, in Port St Lucie. We also watched a workout, though it was a bit different, with mostly minor leaguers and a few major leaguers who were rehabbing (Yoenis Cespedes and Dellin Betances). Then the Mets lost versus the Marlins, with Syndergaard giving up three runs in his three innings of work.

On Tuesday after the game, Mary Jo flew in to watch another 3 days of Spring Training, focused exclusively on the Nats, as well as explore South Florida (Everglades and even a fortuitously scheduled UVA basketball game at Miami!).