Bluebird Day at Crystal

The 2020 ski season is one like none previous, with lots of Covid restrictions including required reservations at many resorts, masks worn by all, social distancing on lifts, and no indoor eating/seating. Regardless, Jack has made it skiing six times already by the end of November (three times in Colorado at A-Basin, three times in his first eight days home), with Joseph going twice, and Henry and Dad going once. 

On the Sunday after Thanksgiving, just John and Jack went up to Crystal for the day, and it was a gorgeous clear day, with a great view of Rainier from the top and mountains all around.

2020 Christmas Tree

We went to Carnation for the 10th time (of our 11 Christamases in Seattle). The tree farm has certainly thinned out quite a bit through the years, and we had a hard time picking a tree out. But we did, Henry cut it down, and Joseph and John carried it to the car. We decorated it two night later - Henry put the star on top, though any of the boys are tall enough for that now!

Thanksgiving 2020!

With everyone home, we celebrated a traditional Rodgers family Thanksgiving. While the Turkey Trot was canceled this year, we did play Rodgers Bowl XIII (Joseph and Henry dominate to a 28-14 victory). We planned dinner based on the turkey being done at 4:45pm - and the timer popped at exactly 4:45! Even Wilson looked forward to his meal all day!

Cats in Boxes

With lots of online shopping in the Rodgers household, the cats continue to find safe, secure places to hang out!

Redwood National Park

On the drive back from Palo Alto for Thanksgiving, John and Joseph stopped at Redwood National Park. They did the Tall Trees Grove hike, which required a permit in advance from the park, and included a 6-mile drive on a gravel road and a relatively short hike down to a riverbank where four of the tallest trees in the world are located. A very neat hike! From there we drove to Stout Grove and saw some more trees, once again driving on a narrow road to get to the trailhead. We wrapped up the day on the beach to watch the sunset. It was a nice respite from the drive home - after the park we drove for a few hours, had In-N-Out for dinner, and stayed in Oregon, before finishing the final six hours of the drive the following morning.

Stanford

John flew down to California in late November to help Joseph drive home for Thanksgiving. He stayed over one night in Palo Alto, and got a chance to walk around the Stanford campus and see Joseph's apartment.

Fall Mountain Biking

On a cloudy weekend, Henry and John went down to Black Diamond and did a few runs across from where we usually bike. I was a lot of narrow, windy trails through a forest, and included on trail, called "Log Bridge" which led to ... a fairly narrow log bridge. We didn't bike across that part!

Mount Catherine

 On a sunny, clear, crisp (a bit chilly in the mountains) day in November, John & Henry hiked up Mount Catherine, a peak in the Snoqualmie Pass area just past Hyak / the Summit East ski area. 

It was a short 1.5 mile hike to the top, though fairly steep. There was snow on the trail from the start, and it was a beautiful walk as well as view. 

Election Day 2020

 

Sharon Shewmake also won!!

Sunny Weekend !

Halloween was sunny, and with Henry doing EduMUN, Mary Jo and John went up to Whidbey Island for a wonderful day. We took the ferry across to Clinton and walked on the beach near the house we rented in December 2012 (blog post here) and then walked along the beach by Ebey Landing, where John, Joseph, and Henry had hiked in July (blog post here).

View of Whidbey coming into the ferry dock

House we stayed at in December, 2012

View of the Ebey Bluff Landing hike

EduMUN 2020

Henry had a leadership role on the Secretariat for the EduMUN (Model UN) conference in late October. Given that we're in a Covid-dominated world, the conference was entirely online, so Henry did it from his bedroom. He still got dressed up (at least from the waist up).

Last Day Working in Varzea

 Way back in July, 2010, John moved with Amazon into a new office in South Lake Union, called "Varzea". It was one of less than ten buildings Amazon had in Seattle. Now, ten years later, Amazon has more than 50 buildings in Seattle, and said they would move out of Varzea. John went down to work from Varzea one last time in late October.

View from my original office on the 8th floor

The office has been reconfigured many times since 2010, but this is where I sat orginally

Thirty Years!

On 10/21/20, Mary Jo and John celebrated their thirtieth wedding anniversary!!

That evening, we went to the Metropolitan Grill, where we have celebrated our 5th, 20th, and 25th anniversary. 

And we spent the weekend that followed in sunny Scottsdale Arizona, including an upgrade on our rental car to a Mustang convertible!

In Scottsdale, we took a tour of Taliesen West, Frank Lloyd Wright's winter studio

Our hotel room was the balcony on the top left