It’s no surprise that the equator goes through Ecuador. We even passed over it twice in the Galapagos. But we wanted to investigate further, so we visited Middle of the World, less than an hour outside of Quito.
There are two places to go: 1) the true, military-grade GPS-located equator with a fun museum and “scientific” interactions, and 2) the giant monument erected to commemorate the equatorial line calculated in 1736, which is really only off about 800 feet, so mad props to 18th-century technology!
We started at the Museo de Sitio, where we divided our family by hemisphere and learned about indigenous culture. Piper took notes on how to make a shrunken head. Wes showed a remarkable skill for getting an egg to balance on a nail head–steadiest hands around. Kyla succeeded once, and the rest of us were egg dunces.
We also did fun experiments, like drain water from tub right on the line, to the north and to the south–scientifically proving that the water drains straight down at exactly 0 degrees, flushes clockwise in the north, and counterclockwise in the south. It also proves that Dwayne spoils the magic when he researches further to find that tubs drain straight when the water has sat for a while, and you can control the direction of flushing by how you dump the water in the tub right before pulling the plug. Ah, science, you slippery thing! But it didn’t make our morning there any less delightful.
Next, we made it to the historical equator, and I climbed to the top of the monument while the others got ice cream.
On the interior, the monument spiraled down to showcase Ecuador’s history over the centuries, as well as its different regions.
The Nativity is more widespread in Ecuador than at home, and lovely in all its regional permutations!
The inverted heart was our Galapagos route. I wish we had time to explore more westward, but it was a good appetizer!
The Galapagos is a study of contrasts to the Amazon. Where dipping a toe in the Napo meant that not only could you no longer see your toe, it may not even be attached anymore, the Galapagos waters were clear enough to see rays, turtles and sharks from the pangas (motorized rafts). In the Amazon, most of the animals we saw were slightly moving blurs that our guides swore was a monkey or bird. Just getting off the bus on the Galapagos, this guy greeted us.
On our way!
We were 5 of the 14 guests, half which were kids, so it was a well-balanced group, with parents kicking kids to their own table so we could have long dinners with adult conversation.
The yacht is exactly what Dwayne will get for himself and his ten best friends. I hope I am invited!
The tour started with a bus ride to lunch and a tortoise preserve, where we immediately saw more tortoises than we saw animals total in the Amazon. One guy smiled at us!
It is a good adventure when you are slowed down by a tortiose crossing.
We went from land reptiles to sea birds. We got to see the famous blue-footed boobies, then heaps of red-footed boobies, nasca boobies, frigates, and then more and more and more birds, possibly to bird ad naseum. But Piper loved the fluffy chicks that were as big as their parents. One of the more educational parts was seeing a feeding/mauling of a parent who made it back with a gut full of fish.
I was pleased when we moved from feathers to fur and fins. The sea life was vast and colorful, with sea lions on shore and off. As always, Water Wes was always the first one in. Piper, who very reluctantly let Mama talk her into trying it just one time, chided me several times for not being fast enough to keep up with her underwater exploring. Kyla and Wes are both very brave and often swam several feet under to get a closer look. The water was chilly, even with our short wetsuits, and Dwayne had to make zero-fat Wes get back into the boat to warm up the first time out. Unlike above water exploration, where we would get to see lots of one or two species, the tropical fish were varied, numerous, beautiful and fascinating. We all loved it each of the three times we went out.
One of our beach excursions was the daycare where mamas left their babies while they went off hunting. I will not make anyone watch the reels and reels of baby footage Piper and I took, but the stills are pretty fun, too!
The beaches were the best–organic white and volcanic black both delighted us. The seal lions accompanied us everywhere, and we enjoyed the trails the marine iguanas made in the sand and the colorful crabs. Can you spot all three species … not including the homo sapiens?
Wes chose sleep over going on our last excursion on the morning of the final day. Luckily, the girls had more sense!
Our Galapagos tour was short, not even three full days from airport pick-up to drop-off, but we saw lots of animals (well, many of a few species) and possibly spent too much time looking at the same only-on-Galapagos! birds. We had warm sand and blue, blue water, and sunburns by lunch–it was the paradise everyone said it would be!
My best picture: The view from the top of a lookout, in the canopy.
Our first adventure in Ecuador (not counting the worst traveling experience we’ve ever had just getting to South America) was exploring the Ecuadorian Amazon Basin along the Napo River, a tributary of the Amazon River. We launched from Coca, and between ship and motorized boat, made it to the Yasuni River and back again. Fun fact: Only 2% of the Amazon Basin is within Ecuador, but it still takes up a chunk of this country.
Do you know the point of the rainforest jungle? It conceals predictors and prey alike. So, yes, we were surrounded by some of the most amazing species in the world. We even saw a few of them. Want a good approximation? Watch the Disney’s The Jungle Cruise and take out every single speck of CGI (Computer Animated Images).
The foliage is dense, the water is opaque, and the sky is blue.
Thanks to our guides we spotted some animals, or at least dark smudges that we were assured were fauna. My favorites are when the guide used a scope to spot something, then used my camera’s zoom to take a photo of a bird I “saw”. I dare you to find the toucan in the final picture of this collage:
Of course, there was plenty of wildlife if you know where to look!
Dwayne, who until age 11, lived in a few cleared-out acres in the jungle outside of Porto Velho, Brazil, felt a homecoming with the sounds, smells, and even the weight of the humidity. It was also the first cruise (even if we made up almost half of the twelve guests) for the kids, and it was exciting! Right away, Wes found the jacuzzi on the sundeck and the kids happily unpacked their own special fugue into their cabins. I love the very taste of adventure—and of cruising cuisine.
The Manatee
The Amazon and its tributaries are wild—lows, highs, at any time dangerous with swift currents, slow currents, debris, and deadly animals. At this time of year, our ship was limited by shallow waters outside of Coca and the similarly shallow spots near the Peru border. It meant that we took powered canoes for hours for our daily excursions. This was fine for the first two 3-hour rides, but on the third one, I gave up being fascinated by the dense flora and never left the Manatee without slipping the kindle in my daypack. Here is a glimpse of what going down the river was like; the longer version is more realistic.
A lifetime family highlight was swimming in the Amazon together. Piper, who had firmly insisted she would never swim in a river where piranhas swim, was second only to Wes in jumping in. We were in a shallow area with a strong current—and allegedly far, far away from the anaconda resting marshes we had explored the day before.
Our adventures took us on a night hike where the insects feasted upon us, and Kyla and Dwayne held a cute little snake while the guide put a scorpion spider on his face. On Yasuni River, we saw deep swaths tunneled through by (invisible to us) anacondas and the rumps and tails of curious pink dolphins and giant river otters. We fished for piranha, which is also known just as feeding time for the piranah. We hiked to and around a giant kapok tree, which would not have been ashamed in a redwood forest. The guides have relationships with indigenous families who take turns hosting tours, so we were able to meet a family, see their home and farm, and explore more jungle. Dwayne, Kyla, and I transformed into a rare featherless, flightless parrot. Kyla ate ants, which was really cool (the grub stump was out–we checked). We also saw where the parrots licked clay…last month. We were able to hear them fly to their new favorite clay spot not accessible to us. The macaws didn’t show up for their designated tea time at the mineral pool either, even when we waited for two hours. By then, I took my kindle everywhere so I was not too annoyed. Luckily, Wes chose sleep over that expedition.
One of my highlights was our last afternoon, despite of a boa constrictor’s appearance. The kids all elected to stay behind, and the adults hiked through the forest and up a hill a bit to get to a climbing tower that rivaled the height of the tree it was built next to. Two hundred twelve steps up, and the guides uncorked the champagne as we got to survey the expansive jungle below. Almost no birds or animals celebrated with us; however, we did get to enjoy this sunset and excellent company.
Goodbye, Amazon! We’ll remember you fondly next time Piper gets so bitten by mosquitos that we end up in a hospital many, many hours from closest electic grid.
Do we have any meaningful scale to evaluate a year anymore? “Not 2020” sets a low bar, but we want to remember 2021 as more than just the one last year bled into. I think I’ll remember the heel-clicks I did yesterday in Walmart’s pharmacy, when I got Wes’s vaccination card back after his second shot. World, here we come! … she wrote exactly two days before the omicron variant was first reported. Sigh.
2020 is still haunting us. We have no quarrels with the new normal of masks and vaccines, but our travel plans are taunting spirits. Our trip to the Amazon and Galapagos in Ecuador is because we had to use our travel credits in South America or lose them at the end of this year. And unless policies change drastically, we have only one year to use our African safari and travel credits. What’s more, if we don’t use Dwayne’s sabbatical this spring, we won’t be able to take that much time away again until the kids are grown. As always, I look forward to reading 2022’s Christmas letter so I know how all our travel plans resolved themselves!
Dwayne is just weeks away from 25 years at Microsoft, with the last two of them working from home. He solves real problems involving virtual computers and clouds, but I think he spends most of his time helping my dad with his technical issues. Dwayne is a Master Planner and surprised me with a 5-day birthday trip, taking a scenic train from Moab, UT to Denver sheerly for the pleasure of it. For our 19th anniversary, we went glamping and did our very last real mountain biking. Was it ever fun to bike uphill over tree roots, or did it just hurt less in our twenties? Falling for a social media stunt, Dwayne took the challenge to do one hundred push-ups a day. He’s up to 250 and got somewhat bored, so he’s trying to figure out what ridiculous feat to master next. In the “they may not listen but they are watching” category, Wes is working on his handstand pushup. I find chocolate is the right snack to eat while watching them both.
Wes wrapped up “our” elementary career when he graduated to middle school this year. Mostly this means a very early start to our days, but Wes has impressed me, getting himself and Piper up each morning, and then making sure I’m up to get them to the bus on time. He loves going out in the motorhome and anything all-wheels-no-hands. However, what I will probably remember most about his childhood is him playing Minecraft, or screaming while playing Minecraft, so that’s…rewarding. I think he has tried no new foods this year, so if he doesn’t get lost while we’re overseas, he will starve to death. He wants you to know that he wears the same clothes. Every. Day. (Minecraft sweatshirt, red shirt, and gray sweats, if you were wondering.) He and I have different views on how impressive that is.
Piper has truly enjoyed less people and more yarn in her life. I’m currently writing this while Piper is making a slipper model out of my foot using plastic wrap and duct tape. Crafting in the age of YouTube and TikTok is certainly its own entertainment. Thirteen-year-old Piper is a full-blown crochet-master and creates many of her own patterns. Siblings, friends, and cousins have all been recipients of her creations. She’s also proven to be a henna artist—summer meant intricate patterns over her hands and feet. Advanced art is her favorite class in 8th grade, and she frequently reminds the family how much more she likes her cat than any of us. But at least she bakes us many, many yummy treats, particularly when Dwayne and I are trying to cut back on sweets.
Kyla is well in her first year of high school, and we have the Homecoming photos to prove it. In addition to Spanish and her first AP class, Kyla is finishing up driver’s ed. I am responsible for 99% of the bumps, scrapes, and scratches on my car, but I really love having the “Caution: Student Driver” sticker on the minivan so that others don’t assume I’ve inflicted the damage myself. Kyla is still fifteen-going-on-college. I wonder how much further Dwayne and I would have gotten in life if we had been more like her at that age. (This letter might be signed Doctor Denise or Madame President.) She also has a real job after school, assisting a neighbor’s successful thread-dying business. To balance her uber-responsible side, she embraces adventures. She and Dwayne flew down to California last August to join her uncle and cousin on a two-night backpacking trip. Afterward, she did a five-day survival camp that she wants to continue doing each year. Kyla is still the only human I know who can make reading and watching movies into an aerobic exercise, and if Seattle ever has an earthquake, Dwayne and I will just assume Kyla’s found a new favorite book—or Rothfuss finally completed his trilogy.
I used to measure each day by how many things I did, but Covid and older kids changed that. I take a few substitute jobs, tutor some, manage the Airbnb, and try to represent Special Education families on our local PTSA, but none of that adds up to a week’s worth of labor. I LOVE it. My brain is pretty happy, and I’m on track for reading about 180 books this year, fifty more than last year. (Here’s a link to my reading highlights this year.) However, I am parenting three very, very dissimilar persons–different from each other and myself–and this mother-board frequently glitches and relies on therapy. Unrelated, after jumping into the frigid January waters in a bikini, I found that dressing up as a witch and paddleboarding on Halloween is far more pleasant. Yep, all that there book-learnin’ gonna make me intelligenter.
Dwayne and I will fondly remember this as the year our Covid Project was finally completed. Thirteen months was approximately four times longer than we anticipated, but I’ve had heaps of fun planting the rain garden and creating a burbling fountain extravaganza. I discovered that spending money on plants is too slow a strategy to go broke; instead, one really needs to start collecting garden art to make real headway toward bankruptcy. (Garden statues Cricket and Ernie wish you Merry Christmas, by the way.)
A friend recently gifted me with a “One cat short of crazy” mug—but she’s wrong. I am 2.9 cats over the advised pee and vomit limit. Timmy and Rosie have owned Piper and Kyla for eight years, but Covid made Wes yearn for his own pet, too. S’more the Hamster made it about a week before she was found, beheaded and smeared across Piper’s carpet. We ended up adopting Calico Catniss, feeling better about her head staying attached but somehow we are now a household of three kids and an equal number of cats. Wes is the class of 2028, so the cats have seven years to use their nine lives. My motto will be “Footloose and Furry-free, Hey-ho the Drinks are on Me!“
I’ve reread this nonsense and can solidly say it’s better than at least 10 books I read this year. And if you are keeping track of your book reading, I think the length of this allows you to add another notch to your wall.
To all of those reading this, you add depth to our world by allowing us to be, even a little bit, part of yours.
Now Mama loves Christmas, the whole Christmas season.
Please don’t ask why, we all know the reason.
It could be that she has almost enough lights
It could be, perhaps, she loves all the sights.
But I think the most likely reason of all,
Is that that sparkly tree is three sizes not small.
Cricket and Ernie are as excited as I am about the season!
Kyla and Wes enjoyed the decorations at church with me.
But no one was more excited than Piper after she and I looted the Trader Joe’s seasonal cookies aisle. We understand the true meaning of Calories Christmas!
Our tree was up, the decorations strung, and the clean-up half done. Time to have Wes fly a drone into my hair. He laughed once he apologized profusely and saw I was giggling. It was quite tickly until I tried to comb out that tangle!
Even while we were celebrating his in September, Dwayne was already planning my November birthday. Somehow, I had to figure out how and when to leave our world for 4-5 days, including the kids. I knew that whatever he was planning was going to be worth it, but that did nothing to mitigate the intense planning to leave my beloveds during a school week with all their schedules, work, and chores. And that’s to say nothing about the cats, one who has recently doubled down on his “behavior disorder” by peeing all over the house, which began … wait for it … when we were gone for a weekend.
But, again, Dwayne doesn’t bluff about his surprises. I wrote up 15 pages of sub plans for the entire team, and followed him out to the car on my birthday morning, after making sure kids all got to the bus on time.
It wasn’t until the pilot came on the intercom that I found out we were flying into Salt Lake City.
It amused me to land in SLC and have my picture taken in front of a large liquor display. We didn’t spend long here before driving south, four hours to Moab, road tripping with a good audible book and lovely scenery.
When we got to Moab and checked into our hotel, we were directed to the lobby to check into….
….our Rocky Mountaineering scenic train ride to Denver! Finally, the surprise was revealed, and it unfolded with perfect timing over the next few days.
Moab is a charming, very walkable town that we could have spent more time exploring. We had dinner, bought me meds and a deck of cards, and dashed over to Arches National Park in the morning before catching the train Thursday afternoon.
Our lovely car–the tall windows were custom built for this company.
The train was refurbished specifically for going over the Rockies, with windows going up high. We had access to a lounge car, as well, and drinks were inclusive. Such beautiful scenery! I wanted to read my (new Sherry Thomas) novel, stare out the window, and chat with fellow travelers/non-abstainers simultaneously, which obviously, is not actually possible, and the only disappointing thing about this trip.
Thursday night put us in Glenwood Springs, CO, a charming town with world’s largest hot spring swimming pool, which was slightly chilly after first dipping into the 104 degree, ahem, health spa. Ooh, Mama like. We’d love to return someday to enjoy the gondola rides and other attractions with the kids.
The next morning, we had breakfast back on board the train before a full day of climbing up and through the Rockies. I had always wanted to visit Colorado, and this more than whetted my appetite! I finally got to see a herd of tall, skinny cows to satisfy my 2020 bucket list, and there were plenty of regal bald eagles. The sky was blue, blue, blue, and Dwayne’s wariness about November weather on a scenic trip waned.
Look! Tall, skinny cows! Finally.
Moab about 400 miles behind us, we stepped into Denver Friday evening. Dwayne had booked the hotel for two nights, so we could explore this new-to-us city all day Saturday. First, we found an open urgent care clinic, and finally got inhalers and antibiotics so I could fight my November-allergies-cum-bronchitis.
I woke up feeling great on Saturday, and we set off with money, water, our deck of cards, and fully juiced phones, ready for adventure! Denver is very walkable, and we meandered from Rally Hotel, to the capitol, on to the Unsinkable Molly Brown’s house and museum. That was quite a distance, so we downloaded the Lime app, and took scooters around for a look at the museum and capitol hill district. We walked further away from downtown to another park and finally got ourselves into Denver Botanical Gardens.
February is probably the only worse month to visit gardens than November, but we both still loved it. The “bones” (or hardscapes and design) of the gardens were attractive on their own. We were coming off a mid-60’s day with clear blue skies, and the Christmas lights were already adding to the festivities. I also downloaded the garden’s augmented reality app, so we had some extra visual interest. Some year, I I would love to visit in December to see the Christkindlmarkt in action and revisit the Botanical Gardens bedecked and bedazzled.
By the time the gardens closed, it was dark and Dwayne and I went scooter hunting, happy to find an alternative to walking another 5 miles back the Brazilian restaurant we had our eye on. But later even stuffed cheesebreads and fried bananas, we felt pretty good about the ten miles we logged on foot that day. As Dwayne said, I’m not sure we could have done a Dwayne and Denise Day in Denver any better, even with a real plan!
Home again, I feel like I’ve entered my 48th year properly. I really have to up my game for Dwayne’s birthdays!
These two witches have about the same driving skills.
First of all, I am so excited to find a coven with “witch” to properly celebrate Halloween. With weather in the 60s, blue skies, and an algae-green cauldron lake to paddle about it, this was a lovely Sunday afternoon. Can’t wait until New Years when the witches transform into polar bears!
(I’m on the pink SUP, demonstrating proper use of a witch’s oar!)
The evening was even better. Wes and Piper both invited a few friends over, and Kyla and her BFF took the boys trick-or-treating in the ‘hood, neighbors forewarned. Dwayne and I set up a fire and outdoor furniture on our street, and prepped the roasting station for guests and neighbors. Piper’s group played video games and ate candy, and Dwayne and I relaxed around the fire, chatting with new and old neighbors. I started liking Halloween when I had kids, but I only loved Halloween when it became a community celebration!
And the best part? Right before the evening began, Piper and I realized that Ernie didn’t have a costume. She quickly made a hat so he could be a grumpy strawberry. He clearly loves his costume!
The last time we packed up the motorhome for camping, we made about a mile before we realized that we couldn’t make it out of zipcode, let alone out of state, like we were planning. But several weeks and dollars later, we have a working motorhome, and we finally had a weekend we could get away.
So we set off for our one of our favorite spots over the mountain, Leavenworth. It was the last weekend that Icicle River RV Resort was open, and we snagged one of the few open spots. The weather forecast was good, so I have no excuses for why I was surprised when Leavenworth was warm and *packed* with tourists…like us. In fact, the only moderately-convenient RV parking lot was so filled with cars that we barely found a spot to squeeze our 31-footer into. But we did, which meant we got to walk through my favorite park at its autumn best, and eat lunch (and gelato) outside.
These are some of the views from the campground. I reveled in the autumn colors!
Our campsite didn’t have a fire pit, but there was a community one by the river. Dwayne and I had it to ourselves (because even our kids preferred to stay mostly in the camper), and it was a perfect, moonlit evening. I love romantic evenings with my husband of 19 years. We had had a tough parenting week, and I have been subbing too many days a week, so this really felt like a true getaway. Thanks, Yeti the Motorhome, for being on your feet again!
The kids all wanted to hang out with friends, so we ended up with four extra friends, a bonfire, and cookies on a perfect Friday night.
Dwayne seriously made these out of giant carrots. The talents this man has….
Piper made this, and there’s a tiny bit of hot apple cider somewhere in that cup.
All the kids roasted sausages outside, and the girls each decorated cookies kits. Wes and his friend had a very complicated game involving nerf guns, snowballs, and hoverboards, and even dessert was an imposition.
Needopedia 