As the sun sets on 2020, it is probably time to jot down a few thoughts and to think ahead to a better year for the traveler (and otherwise). For the traveler, 2020 was largely a dud. A road trip to Gold Beach, Oregon, just north of the (California/Oregon) border, in August was a pleasant respite from seemingly unending screen time, Zoom calls, etc. Day trips to the local coast provided a similar, and more accessible, escape. Neighborhood walks, up and down the rolling hills of the San Francisco Peninsula, revealed new aspects of my proverbial backyard. I took a lot of walks in 2020. This, of course, is salutary, and I hope to continue this in 2021, even as a vaccine becomes broadly available, and we return to some semblance of our former lives. I don’t think 2020 has made me more grateful or thankful per se. Rather, it has turned up the contrast (perhaps by giving me more time to think, ponder and study details) on what is (and is not) important, what I care about (and what doesn’t really seem to matter, at least for now). How much I can attribute to our strange reality I am not exactly sure. Part of it might just be getting older, or perhaps the confluence of the pandemic and getting older. At any rate, I hope that the learnings of 2020 are not lost, and that when the travel window opens up to the general population (me) and not just to the foolhardy (or, more benignly, the more adventurous), we can again reconnect in person with the world, lose ourselves to another place and culture, and remember what we have been missing. So, with every sunset, there is a sunrise that follows. Best wishes for 2021.
I am an avid hiker. Each month I organize and lead a different hike in the San Francisco Peninsula or broader San Francisco Bay Area. I hope you enjoy my posts and subscribe. Thank you.
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The Peninsula Hiking Club 