2019 Year in review

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Doug’s last day with his “real” job, was January 31st – he’s calling this new phase a sabbatical, not a retirement, ha! He’s kept surprisingly busy during the year with a wide range of pursuits (Wendy’s skeptical).

Wendy has been working hard all year at nVision (now Boston Scientific) and is on the final stretch to her well-earned last day on January 14th, 2020!

2019 also saw Wendy tackle the new challenge of managing nVision’s clinical program which had the benefit of travel to clinical sites all over the US. Especially enjoyable were weekend explorations of Philadelphia and Seattle with Doug and friends Cindy (Wendy’s clinical colleague and fellow traveler/carouser) and her husband Leo.

A family travel highlight for the year was a week in Costa Rica with Kellen, Corey, Hayden and Tressa. We rented a house near the small beach town of Montezuma and had many adventures exploring the surrounding Nicoya Peninsula.

Another great trip was to Montana / Wyoming for Doug’s weeklong “Cycle Greater Yellowstone” bike ride (epic!) while Wendy enjoyed a visit with family in nearby Billings. Doug was also able to travel to Oregon to visit with Wayne & Doris at their new home in Central Point, as well as trips to see Hayden (highlight- observing officer Heigel in action during a ride-along) and Kellen (highlight- amazing MTB ride along the McKenzie River.)

Big news for Hayden and Tressa was their wedding in November at a resort near their home in Phoenix, AZ. The ceremony and reception were beautiful with many thoughtful elements that captured their personalities – donut wall, anyone?

Kellen and Corey are doing well in Sisters, OR with Kellen enjoying working out of her home office in a new job with an online school, Oregon Connections Academy.

Perhaps the biggest news of the year is our decision to hit the road full time in 2020! We purchased a new RV in September (after a trial RV trip to the Sonoma coast in May to make sure we’d like it!) and we’re now busy (perhaps Doug should have been a little busier this year after all) with selling, donating and downsizing towards the goal of selling our place and starting our adventure by March of 2020 – wish us luck!