Happy New Year to all!

November and December went by in a whirl, and January isn't much slower so far.

Started off November with a trip to Delrey Beach, Florida, where I went to two meetings, and still managed to get in the pool a few times. Went to the beach, but it was too windy to be fun, so scampered back across the street to the hotel pool. Pretty nice digs, but Florida is still not my favorite place. Give me Hawaii any day. Got home on the 10th, and then headed back to Seattle, where I went to a wedding with the kids in Olympia, and then the girls and I promptly flew to SF to celebrate my folks birthday. Nice visit, though awfully short!

We flew back to Seattle, where I had a week of meetings, and in the middle, got sick as a dog with the "Pacific Northwest cold" that everyone seemed to be passing around, and while I got my work done, it really cut back on my visiting friends, since I didn't want to spread the plague any more than it already was. Bert met me in Portland, and we spent Thanksgiving with the family there, and I think everyone was sneezing and sniffling by the time we left. Sorry about that!

Home on Saturday, and Tuesday off again to New Orleans, where we exhibited at a big trade show, Workboat all week. Great show, but my favorite city is just so sad. We only saw the touristy places and the convention center, but other than the folks there for our show (and that was alot, just under 50,000 attended!) the city seems empty. Went to a nice reception hosted by the Canadian consulute there, and had a couple great dinners, of course!

I arrived home on the first of December, and had completed the fall travel extravaganza. Did not have to get in an airplane for another six weeks, it turned out!

Spent December enjoying my home time. Bert and I celebrated our 28th wedding anniversery by attending a great Christmas concert at the DAR Hall with the US Army band. The hall was beautiful, and the concert was really nice. Except, the band was joined for the second half of the preformance by Louise Mandrell, and it was just a little too much Country for us! Then we walked across the street to see the National Christmas tree, a very nice evening.

We had a nice visit right after that with one of our favorite visitors, Steve Widergren. He's our favorite mostly because he comes the most often! With business at the DOE, Steve pops in every couple months. He and Bert enjoyed a day at an Ansel Adams exhibit, and then we all met for drinks at the famous Willard Hotel for holiday cocktails, and enjoyed the caroling in the lobby. Then Steve took us to this crazy Brazilian steak house, Fugo de Chao. If you have one near you, you should try it some day when you are really really hungry for MEAT! Its all this beef, lamb, pork and red wine! No sissy sauces, just grilled meat. What I thought was most interesting about the place was that there were about 9 men for every 1 woman eating there.

Got all my running around done and the tree up in time for the arrival of Rachel and Michael, straight from their honeymoon in PR, and Michal arrived the same morning from Seattle. We had a really nice Christmas all together. Christmas Eve we drove to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, one of our favorite places. However, it was a cold rainy day, but the buildings were all open, and we pretty much had the place to our selves. Christmas Day was sunny, so after presents and Glondo's sausage, flown in from Cle Elum, WA (!) we all went to tour Mt. Vernon. We toured the house, and went to the movie where it snows on you as Gen. Washington crosses the Delaware on Christmas Day. We thought that was a pretty appropriate way to celebrate.

The next day, Rachel and Michael were off on the train to see the Kings in Cape Cod, and Bert and I and Michal went to Valley Forge and Longwood Gardens. The Gardens were amazing. Then the next day was Amish Country, and then Michal was headed for home on Saturday.

And since then, it has pretty much been work for both of us. Bert started a new job at the local Orvis store on the 2nd, and I have been working hard to get ready for our upcoming convention. We leave on the 30th for a week in Chicago. Today it is 10 below zero there, so our staff is not very exciting about the trip! And, traveling begins again.