Do you remember us? Now that we are no longer traveling and writing weekly blog posts did you forget about us? Don’t worry, we aren’t mad.

We are doing well. Quite well.

One year ago, on May 19^th, 2020 we ended our adventures abroad. We arrived in Minneapolis after a long 2-day trip from Mendoza, Argentina. We were sad to end our travels and felt that the pandemic had interrupted our fun. Of course, it had interrupted everyone’s fun.

But as we said in our blog a year ago, this pause(?) in our adventures gave us an opportunity to reflect and remember our amazing experiences.

So why a follow-up post a year later? Well, I think we realized this year that adventures do not have to be in a foreign country. As we reflected over the last year, we decided that there are plenty of opportunities for adventure no matter where we are living.

There have been two major changes in our lives over the last 12 months. First, the pandemic had changed our plans. It changed our day-to-day lives and our outlook on life.

Second, we are now proud grandparents. We traveled for almost two years knowing that once we had a grandchild, we would want to return to the U.S. to be part of his life. We want to support our son and daughter-in-law in any way that we can as they raise our grandchild, and we want to be involved grandparents.

Pandemic

We had planned on staying in Argentina for three months, then moving on to Uruguay and possibly Paraguay before heading to Spain. But like thousands of other travelers around the world, we headed home to wait out the pandemic.

Never did we think we would be quarantined to our apartment and locked down in Argentina for two months. Even though the experts talked about second and third waves, we thought we could continue traveling where we left off after a short time.

The pandemic has affected everybody, and some have had devastating losses of family members. We followed all the necessary protocols and luckily, we did not contract the virus. So far, our family and friends have avoided any severe effects of the virus.

We tried to make the best of the isolation while in Argentina. We zoomed with our family and friends. We exercised in our cramped apartment with on-line sessions.

After returning to the states, I started running consistently again. We did not go out for dinner nor did we really do much takeout. We cooked most of our meals and when we arrived in Chicago we began preparing several meals a week for our kids. We plan 3 meals a week, prepare and deliver them weekly to our children. We enjoy cooking, and this gives us the excuse to drop-in on our kids regularly.

We started eating healthier. We cut out sugar, flour, and processed food. We continued to eat meat cooked in much healthier ways and we ate lots of vegetables. It did not seem like a diet. But after about 6 months, Kathy and I have lost a combined weight of more than 80 lbs. We feel so much better.

We continue to take Spanish classes over Skype with our teacher from Ecuador. I am taking guitar lessons on-line which is something I have wanted to do since giving up my piano when we sold our home. Kathy is also doing some volunteer work for Legal Aid Chicago. We also make and deliver lasagnas to needy recipients for the Lasagna Love group.

All in all, we have tried to make the best of this horrible pandemic. We are fully vaccinated but still take precautions. We feel blessed that we do not have to manage jobs or small children during the lockdown as many people have done. Our lives during this pandemic have been pretty simple.

Grandchild

We could not be more thrilled to have our first grandchild. Our son Michael and his wife, Rocio, gave birth to a healthy baby boy, Lucas, in October. Both our sons live in Chicago. As the due date approached, we packed up our travel suitcases and left our furnished apartment in Minneapolis to go to Chicago to be near them.

We found a nice little 2-bedroom, 2-bath apartment two blocks from their apartment in the East Ukrainian Village neighborhood. It is a quiet, diverse neighborhood surrounded by every type of ethnic restaurant you can imagine. We are only 3 miles from downtown and the location provides a nice, easy run or bike ride to Magnificent Mile and Lake Michigan.

Almost every day, we walk over to Mike and Rocio’s apartment to watch Lucas so they can have some time to themselves to work, go for walks or just do things around the apartment. Of course, for us, Lucas is a daily ray of sunshine. We are so thrilled to be part of his life and to watch him grow and develop.

Lucas with his Grandparents

When we arrived in Chicago last fall, the city was under quarantine. Restaurants were closed to in-person dining, and museums, parks, and theaters were also closed. We found ourselves in one of the largest cities in the United States and we were stuck in our apartment.

As spring approached, some businesses started opening. Today, more and more people are vaccinated, the number of cases continues to decline, and restaurants and stores have begun to open.

Downtown Chicago from Lincoln Park

We are excited to begin exploring Chicago. We look at Chicago as another interesting destination in our travels. We will continue to have adventures–this time in Chicago. The city has so much to offer, and we want to explore it and find its charm. We cannot wait to start.

In the last couple of months, we have been able to reconnect with our friends in Minneapolis and with our families. We celebrated my mother’s 91^st birthday in Iowa and visited Arizona to see Kathy’s sister.

Our Future

What does travel and adventure hold for us in the future? At this time, it is too early to plan. Most countries (especially in South America) are still under quarantine and lack enough vaccines.

We want to travel again–maybe pick up where we left off. But we also want to be part of our children’s and grandchild’s lives. We will have to figure out how to balance our desires.

Until it is safe to travel again, we look forward to adventures with our children, grandchild, and all that Chicago has to offer.

Now that we have had a year to acclimate to life in the U.S., we are ready to compare our life here with our traveling life.

Things we love about being back:

• Retail convenience. Location and operating hours and selection. Amazon deliveries. My God the selection!
• Phone calls. We can make phone calls again! Easily! And in English!
• Food. So many food choices, both to cook and to eat out. The “what should we have for dinner?” question is no problem.
• Friends. It’s nice to feel like we can invest in friendships and it’s going to be worth our time because we aren’t leaving again.

Things we DON’T like about being back:

• Routine. We do like a routine but every day is largely the same, so that can be sad sometimes. We miss our adventuring and not knowing how the day will play out.
• We don’t have friends in Chicago yet due to the pandemic and are looking for ways to meet people and find groups. But we still have each other and our family and we are happy with our life.
• Home. Even though we are living in Chicago now, it doesn’t feel like home yet. But Minneapolis no longer feels like home either. Sometimes we feel stuck in limbo not knowing what home is for us.

And so, friends, that’s a summary of our last year. We are reminded of our travels frequently through the photos we took. It’s fun to be reminded of all the things we have done. I admit we are surprised how often we “bump” up against reminders of our experiences in our daily lives. I guess, looking back, we really did do a whole lotta stuff.

We’ll be back with an update again when we think we have something interesting to share, or when we have an adventure that deserves a mention.

Thanks for continuing to read our blog and sticking with us even when we are in the good ol’ USA!