Home to Colorado and Coronavirus (COVID-19)

In early February, we heard about Coronavirus when we were in Australia.  It started in Wuhan, China in late December 2019 (thus the name Co Vi D 19) and they were implementing quarantines for millions of people.  Australian news talked about getting their citizens home from China - including quarantine for them, so we understood it was a big problem.  This blog is helping me make this more real and manageable.  We have many very brilliant scientists around the world working on this, now with better funding.

A nasty flu bug attacked our group from one guy who was sneezing, sore throat, cough and got almost all of us.  That illness affected Scutie and me and we were tired for so much of our trip.  BUT, we weren't concerned about Coronavirus because we were all dealing with our own nasty virus.

Every day our email boxes were filled with cancellations and closures.  

When we got home in early March, the news about Coronavirus dominated until we realized that it was a huge problem in Europe (entire country of Italy was quarantined, then Spain, then more) and becoming a growing problem in the U.S., and spreading around the world, including in Australia and New Zealand.   We hikers wonder if our bug was Coronavirus - but we don't know and won't until that antibody test is available. 

Map from March 14, 2020 - Coronavirus in the World.  U.S. cases 

The incidence is growing in the U.S. and we are all asked to self-quarantine and to shelter-in-place.  Those are new words that we hear constantly now. We stocked up on food, toilet paper (can't find it) and found wipes (a miracle) so we are fine.  Yesterday, March 25th, Gov. Polis said all restaurants and bars in Colorado must close or do take-out only (as in 6 other states right now including Illinois). Essential businesses can stay open. Strange times indeed.  We join New York City, New Jersey, Illinois, California, Louisiana, and about 20 states total with these stay-home orders.  

March 17.  I left the hand sanitizer ad and Trump trying to act like he is competent on this photo. 

Our health experts, including Dr. Fauci, are on the news giving the best info they have at the time.  We are in trouble with no competent federal leadership...very scary.  Governors seem to be taking charge and that feels better.  Seems that the lack of tests is a huge problem - we don't know who has had it and who has it now.  We know who ends up in the hospital and that is about 1% and not necessarily older people.  

This is an article from Discover about viruses in general and is interesting science.

The goal is to FLATTEN THE CURVE so healthcare facilties aren't overloaded. 

Today, March 30, our news says they are extending the shelter-in-place order for 30 days and we likely won't be out of this until some time in May.  Our # of cases will peak in April they say.  Anyone who can is working from home. 

BTW - I'm  watching limited news but some specials to stay informed.  It's on 24/7 and that's all we around the world are talking about now.  In the U.S. the two big parties are still criticizing each other constantly on everything - without coming together to figure this out.  They did pass a $2 trillion aid package after much haggling.  I'm very disappointed that a quarter of it goes to huge businesses like airlines whose CEOs make hundreds of millions annually.

March 26 - first stimulus package passed

A shout-out to grocery store employees and anyone going to work with the public near them all day.  As well as the health care workers who are in the trenches - especially in New York City and now in New Orleans. They are still begging for protective equipment - masks, ventilators, gloves, sanitizer.

We are growing less concerned with worldwide stats and more with ours here in the states as our numbers grow.

There are currently 740,239 confirmed cases and 35,035 deaths from the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak as of March 

Stats for today, March 30th.

Total U.S. Coronavirus Cases  142,967

Meanwhile, we video chat, work jigsaw puzzles, read, watch TV, run/hike/bike as weather allows, and wait for our numbers of cases to go down.  

6 awesome weeks in Australia and New Zealand

Scott and I loved our time in Australia and New Zealand!  These countries are easy to travel to and our dollar was strong, so they were quite affordable.  
We spent 12 days on our own in Sydney, Australia and on the east coast, including a fabulous trip to Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef.  Then 3 weeks with our hiking friends in Melbourne, Tasmania, then the northernmost part of New Zealand's north island and the southernmost part of New Zealand's south island.     I have so many fabulous photos and memories!  Here's a sample.

Such a strange coincidence... But great!  We ran into our friends Sallie and John who traveled the world for a year and happened to be in Sydney when we were there.  And then.... we ran into them 3 weeks later in a small movie theatre in Te Anau, New Zealand.  Awesome!

At Milford Sound on the South Island.  Some waterfalls are 3x as high as Niagara Falls.

Typical lunch spot on our hiking days

Sunset at town of Russell,  north island of New Zealand

Lovely morning rainbow at Te Anau, view from our balcony.

These possums are cute and welcome in Australia, but in New Zealand they kill birds and eat their eggs so they are a huge problem there.

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Wallabies are everywhere in the Bay of Islands area in Tasmania.  They are smaller than kangaroos and very cute. 

 

Our awesome guides, Anthony and Marina, and some of our hiking group. 

We saw schools of tens of thousands of fish feeding on our boat at Knights Islands off New Zealand's northernmost coast.  What a site!

Kayaking at Rakiura (Stuart Island) at the southernmost part of the south island.

Very interesting MONA (Museum of Old and New Art) in Hobart, Tasmania

Musical at the Sydney Opera House- SIX.  Fabulous!  Tons of energy. 

Blue Mountains outside of Sydney.  The massive fires were over by the time we got there.

Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef.  We saw baby turtles hatch and momma turtles laying eggs.  And manta rays, eagle rays, beautiful fish, corals, turtles...  Amazing except for the loud moaning birds and bird poop.

Somehow we wore the same outfits!  Kirin, my friend since birth and my regular travel buddy.

Happy Roaring 2020

It's a new decade!  So excited for 2020 to arrive.  We celebrated with a party at our house with friends, food, and games. 

And then we went camper shopping.  And finally settled on this beauty.  It's a Flagstaff e-Pro and is really a tiny house with everything we want.  We took a big leap from a tent.  

And then we left it to sit until we returned from vacation to Australia and New Zealand.

January was busy because we were getting ready to leave on our trip.  We had a New Year's celebration with Brendan and Rhiannon too. 

 And the Dirty Girlz celebrated the New Year with a run and coffee!

And the GWITS (girls with information to share) celebrated at Aunt Alice's

2019 End of Year Stats

End of year Strava stats:

Running Total - 146 miles
Ride Total - 1504 miles
Swims - 8
Activities - 214
Ski days - 11
Walking miles - 346
Hiking miles - 311
Time Total active - 480 hours
Mileage Total (which  includes walks, hikes, swim but not ski) - 2359 miles


States Visited this year:  New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, North Carolina, Illinois, Kansas, Wisconsin, Michigan. 

Work:  Not much for Scott, who was driving for Brookdale on rare occasion.  None for me.  We are retired completely and happy about it. 

Activism:  Trying to keep my opinions to myself and not let politics get in the way of friendships.  Most of us want the same things but we disagree on how to make those things happen.  Our orange President wants us divided and I won't participate in that.

National Parks and Monuments:  Hmmm

Organized Rides:  Bike & Boat on the Rhone River in Provence area of France for a week.  With Heather & Paul from California.  Beautiful, lovely little towns and quiet rides.
Michigan's Upper Peninsula Ride for one week - scary with no road shoulders and logging trucks.  Two days were good, the rest were scary and we'll never ride there again. 

First Time Rail Trails:  Hmmm

Organized Runs: Boulder Bolder with good weather and decent times even though we were just back from Europe. 
Oatmeal run in Lafayette with lots of friends. 
Snowshoe girls' weekend with Ann Campbell, Frisco Ann, andBoulder Anne. 

Traditions:  New West Fest music in Ft. Collins for the 3rd year in a row!
Phyllis's Christmas breakfast for Longs Peak ladies & guys.
Sunday trail runs with Dirty Girlz
Friday morning breakfast with the GWITS 
Quilt Days on Mondays in Berthoud with In-Stitches
Skiing with Scott - we only got the Copper 4-pack because we weren't around much in winter.
Happy hours with Go Go's - our lips are sealed.
Keeping up with the Spice Girlz  - friends since 1980
Christmas traditions: - Hike to the Boulder Star with Terri, Kent, Ann, and us.
Longmont Christmas parade & lights at Roosevelt Park.
Christmas lights at the Nascar Track in Charlotte with Jenny and family. 
Christmas in Illinois with family - Christmas day + 3 days at Vicki's and 2 days plus Christmas eve with Scott's mom and family.
Red Rocks to see Josh Groban with Madeline on a warm and starry night.
Met twice with Helga, Margie, Darlene, and Cathy - friends since the 1980's.

New experiences:  Raft trip on the Colorado River with friends through O.A.R.S. company.  Amazing week!  
Squaw Pass FireTower stay - we were so excited and couldn't wait!  Then the blizzard moved in, we froze for 24 hours, and we were happy to get out of there alive.  
Renting our house on Airbnb when we are gone this year.  Interesting and good so far.
Another Yurt trip at Tennessee Pass with DGz and Terri with tons of snow!!!
Christmas without Mom or Dad was different.

Colorado Trail with Ann:  
Last 5 segments ending in Durango - supported by Colorado Mountain Expeditions.  We only carried day packs, they fed us 3 meals and we met great friends - all women and 2 unfortunate men.  Such a fine way to hike the Colorado Trail.

Triathalons: None.  Boo.  

Bikepack Trip:  Hmmm?

Ski Places:  Breckenridge, Keystone, Vail, A-Basin in spring.  Copper Mtn. in fall.  We skiied with Joyce and Peter, and Barb Brayton, and with Jamie & Alex!

Birthday celebration:  My Sunday Run and coffee with DGz, lunch at Collision Brewery in Longmont with Scutie, ski days and dinner at Himalayan Place in Frisco.  Flowers from my sis.  Lovely. 

Trips outside the US:  The Azores Islands, Portugal, and Spain hiking vacation with Kirin and Matt, followed by bike and boat in France's .

It was a very good year.  Moving on to good health and great adventures in 2020.