Hello Everyone and Happy New Year! I hope everyone has had a lovely holiday season and is ready for a great year in 2025. I know this space has been pretty quiet this year as there has just been so much going on at home, but I really hope that all of that changes in the year to come. I did have a wonderful work season guiding tours out west which took me all the way to Alaska for the first time since 2016. I also spent a month in the Rockies, a few weeks in the Desert Southwest, a couple in the Deep South and a big chunk of time in California. It’s definitely great to visit some of these magical places every year and to show them to international passengers from all over the world, and I’m forever grateful to be able to do what I do. I met great people, took some beautiful photos and had a few laughs along the way. But it’s also been a difficult year because of the struggles my family has faced at home.
As many of you know, my uncle was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer in February of this year. I was at home in D.C. helping my mother take care of him for about two and a half months in the beginning of the year. He was doing much better when I left in May to go back to work and seemed to be on his way to a reasonable recovery. In the middle of September he fell and broke his leg and has been through multiple surgeries and hospital stays since then. I returned home in October and with the exception of a quick 12 day trip in November, I’ve been here ever since. He has had a real physical and mental struggle this year and now requires pretty full-time care. My mother and I have been managing okay with the help of some dedicated nurses, therapists and doctors, but it hasn’t been particularly easy on us either. He has had some good reports lately from his doctors, so we will see what 2025 has in store for him, but that has taken up most of my free time this year. Even when I was working, I had to check in with them as often as possible to give them what support I could from afar. That hasn’t left much time or energy for my own exploration or adventures and my poor van has just been sitting for most of the year out in California. I have gotten out to start her up and drive her around a little bit, but not as much as I wish I had and now I’m thousands of miles away. But it is parked somewhere safe so at least I don’t have to worry about that.
Because of all that is going on, I’m quite hesitant to look too far ahead or to make any plans. Over the next few months though, something will have to give. My uncle will either need to recover enough to get back on his feet, or we will need to find somewhere where he can get the care he needs. There is no way we can continue this round-the-clock care indefinitely, and he may have several years left to live. With any luck, I’ll be able to head back to California in the spring at some point and head out down the highway. I have no intention to work next summer and hope to have the whole year to drive back across the country. I’d like to spend spring in the Pacific Northwest and the summer in the Rockies. When the snow starts to fly I’d like to make my way south through the middle of the country to Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas and then get back to Washington to go back to work the following summer. That’s looking ahead to summer of 2026, so we will see where that goes, but that’s my rough plan for now. I hope you’ll stick around and see where we end up.
Since I’ve been home for a couple of months, I have been able to submit my photos to some local galleries and I’ve been really happy with the response. Next week I will have an opening at the Goldman Gallery in Rockville, MD which will be featuring 5 largescale photos of mine of our beautiful national parks. The following week I have to drop another photo out at a gallery/vineyard further out in Maryland which should also be nice. I’ve had some luck in the past with having my photos exhibited, but I’ve never actually been able to make it to see them while they are hanging. Now I will have that opportunity which I think is pretty cool. I continue to sell photos to books, magazines, businesses etc. as well, all of which makes me feel really good.
Beyond that, things have been pretty quiet around here. I’ve started a new workout program which has been really enjoyable and so far and I have been able to get to the gym most days. I have been cooking most of the meals since I’ve been home which I have been enjoying, but it’s also a lot of time and effort. I did get to cook up a couple of feasts over the holidays which was great. I’ve gotten to spend some time with my friends since I’ve been home and have even brought my violin along to play along on their Monday night music nights. I’ve definitely gotten to hang out with my little buddy, Mason, who I looked after during the pandemic. He’s six now and is a really sweet little boy and it’s fun to see how much he’s grown. My Penn State Nittany Lions have been fantastic to watch this season and I have gotten out to see a couple of games at the local alumni bar. Quite surprisingly, Washington’s professional football team, the Commanders, has been having their best season since I was in high school so that has been exciting as well. Right now here at home we are looking forward to 12th night, so that we can take down our Christmas decorations and put up our Mardi Gras decorations. That will be fun. Other than that, y’all, I’ve hardly gotten out of our neighborhood. I’m still thinking about you all though, and about this project and I really hope to get it back off the ground in just a couple of months. I will definitely get a few more photo posts up in the near future and will check back in with you in a couple of weeks.
Happy holidays and a very Happy New Year to you all, wherever this post finds you today. Thank you so much for reading and for all of your support.
-Mike