December 2024
Hard to believe this is our 31st Christmas letter. It was challenging, but we’ve kept it to one page. We are loving retirement and are still enjoying the feeling of “What day is it today?” Our travels entailed a single, 2-week dive trip in the Philippines and Indonesia, roughed it in Grand Teton and Yellowstone, adventured to Italy and Germany, and explored the many trails in the mountains behind our house in Tahoe.
Diving right in, we sojourned on a single, 2+ week dive trip to two exotic destinations: Tubbataha, Philippines (big stuff), and Tulamben, Indonesia (micro stuff!) Tubbataha is only open four months out of the year and has been on our “bucket list” for quite some time. LOTS of big, healthy marine life – Sharks, Whale Sharks, Hammerhead, Manta Rays, schools of fish, and vast fields of coral. Definitely worth a return visit. Tulamben is just the opposite – really teeny-weeny itsy-bitsy marine life. Our dive guide pushed our photography skills and we saw many new, exotic, microscopic critters.
Motoring along. This year we took an extended road trip for 2-weeks of roof-top tent camping in Grand Teton and Yellowstone. We figured this would be budget beneficial. Ha! For photography, we had 2 choices. Get dangerously super close to the wildlife or buy new budget busting telephoto lenses. 2 new lenses later … The beautiful mountains, colorful geysers and pools, and abundant wildlife were spectacular. We loved camping on the edge of the Mammoth Campground – Elk, Grizzly, Eagles - National Geographic behavior … all from our campsite.
To celebrate Lori’s mom’s 85th birthday, we jetted off to Italy. Despite the near daily rain, we soaked in Lake Como, Venice, Florence, and Cinque Terre. Venice highlights were gondoliers out our window, a Baroque concert, and a Cicchetti tour. In Florence our Airbnb had spectacular Duomo views, we drooled over David, explored the Uffizi, and admired the Basilica of Santa Croce. Due to heavy rain and wind forecasts, Cinque Terre shut down while we were there. The good news is the storm veered just east of us, so we could explore Cinque Terre without hordes of tourists.
After Italy, Lori’s mom flew back home and we jetted to Bavaria. The first couple of days we meandered in Munich – BMW Museum, Olympic Park, Old Town, & Deutsch Museum. Next, we drove to Berchtesgaden (carefully skirting Austria) and visited Herrenchiemsee, Eagle’s Nest, and Königssee. Next up, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, with spectacular views from the top of Zugspitze, Partnachklamm Gorge, and Neuschwanstein Castle (Cinderella’s castle inspiration). Our one regret is not purchasing the Austria insurance rider – it would have saved us a significant amount of driving time.
2024 was our first full year living in Tahoe and we are still making it “home”. We discovered that we have NO STORAGE!!! This was motivation to build shelves, organize the attic, and remove the construction clutter. We cleaned out 12 more cubic yards of pine needles and overgrowth. It is not all work and no play; as we continue to explore all the trails in the forest on our eMTBs; Whoop-dee-doo and Hello-Kitty are our favorites. Curious about local wildlife visitors, we have installed cameras around the house. The regulars are a coyote, 2 black bears, and 4 raccoons – mostly at night; however, we have seen the bears during the day.
We’re back in San Jose for our normal minimalistic Christmas extravaganza. We have 23,000+ lights and 2 local news stations have “dropped by” this year. Don’t worry, we will not take down the power grid. Our entire display consumes ~8.5 amps (yay LED). We enjoy watching the kids young and old come by and dance to the music and lights.
Tolo and Trout turned 3 in October. Tolo is obsessed with his bug toy (we have Lynne, our cat sitter, to thank for that). Trout prefers the laser pointer, has the loudest purr, loves belly rubs, and when he gets the “zoomies” he runs full speed through the hallway and up the walls to take the corners without slowing down.
Mike is going on 26 years cancer free and 8 years post cardiac bypass (WOOHOO). He tinkers with his 3d printer and automated both our Tahoe and San Jose house – house alarm, locks, blinds, and lights. Lori launched her new website, www.lamore2travel.com and updated our local HOA website. When not working on websites, she is creating handmade cards, reading (finished 16 books), and reconnecting with high school friends and former coworkers. Next year she will be volunteering at the Humane Society for Tahoe Truckee.
For 2025, we’ve booked a 2-week liveaboard trip in the Maldives and are investigating Cayman Brac in the summer, Yellowstone & Glacier National Park in the Fall, and Christmas Markets. Sprinkled in between will be the spur of the moment trips.
Have a safe, healthy, and wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year! Feel free to email us at or visit us (inluding dive and land pictures and trip reports!) at http://www.mljanz.com/.