We had some excellent travel adventures in 2021, despite COVID restrictions and important family matters that kept us close to home for the first half of the year, with short trips to Estes Park, CO (practically in our back yard!) and New Mexico, our next door neighbor state to the south.

The second half was chock full of travel adventures, as we were able to spend five weeks in Alaska, a couple of weeks in Montana, six weeks exploring the Colorado Plateau and six weeks in southern California to finish out the year.

Read on for a chronological synopsis and links to our articles from each major destination. Scenery overload, family time and great memories!

February – Estes Park, Colorado

Carol and sister Janice kicked off the travel calendar with a week-long getaway at a vacation rental condo in nearby Estes Park. Because of COVID restrictions, we toted all of our food, beverages and supplies with us to maintain social distancing. Unseasonably cold temperatures kept us inside more than we expected but provided a good excuse to (over)indulge in popcorn and hot chocolate.

No blog post, just these photos.

May – New Adventures in New Mexico

Our first out-of-state excursion after sticking close to home for 14 months was a delightful 16-day driving vacation in New Mexico. Although it’s a neighbor state to Colorado, we hadn’t spent much time there, so there was plenty to see. A night in Taos, a week near Santa Fe, a week in Carlsbad and our last night in Las Vegas (the OTHER Las Vegas in New Mexico, not Nevada).

Two blog posts:

• Discovering New Mexico
• Southeast New Mexico – Big Caves, Big Desert, Big Oil

A couple of photos from outdoor adventures near Santa Fe:

And from Carlsbad Caverns:

A number of attractions on our sight-seeing itinerary were still closed due to COVID restrictions. So you know what that means – we must go back!

June & July – A Taste of Montana and a Feast in Alaska

After driving to Missoula and spending a few days getting reacquainted with our grandson Owen, we flew to Alaska for a fabulous five week adventure. While there, we explored five national parks and did a little sight-seeing in Sitka, Juneau, Anchorage, Talkeetna and Fairbanks.

The orange markers on the map below indicate our Alaska destinations for this trip (with the exception of Lake Clark National Park – daytrip was cancelled due to adverse weather conditions 😥). Blue and purple markers represent places we visited during previous Alaska vacations.

Seven blog posts from our Alaska trip, all featuring photos of some pretty fantastic scenery!

• Three Days in Sitka with (Almost) No Rain
• More than Meets the Eye in Glacier Bay National Park
• Wrangell-St. Elias – Does the Park Live Up to the Hype?
• Celebrating 4th of July in Talkeetna
• Three Days above the Arctic Circle
• The Denali Grand Finale
• Glimpses of Urban Alaska

Post-Alaska, we flew back to Montana and celebrated Owen’s third birthday before driving home to Colorado. Here’s a photo of all five of us:

And a few more pics of Owen wearing some of his many hats.

No blog post from our time in Missoula – just these few pics.

October & November – An Immersive Experience on the Colorado Plateau

Five month road trip!

The first six weeks were all about experiencing the splendor of the Colorado Plateau, an immense geographic region that stretches outward from the four corners area of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona.

Here’s a quick summary:

• 49 days
• 3,593 road miles from our house to Las Vegas (808 if simply driving direct)
• FIVE national parks (SIX if you count the 20 minutes we were technically within the boundaries of Grand Canyon NP 😎)
• SEVEN national monuments
• SIX Utah state parks
• TWO Navajo Nation tribal parks
• ONE national conservation area
• ONE national recreation area
• Multiple national and state-designated scenic byways
• Incredible natural beauty EVERYWHERE!

Click here to see thumbnails of blog posts from this super fun and memorable excursion, or click on the individual links below:

• Colorful Grand Junction – Red Rocks, Red Wine and Autumn Splendor
• Breathtaking Scenery & Too Many Visitors – Welcome to Moab!
• On the Way from Here to There
• A Visit to the Navajo Nation – Monument Valley & Antelope Canyon
• Remarkable Landscapes & Water Woes in Page, Arizona
• Kanab – “The Greatest Earth on Show”
• A Grand Visit to the Grand Staircase – Boulder, Utah
• Wrapping Up Utah on a High Note in Bryce Canyon

Our road trip continued with a few days in Las Vegas, where we spent time with both friends and family . . .

. . . before heading to sunny southern California.

November & December – Family, Holidays, Hiking & Sight-Seeing

Six weeks for this part of our road trip, with most of that time in Huntington Beach with our son (Andrew) and daughter-in-law (Gail), then we closed out the year with a few days in San Diego, sight-seeing and visiting our nephew Marc and his wife.

No blog posts, so I’ve included a sizeable photo gallery to show a few highlights.

2021 was a banner travel year for us!