What's New - September 2021

Roundtrip Cruise from San Francisco to Hawaii

A few weeks ago, we received notice that Princess Cruises cancelled its Hawaii 2021 cruises and will restart this itinerary beginning in January 2022. We didn't book a replacement cruise as we couldn't find one in 2021 or 2022 that appealed to us. Moreover, we already have some 2022 trips lined up.

We were looking forward to this trip as a way to escape COVID imposed travel limitations. With Hawaii's increase in COVID infections and requests for tourists to stay away, we can understand how the trip was no longer possible.

Israel - Egypt - Jordan

This spring 2022 trip is still on our calendar. However, with uncertainty surrounding international air travel, rise of new COVID strains and international travel restrictions, we're considering simplifying our itinerary. This translates into eliminating ten days in Israel. Hopefully, we can do this extended Israel visit at another time. 

The remainder of the itinerary still looks good, but there is one unknown that could force the cancellation of this trip.

Car vs Bike Collision

(This is not a photo from the actual collision)

While riding my bike through a crosswalk about two weeks ago, under a 'walk' sign, I was hit my a car. It was pretty unnerving as police, fire and ambulance personnel quickly converged on the scene. 

A visit to the local emergency room revealed a back compression fracture of a vertebrae. A week later, an MRI of my knee was taken to determine why I continued to limp. The MRI image identified a torn knee ligament. I will be having an appointment with an orthopedic specialist to determine whether the knee injury will heal over time or require surgery. If the latter, any prolonged recovery time could mess with our Egypt and Jordan trip. Overall, I feel lucky that the injuries were not worse. The news often reports far worse outcomes of car and bike collisions.

Dixie Fire in Northern California

The Dixie Fire scorched over 950,000 acres and caused loss of property and forests, evacuations and major disruptions to the lives of many. Containment, as of this writing, is near 90 percent with the fire burning over two months. Firefighting in our backyard national park, Lassen Volcanic National Park, still continues as we approach the end of September.

We had scheduled a trip to Shingletown in September, but decided we didn't want to be in the way of fire suppression workers and vehicles during this trying time. After the bike injuries, this trip will likely be pushed to 2022.