How it should end...

Two Gretchens (really!) hike Innstidalur - hot springs are still 7 hours away...

Aloha G12!

Last year, at the height of (my) summer, I went to Iceland with some friends to run a half-marathon at midnight. The race ended at some hot springs, and we all got in for a midnight steam bath. All races should end this way!

The next day, we went on an epic hike, which also ended at some hot springs. We spent three hours lazing about in very hot water, every so often getting out to cool off in some very cold snow-melt. All hikes should end this way!

On the way to the airport for our flight back to Boston, we stopped once more at some hot springs, for one last bath at the well-known tourist place called the Blue Lagoon. It's filled with blueish-white clay that everyone rubs all over their skin as they sip cocktails. It's quite a sight: all sorts of people, completely covered in clay, walking through the steamy water, with sunglasses on and drinks in their hands. All vacations should end this way!

In a year filled with a ton of travel and a fair amount of adventure, Iceland competes for "top adventure" with snorkeling in jellyfish-infested waters in the Gulf of Oman, and - just a few weeks ago - participating in a Native American sweat lodge ceremony in the mountains of North Carolina. (The jellyfish stung, however, and the sweat lodge was extremely hot - I got burned.)

My niece and me on Christmas Eve

And so once again we are at the start of a new year, full of adventure-potential. Once again, I'll divide my year roughly in half between Boston (where my family is) and Hawaii (where my job is). In between, I'm considering walking the Camino de Santiago - a pilgrimage route in northern Spain. It's been on my mind for well over a decade, and this may be the year! Or, it may not be. Regardless, the best parts of life continue to be spending time with family and friends, new and old. Hope to see some of you this year, too!

(Also - it continues to be a lot of fun working with new generations of APLP - I'll share a bit more about that in the next post.)

My warmest wishes for good health and much love in the new year,

Gretchen