Hansford Herald - 2023 Highlights

Greetings to one and all and the very best wishes for a wonderful holiday and new year!

Yes, I'm late in getting out cards and getting these highlights posted, but I got the cards ordered before Christmas, so I'm calling it a WIN. This year was a very full and very photogenic one, so here we go...

In January, Brian and Elizabeth continued their weekend getaways, heading over to the Lake Chelan area and staying at super cute guest house at Chelan Valley Farms. It was super relaxing and we spent some time checking out the area a bit more.

In February, we journeyed back up to Langley for their 38th Annual "mystery weekend" - the theme of which was "The Herd Shot Round the World". The town was JUMPING! It was great fun to discover new things in the town we've been to several times now and see how that community comes together for this event. As they pointed out though, not all of the characters in town are part of the event. 🤣 We picked up our special copy of The Langley Gazette and were off. Whodunnit? Well, Brian called it early on but then we had doubts, so we split our vote between the two folks we thought were most likely the culprit. 

In March, Benjamin joined Elizabeth at Emerald City Comicon which was the inaugural (big) event for our new convention center and it is BEAUTIFUL. If you get  chance to attend anything there or just visit, highly recommended. (Made a trip down to Summer Con in June too, fun and very different.)

House projects for this year included a new roof which Brian and Elizabeth are loving during these rainy winter months, a new stove after many years for nursing the old one along, and whole house air conditioning - yup, we broke down and did it. The new furnace that we did in tandem is greatly appreciated also. 

Conner returned home for the summer in May and his 2nd year interning with Boeing at the same location/large group, but working on different projects. Again, not thrilled with the commute, but it was nice to have him around and overall it was another successful summer for him.

Benjamin is still up in Bellingham and spent the summer working for the City of Bellingham on the horticulture crew during the week and doing a lot of trail and volunteer work with Whatcom Mountain Bike Coalition (WMBC) all the rest of the time - so we don't see a lot of him in the summer. We did manage to time one of our visits up there with their Shoot the Trails fundraiser and got to see Benjamin's photo entry and get a sense of the community he loves.

In July - OMG! - Taylor Swift's Eras Tour came to town and somehow Elizabeth got tickets! Brian was a super great sport and came along. It really was an EVENT and very cool to be a part of. And yes, she would totally go again.

yes - they are riding bikes ON THE STAGE - it was huge

In August, Brian and Elizabeth finally got up to Orcas Island in the San Juans. It was a great get away, but the pace was a little slow for our taste. Still, it was a nice and we're glad we visited. Key highlight was the view from Mt. Constitution. It was a gorgeous day and we could clearly see Bellingham and Mt. Baker (yes, we waved to Ben). While on the island, we celebrated our 31st anniversary - it was a beautiful time.

Also in August, Conner headed back to WSU for his final year so had to get a final "off to school" picture with him. The time has flown by!

Back to embracing the empty nest, Brian and Elizabeth left the country in September for IRELAND! Brian surprised Elizabeth with this trip for Christmas last year so we were pretty excited by the time it arrived. We let Rick Steeves do all the major planning for us which was wonderful and made it so easy. AND we didn't have to worry about driving from point A to point B. 

It was an amazing time and we saw so much, from the Cliffs of Moher (aka the Cliffs of Insanity for all you Princess Bride movie fans) on the west coast to Dublin on the east. In between included Ennis, Dingle, Rock of Cashel, Kilkenny, Glendalough, and Powerscourt Estate. We spent quite a bit of time in Dublin and felt like we walked the entire thing including Trinity College and Glasnevin Cemetery. 

As you can imagine, we have tons of pics - I've included a selection here. 

In November, Elizabeth journeyed out to the Palouse for WSU's Parent's weekend. It was fun hanging out with Conner and seeing the campus and some of his favorite places. We took in the basketball team intros, a Yung Gravy concert, stopped by Ferdinand's Ice Cream Shoppe on campus, and attended a VERY RAINY football game (GO COUGS!). It was wonderful to get in a parent's weekend visit before Conner graduates.

We rounded out the year with a full December! Brian and Elizabeth made the journey to Whidbey Island again and took in both the Langley and Coupeville holiday parades. It was fun to see the small town celebrations and we happened to time dinner in Coupeville right to see their boat parade too.

Both boys were home by the week before Christmas and Brian's parent's, Bruce and Nancy arrived on Dec 21 to spend the holiday with us. It was wonderful having a full house with lots of joy to end the year in a wonderful way.