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Just like everyone else reading this, 2020 disrupted literally every plan we had in place for the last 12 months. But, I’m still going to recap it to see if I can dredge at least a few positive moments out of the clusterf*ck.
Conveniently divided in seven sections for each of the seven circles of hell that 2020 subjected us to, this year in review covers way more than you ever needed to know about me, Dan, and the dumpster fire of a year that just occurred. Let’s dive in!
Pretty much the only good pic of us from 2020
7. Travel Shiz
As I said in our 2019 year in review, Dan and I started our year in Mexico. We were planning to spend the second half in Dubois, Wyoming and Calgary, Canada but, of course, none of that happened.
We spent January in Puebla, February in Queretaro, and then briefly moved to Guadalajara in March. However, when borders started closing, we flew back to the US amid all the uncertainty. Now, seeing how long the pandemic has dragged on, I know we made the right decision.
14,000 feet up at the peak of Malinche Volcano
Old Mexico
Still, there were a few travel highlights not just from those first innocent, naive, pre-pandemic months in Mexico but here in the US as well.
In Mexico, they include climbing Malinche Volcano (a tough but beautiful 14’er) and seeing the famous Monarch butterfly migration in the mountains of Michoacan. Hundreds of thousands of butterflies winter over in the warm mountains, and the effect is like walking into an enchanted forest. (Watch the video here.)
Sadly, their numbers are falling fast because of climate change, habitat destruction, and pesticides, so this phenomenon won’t be around much longer. Monarchs will likely go extinct in our lifetime.
Converted bus Airbnb in Madrid, New Mexico
New Mexico
After we spent some time with our parents in Ohio during the heyday of coronavirus, we moved to an Airbnb in Las Cruces, New Mexico. We’ve always thought this could be the state we settle down in, and it’s proven to be absolutely gorgeous.
Our yellow casita has sweeping mountain views and I regularly see jackrabbits, quails, coyotes, cottontail rabbits, scorpions, tarantulas, hawks, roadrunners, and an honestly ridiculous array of cacti outside our windows here in the Chihuahuan desert.
We’ve hiked a ton – my New Year’s resolution was to complete 52 hikes, which was easy with covid cancelling everything else – and we traveled all over New Mexico. I’m woefully behind on visiting national parks so it was exciting to knock out five: White Sands, Carlsbad Caverns, Guadalupe Mountains, Big Bend, and Joshua Tree.
After Christmas, Dan and I will move to Albuquerque for a few months and then choose somewhere in the US to finally settle down and get an apartment, a dog, a job (please hire me) and basically just have a real-life here in America. Goodbye, nomad days – 2020 killed ya dead (but honestly, it was time for you to go anyway).
Turning 30 in style in Big Bear, California
6. Personal Lives
2020 wasn’t all bad.
We welcomed a new niece, Maeve Laureen, and got to spend almost two months with my nephew Rhone in quarantine in Ohio. We also welcomed a new sister when my brother Joe got married in a (super-small) wedding in Chicago.
During the first lockdown in Dayton, OH, me and Kell created an 8-part Youtube Series about her quest to become TikTok famous. Episode 4 and episode 5 featuring interviews with the very unwilling members of our TikTok collab house remain fan favorites. Kell, Rebecca, and I also started work on a book we’re writing together featuring a series of essays by three sisters living very different lives.
And finally, we celebrated Dan’s 30th birthday in LA on a 10-day California road trip. It wasn’t quite as big as he wanted it (RIP Oktoberfest plans), but it was very fun (and delicious) nonetheless.
The cutest nephew on planet earth
5. Antarctica Update
If you’ve been following along since 2018, you also know that working in Antarctica has been a years-long goal for us.
In January 2019, we applied and didn’t hear back, and in January 2020, we tried again. This year, we both got interviews, followed by job offers and a massive stack of paperwork and medical forms we needed to fill out.
After physicals, dental visits, drug tests, EKGs (and then a second EKG because they messed up the first one), gallbladder ultrasounds, bills, and more paperwork to get refunded for the bills, we were told that the USAP was cutting staff because of covid and that we actually wouldn’t be going down this year.
The good news is that we were offered jobs for next year if we want, but we don’t want to wait in limbo until October 2021 and most likely won’t go. 2020 was the year, and covid took it from us.
We will likely never experience Antarctic life with cramped dormrooms at McMurdo research base, 6-day workweeks in the kitchen, -50-degree temperatures, and southern lights dancing across the skies, and I’m pretty bummed about it.
This just in: Joshua Tree has really big rocks
4. Work Stuff
We didn’t get to go to Antarctica, but the experience did give me a good travel article idea: how are scientists keeping covid off the most isolated continent on earth? I pitched it to Nat Geo, and they accepted!
That set me off on a travel writing spree, and I wrote two articles for Nat Geo, one for BBC Future, and have one in the works for The Guardian as well. (Check ’em out in my portfolio).
Because covid decimated traffic to Slight North (no one is traveling, so no one is reading about it either), this brought much-needed income and inspiration to my work life.
Our lovely Airbnb in the New Mexico desert
3. What’s Next?
We’re not sure. Dan got into the Data Analytics Master’s degree program at Georgia Tech, so Antarctica is off the table. The degree is online, though, so we probably won’t be moving to Atlanta.
I also applied for a dual MFA in nonfiction writing / Environmental Resources at the University of Wyoming and have my fingers crossed. However, the acceptance rate is 5% because the program is fully funded, which means instead of charging tuition, they pay students to attend.
If I do get in, we’ll move to the tiny college town of Laramie, Wyoming, in May.
If I don’t, we’re debating between Albuquerque, New Mexico, Madison, Wisconsin, or Chicago. We can’t decide and change our minds daily, so if you have any suggestions or convincing arguments on where we should move, please leave your comments below!
Everything bagel sourdough crackers, the most delicious snack you’ve never had
2. Final Shenanigans
Because there’s always a shenanigan. 2020 birthed a new dream to start a sourdough cracker empire.
I started making the most ridiculously delicious sourdough crackers in quarantine, and when we settle down, I’ll begin selling them at farmer’s markets. I have tons of big ideas and would love to grow it into a small business.
I built a website (that’s still very much under construction) because it’s 2020, and I’m stuck inside and have nothing better to do. Sign up for our newsletter updates and remember to come to me for all your sourdough cracker needs in the future.
Put on makeup once, immediately made Dan take a picture of me
1. 2020 Wrapped
I love writing these year-in-review articles because they help me remember how actually-pretty-good life usually is (and, if not good, at least always surprising). I like to compare them to the previous year and see which plans materialized, and which blew up in a cloud of deadly airborne virus particles.
Last year, I launched a new partnership with the One Tree Planted non-profit, Dan was applying to grad school, and we were crossing our fingers in our second round of Antarctica applications.
Now, Slight North has planted over 300 trees in the Andes mountains, Dan’s been accepted to Georgia Tech, and we were almost in (and then very much out) of work on the coldest continent on earth.
Craziest of all, after six years of living abroad in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Latin America, we’re finally settling down in the US for good.
Change is nice, and I’m excited for what’s to come. I post less articles here nowadays, but I still do post, and I hope you stick around. Stay healthy, try to stay sane, and remember that this is probably rock bottom, and things can only go up from here. (Probably.)
See ya in 2021!
This article is part of the Year in Review series. Read the rest below:
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I love this year in review. It’s your digital Christmas card! I vote you live in Madison so you can sell your crackers at the farmers market there and I’ll get my sister to buy so many. Also, Dan could do the 2021 Madison Ironman with Jacob.
Done. I love this plan.
First time I have seen your blog – impressive. Also interesting that I have travelled to many of the places you have – although for less time. With regard to where you should move – I grew up in southern Wisconsin and went to University in Madison many years ago. I would definitely say it would be way better than Chicago. A comparison between Albuquerque and Madison is like comparing passion fruit to potatoes – depends on what you want. Personally I moved to British Columbia many years ago and would suggest you consider the Pacific Northwest – tremendous variety in landscapes, excellent hiking and fewer people.
Thanks for the advice! We have considered the PNW but it’s more expensive and far from our families. In ABQ I worry about climate change and water availability, so I think Madison might be it!