Looking Back on 2024

Another trip around the sun and here we are on the last day of 2024. Even though I haven’t made New Years resolutions in years and even coming up with a Word of the Year seems like too much pressure, it’s always fun to think about the possibilities in the year ahead.    

But, before I turn to the first page of my brand new paper (yes, paper) calendar for 2025, I thought I’d spend a moment looking back on the year that will soon be over.

Travel

2024 was the year of Road Trips for us. An airplane gets you from Point A to Point B faster, but you miss so many interesting sights and memorable moments when you are in the air.

In the spring, we spent about five weeks traveling from the west coast of California to the east coast of North Carolina and back, visiting friends and family along the way.

We headed in a different direction at the end of July, driving north through California, Oregon, and Washington before crossing the border into Canada. Just like on our spring trip, this 6-week adventure included many interesting stops along the way as well as meetups with friends and family.

In October, we took a much shorter road trip up to Los Angeles to see family and explore the area. Our hotel was located downtown where there is a fascinating mixture of old and new, historical and modern, and decay and renewal.

Blogger Meetups

The year began with a lunch date with Terri (the first blogger I ever met in person, back in 2016) and a new-to-me blogger, Cheryl.

At the beginning of our spring road trip, we spent a couple of days in Tucson, Arizona, visiting Kathy and Thom. We saw them again in June, when they hosted us at their mountain cabin, and then again on our summer road trip to Canada.    

And, speaking of our trip to Canada, it was Bloggerpalooza on Vancouver Island, where Donna, Deb, and Judith (who no longer blogs) demonstrated why Canadians get their reputation for being so welcoming and nice. We had a wonderful time hiking, chatting, attending concerts, chatting, exploring, hanging out, and chatting.  

Ups

There were lots of ups in 2024, including having a backyard view of a few satellite launches, which provided quite a show as they streamed across the sky.

… and Downs

Three friends – a previous work colleague, a neighbor, and a friend that I had lost touch with – passed away in 2024. All were close to me in age. A sad reminder of the frailty of life.

Looking Ahead

We have a few travel possibilities for 2025. One is booked, the other two are in the preliminary planning stages. Our 2025 calendar already has several events, gatherings, and celebrations noted and I look forward to what the year will bring.

Thank you for following my blog, reading, and commenting. I wish all of you a happy and healthy 2025 full of grand adventures.

You can see more end-of-year wrap-ups by visiting Terri’s blog, Second Wind Leisure Perspective. It’s not too late to add your own!

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Author: Janis @ RetirementallyChallenged.com

My blog is about travel, relationships, photography, and whatever else pops into my head (even, sometimes, issues surrounding retirement and aging).

93 thoughts on “Looking Back on 2024”

  1. Janis, life is a series of ups and downs, isn’t it? Your year of travels seem pretty stellar. I recognize a few places and people that you visited. Like you, we are in the planning phases for ’25, and like you, I use a paper calendar on the side of the fridge! I also have a tiny Hallmark one that I hardy with me.

    1. Hi Bernie! I’m the same way with paper maps. The digital world is fine for some things, but I want to see more than a blue dot showing where I am (digital maps) and just what I have happening during a specific period of time (digital calendars). I have all of my paper calendars from the year I retired on and refer to them now and then.

      Happy New Year to you!

      1. I have all (but 2) little Hallmark calendar books from 1980 onward! We need to prove our nursing hours, so all that was stored in them, and I just found a cute box. Someday, my daughter will just toss them, and that’s fine.

  3. Janis, Your year of road trips and bloggers’ meet-ups look fantastic. Like you, I have also noted family celebrations and travel dates in my 2025 paper and phone calendars. Happy New Year and best wishes for 2025.

  4. Sounds like a pretty good year, aside from the losses. I’m sorry our plan to meet never came to fruition, but I’m still hopeful it will at my launch party, if not before. I still have to write about our trip to The Last Bookstore, thanks to your recommendation. And definitely agree that driving across the country and seeing the sights is way more fun than flying. I look forward to doing that when I don’t have a little kid in tow. 😛

  5. ˛¸.o•°“°•o.˛¸˛.o•°★°•o.˛¸˛.o•°“°•o.˛¸
    ★ WiSh y0u And YouR FaMiLY ★
    ˛¸.o•°“°•o.˛¸˛.o•°★°•o.˛¸˛.o•°“°•o.˛¸
    Happy & Healthy New Year!

  7. Janis – you had a fabulous year at both beautiful and interesting venues (L.A. looks fun) plus getting to meet up twice with other bloggers was fun too. That’s great that you are already planning ahead for 2025 as it gives you something to look forward too. Sorry to hear about your acquaintances who passed away. I just lost one last week and it does give you cause to pause. You sure packed a lot into your 2024 and I hope 2025 is even better.

    1. LA is usually a big, messy, trafficky city we try to drive through as quickly as possible on our way to other places. It was interesting to explore it some more. My husband and I both feel that now is the time to travel. Who knows what the months and years ahead hold for us, but we feel healthy and able now.

      Best wishes to you for a fabulous 2025!

      1. You’re right about that Janis – enjoy it while you can. A fellow blogger and her husband are the same age as we are. In her last post for 2024, here’s what she wrote – the same mindset as you said above.

        “Clint and I traveled a lot this year; 4 countries in Southeast Asia, 5 countries in Eastern Europe and we also traveled to the Netherlands and Turkey. We spent 5 weeks in Algonquin Park in the Fall, camping and photographing my moose ! We also spent a couple of weeks camping in Niagara Falls and camping near Ottawa.”

        Enjoy life to the fullest. Best wishes to you as well in 2025!

      1. My pleasure Janis. I have definitely not been posting on a regular basis but I haven’t totally given it up yet! Thanks for refollowing! Wish you the very best in 2025💕

  9. Wow, that’s a lot of traveling! I don’t have that kind of energy, even if I had a travel companion. Did you keep a total of miles traveled in 2024? Must be a pretty phenomenal total.

    Happy New Year!!

  11. You said goodbye to a busy year and hello to another one. It’s always good to travel while you can enjoy it because sometimes life creeps up on you and those long weeks on the road aren’t possible anymore. I hope you have a fabulous 2025 with lots of travel and fun times.

    1. Hi Judy. You are so right about enjoying traveling while we can. Funny (not funny) how now that we have the time and money to get away, it gets to be more and more of a challenge. So far, so good for us so I hope we can continue to travel for a while.

      Best wishes to you for a terrific 2025!

  12. Janis, I had to laugh when I saw your post pop up. Just yesterday I wrote myself a (paper) note to email you to see how the two of you were doing. Aside from the losses in your social circle, it looks like you had a year full of amazing adventures! You’ve become Professional Roadtrippers! (Before you know it, you’ll be racking up more miles than Alan and me.) We’re planning to do a Route 66 trip from start to finish this year (this will be our third time “standin’ on the corner”), so my fingers are crossed that we’ll be able to connect when we hit California. Will keep you posted. Warm wishes to both of you for all of life’s best in 2025!

    1. We went on a Route 66 trip (St. Louis to Flagstaff, AZ) several years ago and, this time around, were happy to revisit a few of our favorite stops. I look forward to reading about your adventure (I’m sorry that I still have difficulty commenting… very frustrating). And, yes!!! Let us know if/when you get close to us, we’d love to meet up again.

  13. A great year! I too have stood on that corner in Winslow, Arizona. We used to love our road trips in the US and Canada, but I’m not sure they’ll happen again. I’m enjoying our road trips in the UK, though obviously we have a lot less road to travel on! Here’s to 2025, may it be healthy and happy for all of us.

    1. There are too many roads in the US, as far as I’m concerned. Your beautiful pictures of wide-open vistas where you live makes me envious.

      Best wishes to you for a happy, healthy 2025. Fingers crossed that it would be too crazy this side of the pond. 🙂

  16. What a great, adventurous year! You are so fortunate Janis to be able to get out and about, see the country and have great experiences with friends.

    1. Thank you, Deb, I do feel very fortunate. There are still so many places I want to see but I know I can’t do it all. I am grateful that we both are pretty healthy so we will continue to plan our adventures… until we can’t.

      Best to you for a happy, healthy 2025!

    1. Somehow your comment got stuck in spam jail… not sure why.

      This was our second time passing through Winslow, and I agree that it has seen better days. This time I wanted to stay at the La Posada Hotel, which was nice (I like historical buildings and trains, so…). I think with the fading of the Route 66 glory, the corner and the hotel are just about the only things the town has going for it.

  19. I will choose a car over an airplane 10 times out of 10. Haven’t flown in five years and I’m perfectly okay with that. Hope you have continued grand adventures in 2025!

    (Love the satellite pic BTW. Very cool!)

    1. Flying has become such a hassle over the last few years, and you miss so much. Unless there is no other practical way to get from A to B, I’ll drive.

      We are lucky to be on the southern path of the satellite launches out of Vandenberg SFB. When the timing is right (just after sunset is best), they put on quite a show. Not a fan of Elon, but the launches are fun to see. 🙂

  21. What a lovely wrap-up Janis. I love seeing your meetups. I see Terri, of course, and Donna in the background of one of your pictures. I am super envious of both your long road trips. Vince and I talk about doing that, but 2024 was definitely not the year for it. Wishing you the best for 2025. Lots of love, Marsha 🙂 xxx

    1. I hope you and Vince can enjoy a long road trip soon. It is such a fabulous way to explore the country. I know that 2024 held several challenges health-wise, Marsha, but 2025 is looking much better for you.

      Best wishes for a fabulous New Year full of grand adventures!

  22. Happy New Year Janis! It was great that our path’s crossed three times last year. Both Thom and I enjoy you and Paul’s company very much so looking forward to doing some of that again this year. Certainly great memories and who knows? Maybe we can extend that to Europe this summer too??? Take care till we talk again. ~Kathy

  23. Let’s see if my comment makes it thru this time!

    When my son had an internship in New Mexico, I made the cross country trip with him. We also took parts of Route 66, stopping at every single tourist trap we could find! Isn’t Memphis wonderful? During my work life, I had a customer based in Memphis, so I traveled there for business a couple of times a year. I loved Beale Street, the Peabody Hotel ducks, and Graceland was an experience…

    Hope your 2025 trips are as wonderful as 2024 was.

    1. Success! We enjoyed Memphis, although we managed to miss Graceland (on purpose). I loved the music, ducks, and the history. Route 66 is truly a kick! I’m glad we made the journey several years ago as we found a few favorite sites changed or gone this time around. Sadly, it won’t be here forever (and maybe the younger generations don’t care).

      I’m looking forward to reading all about your adventures in 2025!

  24. Such a big country you have to explore, Janis, and road trips are the norm. It sounds like a good year overall. Horrible losing friends/family, but then there are births and the whole circle of life. We’re lucky to be still here, living it, aren’t we? Wishing you another healthy, happy year.

    1. It’s always hard to lose a loved one or friend but, somehow, these three hit me hard. I imagine it had a lot to do with their age and the fact each left a grieving spouse. Too close to home. And, yes, we are lucky to be alive, healthy, and enjoying life.

      Best to you for a wonderful, adventure-filled 2025!

  25. I’m so sorry for your losses! 2024 did seem to be a year for too many people I know to lose a loved one. But it does sound as if you had a great year of travel, and some nice trips planned for 2025! Happy New Year!

  26. All the road trips sound so fantastic. That is by far my favorite way to travel, too. A great year-end summary of the highs and lows. Best wishes for another great year in 2025, Janis!

    1. Thank you, Eilene. Road trips are a great way to see the country and it’s nice to have a lot of uninterrupted time to talk to your travel partner… or not: sometimes we just get lost in our thoughts.

      Best wishes for a great 2025 to you also!

  27. What a fun year of travel! Driving across the U.S. is a great way to experience our country. My husband’s dream trip is to just jump in the car and when you get to a corner you decide which way to turn. I prefer a little more planning than that. 😊

    Happy new year to you!

    1. Our road trips are somewhere in between planned down to the stop and totally by the seat of our pants. Sometimes we decide to spend more time in one location and skip another altogether. Fortunately, because we can travel in the shoulder seasons, finding a hotel on the fly isn’t too much of an issue.

      I hope you have a great 2025 too!

  29. Wow, you had some wonderful road trips! What do you drive? Our last road trip was in 2017, in our Prius. The car was comfortable enough and, of course, had great gas mileage, but neither of us feels inclined to take a long trip with it again.

    I too use a paper calendar … actually I have a couple 🙂 My husband keeps a paper monthly calendar as well and we’ve learned to “synchronize” our calendars now that we have only one car. We also prefer paper maps. When we went to Wyoming for the total solar eclipse in 2017, paper maps were far more useful in planning our routes than the map apps on our phones.

    Thanks for sharing this wrap-up, Janis. It’s fun to travel with you vicariously 😊

    1. We’d be lost without our calendar to remind us of appointments, celebrations, and future plans.

      For the two longer road trips, we rented a car. Since we have an EV and an older Forester, that seemed like the way to go. Better to put that kind of mileage on someone else’s car. 🙂 When we drove up to LA, we took the EV.

      1. If you can get the vehicle you want, then renting would be the way to go. The last couple of times we rented a car, I wasn’t happy with what we were given. The rental agency tended to give us huge vehicles, big enough for several passengers when it was only the two of us. I’ve only ever driven small vehicles. Even our pickup truck was just a 1/2 ton. Still, the last time we were given a Rogue and I absolutely loved that it has front as well as back cameras! Safety first 🙂

        1. We didn’t get great cars either (we don’t rent from the airport since it’s cheaper… but the choices are very limited) but, fortunately, we didn’t have to drive anything huge. It was nice to have cameras and adaptive cruise control, which our older gas car doesn’t have.

  31. Road trips are the way to go, haha. Ours has been lasting about nine years. I’m not sure when to start counting for this one. Looks like you and Paul had a (mostly) fun 2024 and I feel a repeat coming in 2025. Happy New Year, you two!

    1. You two are definitely the Queen and King of road trips! We may take one or two trips that will require us to get on a plane in 2025, but we’ll hit the road whenever possible.

      Best wishes to you, Mark, and Maya for a wonderful 2025. Safe travels!

  32. Lots of travel last year, Janis. I think of you as my husband and I plan cross country trips to visit kids and grandies on the other side of the country. Stopping along the way to turn the long drive into a vacation is a great way to go. And the “bloggerpalooza” in Vancouver cracked me up. Yes, there are a bunch of them up there! Wishing you a wonderful 2025 of new adventures and connections. Hugs.

    1. I am grateful to have the time to be able to travel slowly and, to some extent, without a schedule or itinerary. Fortunately, my husband is a patient man and will (mostly) stop, (mostly) with a smile when I want to take a picture of something that catches my eye.

      I hope you have some fun adventures planned for 2025! Hugs back atcha!

  33. I believe you know how much we love road trips, too. 🙂 You certainly made some wonderful trips in 2024!. I’m looking forward to what you do in 2025. I have an idea about where you might go for one of your trips, and I hope you’ll go for it! Happy New Year!

    1. Although I’m still disappointed that we weren’t able to meet when we were in North Carolina, it was such a great trip. It’s hard to believe that just a few months later, that area, including lovely Asheville was devastated by Hurricane Helene. Most of our plans for 2025 are still in their infancy, but I am slowly putting them together (I’ve never been a comfortable trip planner). I hope the year ahead holds some grand adventures for you too!

  34. How wonderful that you met up with many blogging friends, Janis. I bet the conversations never stopped. It’s incredible to think how blogging can create so many friendships.

    I hope you get to travel as much as you did in 2024.

    Happy New Year.

    1. It is amazing how this little “hobby” of ours has opened up the world and led us to more than a few lasting friendships we would never have had if we hadn’t published that first blog post.

      Best wishes to you for a wonderful New Year too.

  35. That was a lovely look back at the year, and this year sounds exciting. I think that awesome that you saw that rocket! I’m too far inland to see them.

    Happy New Year, Janis! I hope it’s filled with more ups than downs!

    1. The satellite launches can be quite a sight. I have an app that lets me know when they will occur, and then they will appear in our sky just a few moments after. Not all are as spectacular as that one was, but still pretty cool.

      More ups than downs in 2025… yes!

  36. Beautiful compilation, Janis. I know exactly what you mean about the discoveries that lie in wait with a road trip vs flight. I wish you the very best in the new year.

  38. I am late to this post, but glad I made it because I was able to travle a bit with you – and I also LOVED the kiss photo – so fun
    and thanks for the reminder about the frailty of life – life is a gift

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