Happy Holidays Everyone!
The end of another year, below is our travels of three fun trips
Click the play button for a holiday song
Viewing with a phone? Turn sideways to Landscape mode. Prefer to view on a computer? Go to Surfingtandem.com/Xmas/2025
2025 was a super fun year...
(above, Lofoten Islands, Norway, click for alternate climb)
MEXICO - GREAT TIMES!
We started this fun year in January with a 2 week trip to Cabo with friends, JT, Shiela and Jesse. From Cabo, we continued on for another 4 weeks in Southern Mexico. We were gone from January 25th until March 7th. The Solmar resort in Cabo San Lucas, shown below, is a super fun place to stay and dining out most evenings was always a treat.
We didn't need to go on a whale watching boat here as we saw many whales passing by daily (in season, heading North). Click on this image! Using a phone? Turn it sideways.
On Feb 7th, we flew from Los Cabos to Mérida, the vibrant capital of the Mexican state of Yucatán. There, we rented a car and visited a number of out of the way Mayan ruins, Cenotes (open caves filled with water) and pristine beaches.
In 4 weeks, we drove almost 1,800 miles (counter clockwise). Mérida is in the upper left on the map, where all the roads converge. We got two flat tires on this trip (can you believe it!). Fortunately we were near a "llantera" both times.
We visited eight different ruins along the way. Image above was taken at Edzna near Campeche. (click for larger).
And, we found some really nice beaches. At a few, like Paamul above. Some tourists complained about the rocky shoreline but for us it was great as the snorkeling was quite good as there was a very shallow reef about 400 meters (1/4 mile) offshore.
It was a bit of a swim to the shallow reef but we had fins! See some fish! click on the pic.
This was Nevada's first state park and designated in 1934. It is recognized nationally for its outstanding scenic, geologic and archeological, features. It did not disappoint! To see more pictures of this park, click on the link at the bottom of this page.
In Tromsø, above the Arctic Circle, we rented this small camper van for three weeks and drove 1,200 miles. The van was fully equipped (except for toilet and shower) and even had an interior heater, as it gets chilly at night in August.
If you look at our track above, you see that we did a lot of backtracking (click for zoom). Clusters of dots are where we were on foot, climbing mostly.
Then there was the mud and bog. We almost always returned to the van with wet and muddy feet. BUT, every hike was awesome! At times, we would find wooden boardwalks on the trail... A real treat! (click image)
On a couple of climbs, we found stairs - dry feet! Here on the climb to
Reinebringen, we scaled 1,978 stairs - an endless Nordic stairmaster!
This 5 year project, completed in 2021, was undertaken to build a safer trail up the previously muddy and dangerous route. It was built using hand tools, local stone and employed Sherpas from Nepal for their high-altitude construction expertise. Click to see the summit view. The town of Reine (our Christmas card image) is way down below.
We were fortunate to view Auroras on three occasions. Here on Sept 10th, at 10:20 pm, the sun had hardly set when the sky lit up
This spot on Senja Island is called Tungeneset. Reflecting pools with the "Devil's Teeth" ( Okshornan ) mtn range in the background.
Now on the way home, we stopped in Stockholm for three days then spent three more in London and did a bunch of tourist stuff. If you are ever in Stockholm, be sure to visit the Vasa Museum. It's the only preserved 17th century ship in the world. Poorly designed, it sunk on its maiden voyage. If you would like to read the fascinating story about this ship, click here.