Christmas Ornaments #22: Paris!

 In 2025 we went to Paris! It was dreamy. We saw all the famous places, didn't get lost at all, rode planes, trains and subways, and spoke enough French to survive! We needed an ornament that represented the trip as a whole more than just one spot, and we found this ornament. It is the iconic art nouveau metropolitan signs that were put on most (all?) of the metro stations back around 1900. Not a ton of them remain today, but we definitely saw a few of them. And after 10 days in Paris, we got pretty good at riding the metro.

Christmas Ornaments #21: Yosemite

 

In 2024 we went to Yosemite National Park. We went for spring break, though it didn't quite feel very spring-like. We had hoped to hit Kings and Sequoia National Parks as well, but they were pretty well snowed in still. And the high alpine roads in Yosemite were still closed. And we went on some snowy hikes. And we had to buy (but not use) chains for our tires to go over the Sierra Nevada Mountains on the way home. But I guess all that snow put us in the mood to buy a Christmas ornament even if it was "spring". The trip was still a lot of fun, the valley floor wasn't snowy, and the crowds were minimal. The trip also gave Ella a new life goal: hike Half Dome. As of this writing we haven't done that yet, but we (me and Ella) still hope to some day.