In the last twenty minutes of the last day of the year, it’s as good a time as any to sprint back through the year and highlight the hallmark moments.

I could probably say this 200 times here, but I’ll just put it here: the Cubs winning the World Series.

Personally, I probably took more local road trips this year than I have in any other year of my life, just to see places. Spending a weekend in Moab, Utah, which included a day at Arches and then some time driving around the northern part of Canyonlands, tops my list of amazing road adventures for the year. A day trip to Canyon de Chely in northeast Arizona comes in second, and a day trip up to the Bisti Badlands earlier this month wins the Adventure bronze medal.

In each of these trips, I took a lot of photos, and realized I enjoyed landscape and nature photography quite a bit. I had a great time taking a lot of pictures this year.

I hope to take more road trips around New Mexico and the Southwest in the coming year, and take a lot more photos as well.

In terms of just adventures for the year, the Grand Award goes to the trip I took to Washington, D.C., with my sister and her family to pick up their foreign exchange student Merlin. With nearly four days to wander around the plaza, this trip was the fulfillment of a lifelong wish to see some of our nation’s capitol, and I never had a reason to go until my sister asked me if I would like to join them. This trip was perhaps one of the three top trips I have taken in my life. Staying near the National Mall, each day was a marathon of walking around the tourist district, and I savored every minute of it. From a day dedicated to the National Air and Space Museum to the hours spent in the surprisingly beloved Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Gallery of Art, to a heavy walk through the remarkable Holocaust Memorial Museum, my soul was fed by all of the beauty, history, and wonder my eyes took in in these places, and about the Mall. And to top it off, my sister and her family humored me and went to see the Nationals play the San Francisco Giants in a relevant late season baseball game. This trip with my sister and her family was a trip of a lifetime for me, and I am deeply grateful to her and them for including me in on it.

The other great adventure of the year came in October when all of my family- parents, siblings, cousins, and kids- convened in Arkansas City, Kansas, for the Arkalalah Festival weekend. From watching the featured Saturday parade to touring the restored Burford Theater that Granddad used to manage, to walking through my Dad’s parents old house on South B Street- the one we siblings knew as home to long ago summer visits and childhood Christmases, to chilling with the cousins in South Haven at Devin and Tina Gressel’s house, to the epic kickball game on Sunday afternoon, it was a fantastic family reunion, in which we got to all be together as a big family, normally spread across the U.S. It was a happy weekend full of love and humor and food.

In the sad department, this year I lost my dance club buddy and valued friend, Robert White. His was the first death of a closer friend I have felt in several decades, and it shook me a bit. I will probably never go dancing again and not think about him- he was so high energy, and gracious to his partners. Women loved to dance with him.

This year, my high school class had their 35th reunion, and I helped quite a bit in pulling it off. For someone who is afraid of disappointing people and consequently avoids visible management dealies, it was a positive experience, because it was pulled together and marketed quickly, and we had a good turnout with few problems- and I think people had a good time. It was gratifying to see that event go from an idea to a success. I don’t pilot such wins very often, and for that good experience I am thankful.

I got to play a pretty good amount of board games with Karen and Brian and Ron. For them, I am also grateful, being a circle that enjoyed getting together to do that.

And yet, I also recognize I spent a lot of time this year detached, thinking about board games and that whole hobby. I would like to reconnect a little more with people again.

I need, and plan, to volunteer somewhere, regularly, in 2017. I want to give more and take less.

I also intend to write more in 2017.

And spend more time with my family.

And see the Cubs win a second World Series in 2017.

Happy New Year! See ya, 2016.