The Top Story for 2025

All the construction in recent years at the KT Ranch has paid off, so we are now enjoying lots of great times there with family and friends!

These gatherings really got started late in 2024, with visits from Karen’s sister Sallie; Terry’s sister Nancy and her partner Kim; and friends Ann, Ruedi and Jörg Hunziker. It’s great to have enough space for lots of friends to stay, and we really value the casual time hanging out together.

In 2025, these good times continued. We welcomed in the New Year at Tom and Josie Harding’s home, Casa Porque, and then had a little time at the KT Ranch.

Karen’s brother Gary and his wife Cathy joined us in April. The only other time they’d visited was in fall 2000, so there have been lots of changes since then. We got in some good hikes, delicious meals and many fun conversations. Their return home was delayed by a windstorm, but the silver lining was an up-close encounter with one of our local bobcats who relaxed on the front porch!

Our friends Lois and Richard Bansburg joined us in June. We’ve visited them a few times in Hereford AZ, but this was our first chance to host them at the KT. We enjoyed hiking and birding, eating and drinking, and sharing stories and photos from recent foreign travels. Then Tom and Josie Harding stopped by on their way back from a visit with their son in Texas. We are lucky to have them living so close to us, and it’s always great to enjoy time together.

Early October brought an unusual celebration. When Terry spent his junior year in college in Vienna, he and his friends would announce a fiesta whenever they felt like it. So this year, Vienna Fiesta came to Arizona! Vienna alums Steve Moore and Joe Houska, along with Joe’s wife Chris Paige, made their first trek out to see us. What fun! Chris took the lead on cooking an authentic Vienna celebration dinner featuring Wiener Schnitzel and Pflaumenkuchen. We got to show them beautiful Cave Creek Canyon and pictures from part of our Indonesia trip (since Joe and Chris will travel there next year).

A special anniversary was celebrated in November. We were lucky to have seen the dawn of the Millennium over the Belizean rain forest. It’s hard to believe, but that was 25 years ago!

So the group of us who became friends in Belize gathered at the KT Ranch to celebrate Y2K+25!! While most of us see one another fairly often, we hadn’t been together as a group (except on Zoom) for many years. Bruce and Carolyn Miller were on their winter migration from Michigan to California in their RV; Barbara and Dan Williams drove down from Rockford IL; and Tom and Josie Harding had a relatively short drive from outside Tucson. Our party ran through most of Thanksgiving week. Everyone participated in cooking, cocktail-making and enjoying a big turkey dinner on Thanksgiving. Our celebration featured photos from the original party at Chan Chich Lodge in Belize, more food and drink, great music and many toasts. We watched birds, went on hikes and tried (unsuccessfully) to finish a difficult 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle. Since we’d all been on interesting trips this year, everyone shared photos and stories of these adventures.  It’s such fun to have great friends like these who share good times past, present and future!