My dear friends Thorsten and Claudia just left for home in Germany after being with Becky, Edward, Andrei and I for the past month here in the United States. We managed to make a lot of our time: hiking the classic trails of the Wasatch Mountains, sailing the fall winds of a Utah mountain lake, exploring the wonders of Zion National Park, and much more. Thorsten and Claudia themselves also embarked on a 2-week tour of the American West visiting the Grand Canyon, Yosemite N.P. and the metropolitan city of San Francisco.

Thorsten and Claudia are wonderful company and I always feel grateful to have them around. They have an infectious energy that is seemingly boundless and this energy will be irreplaceable now that they are gone. I will miss them until Becky, the boys and I manage to make our way back to Europe – hopefully in the not-too-distant future.