Keeping in touch with friends back home

Only if you use the internet. Send emails. Free internet access is available nearly everywhere. If you don't want to do that then use the method we use most of the time - send postcards.

Just email pictures and some commentary once a week to a couple of these people, if you don't want to learn anything.

You could also create a simple blog - several sites offer them for free (e.g. Wordpress.com). Update it as you travel, then email a link to it to family and friends. (They might be able to subscribe to it, so they get an email notification automatically each time you add to it.)

I will say, though, that if your family/friends are on Facebook, THEY might find it far easier to keep up with your trip on a low-priority basis if you sign up for Facebook and use that. My mom is extremely tech-challenged, and she uses Facebook more than I do.

It would involve technology, but I blog when I travel. Not only is it a way to share my trip with family and friends, but it acts as a journal too. Will you have a smart phone, tablet or laptop with you? Most hotels have free wifi.

Our first trip in 2010 I set up a simple email list and uploaded photos with captions to Picasa, which then notified my email list that a new photo had been posted. Picasa is defunct, but you could do it easily with Google Photos. We get Google Photo notifications from family that use that method.

bearnbun,

It would help to know what kind of technology you'll be travelling with (if any)? That will have a bearing on what options are available for sharing your trip details.

"heck, I don't even do FaceBook, Twitter, or Instagram."

You're not alone there. I also don't use any of those social media sites.

WhatsApp is good if you like to text friends.
Choose hotels with free wifi and send daily updates with your photo highlights.
This saves high roaming charges on your mobile as you use the wifi internet connection not your phone plan.
You can set up different groups to save time, and because the messaging is instant you can also chat live.
WhatsApp Is easy to download and very easy to use.

"I don't even do Facebook, Twitter, Instagram." Neither do I, especially in light of the the hot water Facebook finds itself now, I'm glad I am not. I send e-mails, sparingly, to certain ones, otherwise I use postcards to give the commentary. There are still small hotels/Pensionen in Germany without Wifi. I stay in one in Berlin.

email is as simple as it comes. You will need a way to access email and, if you want to send pictures then a way to get them onto the computer/smartphone to email. If you tell us what you will have - do you use a camera or a phone camera? Will you be bringing a smartphone, or laptop or any other tech? - we can help figure out a simple way to use it.

If you don't need to send photos then you can just email from any public computer. Many hotels have these for guests to use, and there are probably still internet cafes around. However, I don't know about getting your personal photos onto these. If you have a smartphone then you can email from anywhere there is wifi, and you can use your own photos.

You can either see the sights or blog about the sights. When you try to publish a concurrent travel diary, on most platforms, you may find that you spend a lot of quality time informing people who don't really care all that much about stuff. What I did was keep a journal, and put a lot of pictures up when I got back, and had more time.

Send postcards.

I am having SO much trouble making heads or tails of how to keep in
touch with folks back home. I want to be able to share pictures and
brief commentary about our two-month trip, but have NO interest in
learning new technology...heck, I don't even do FaceBook, Twitter, or
Instagram. Does anyone have any good ideas of how to share our trip
with others...simply?

If you don't want to learn new technology, then don't. It's certainly not required. Do what was written above. Send postcards and have a wonderful time. You'll share your trip via postcard & when you get home.