Full Circle

Wow...we've been back home on Orcas for 3 nights now and it feels complete...like home.

I confess I feel an empty place inside where Alaska was; seeing my parents, revisiting childhood places, feeling so small and awed by the scale of my surroundings while falling in love with it all. It's amounted to a quiet, introspective few days, with a surprising element of sadness, and i've been thankful to have time in my life to not rush past it all. I miss our trio of friendship, banter, and work and laughs, realizing that it was a home we created daily on our adventure and gracefully fit it into any geographic location we happened to be.

Tonight, a friend has organized a little party; I'm excited to re-connect with friends and catch up on what everyone has been doing. Summer has just hit with hot temps and full, flowery foilage, and I smile thinking back to our first night on the Kenai trip, bundled in long underwear, puff jacket and pants, inside my sleeping bag, safe and warm...excited about the adventure of each new day.

To anyone out there who may be more interested in informative, technical type of information relating to the trip, it will happen. Thanks for reading!

what we're planning to write about now

It's summer here in Seattle, finally, the weekend was hot. I'm in a city, but I miss the water. I miss the ocean specifically, I miss camping and falling asleep to surf, I miss loving familiar meals like sticky morning oats, I miss rolling out of a sleeping bag into my dry suit bibs, I miss freezing my hands putting away the tent poles, I miss reading and writing at great lengths, I miss the vanish of 36 hrs while I was doing nothing on a beach, I miss nappy hair, I miss skinned knuckles from stuffing hatches, I miss our lunches where we'd alway be excited for the next half day of paddling... I knew I would miss these things.

Djuna really hit on it in her "reflection" post. There's so much that could be said about the experience, so many angles we could write about, promote, raise awareness on, give advice and opinions on... it's a little bit daunting to be back and know what to say. I've taken a week here to adjust and give it short space, to soak in and celebrate the incredible achievement we just completed.

In the past week I've looked through all the photos (and have made pizzas and ate salads). With every bite, I've thought about the trip - what I walked away with, what I should share. I've thought about what others would be interested in hearing. The one thing that continues to strike me is the participation, support, and general interest in this expedition. I'm continually amazed by people's enthusiasm as we share what we did. I buy into it and then I get amazed all over again! The enthusiasm has us enthused.

As we get back in the swing, I know the three of us will continue to process and write and share. We'll share pictures and write stories around the mechanics, like planning, logistics, foods, gear prep, boat packing, beach picking, weather reports, common obstacles, group dynamics, etc.

We want to share what we experienced, not as people that know how to do it exactly, but as people who want to offer help for you to dream of a trip, set a goal, and take the initial commitment of shipping a boat to a foreign land with you soon to follow.

It's all very achievable with some flexibility... and a lot of respect for mother ocean.