The Last of the Decade

Mark, as has been his practice for several seasons, left home in late February by road for Alaska. But this time he was traveling in greater style. After many years of making this transit in various trucks, vans, and more recently our Subaru Forester, he had spent considerable time last winter modifying and preparing a 2004 Toyota Sienna AWD mini-van. Perhaps the ultimate Soccer Mom Mobile, the Toyota, once all of the back seats had been removed, permitted the installation of a modular camper unit that he had designed and built over the winter.

This made a very comfortable, though minimalist in size, road-cruising camper. With the addition of a camp kitchen, food, water, tools, plenty of space remained for the usual boat freight that goes north every year. The addition of winter tires, a well made awning, a couple of camp chairs, and an auxiliary battery capable of providing plenty of light from efficient LED lights completed the conversion. The excellent fuel economy of the modest sized, but comfortably outfitted Toyota proved ideal for the long Alaska drive, and would further show its value during the support effort on Nancy's fall PCT hike.

Nancy planned an epic celebration for her 70^th birthday at the end of April. She had 8 good friends arrive from out of state; Deb from Portland, ME, Linda, Judy, Pinky, Leslie, Kris, and Jeanne from So. California, and Anna from Portland, OR. To accommodate the gals from California, Nancy rented one of the late 19^th century Officer's Quarters houses at historic Fort Worden. Mark flew down from Alaska for the big party, and the house filled with friends. It was a beautiful weekend for everyone, with Nancy taking her friends up to Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park for a great view of much of Puget Sound, the Olympic mountains to the west, and the Cascade mountains to the east.

Mark and Nancy flew to Cordova a few days after the celebration and began cruising Prince William Sound a week later.

While we have now become intimately familiar with most all of Prince William Sound, we always are able to find new special places. Part of this process each season entails deliberately returning to favorite anchorages in order to observe the annual return of migratory waterfowl, the first emergence of newborns of numerous species, and the subtle changes brought about by the snowfall of winter and the melting of the covering of ice.

This season we spent extra effort seeking out places to hike ashore that afforded better footing than much of the moss-covered meadows and forest floor. Some regions of the land surrounding the sound are under-laid by granite that had been polished smooth by prior glaciers. Moss and grasses have covered this substrate in many places, but unlike the wet muskeg of other areas, the rock supported areas afford very good footing yielding enjoyable hiking.

The heavy spruce forests bordering the sound can produce enormous quantities of pollen in the spring, and this can easily be seen swirling in the currents produced by the ebb and flow of the tide. High water deposits some of this floating pollen on the rocks of the shoreline, like a ring around a giant bath tub, and at times clouds of this dust-like material float above the surface like a mist or fog.

In mid-July, Nancy wanted to participate in Cordova's annual Salmon Jam music festival and summer music camp that is offered to kids and adults alike. She enrolled in the week-long Adult Ukulele class. It was the first time she had an actual class, having taught herself to some extent from YouTube videos. At the end of the music camp all the students, young and old, took part in the final concert.  The concert featured both children's musical and dance groups, as well as adult performers, and a sizable portion of the residents of Cordova turned out to enjoy the performances of their town-folks.

The Salmon Jam Music Festival professional musicians performed two nights at the large tented facility erected at the base of the town ski hill. This also permits a salmon bar-b-q dinner, a beer garden for the adults, and various events, including a popular water slide for the kids.

We decided to remain in Cordova until Nancy's planned departure the first week of August in order for her to finish hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. She had three non-consecutive sections left. Two of these sections of trail were in the Cascade mountains of northern Washington, and one in northern California. In recent years, wildfires had impeded her progress. To fully complete hiking the entire distance would require that she jump on and off the trail, which entailed travel to these various portions.

She finished the Cascade sections in August and returned to Alaska the end of the month to drive south to Port Townsend with Mark. Along the way we enjoyed a side-trip to the coastal town of Haines, AK and a brief stay at a hotel that had formerly served as bachelor officer's quarters at the turn of the twentieth century army post.

Mark would once again support Nancy on the last section in her hiking quest in Northern California. The converted Toyota van allowed Mark to camp for several weeks as he rendezvoused with Nancy to periodically replenish her supplies, prepare a good hot dinner, and provide a welcomed rest before she returned to the trail. In the end, due to poor weather and another nearby wild fire, she had to skip 56 miles of trail to be completed next year. For more info click here: PCT

Before the start of the New Year, we took off on another of the epic road trips that we much enjoy. This trip would total more than 4,500 miles, meandering the less-traveled highways to Tucson, Arizona to spend a few days with our friend and summer tenant Andrea, Las Cruces, New Mexico to visit our old friend Ted, a trip to Durango, Colorado to visit friends from Alaska, and a visit to Nancy's niece Aleda and her family in Salt Lake City. Along the way we visited White Sands National Park, Chaco Canyon World Heritage Site, and Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness, each in New Mexico. A great end to 2019.

Nancy has been wanting to volunteer at an African Cheetah preserve for many years, and she has finally taken steps to do so. After formal application, she has been accepted at the Cheetah Conservation reserve in Namibia and will be spending the month of April 2020 as a working guest. She is very excited about the opportunity and has been making extensive plans for her trip.

As you read this update on our annual adventures, we move ahead yet one more time to plan, equip and provision for those to come. We have been extraordinarily fortunate to have been able to pursue our life-long goals of sailing, hiking, paddling and driving to places near and far that have given us more and better experiences and friendships than even we could have ever expected. For that we are grateful.

We wish all a fruitful and enjoyable New Year.