Another quick one, but logger post within the next couple of days... promisimo.

Did Raven's, was awesome, good hike, neat cabin, low cloud with limited breaks... but got some good views of Wrangell Narrows and Fredrik's Sound. Hike back into town the next day and spent two nights in Peterburg. Loved it. Fishing village, proud (like most of AK), friendly, tasty, blah, blah. But alas we moved on... to greener waters (no really) and north to Haines. Did the overnight ferry through Juneau and arrived about 12 noon today.

This place is spectacular. Taller, more rugged and shit... the first blue sky we've seen. This afternoon we hopped on bikes out to Chilkoot River/Lake and caught our first bear... a male black, feasting on sockeye salmon. What a start!

We're back to camping - awesome place 3/4 a mile outside of town for $5 a night. Cha-ching!

K, time at the library is running out... we're going to do a 10 miler and get to 4,000 feet above this place tomorrow. Should be great and be in the high 60's. Wow!

Talk again, soon.

Love - a+r

Ferried up to Petersburg last night. Dropped in on the Alaska Island Hostel for a quick snooze (arrived around midnight, walked 1.5 miles, in bed by 1 AM). Now headed to Raven's Roost for the night... a National Forest Service Cabin about 2000 ft above sea level just behind Petersburg. Suppoda be great views of the area and if it's clear (cross your fingers y'all) a great place to see the northern lights this time of year!

Talk soon. Thoughts and prayers to all of those impacted by the fires in southern CA. We know a few.

Now that we've sewn the US and Canada together (Vermont to Montreal to New York to Vancouver to Washington to Canadian Waters to Alaska) we've finally found a home in Ketchikan for a few days. We've been trying to mix with the locals but it's hard to find them amongst all the cruisers as there are as many as five ships in town a day. Luckily they leave pretty promptly by four o'clock. Our second home to our wet tent has been 'The New York Cafe' were we sit for a couple of hours each morning reading, catching up on e-mail and basically drying out and planning the day. We've chatted with a few people that are passing by Ketchikan but one that stood out to me was a man sitting with his wife and two beautiful girls. They were on one of the ships celebrating his sisters 40th birthday but looking at us enviously as we talked about our coming travels. He said that they've traveled quite a bit in their yester years and he says it's the people that you meet that make the most impact as opposed to the places you go.

That statement holds very true for our Bellingham visit, the Washington town we left out of five days ago. Although it was short we meet an amazing person that I truly believe kicked this trip off to a good start. After finally finding our way into town from the airport we decided the best way to save money and play too was to rent bikes to get us to the camp ground instead of paying for a taxi and then renting bikes. At first it sounded like a great idea but after loading fifty plus pounds on our backs the idea lost some charm. At first it was a laugh out loud experience of trying to balance the weight and ride the bike- picture a clown with three clowns stacked on his shoulders- quite a sight. The experience went from looking pretty ridiculous to silence as we tried pumping up the hills. At one point Ryan got so pissed off that he decided to loose weight where ever he could and started dumping all of our water on the side of the road. It was right about this time that our Savior MaryAnne pulled along side and offered to help. We willing accepted and dumped all of our belongings (passports, wallets, cameras, computers, the whole lot) into the back of her truck and she said she'd meet us at the camp entrance which was right around the corner. First of all note to self- think twice about giving up all valuable belongings. It turned out that MaryAnne was a bonified angel and ended up helping us return the packs when we needed to catch the ferry and even packed us some survival homemade zucchini bread for the boat trip. If I could shrink MaryAnne and put her in my pocket she would be my one allotted Luxury item.

On our 37 hour ferry trip from Bellingham, WA to Ketchikan, AK we met numerous people. The open arrangement and common living environment demanded that you get to know your neighbor. That, added to the fact that a majority of us would crowd around the aft facing decks to view scenery and possibly see marine life - we were a tight bunch. (FYI, saw our first breaching humpback, a few pods of porposes and a pod of orcas all on the way up. But back to the people.) Annie and I spent a lot of time with Brianne, a Coloradian from Telluride, who was headed up to kayak with a friend in Prince William Sound near Seward/Valdez. However the person we met which had the most immediate impact on our stay in Ketchikan was a retired AMHS second steward named Steve. He lives in Ketchikan with his family, one kid still in high school the others either in college or married off. After speaking with him (read: listening to him tell some of his amazing stories) he offered up his back yard as a place to pitch our tent while in Ketchikan.

Free lodging? Yes, please!

So Sunday AM we jumped off the boat... a 7 AM arrival, and set off to Steve's. In the van was Steve, his son Tuvia, Steve's old friend Dave (who had come for a visit on the same ferry), Dave's daughter Alice, 3 boxes of supplies which Steve had brought back from Seattle, Annie and I. OH and all of our shit (!) which is not an immaterial amount. Annie lapped it with me and off we went.




A quick trip from the ferry terminal, through downtown Ketchikan got us to Steve's place and a look at our digs... not a back yard as much as a back porch, set 15 feet away from the (raging at the moment) Ketchikan Creek... and what else did we see, but thousands upon thousands of salmon circling in the pools behind us. Oh yes, late August finds us smack dab in the middle of the Pink Salmon run, where salmon abandon the cushy life of the ocean and use their noses to meander their way back to their original birthplace to lay eggs and die. Crazy sight... straight out of the NatGeo or Disc Channel, our jaws dropped, we sat in amazement. This was homebase for the nex 4 days!






We pitched the tent, made some oatmeal, and headed to town to explore.


Now three days later we're getting the feel of Ketchikan, a town of 12,000, ruled by the cruise ship schedules and the fish cycles. It's been wet... really wet. That;s the norm here in Southeast Alaska and especially in Ketchikan where a typical August nets the town close to 11 inches of rain and where the yearly total is measured openly in the middle of town. This summer has been a bit different, drier than usual... that is, until Annie and I entered the state. We've done our best with what we've got - trying to channel the inner Ketchikanian attitude. NOAA says it is supposed to let up a bit tomorrow, so we'll see. We originally expected to get our kayaking fix here, but it may have to wait. Instead, if the forecast holds true for tomorrow we're planning a 4/5 hour hike up Deer Moutain and onto Blue Lake. We'll see how it pans out.



Talk in a bit. Much love.

This morning started out with one of the longest Lincoln showers I've taken in years. It was one of those showers that you take when you really don't know when the next one might come your way. Clean head to toe and all packed up, the crew left Lincoln in route to pick up Kathy and head to Montreal for our first leg. I found there to many last minute throw ins and loose ends to tie but the one that's been on many lists for weeks now was to learn how to knit. Wouldn't you know that the car ride from Williston Central School to Trudeau, Montreal provides almost enough mother/daughter teacher/student time to learn the craft. I say almost because it was looking pretty good until I continued after our tearful goodbyes. I'll keep trying mom- hold me to it.

It's hard to believe that we've been out of work for two and half weeks- probably because this is one of the first times I stopped moving. It's been a mix of emotions as we pack up our life and try to fit it into an internal frame pack. My excited thoughts of what are to come in this journey are so overpowering my fear and sadness of leaving a place I love so much. I was thinking back to previous long term trips I've taken and realized that this one is different in one important way, we're doing it together. There's something comforting about that.

We’re a family of long and often multiple goodbyes. Most family functions include so many people that it takes a good 30 min for someone to do a proper farewell. If out at a restaurant, there will be the typical goodbyes said at the table, once the meal is complete, there will be the goodbyes as we all walk out of the restaurant and to the parking lot, then there will be juuuust a bit more conversation before someone finally breaks down or gets the group together for one, final, lasting, culminating …. “see ya later, alligator”.

Annie and I have bee saying goodbye, it seems like, for a month and a half. We’ve been talking about our trip for a while and have seen a lot of folks multiple times since first discussing the trip. Everytime the topic comes up, Annie and I both light up and people really seem to enjoy hearing about it. Then the conversation typically meanders through to the ultimate question "When you leaving, again?" ... "Aug 19th" ... "Oh shoot, well I'll see you before then. See ya later." Annie and I are ready... ready for the "alligator" part.

That being said, the last two and a half weeks since leaving Boston and Medullan have been great. A week in Vermont with family and friends, then a week on Block island, pulling together a wedding (Annie's cousing Jessica and her Beau Paul)...all the while enjoying the sights, sounds and of course when meeting new people, talking about the trip.... talking through our plans (or lack there of), learning about people's experiences with the places we may visit, and hearing about the friend, who knows a guy, who knows a guy, who lives near the area that we may visit. So with all that talk, comes the further yearning to get going, to start the adventure and start walking the walk.

One thing Annie and I have both been able to do recently, before taking off, is visit our grandparents. My trip to see gram was last, happening just this morning. I was lucky enough to roll in to find my dad's sister, aunt sue there (she takes care of gram a bit during the week). We had a few laughs while catching up on all the big doin's - she got a great perm (!) and is doing her best to enjoy the company she keeps at the elderly group she meets with three times a week, and that she prefers the walker to the cane (keep pushin her Momma!) . It was one of those invaluable 20 minutes, the perfect "see ya later, alligator".

So now we're ready to go and I KNOW that people are ready to see us off. So although it may have been a long goodbye, even by my family's standards, it seemed about right to me and the perfect send off to this adventure of a lifetime.