Getting To and From the Holgate Glacier

Finally, I am on the small tour boat and we are headed toward our paddle point. We see wildlife on the way… seals on rocks and Dall dolphins chasing the boat.  No whales… they are gone for the season.  I kept asking what time the whales were scheduled… and people kept laughing at me.  Didn’t they know I was serious?

Boat stacked high with kayaks (dingy on the back, kayaks on the deck, more kayaks on the upper deck), and our youngest member, 10 year old Devon hanging on with anticipation.

The dolphins chasing the boat, though, that was the wildlife highlight for me.

More wildlife seen along the way, otters, seals, birds.

 

The sea got very very rough as we entered the mouth of the Cook Inlet… the ocean… in fact I swear at one point we were air born.  I think I even got whiplash.

The dark seal on the left is a large male.  Just a second after I took this photo, he raised his flipper as if to wave goodbye to us.

A little shipboard humor.

Sea otter who was not the least disturbed by our presence.

Young Devon looking at a video of an octopus someone caught.

The Road Trip–Anchorage-Seward-Anchorage.
Getting To and From the Holgate Glacier
The Sister and Her Land
Alaska Flora and Fauna
The Flights To and From Alaska

The Flights

As you may know, in the spring of 2013, I tried to become a driver/guide for a tour bus company in Alaska, training in Phoenix, AZ, but my eyes didn't work good enough to insure that I would be a safe driver (that was Plan A).  They are 20-30, but I couldn't make out things like railroad crossings, caution yellow signs, etc. from 1/4 - 1/2 mile away. So I had to give up that Plan A and go to a heartbreaking Plan B in order to met my goal to kayak my 49th state in 2013.  Goals are important… but WHY? I’m not sure.  It was just important.

Had I gotten the job,  I'd have been forced to live in a hotel and prevented from even sleeping in my camper van at night (after paying $1,200 to get it up there on the Ferry).  It would only have taken a week or two of that arrangement before I'd have end up in a hospital from breathing inside air anyway.  Even in Plan B, I became sick from just spending a few hours in my sister’s home, and a few more hours driving with them (they smoke but not in the vehicle with me in it) so I was forced to limit my stay to only four nights, and I spent those nights sleeping in the back seat of their truck, my choice, as I don’t sleep inside anymore.  It rained the whole time I was there – my sinus are not too fond of that either.

It’s been awhile since I have flown… and I still marvel at the views out the window.  First time I’ve been on a plane with a curved wing tip.  Thanks to my son’s friend, a pilot for Alaska Air who was able to give me a discount coupon.

It was a very uncomfortable flight, due to this chubby fella who took up his full seat, 1/2 of the isle, and 1/2 of my seat.  After a couple of hours of that, I had to ask to change seats.  My leg was going numb. Good grief.

But finally I did make it to Alaska on 8/19/13 and kayaked there on 8/20/13.    READ ABOUT THE PADDLE.

An eagle my brother-in-law spotted along the road to Seward.

By 8/21 I was getting sick and on 8/22 I headed straight back to WA state so I could sleep in my own bed.  It was a dream come true and an awesome paddle and I don’t regret a thing other than the getting sick part.  READ ABOUT THE PADDLE.

But I came, I saw, I paddled Alaska.

Returning to Seattle was bittersweet, I didn’t want to come back, but I did want to come home, home to my van and my own bed.  On the return flight the gal with the window seat had closed the blind, and was asleep, she just climbed five mountains. The guy on the other side, had just returned from a fishing trip in Russia.  As we approached Seattle, I reached over and opened the blind and was once again awestruck by the beauty from the air.

Thank you Cheryl, Troy and Keith for the good times and all the laughs.  You all rock.

The Road Trip–Anchorage-Seward-Anchorage.
Getting To and From the Holgate Glacier
The Sister and Her Land
Alaska Flora and Fauna

It’s true, you can’t go home again…

Kayaking on Lake Union, Seattle.

God I love my blog… a place where I can say whatever I wish!!!

I’ve spend time this summer reconnecting with my kids and their families… at least giving it my best shot.  But I feel disconnected. 

Revisiting places (right photo, house on right, used to live there) I have lived in the past sometimes brings good memories, but mostly bittersweet memories… and really, who needs that?  I’ve spent a couple days in West Seattle where I used to live and found myself thinking about people I knew here, thinking about getting in touch, driving past where they used to live, looking them up online, sending emails to some… but then just parking someplace I felt safe and enjoying the waterfront instead of making human contact.

I was even able to locate on line a good friend of mine from the past (college in Indiana) who moved out here in the 80s? I think, and sent her an email but have not heard anything.  Come to think of it, most of the people that I knew here, I really have nothing in common with, except our lives crossed paths briefly back then.  I guess I am just curious but don’t seem to have any steam to actually follow-through on reconnecting with them again. So here I sit a few blocks away from the lighthouse on Alki Point, West Seattle, just wondering what I will do next to pass the time before my plane leaves for Alaska on 8/19.

Maybe I am just becoming an old hermit or ol’ crone for real?? I had even added some new events, pages, people to my Facebook but realized this morning, that all that just seems to be cluttering up my life, so I am in the process of removing them for now.  I’ve lost desire to be with people who either don’t like me or don’t want me around.  There is no fun in that for me. 

Left: Richard and me in Europe (Chris behind me) in 1968.  Right: Richard in 2013.

My son is so exhausted from overwork and too much partying(i.e.fun) to have much time for me, though he has spent some quality time with me and made me feel very good.

Left: Tori and me in 1991.  Right: Tori in 2013.

My granddaughter, Tori,  has shown little interest in me or my life for over a decade now, though I am hoping she will give me some quality one-on-one time before I go to Alaska.  I sent her this message:

Is there any chance of you giving me any one-on-one time before I go to Alaska to kayak? It would have to be fun/good for both of us... and if you think it's something that just can't happen... of course with all that you are doing during your visit, I would understand, I am o.k. either way.

Maybe I have nothing left in common with my own relatives/ descendants except that our lives crossed briefly for a short time????

Kayaking with my son, Richard Bailey,
on Lake Union, Aug. 7,2013 (houseboats in background).

But I am here now, I am available now… my kayak is here now.  All anyone can do is be available… for a short time!  It doesn’t get any better than that!  Others lives seem so structured and they have so many rules to live by… makes me very happy I have simplified my life.

I’m really ready to get on up the road, visit other “vandwellers,” see Alaska, have a nice leisurely drive down the WA-OR-CA coast, visiting more friends and vandwellers on the way and then returning to my winter home in Quartzsite AZ to relax, to make jewelry for the winter and to attend the annual Rubber Tramp Rendezvous there in Jan. 2014 where I will get to reunite with my tribe… people I have developed life-long friendships with, people with whom I do share many common interests.

Left is a ring I made last winter, right is a ring that was my mother’s which I am going to duplicate this winter.  Looking at the two of them, I realize mine is much higher quality than my mom’s.  She probably spent a lot for her ring, but mine only cost about $15 in materials, and I cut and polished the stone myself, and did all the silver work myself.  Once the duplicate is done, I will send my Mom’s ring to my sister in Florida. (My mom’s was not even Sterling Silver and mine is.)

Also this winter, I plan to begin dancing again to get in better shape (I stopped dancing the year my granddaughter was born – 1991, because my knees were so bad and unstable).  I have to begin seriously training for the Arizona Trail which I will hike in 2015… 820 miles from Mexico to Utah.  I am very excited about this next phase of my life.  I feel 20 years young than I felt 10 years ago.

Yes, my feet are itchy again.

Lake Washington, Seattle, WA

One who does nothing
but wait for his ship
to come in
has already missed the boat.

I am under the I-90 bridge right now, on the shores of Lake Washington. Just did a little beachcombing. I love beachcombing.

Looking for the spot where Dan Tracy(above) and I will launch to go kitesailing with our kayaks. See his video. Overcast today and enough wind, but not going out today... but looking for the spot and exploring the area.

The name of my son’s new home Ridiculust, a 5,000 sq. foot place, hard to imagine when you live in a box (but shared with another couple with baby due)..

For three years my son has set up a bee hive and the bees all left home, so this year he didn’t set it up again, and now bees are coming to the hive.  I thought, well maybe if they choose to live in this hive, they will stay!!!   Either that, or they are robbing the honey still in the hive.  Will be interesting to watch what happens.

Also met a nice duck family and had a change to get some wonderful photos, until other people showed up and drove the mom away.  Too bad too, as she had an injured leg, even once she got into the water, she used it very little to swim.  But all in all a beautiful experience for me.

I just saw a sign asking for volunteer kayakers to help with a SWIM club swim in the lake on the 8/18... and I signed up. Should be fun.  That will loosen me up for my Alaska paddle on 8/20.

Now, I’m having breakfast on the waterfront… cereal with the beautiful blackberries I picked yesterday.

Have found the Western Shore of Lake Washington where Dan Tracy will be taking me kitesailing by kayak in a few days.   Nice area… sun has come out, there is wind and sailboats are on the lake, and speed boats, and kayaks.  I’m spending the time catching up with things.

Later I will be having dinner with my son Richard, who I haven’t seen in three years.  I swear, the boy’s life is just one big party.

The first party… great big round bed/swing/chair thing in the back yard that could hold half a dozen people.  Two on there in this photo.  My son, Rich, and his very nice friends… taken at the first party.

The next night was a sit-down dinner party, and I baked a red velvet pecan cake in my Sun Oven, while parked along the lakeshore, for the occasion (heard hikers going by… exclaiming “Look, a Sun Oven!”).

Rich’s friend, introducing him to chocolate-covered potato chips.  OK, I got to get some of these things.

Our hostess… wrapping a big hoola-hoop… the whole group of friends have dozens of hoola-hoops, sometimes jumping out of airplanes and then flying through the hoops… or just playing with when on terra-firma.

This friend arrived and I just had to take a photo of her awesome hair… brighter red than in this photo.  The table is set, very nice to sit down to dinner and actually converse and be able to tell stories on my son… and have people thoroughly enjoy them… they all love him so much – and he can laugh at himself.  Conversation drifted off into places I never dreamed I’d be going with folks a generation younger then me (i.e. The Harrad Experiment by Robert Rimmer which I read in the late 1960 and which was the catalyst for breaking up my marriage).  Well, that’s probably too much information for my followers!

Anyway, it was an awesome evening.

A vandweller/kayaker is arriving in Seattle today and we are trying for a connection.  She is also on her way to Alaska, but today is the only time our paths will cross.

This weekend, my son is taking me to the Renaissance Festival and I will camp there overnight in my van.  My son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter and many of their friends are performers, and have been for years. King Richard and his Queen.  I told you this boy’s life was just one continuous party.

I commented to my son that he seems to like me better now… and he said, well, this was the happiest he has ever seen me.  He does like me more… and that’s an awesome “answered prayer” for me.  Life is good.