Two More Days on the Island

Last weekend I procrastinated. It was my last weekend before summer break and I had a lot of packing to do, BUT the weather was just too perfect to spend indoors. Nevada took her sea kayak out for its maiden voyage and I got to try it out. We were wearing shorts and sandals on this warm day, laughing at how our definition of "warm" has changed by about 10-15 degrees.

Here I am with 24 hours left before I have to vacate my classroom. My desk is still cluttered and there's a lot of work yet to be done, but I have no doubt it will all be done in time (with the help of my darling student helpers). As part of my procrastination activities, I collected a bunch of sea greens and have been drying them to make into seasoning blends for next year. This is what my living room has looked like for the past 2-3 weeks:

I will be kicking off the summer with a road trip. My friend Katie is moving to Anchorage and I'm helping her drive. So on Friday we leave on the ferry and arrive in Prince Rupert, B.C., Saturday morning. Then we will start driving up the Cassiar Highway across the Coastal mountains, into the Yukon, crossing into Alaska and finally arriving in Anchorage on the 28th. I'm most excited about passing through the Wrangell-St.Elias National Park and going on a good, long hike outside of Nabesna.

After the road trip I will be flying to Sydney, Australia, where I will spend most of my summer break. I'm excited to spend time with my family and hopefully make some money working as a sub at my dad's Montessori school. Then in late July I will return to the states for some "summer" fun in Northern California, Oregon, and Washington. The rest of my plans are yet to be determined.

I'm so glad summer is finally here. I'm ready for an adventure, to travel and be free to roam as I please. Stay tuned!

Ketchikan Getaway

Last weekend I took a little "vacation" over to Ketchikan. I needed to get away (and put gas in my car, at least that was my excuse). The weather had been beautiful all week and Friday evening was perfect for camping-- clear, warm (50 degrees), and no wind. That all changed by Saturday afternoon, and that night can only be described as WET.

What I really needed was to explore, to move, to hike. So Saturday morning I took the Tongass highway North to the end of the road (about 18 miles from Ketchikan) and went on a nice, long hike-- Lunch Creek Trail. I started out at 8 AM and had the trail to myself for the whole 8 mile round trip. It was overcast, no rain, and the creek was raging from the melting snow up in the mountains. I got as far as I could go until I hit deep snow and found myself post-holing up a steep mountainside, not very pleasant. So I sat and breathed in the oxygen next to these beautiful falls before heading back down the trail, feeling refreshed and relaxed. I spent the rainy afternoon at one of my favorite "hangouts" in Ketchikan-- Parnassus Books.