Embracing past, present & future.

Happy New Year

A year in photos….

It was a crazy year. Two Thousand Twelve you’re going to have to work really hard to live up to Two-Thousand Eleven! We had the most extreme weather recorded in History. Wildfires, Tornadoes and Hurricanes. Earthquakes in places we don’t usually have Earthquakes. Then there was Africa, Thailand, the Philippines, and Japan. It was one thing after another. I hope the silver lining of the whole Fukushima catastrophe is that it has shed light on the perils of building Nuclear power plants close to shorelines, or anywhere for that matter.

What else happened?

We hitchhiked 7500 miles. The Pacific Northwest, British Colombia, the Al-Can Hwy. Alaska. Wow, I’m still processing everything from that trip, as we get ready for another one….

We hiked, we camped, we partied and we heard a lot of good music.

We danced, we sang.

We cut some pretty resilient ties. We moved forward, we changed and we grew. We made new friends and visited old ones.

We started this Blog!

We saw the birth of Occupy Wall Street and the death of Osama bin Laden & Kim Jong IL.

And finally, the Nobel Peace Prize was presented to three amazing women.

It was a crazy year but still it had some colorful moments of absolute beauty, bewilderment, Happiness and a lot of love.

Good-bye 2011. Hello 2012! There are a lot of theories about what you have in store for us, so much speculation I don’t know what to believe. All I know is I’m going to embrace the New Year and all it has to offer with open arms.

 

Happy New Year!

 

 

 

 

 

Here and now…

From the yard...

Sunday afternoon. Sitting quietly in the back yard, clouds whisper by and the threat of rain is still looming. I hope for it. I’ve spent the day going back and forth between researching for the book, reading a current work of fiction and trying to come up with something to write on our blog. I have really neglected you recently. We’ve been camping in the backcountry and enjoying time with Family and friends before we’re off again. I guess I should let you know that we will be leaving again in January to go work on an organic Farm. We’re very excited about it. I’ve always wanted to be a Farmer. This is my chance. It’s a chance to be part of an ever-growing organization that is teaching people of all walks of life how to grow their own food and what it means to participate in a community and it’s greater good. I think we’re finally getting why it’s important to support your local farms and co-op’s. Buying and eating local, fresh and seasonal food is where it’s at!

I will leave you with one of my favorite excerpts from the journal of Chris McCandless.

~Fin

“So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”

— Chris McCandless

San Rafael Wilderness

This is how we do it.

The little co-op by the Sea...

 

 

We’re here (because we’re not all there)

On our way...

We are home. We want to sleep. Our heads are still spinning. We have so much to do now. We are in the beginning stages of  putting our book together. This Blog needs to take on a whole new life. As of now we don’t know what that means but it will not die. I think it will morph into something new, something wild. For now, we are here in Santa Barbara and with the love and amazing support from Family and friends we have a roof over our heads, food in our bellies and we have temporary work. The next adventure is right around the corner. don’t go away.

Love, StarFin

Trying to get out of San Francisco

Our one and only ride with a trucker! Thanks Javier.

Contemplating...

Culture shock

Olga store

Wild Flour

Boat with Mt. Baker

We left Orcas Island with some trepidation. We spent Eight lovely days absorbing the serene and unique qualities of Island life on Orcas. Imagine no fast food chains, no Walmart, and no housing developments. Imagine beautiful old lazy farms where sheep, Goats and Horses graze with Deer. Imagine breathing air that smells of Pine and Blackberries all the time. We fell in love. We fell in love with the locals and their relaxed and trusting nature. We fell in love with the Olga store, which is presently for rent…. We fell in love with the newly opened Wild Flour Bakery, owned by Ben and Megan. Ben’s masterful and one of a kind pastries and Breads are seriously the best we’ve ever had. They are also due to give Birth to their third child at any moment. Of course we are anxious to hear when he or she arrives. Speaking of family, Shawn’s family joined us on Orcas for three days, which went by way too fast but it was a good time, as always.

We will miss you Orcas.

Now we’re back in Seattle, a bit of culture shock but we will acclimate. We woke up in the Sheraton Hotel where we had spent the night with family. We went to take advantage of the pool and Jacuzzi on the 35^th floor. Completely relaxed and feeling good we got on the elevator back down and suddenly it started violently shaking like there was an earthquake or one of the cables had broken. We saw our lives flash before our eyes. It stopped, then very slowly descended to the first floor. We’re still alive!

Embracing the lingering Summer and will continue moving south.

Until next time…

Street scene

Top 5

It’s always good to know the Top 5 things to do when you’re planning on visiting a new place.  Mind you, we have 5 days left on Orcas so we may add to this list…

Other than renting a Kayak, these are all free things to do and are a great way to spend your time here. It’s approximately 58 miles around the entire Island so it’s not hard to see it all by any mode of transportation. We encourage you to hitchhike as it has been the most hitchhiker friendly place we have been so far.

Top 5

1) Climb Mt. Constitution for the amazing view of Mt. Baker

2) Kayak at Sunset

3) Jump in a lake

4) Take in the multi-faceted local Art scene

5) Visit the Saturday Farmers market

view from Mt. Constitution

West Beach, Orcas

Jump in the lake from this tree

Wood carving

Orcas Farmers Market