Alison, writer

We hunkered down behind some rocks at the summit of Mt. Jefferson. The wind was chilly for August 12 but the sun was still warm. Below us a dozen hikers were hanging out on Monticello’s Lawn, a grassy area at the intersection of Caps Ridge and Castle trails. A guy in shorts and a t-shirt was scrambling over the rocks at the summit nearby, talking to anybody who would listen. “Wow, this is…

My life philosophy has changed, dramatically. I no longer believe that meandering through a foreign city, a new museum, or an unfamiliar bike park is worthwhile. Of course I continue to do those things, but it’s the meandering that’s changed. I’m now on the tour bus. It turns out that reading the placards next to the paintings in museums doesn’t provide the same illuminating (and often…

We’re 20 miles offshore of Cape Hatteras, SC, an area known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic. There’s only one other sailboat in view, a blue-hulled speedster that’s pulling away from us in the gusty, 15 mph winds. It’s a gray November day with choppy and disorganized swells, rocking our sailboat one way and bouncing it back. It’s thrilling to be sailing aboard Free Spirit again, southbound…

Solo sailing and leveling up

I was leaning over the back of my boat, trying to start the outboard when my watch popped off and dove in. Within seconds it had slipped beneath the coffee-colored water and disappeared. Thus began Life After Fitbit. When the watch was gone I felt badly but not too badly. One of my daughters was right next to me – she’d arranged it as a group gift for someone (me) who doesn’t want anything but…

Finding My Free Spirit – and a UFO?

Sailboat ownership: the other story

One Rock at a Time

How long has it been, 12 years now, or more like 15? There are days I get to the base of this rock and dismount to walk up it, and there are days I give it my best shot. Last weekend I helped with a girls mountain biking clinic. Most of the kids did okay on our three mile ride, which had some challenging terrain for such a short ride. A couple were beset by lousy bikes (typical sidewalk-type…

Best Hikes in Alaska — Must-Have Gear

Best Hikes in Alaska — Part III

I don’t want to start typing this blog post because it means I have to move on from my Alaskan adventure and find new material when in fact I just want to relive most of that trip again and again. Alaska is a spectacularly beautiful place. My nearly 3 week trip barely scratched the surface of things to do, and we managed 50 miles of hiking, catching fresh salmon, tangling with a porcupine, my…

Best of Alaska: Salmonfest

When planning a trip to Alaska, most people zero in on an accessible area with a lot to do. The Kenai Peninsula is that kind of place. It was also the last part of my three-legged vacation way up north last summer. Do I need to add that it’s a spectacularly scenic area too? This part of my trip was planned almost by accident, serendipitously. When my travel buddy and I were first kicking around…

Best Hikes in Alaska — Part II

Consider a trip to Alaska — that enormous state with so much wide open space — and the planning is either overwhelming or predictable. We did both. Our less-touristy destination within Alaska was Lake Clark National Park, discussed in my first blog post about my epic summer adventure. Upper Twin Lake there is the home of Pete the Pesky Porcupine who aggravated me for two nights, even chewing his…

Alaska Travels: There’s a Porcupine in My Tent!

Yes, this really happened to me in Alaska: I awakened one night to a porcupine just inches from my face, basically inside my tent (actually between the outer shell and the inner screen). No, porcupines don’t throw their quills. I was probably just lucky not to wake up with some in my face given the proximity but I believe you have to grab (or bite!) one of the critters to get quills embedded in…