4th of July

Nicole and I didn't have much of a plan when we left Sitka, and Madeline and the cat are still not old enough to be voting members on the boat, so we both agreed we would like to spend another 4th of July in Wrangell.  We had stopped in Wrangell for the 4th in 2009 and really enjoyed ourselves.  Another stop in 2011, not on a holiday, reinforced our liking of this small town.  The town of about 2500 people seems to us to be very family oriented, and now that we are part of the "family folk" we wanted to head back for a visit.  As with most of the towns that we visit, one of our first stops was the library, both for free internet access and to swap out our growing pile of already-read paperbacks.  On our earlier visits we noticed they have a summer reading program at the library for local kids, and again this year we got to look through the prizes available to the more studious kids.  As the kids read books they get to put their name in jars for a specific prize drawing, and there are a lot of prizes to choose from.  Nicole took a picture of one stack of the jars with a bunch of the prizes piled behind, and that is just a portion of what's scattered around the library.
Also along the lines of family friendly, there are lots of 4th of July activites specifically for kids, from a fishing derby and a floating junk "crazy craft" race to ball crawl races for the real little ones.  Unfortunately Madeline was ready for a nap during the race times for her age group so she didn't get a chance to compete, but it was still a lot of fun to watch.

The parade is another highlight of the activities.  I'm not sure if it is the same for parades everywhere these days, but there was so much candy thrown to the kids that they started getting choosy about what they picked up by the end of the parade.  Some of the parade highlights included the native dancers, the local roller derby girls, and a group of river guides doing their own version of a "river dance".
Of course the 4th of July celebration in Wrangell would not be complete without the logging competition.  They embrace their logging heritage and the traditional activities are a lot of fun to watch.  It rained on and off throughout the activities, but I noticed that most people just stuck it out and enjoyed the show.  In Alaska nothing would ever get done if you quit every time it started raining.

Clampettism

I'm pretty sure I'm making up a word with this title, but I bet many of our sailing friends already know what I'm talking about.  I don't remember now what book it is but somebody wrote in a cruising book that some boats have so much crap on the stern of the boat it is reminiscent of the car that ma and pa Clampett were driving on The Beverly Hillbillies.  Cruising boats tend to accumulate stuff, and sooner or later we run out of storage room and stuff just stays out on deck.  When we left Seattle several years ago we had boxes and bags of crap inside and outside the boat, the side effect of selling two vehicles and emptying a storage unit days before leaving on an open-ended trip.  We did a decent job of sorting through stuff, getting rid of things, finding hiding places for some of it, and dumping some stuff with friends silly enough to visit us before we disappeared.  We spent the summer of 2011 making our way to Alaska with a big Rubbermaid container taking up a bunch of space in the cockpit.  It wasn't even all that noticeable, with the outboard motor, life ring, two fishing poles, solar panels, wind generator, and various buckets and bins on the stern deck as well.  Every few days I would swear I was going to get to sorting through that container so we could clear up some room on the seat, but when we tied up in Sitka for the winter it was still there.  Over the next year and a half we got jobs, got knocked-up (Nicole anyways), got comfortable living at the dock, had a baby, bought or borrowed five different vehicles, all the while accumulating more stuff.  When we decided we would take off and travel again this summer, we had to get rid of a bunch of stuff, and as I looked around for things to sell, give away or throw out, I noticed the Rubbermaid container still sat in the cockpit.  It is still surrounded by other stuff, some the same as when we left, some different but just as annoying.
Our galley sink is nice and big and now doubles as a bath tub for Madeline, but bathing doesn't work with a sink full of dishes.  A simple solution might be to do the dishes, but it also works to load all the dirty dishes into a bucket and put them in the cockpit.  As we made our way from Sitka to Wrangell for the 4th of July I found my limit.  We still had the Rubbermaid container on the seat, the outboard motor on the stern rail, the life ring, the fishing rods, the solar panels.....but I refused to pull up to the dock in Wrangell until we had hidden the bucket full of dirty dishes that was sitting in the cockpit.  Everyone has standards.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

I really wanted to believe that our cruising life wouldn't change with the addition of a daughter, but I'm also smart enough to know that it would, regardless of what I wanted.  So far the changes have been very minor, and very major, no middle ground to be seen.  The major one I've already written about, our decision to put the boat up for sale.  I don't see us being without a boat for very long, but the cruising we have done so far is probably pretty indicative of what we will continue to do for the near future, and there are a lot of other boats better suited for this type of travel.
One of the minor changes we have experienced is coming up with a workable day-to-day routine.  So far it is going well and we will cross our fingers it continues.  Madeline has gotten on an 8 to 8 sleeping schedule, and we both fell into line pretty easily.  It gives us a few hours with each other in the evening after she falls asleep, and nobody is in a hurry to get up in the morning.  With an 8 am wake-up, we have a leisurely breakfast and get moving about ten, which also works well with Madeline falling asleep for a morning nap about the time we need to both be on deck pulling the anchor and getting under way. Putting her in her car seat either in the cockpit or down below means she is safe and out of the way for those short periods.

So far we are limiting ourselves to shorter days so we are done traveling by mid-afternoon and have time together each afternoon before dinner.  There will be days as we travel that we need to get up early, either to catch the tides and currents right, to avoid deteriorating afternoon weather, or if we need to put in a longer day to get to a better stopping place, but for the most part we should be able to keep the trip enjoyable with the current schedule.  Luckily we are not in a hurry to get anywhere, so we always have the option of just hanging out for another day or two if things don't work out with the schedule.

News from Sitka

I promised another post with some news updates and pictures in my last post, so before we leave the land of high-speed wifi....
Because I haven't bothered to read any of the parenting books I'm suppose to, I'm going on a lot of assumptions that everything is going well for Madelines development.  So far she hasn't had any run-ins with the law, no issues with drugs or alcohol consumption, and no Lindsey Lohan-esque media scandals.  Obviously I haven't had much of an influence on her.

She is doing such scandalous things as progressing into eating solid foods.

 Enjoying turning the pages while we read her books.

Learning to drive.

Interacting the the kitty.

And standing up all on her own.

My mom and brother came for a visit so they could start the process of spoiling Madeline rotten.

And the weather during their stay was nice enough that we got to enjoy playing outside in the grass.

I'd like to report that everything is going great, and so far it is, but that gleam in her eye tells me we are in for it soon enough.

Baraka is For Sale

Most of you know that Nicole and I love our boat.  Baraka is the kind of boat that many sailors dream of, and we had grand plans for using her to her full potential.  With the recent birth of our daughter our plans have changed and we are reluctantly listing for sale this truly go-anywhere boat.  We will probably kick ourselves for selling her when we change our minds again and decide to continue on with our oceanic explorations, but for now we would rather see her being used by like minded voyagers rather than sitting, waiting for us to take the next step.  She will provide a wonderful platform to her new owners for exploration and travel.  If you are interested in purchasing her, or know someone that might be, please pass along the link below that contains details and pictures, and don't hesitate to contact us for more information.

Boat information

Coming soon to a location near you...

As any of our sailing friends know, in fact probably most of our friends aquatic or otherwise, plans never seem to last long, but we always agonize over making them anyway.  Nicole and I have spent a lot of time deciding "what's next?".  Now that we are both unemployed our options are again fairly wide-open.  Not quite as wide open as in the past, since along with a neurotic kitty, we now have a 9 month old daughter in tow, but comparatively unencumbered non-the-less.  I don't really feel like I am done with Southeast Alaska (and may never be) so we decided we will head back out on the boat for the summer and see how things go with our new crew.  We're keeping an open mind about the whole thing, not knowing what we really have in store for us, but being fairly confident we can handle the realities of cruising with an infant.  If this happens to last hours, days, weeks or months only time will tell, but we want to give it a shot and see.  With a good dose of uncertainty as to the longevity of the trip, we decided to make some other plans as well, knowing we didn't want to spend another winter in Sitka.  I'm sure my mother wishes this is the point that we announce we bought a house, but no such luck, at least not in the way she is thinking.

We decided to do a bit of land cruising over the fall and winter, and went ahead and purchased a camper van to accommodate the three of us.  The Roadtrek is fairly swanky for a little van, outfitted with bed, table, stove, fridge and bathroom to make a self-contained travel vehicle that should suit us well.  Our itinerary is not worked out yet, hence the title of this post.  We are open to any and all offers of hospitality, so please let us know if you would like us to visit.  Many of you will get a visit no matter if you want or not, but it would be nice to think we are wanted.  Tentative plans are to start out in Western Washington where the van is currently located, head east then south to wander through a bunch of the mountain states before ending up in Moab for a bit.  From there probably further south then east some more before turning north to be with family for the holidays, but it's all pretty up in the air right now.  If you have suggestions for must see places, let us know.  There's a good chance I've been there, but jogging my memory will probably add it to our list.
If you noticed earlier that I mentioned the three of us road-tripping, you may wonder "What about the cat?".  Truth is, we are wondering about that too.  I don't think she will enjoy months of road travel in a small van, so if anyone would be willing to adopt her, or at least get into a long term cat sitting position, please let us know.  She's really not as bad as I make her out to be, and certainly deserves better than a cage in the van or going back to the shelter.  Let us know and we can work out the details.
As far as news from Sitka, we recently had family visiting here, but I will save that for the next post, along with some long awaited pictures of Madeline.

Life Changes

Anyone reading this either came across the post by chance or you are very patient in waiting for new posts from us.  It's been a while, but thanks for waiting.  My work ramped up as it always does in the spring, culminating in a two week paycheck for well over 170 hours.  That kind of schedule doesn't leave a lot of time for blog posts, in fact it doesn't leave much time for anything, and I was trying desperately to keep some semblance of normal at home for Nicole and Madeline.  Add to that the fact that our free internet access on the boat has pretty much dried up, so there wasn't much chance I was going to take what little free time I had to go track down a wifi signal.
I gave notice at work a couple months ago with the stipulation I would work until the end of May, and thankfully that day finally came and I am now happily unemployed once again.  I'm sure family is once again wondering what the hell we are doing, especially the thought of giving up a high paying job in a beautiful place with a little one to support.  I'm not sure I can justify the decision, but I'm pretty sure I don't really have to.  Our lives, our decisions, our reality to deal with.
The plan right now is to spend some time on the boat as a family this summer.  We may stay in Alaska, we may head back to Seattle, we may make plans for sailing in other directions.  For now, we just want some time together with no schedule so Nicole and I can enjoy spending real time with our daughter.   I'll continue to update this blog as I can, but anyone that has been following us for a while knows that internet access is pretty limited in Alaska so it may be a while between posts. I'll try to do my best to update and entertain and let folks knows as future plans are made.