Wrangell-St. Elias National Park is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been, and that’s saying something. Second only to Montana’s Glacier National Park in my heart, Wrangell-St. Elias is America’s biggest National Park, encompassing an area of over 13 million acres. Wrangell-St. Elias was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979 and a National Park in 1980. Plate tectonics, volcanic activity and glaciation all worked together over time to form this magnificent landscape, but it was copper that brought people into these mountains in the early 20th Century. The Kennecott copper mines produced over $200 million worth of copper between 1911 and 1938 ($3.6 billion in today’s dollars)
Today you can drive on the old rail line until you get to the “end of the road” where you will have to cross the river bridge on foot. From there you can catch a shuttle to Kennecott and explore the park from there. Glacier Walks, Mill Tours and Ice Climbing are all on offer, or you can simply go for a hike. The hikes to the old mines high on the mountains aren’t long, but they’re pretty strenuous. After a long day in the park you can find good meals at the Kennecott Lodge or in the old town of McCarthy down the road. Alternatively, the north end of the park is accessible along the beautiful Nabesna Road. The season in Alaska is short, and there isn’t much happening once the businesses close so summer is definitely the right season to visit the Wrangells. I hope you enjoy these photos I took in the park during the last summer I spent guiding there (2017).
Hello Everyone! Another week has come and gone and January is moving right along here at home in Washington. We’ve had some warm and sunny days this week and trees are starting to bud and some plants are waking from their winter slumber. Mason and I continue our daily adventures around Glover Park, and my mom and I took a nice long trip out to western Virginia over the weekend. And, of course, the United States has entered a new presidential era. While all of these things have been great, and certainly good distraction, I don’t want you to think I’ve forgotten the reason why I am here, which continues to worsen by the day.
It was a year ago now that the first documented cases of Covid19 showed up in the United States. This coming week the death toll here will surpass the total number of Americans who died during World War II. In other comparisons as far as American deaths go, we are now suffering one September 11th every 18 hours and one D-Day every 30 hours. I can’t get my vaccine fast enough and hope my folks can get theirs before the end of the month. That would certainly be a step in the right direction. I’m also hoping the incoming administration will take the whole thing a lot more seriously. Had now former-President Trump taken it a little more seriously, I believe he would have won this election in a landslide. We’ve tried things his way for long enough and clearly whatever their plan or lack thereof is failing and I’m grateful we’ll be heading in a different direction.
Congratulations to now-President Joe Biden and our first female Vice President Kamala Harris. I’m certainly wishing them the best of luck in the days and years to come. This is not a partisan statement; I think we should all have that sentiment as a new presidential administration begins. If you wish failure on someone entering those positions, I would sincerely question your patriotism. I felt the same four years ago when Donald Trump took his oath of office. Knowing of his almost absolute lack of experience in government, I was hoping he would do what I would do in a similar situation – surround himself with the best and brightest to move the country forward and make him look good. Especially as an outsider, I would have sought out the most qualified people in the country regardless of political affiliation and brought them on board to help “drain the swamp” and do remarkable things. Instead he surrounded himself with people he believed would be loyal regardless of their backgrounds and dug deeper in the mud. Many of the issues which are important to me, like the environment and public education, took some pretty serious hits over the last four years. Outside of his policy decisions, he brought almost constant negativity and division and that’s from his own Twitter feed, not from the press. I’m really hoping that Biden can make some real progress over the next four years. As a country, we are definitely better together than we are apart.
Hello Everyone. It’s wonderful to be back with you this week. I hope you didn’t miss me too much last week, but it was nice to take a little break from this weekly post and get away from the city for a few days. I had a wonderful time over the holidays with my family here in Washington, and enjoyed a few days away at Cape Henlopen State Park on the coast of Delaware. This week I’m back hanging out with my 2 year-old buddy Mason and trying to get some things rolling here as I stare out across the year ahead. I feel good and feel like there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, and for me that’s good enough for now.
Our Christmas was a good one filled with cooking, carols and Christmas movies. We made some wonderful meals together over the Christmas weekend and definitely didn’t go hungry. It was nice to be home to catch up on some sleep and have a few lazy days around the house. Shockingly, we even got a few flakes on Christmas Day. It was far from a white Christmas, but it was nice to see nonetheless.
That Sunday I packed up Shadow Catcher and headed west across the bay and into Delaware. It was so nice to be on the road again, and especially on my way to the beach, even in the dead of winter. I sang island and beach songs the whole way there. It really is only about 2.5 hours between here and the ocean when there’s no traffic, and I really enjoyed the ride. I made a beeline for Rehoboth with the hope to have a little wander before the sun went down, and still get into camp before dark. I was surprised at how crowded the boardwalk was, and it wasn’t a good surprise. Regardless, I enjoyed my short visit there. Rehoboth was the beach we went to when I was a kid, and there is always something special and nostalgic about your childhood beach. I was sad to hear that Dolle’s Saltwater Taffy is closing down on the boardwalk and moving, because their sign is probably the most recognizable feature in the whole town. It simply won’t be Rehoboth without it and I was happy to be able to take some photos of it before they go. I also grabbed some delicious boardwalk fries from Thrashers and enjoyed them looking out over the sea. I was only there for about 2 hours, but it was a fun walk down memory lane.
Hello Everyone! I’m going to keep it short and sweet this week as I’m busy getting ready for Christmas with my family here in Washington D.C. and it’s already getting pretty late here as I begin this week’s post. It’s been a busy week, but not an overwhelmingly exciting one which is just fine with me. There’s been lots of Christmas music, Christmas movies, Christmas present wrapping and Christmas shopping, and I have been getting out into the city a little bit this week as well. I’ve spent most of the Christmases in my life here at home in Washington, so it feels very normal and comfortable to be here this time of year. Sadly, most of the things we normally do during the holiday season aren’t happening this year, but that just re-emphasizes the need to enjoy things while they last because you never know what the future holds. Either way, it’s always good to be home for the holidays.
The long anticipated vaccine has begun its initial roll-out, and I’m glad to see many government officials getting theirs and attempting to boost public confidence. There was also a stimulus bill which was passed this week. I really wish that congress was a little more in touch with the reality of the situation and had passed a much needed relief bill instead. There are plenty of people doing just fine out there for whom a check from the government isn’t really needed. There are others who are out of work, whose unemployment benefits ran out long ago and who only still have a roof over their heads because of the eviction moratorium. For many of these people $600 will be well received, but will hardly make much of a dent in their financial struggles. This needed to pass months ago as a separate bill and it needed to have a much clearer focus. I guess it is better than nothing, but not by much.
I had a great week with young Mason as he continues to grow and learn. Winter hasn’t broken his spirit at all and we’re still outside most days despite the cold temperatures. We’ve been enjoying the holiday decorations, walking on thin ice, and a couple of little arts and crafts projects as well. We made some really cool Christmas ornaments this week with some hollow plastic ornaments I got for just the occasion. We filled them with his favorite treasures from our walks - from berries and mushrooms to pine cones, cedar needles and holly clippings, and then hung them near the bottom of the tree so he can enjoy them whenever he wants. He still likes the firetruck, snowmen, rocking horse and White House more, but I think he likes the ones we made as well.
This week I also finally got my new crown on the tooth which has been missing since March. I am very happy and grateful for that, and hope to not break any more teeth for a long time. I also found someone to do one of the two repair jobs that Shadow Catcher still needs done to be ready to roll when the time is right. Between the vaccine and these things I just mentioned, I finally feel as though I’m making some progress towards my goal of getting out of here before the summer. That’s a really good feeling and I’m really hoping to end this year with those good feelings about the future.
Other than that, it’s been mostly preparing for the holidays and the meals we’re going to cook together. We’ve been doing a lot of shopping and I finally think we’re prepared to begin cooking tomorrow morning (Christmas Eve) and continue for the next three days. Tuesday evening, we went out to a wonderful drive-through light display at the Mormon Temple just outside the beltway..
Hello Everyone. A vaccine is rolling down the highways of America which means there is a light at the end of the tunnel for this extended pause in my travel plans. Of course it’s still going to be a while before I get mine, but it’s still been a great bit of news this week and I’m very excited about it. My van has to get through inspection here in D.C. in May and I am really hoping to hit the road the very next day if that’s at all possible and have the whole summer wide open in front of me. Time will tell, but there’s a possibility it will happen and for now that’s good enough. Beyond that, it’s been a week of ups and downs so I’m latching onto the vaccine news to help me get through the week and help keep my spirits up in this festive season.
Mason and I continue to keep each other on our toes and entertained. He continues to grow and learn and develop every single day, and his companionship and good humor have definitely been one of my saving graces these last few months. I would have gotten through this time without him, but I’m glad that’s not how it went. By the time I hope to leave, he’ll be 3 and on his way to bigger and better things, but he’ll know a lot more about nature and the seasons and holidays and I think he’ll be better off for that in the long run. This week we’ve been enjoying time by the Christmas tree at his house, and he loves showing off the ornaments on their tree. Every day this week we’ve sat on the couch in the glow of the tree and read The Night Before Christmas and The Polar Express. He loves to show me that they have bell ornaments on their tree which look almost exactly like Santa’s bells in The Polar Express. He definitely know who Santa is (and still calls him “danta”) and he knows what Santa says (“ho ho ho”). We’ve been seeing Santa and reindeer and snowmen all over the neighborhood and while I think there was more fun stuff to see over Halloween, it’s still fun. He’s been really good about wrapping up, and we continue to enjoy being outside even as temperatures dip near freezing. We’ve had some inside days too when it’s been raining out, and it’s definitely gotten easier to stay in all day as he’s gotten older. We have done some coloring, read some good books, played with his trucks and stuffed animals and spent a lot of time discussing the toilet which he is getting better with. And whether we’re inside or out, we always find the time for many rounds of his favorite game “no me” which is kind of like hide and seek, but he’s usually either under a blanket or under a chair or under a tree if we’re outside. Even though he’s right there, his stuffed animals and I spend a lot of time looking for him.
When I went out to drive my van last Thursday after picking it up from the shop on Wednesday, the “check engine” light came on immediately and it ran really poorly and spewed out thick smoke. I was really disappointed after the amount of money I’d spent to get it fixed last week. I called the shop and eventually had it towed out there. They couldn’t find anything wrong with it, so I have it back but it’s definitely not running like it used to. As much as I love my hometown, I would never recommend getting work done on your car here. It’s overpriced and I’ve never found a mechanic I was happy with. Pretty much everywhere else in the country I’ve gotten work done I’ve met honest people who get it right the first time and treat me fairly because it’s the right thing to do. I think they like working on Mercedes and BMWs and not on my clunky old van. I like the guy who runs the shop I’ve taken it to these last two times, but I don’t know if I’d recommend it because it goes in with one set of problems and comes out with another.
After that disappointment, I really needed a day at the beach. It being December in Washington, the best I could do was to throw a beach party in my basement with my folks, which is exactly what we did with our Friday night. I’ve spent Christmas in the Caribbean more than once, and our party brought back a lot of good memories of my time in the islands. We had some jerk chicken, fresh cut mango and pineapple and some great peel and eat shrimp. There was great music, boat drinks and a few rounds of Lattice Hawaii which is a really great board game. It was another fun Friday night and left me feeling much better about the world in general…
Hello Everyone! We are now just over three weeks away from 2021! I, for one, will welcome the New Year with open arms and a heart full of hope for a better year for us all. For all of the challenges 2020 has brought both to me personally and to us collectively, I continue to be grateful for the blessings in my life and the opportunities that have come along as well. It’s been an amazing experience to spend time with a 2 year-old and a 13 year-old and help them along in whatever way I could this year. I’ve also gotten to spend a lot of time with my folks here in Washington and know that I’m helping keep them safe and vice-versa. I’ve also been grateful to have some time to explore my hometown more than I ever have before which has brought me a lot of joy and contentment. While I’m looking forward to getting a vaccine and getting back on the road as soon as possible in 2021, I will always look back at this year as a time I was able to stop, reflect on the blessings I have in this life and make real plans for the future.
Speaking of a vaccine, there’s definitely been good news this week on that front. The Pfizer vaccine has been approved and the first shots administered in the UK. Approval should be right around the corner here in the US, and then the long and slow process of administering it can begin. I read yesterday morning that the FDA’s initial perusal of the application for approval was extremely positive. I know there are plenty of people out there who have read a lot of whacky things regarding the upcoming vaccine and vaccines in general for that matter. With all the travel I’ve done in my life, I’ve gotten every vaccine available and will gladly step to the front of the line for this one. I have plenty of family and friends in the medical industry and they have their people who they listen to and trust. If they tell me this is a go, I’m in. I simply don’t have time to waste on conspiracy theories and look forward to moving ahead with my life.
This week has been another busy week with my 2 year-old buddy, Mason. I’m happy that he’s continued to want to go outside and play despite the temperatures dropping into the thirties and forties. We bundle up tight but we’ve still been getting outside and going for long walks in neighborhood. He really loves running through the big piles of leaves and spent today sitting in one and just throwing the leaves up and watching them float down. It was a joy to watch him enjoying such a simple pleasure so much, and he’s definitely gotten me to run through more leaf piles than I have in many a year. We continue to look for berries, acorns and pretty colored leaves and he has been good about having me take off his mittens so he can grab these treasures and then letting me put them back on immediately after. We’ve also been having fun watching dead leaves float down the stream in the park as well, which really is pretty cool. He’s enjoying the few Christmas decorations which have sprung up around the neighborhood this week, but is particularly fond of his Christmas tree at home and loves showing me all the different ornaments and the stocking his grandmother sent him. Today we were reading the Night Before Christmas, and he is starting to recognize “Danda” (Santa). In one picture with Santa and his reindeer he was telling me that the reindeer were named Nick and Matt which are his cousin’s names (Nick is the young man I tutor on Mondays). I couldn’t figure it out, and then realized the text talks about “St. Nick” and the only Nick he knows is his cousin. Since he knows who Santa is, the reindeer must be the Nick they keep referring to and since Nick and Matt are twins, his brother must be one of the other reindeer. At least that’s how my mind processed what he said. Either way, he’s enjoying the holiday season so far and I’m enjoying it right alongside him.
Hello Everyone! It’s December! That means 2020 is almost over and it’s Christmas season which are both things that make me happy. It’s definitely getting dark early these days which is not my favorite thing in the world. While I love the nighttime and the dark, I really prefer my daylight to stretch until at least 6. Thankfully it’s only three weeks until the Winter Solstice and then we can start looking towards springtime. The good thing about it getting dark earlier this time of year is that it means more time to see the beautiful Christmas lights and displays in people’s yards. I do love Christmas lights and I know from how many decorations were up for Halloween that this year will be bigger than usual. If you’re still looking for some holiday gifts for friends and family, don’t forget about my beautiful Cloudland Canyon wooden jigsaw puzzle available here from Wentworth Puzzle Company. And if you have any photos of mine that you like, I’d be happy to sell you a print or a beautiful aluminum art piece. You can check out prices at my store here, and know that I can do any photo you want, not just the ones featured there – don’t hesitate to reach out and we can make it happen.
I had a big little win this week which definitely made me smile. At the very beginning of this adventure when I was trying to build a blog from the tiny fishing village I lived in in Japan, I started to look for web addresses which would suit the project. I have always loved the Robert Frost poem which inspired the name for this blog, and was trying to figure out how to make it all work. When I looked up milestogobeforeisleep.com, it was available, but for a cost of like $1500. No page would be worth that to me, so I settled on its catchy but somewhat more complicated twin, miles2gobeforeisleep.com. I’m still happy with that decision, but the “2” can make it harder for people to remember etc. I’ve kept my eye on that page for ten years now and last week whoever owned it finally gave up the ghost and I snatched it up the very next day. It’s kind of silly at this point, but like I said it was a very small victory and it made me happy.
I also had a really nice offer come in this week from my friend Kim who owns and operated Up The Keys tours in Key West. She is planning on doing some sailing for a few months this winter and wanted to know if I would come and run her business for her while she was gone. It was a wonderful offer and I was very touched and humbled that she would ask, and who wouldn’t want to spend the winter in Key West? Any other time and I would jump at this, but I’m just not comfortable with guiding tours right now, not until I get a vaccine which is hopefully just months away at this point. I think I’m here in D.C. until that happens, which I’m not unhappy about, but I will be dreaming of the Keys for the next few weeks. I know when the time is right that something great will come along. It always does for me.
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving last Thursday with my brother and his family in New Hampshire. He cooked up a real feast and I was definitely impressed with his cooking ability. It was a day of food and festivity and a very relaxed one at that…
Hello Everyone! November is coming to a close and I doubt that I’m the only one looking forward to putting 2020 in my rear view mirror. Not that anything will magically change on January 1st, but I definitely believe that next year will be better than this one. Personally I’m looking forward to getting back on the road, seeing some new and beautiful places, catching up with some old friends and making some new ones. I feel like this year I just kicked it up into neutral in April and I’ve been coasting along since them. I remain incredibly grateful for so much that’s happened this year, but I won’t be sad to wave goodbye come New Year’s Day.
One of the biggest joys of this year has been hanging out with my 2 year-old buddy, Mason, who has kept me smiling for a lot of months now. I realized that I’ve now spent over 10% of his life with him. 10% of my life ago, Barrack Obama was still president, so it’s no small amount of time. This week we spent a little more time at the playground than usual. We don’t spend much time there because all the nannies in the neighborhood go there, mingle and let the kids they watch do the same. I don’t want any kids breathing and snotting all over Mason, especially now that cold and flu season is in full swing as I don’t want him or me to get sick. But with colder temperatures fewer people are there, so we’ve at least been able to get the kindergarten playground to ourselves a few times which he really enjoys. He was disappointed when I wouldn’t go down the slide with him, and I tried to explain that I was too big to go or I definitely would. Now when he sees a small playground in someone’s yard he says “Uncle Mike, too big” which I just think is really funny. One of the slides we use I have to pick him up and put him on, which was a nice bicep curl motion to it. I started doing “Mason curls” and counting to ten and he seems to really enjoy it too, so that’s been good for both of us. Beyond that, we’ve been seeing the forest leaves thin and disappear and the change of season has been interesting to watch for both of us. He’s learned some evergreens like cedar, holly and ivy and continues to pull whatever berries he can reach. It was another good stretch hanging out with him.
Last Friday we had a pretty quiet night at home. We had originally planned on heading up to New Hampshire to my brother’s place first thing Saturday morning, so we didn’t want to overdo it on Friday. We had some turkey sandwiches, some pumpkin eggnog and then watched Planes, Trains and Automobiles, one of the only really good Thanksgiving movies out there. It wasn’t as raucous as usual, but it was a fun Friday night with the family just the same…
A couple of weeks ago my mom and I set out to explore Maryland’s Lower Susquehanna Scenic Byway. This beautiful road started at the Concord Point Lighthouse in Havre de Grace where the river meets the Chesapeake Bay. From there, we headed on to the old 19th century Lock Keeper’s House which stands watch over what was once the Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal. On to Susquehanna State Park where we explored the historic village of Rock Run with its working grist mill and old Jersey toll house. We learned about the life of Confederate Brigadier General James Archer who grew up in the Archer Mansion overlooking the river. Crossing over at the Conowingo Dam, we cruised into the fascinating old town of Port Deposit before winding up in Perryville where the Principio Furnace and Rodgers Tavern offered up a final dose of history for the day. Standing on the west bank of the Susquehanna River we watched the sun set before turning our headlights towards home. It was a beautiful day cruising the wonderful Lower Susquehanna Scenic Byway in northeast Maryland and I hope you enjoy these photos I took along the way.
Hello Everyone! It’s been a beautiful week here in Washington D.C. with warm, sunny days and cool clear nights. In some ways this is all very familiar to me as I’m usually headed home in October or November, tired from a long year on the road and ready for some “home time” over the holidays. I come home to rest and get my affairs in order and begin to plan for the next leg of my journey, whatever that may be and wherever it may take me. It’s a time to catch up – on my projects, on my sleep and with friends and family. Unlike spring and summer which I’ve rarely spent in the city, this feels more normal to me.
Today also marks the three year anniversary of the journey which became Miles2Go. Three years ago today, I set out for Harpers Ferry, West Virginia with a dream of spending a month in each state over the next 4 years. I soon learned that a month was too short to get a real understanding of a state while also maintaining this blog, so my timeframe changed. There were a lot of tough times and setbacks as I got this thing off the ground, and just when I felt like I knew where it was going and how to make it all work, I hit the cruise control button and then this pandemic hit, turning me towards home and grounding me indefinitely. It’s been a bumpy road for sure, but anything that’s worth it will no doubt involve overcoming obstacles. I don’t know what my future or the future of this project will look like at this point, but I’m grateful for the journey and everything and everyone that’s been a part of it thus-far.
Sadly the reason keeping me here, the coronavirus, has continued to rage across the country with still-worsening conditions being reported every day. As we get closer to a quarter-million deaths from the virus here in the U.S. alone, I wanted to put that number into perspective for you. While 235,000 may be just a fraction of a percent of the population of the U.S. as is often pointed out, it is more than our average annual deaths in this country from any cause other than cancer and heart disease. It’s four times our average annual number of flu and pneumonia deaths (all according to the CDC). It’s also more than the number of Americans who died in World War 1, Vietnam, Korea and the American Revolution combined. It’s more than the single-year casualties from our two bloodiest wars – World War II and the Civil War. Keep these statistics in mind when people tell you that the virus isn’t all that bad. In the entirety of the almost 15 years we were involved in the war in Vietnam, we lost less than a quarter of the number of people who have died from this virus this year, and it’s only mid-November. For some reason people in this country refuse to look beyond our borders to countries which got some level of control over the pandemic through the summer months with masks and distancing and continue to believe it’s all some kind of hoax. 80% of current cases in the U.S. can be traced back to restaurants, bars and gyms.
What should we be doing about this? First and foremost we need to start listening to the experts. This country’s leading medical experts and virologists have laid it out pretty simply from the start, and have been able to make things even clearer as we’ve learned more. And yet people refuse to listen to them, searching out someone, anyone, who will tell them what they want to hear instead of what the consensus of the experts is. I want to get back to my normal life more than anyone, but I’m willing to put that all on hold for the greater good of my countrymen. To me, that’s a pretty good definition of patriotism.
Hello Everyone! I hope you’ve all had a nice week since last we met. The weather here in D.C. has been spectacular and I’ve enjoyed spending a lot of time outside this week. The fall colors aren’t great here, but the maples in particular have been pretty awesome. My folks and I have continued to try and celebrate life this week while keeping safe and close to home and I even got out for an overnight in my van which was awesome. October has seemed to go even faster than September did and I know that process will continue as the days get shorter. All told it’s been a pretty good week though.
I got a new phone this week, which is always exciting. My iPhone 5s has been slowly dying over the last year or so, and at the end the battery would only last about 20 minutes. I carried around an external battery for the last 6 months which is a pain, but also not a huge deal. I’m not all about the latest gadget, but that phone lasted a solid five years or so and hadn’t been new when I bought it. I’ve gone with the latest iPhone SE which has the newest chip in a reasonably priced phone. I was super happy with Apple’s new phone-to-phone transfer technology which basically migrated everything from my old phone to my new phone (down to the wallpaper) via WiFi. It was amazing and made set-up super easy. So far I’m enjoying the new features and the expanded capacity and capability of my new phone, and while there are a few things my old one could do which this one doesn’t seem to be able to, I’m sure I’ll get used to it.
The news this week is obviously pretty focused on the upcoming election, and I truly hate to see the divisiveness in the country right now. I know it’s been building for quite some time, but it seems too many people are fanning the flames and it’s heartbreaking. I think a lot of it comes from people not traveling enough and experiencing the different parts of the country and spending time with people who are Americans, but Americans different from themselves or their neighbors. I’ve spent almost my entire adult life doing just that, and I’ve found nothing but good people from coast to coast and lakes to gulf. I’ve always said that I think that sitting around a dinner table we’d have more in common than we did different, and with some open-minded conversation we could probably find compromise and common ground. But now more than ever we’re not having that face-to-face discussion, and it’s eating us like a cancer. I know the biggest divide right now seems to be between urban and rural communities and I’ve spent plenty of my life in both and both have enormous benefits and drawbacks. I think city people could use a bit of time in the country or in a small town and country people could use some real time in the city. Texans should go to Seattle and Alaskans should spend some time in L.A. and they all might find that the people there aren’t as unlike them as they think they are. I’ve spent time in my life in truly foreign environments having traveled across many countries all over the world and no matter where I’ve been I’ve met wonderful people working hard to provide for their families and spend a few minutes with their friends at the end of the day. When I personally can find a huge amount in common with a farmer in rural Cambodia, I know that people from different parts of the same country could find even more if they were focused on our common interests and ideals. We’ve got to stop demonizing each other and spend more time together and we’d all be surprised by what we find. I know that for a fact. Sermon over.
Mason and I continue our adventures around Glover Park and the nearby woods. He is really enjoying all the Halloween decorations, and again seems fearless since he has not been given a reason to be scared of the things we see (and certainly won’t get that from me). He waves to the Wolfman and says “Hi Doggie” and carried on a five minute conversation with a headless skeleton sitting in the bus stop. We’ve got a hill that we love to run down together, holding hands because sometimes he makes a misstep and at full speed that could end badly. He loves this hill and laughs so hard and heartily it warms my heart to no end. Remember when the joy of simply running down a hill could bring you that much happiness? It’s wonderful.
Hello Everyone. It’s hard to believe we’re already halfway through October. It definitely feels like time is speeding up on me here. I have been enjoying the cooler weather, although it’s almost too cold some mornings when I get up for my walk. The extra hour of daylight will help with that in a couple of weeks though. A couple of months ago I told y’all that one of my photos was going to be featured on a wooden jigsaw puzzle, and my sample copy came in the mail last week. It is really beautiful and very exciting and I will definitely let you know when it’s available for purchase, but that was a nice boost since last week. I also got an email from someone who wants to use a photo in an upcoming book he is working on – it sounds like a small printing on a fairly niche subject, but I’m always excited to see my photos in print. I also got a message this week from someone interested in discussing some other photos, but unfortunately the email address they left was incomplete. I’ve tried to sleuth it out, but haven’t been able to figure it out – if you’re reading this, I’m not ignoring you, please give me another holler. It’s been a pretty good week from that perspective and it’s nice to feel like my work is reaching a wider audience again as it’s been a really quiet summer in that regard.
I got my flu shot today, and I would definitely encourage you all to do the same. I try and get mine every year, but I’m definitely not messing around with it this year. I voted this week too, and I really hope that all of my American readers have a plan to make sure their votes are in and counted. I’ve always been cynical about voting since I know that, as a registered D.C. voter, my vote for president won’t change the outcome and we have no representation in congress so there’s no help there either. Beyond our city council and school board elections, which I probably should pay more attention to, there isn’t much need to vote here. But this year I want to contribute my voice to the popular vote count and hope that one day all our votes will count equally. I’ve always wondered and often commented as to why so many people in this country think their vote should be more important than mine. Personally I would like to see everyone be able to vote, and everyone’s vote to count. The whole thing should be about finding people who represent us well, not about gaming the system. Our entire election process in this country is broken from top to bottom and needs a reboot. That being said, I’m happy to have had the opportunity to vote in this election because this year it seems more important than ever before.
I’ve been keeping busy with 2 year-old Mason this week as well. We continued our adventures in the woods, expanding our territory as always and enjoying the changing of the leaves and the emergence of some new kinds of fall berries. We also got some rain this week, so there were some cool new mushrooms around as well. Mason continues to work on his letters and, as seems normal, associates new letters he learns with words he already knows. I think it’s pretty incredible to watch, and he’s quick to point out the letters he knows on my T-shirt and any signs we may encounter. While obviously I encourage this, it amuses me as well and I can’t help but think he’s calling out battle coordinates in code – “Uncle Mike – Lion, Elephant, Ohio, Apple”. It’s been great to see so many Halloween decorations go up around his neighborhood as well, and these provide us with a great deal of conversation fodder as we wander the streets every day. He tries to feed berries and acorns to the skeletons because apparently they look hungry (can’t argue with that), and carries on endless conversations with the witches, wolfmen, demons, ghosts, vampires and ghouls we encounter. He got his own pumpkins this week as well and is very proud of them and loves showing them to me and admiring the long stems they have. We’ve also started to name some of the places we visit on our walks for easy reference. From the Calvert Cliffs (a series of walls on Calvert Street he likes to walk on) to the Rock Water Bridge where we usually pause to throw acorns and rocks into the creek, we enjoy the variety of scenery the neighborhood and park provides. I think our favorite is the Counting Tree – a log where we sit every day and count rocks and sticks and leave them in cool patterns to see if they’ll still be there when we return. He seems to really look forward to it every day and we always find time for a rest there. We sure do have great adventures together.
