A Pause in our Travels

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As many of you know we are back in Flagstaff. My mother underwent open heart surgery and we have been here recovering her. She is doing fantastic and we hope to fly to Europe on Oct 20th.

We had an amazing 2 months in the SanJaun, Gulf and Vancouver Islands. We sailed, sometimes motored, to over 17 different locations. For the most part the weather was good and things went smoothly. Just an occasional "near miss" of a potential disaster. The trickiest, most stressful part for me is docking the boat. It maneuvers like a drunken pig, (and it wasn't my husband). As we attempt to pull into a spot Mark will be at the helm while I stand on the bow with jelly legs and sweaty hands. I am to leap to the dock and stop the boat from crashing into the dock or other boats. As Mark yells repeatedly "Can you jump yet?" I have visions of jumping too soon, falling into the very cold water and having the boat crush my head into the dock. Luckily this never happened!!!

Other than maneuvering The Seefahrt has been a great boat. I have even learned some sailing terms. Now when Mark says "Prepare to come about. Uncleat the jib sheet on the port side." Instead of giving him a blank stare as if he was speaking French I now know that means that we are changing direction and I need to undo the purple rope on the left side of the boat.

The Seefarht is now in LasVegas in storage. Again, Mark just did a fantastic job hauling the boat. We traveled 3,600 miles in the truck most of it pulling the boat.

Since we have been back I have been busy caring for my mom, catching up with friends, running with my dogs and schooling the kids. Mark has been flying his plane, running and biking. He went down to Laguna SanIgnacio, halfway down Baja, California, with the Flying Samaritans and worked in a medical clinic. He also picked up a few shifts at work. Mark and the kids flew to Durango to see his parents and also went to MesaVerde and then to Santa Fe and Los Alamos. The kids have been busy playing, seeing friends, spending time with grandma and the dogs and doing school work.

If all goes as planned we will fly to Paris on Oct 20th and spend 2 1/2 weeks in Italy and Greece and then on to Egypt for 2 weeks. It has been great to see so many of you. We will continue the blog and keep you updated on our plans.

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Photos

Seefahrt Haulout
Taking the Fahrt out of the water in Anacortes.

Camping with the fahrt
Traveling south from Anacortes to Las Vegas with the
Seefahrt

Clinic in Laguna San Ignacio
Children in LSI, the clinic on the pacific Baja, Mexico.

Mesa Verde
Learning about ancient indian culture at the Mesa Verde
site, in southern Colorado

Southern Colorado in Autumn
Mark, Sage, and Madison four wheeling in the southern
Colorado Mountains

Colorado River at Whitmore Wash
A bike ride to the river from Bar 10 Ranch on the North
Rim of the Grand Canyon.