A beautiful day for a picnic

It was so beautiful outside, even after working a full shift at The Pub, I couldn't wait to get out and enjoy the sunshine with Stephen and the kids. The sky was clear, there was a light breeze, the tide was low, and the temperature hung around 70°F, 60°F in the damp shade of the forest.

Stephen made some sandwiches and packed them along with a bag of chips and some sodas. We loaded everyone into the car and made our way out the road to Starrigavin camping area. We picnicked in a small clearing that had an available table. It seemed everyone wanted to enjoy the weather, but even so it wasn't difficult to find a spot that felt secluded. We enjoyed our picnic dinner among the trees and flowers until the bugs chased us out. It was a good day for mosquitos and bumble bees, as well.

We headed to the bird-viewing platform and made the loop around the estuary. The kids ran around, picking spruce tips to suck on and checking out interesting sights along the way.

After we finished the loop, we decided to go back down to the beach and let the kids play on the shore. They spent an hour or so moving large rocks and playing with crabs, mussels, ans small mud fish they found underneath. Eventually, we all felt the day winding down and started for home again.

It's nice to live in a place where a 3-hour getaway can feel like a real vacation, where we can get lost in the wilderness for a short time and come back again with almost no effort at all.

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getting close!

We're getting close to our departure now. About a week from now, we'll be in Canada, starting the driving portion of our road trip. Jo can't wait.

Today is Seren's last day of school. It seems so far away that I can't even remember how it felt, but there was a time when I dreaded letting someone else near her mind. Instead, we found a school that perfectly suits our daughter and a pair of teachers who understand and adore her.

The car has been prepared. Meds have been gathered. Maps came in a few weeks ago. Arrangements have been made for the cats. Netflix has been altered. Our phone plan now includes Canada. Our debit cards won't be flagged for fraud when we go through Canada. The internet will be off while we are away.  We mailed four boxes to Cleveland yesterday and the kids are almost completely packed. We still need to get Nika in for grooming and I still need to suspend our newspaper subscription and we still need to finish cleaning a bunch of things. The parents need to get laundry and packing done, we have a final run or two to make to SeaMart (I intend to get a nice steak so that I can make jerky before we hit the trail), and then we should be done.

Tomorrow, we're scheduled to have Jo's brother and sister-in-law visiting us! They're taking a cruise through Southeast and spending a day in Sitka, and it should be nice to see them. It's a very busy time to be visiting, but if the weather is at all like today, they should fall in love with this place.

Finally, for those of you getting excited over the Copper River salmon that are now being delivered anywhere that Alaska Airlines flies, this was the price board at one of our local processing plants yesterday (and yes, they will ship anywhere that FedEx goes, which is a bit more inclusive than Alaska Airlines). Note that there is plenty of salmon on this board, but also plenty of other delicious stuff - dinner last night was yelloweye, which is as tasty as it is getting rare.