Something you might not know about our trip: I played volleyball in small villages across the South Pacific. As a lifelong player, I never expected to find games in the middle of the ocean. Turns out that volleyball is a popular sport in Polynesia. This month, Volleyball Magazine published this article […]
I want to burn the box. What box, you wonder? Our new house? Well, yes, some days. But I’m actually referring to the box that many middle-class Americans live within. The 9-to-5, drive-a-sedan, own-a-home box that beckons us to join the masses that do the same. We’ve been back in the […]
Even though we’re back in the mountains of Montana for now, we are already dreaming of the next voyage … when we will take our very own boat! This post has been in the works for the past year, during our up-close research as volunteer crew aboard a variety of […]
Yesterday we sent our lack of responsibility up in flames. After almost a month back in Missoula, we awoke too early yet again with our brains swimming in a sea of “should haves” and “need tos”. We seem to be constantly spinning these days, whether its from trying to find […]
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Two months ago I woke up every morning to the sound of large fish splashing against the hull of a sailboat, took morning swims in the nude and read books against the backdrop of coconut trees and sandy shores. For some reason, I decided I didn’t like that any more. […]
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Some people might call us hasty. Others might say impetuous. We like to call ourselves decisive. Rob and I put an offer on a house exactly one week after touching down in Missoula, Montana. If all goes according to plan, we’ll move in to the new digs on May 8th, […]
Blow up dicks aren’t typically a decoration associated with pregnant women. Yet I recently found my 5-month pregnant self wading gleefully through cock-and-ball straws, shot skis filled with tequila, and naked hot-tubbers drinking sangria. Even more startling, the scene transpired only a few days after my re-entry to America after […]
Transitions can be exciting or scary, slow or abrupt. But rarely are they comfortable. As Rob and I transition back into “real life” on land here in Missoula, Montana, we are attempting to accept the discomfort that comes with change. Our life is full of unknowns right now: where will […]
“Yesterday, there was a war here,” said Romeo, our Burmese trekking guide. He was holding a hand-drawn map, and pointing to the spot where we were about to embark on a 3-day hike through northeastern Myanmar. “Wait, what?” I said. “A war? What do you mean, ‘war’?” I asked half […]
My husband says that having a pregnant wife is like riding on the back of a motorcycle—you give up control, replace it with trust, and hold on for dear life. He told me that after I declared that riding on the back of our rented motorcycle for a week in […]
We couldn’t speak the language. We didn’t understand the social structure in the ethnic Shan villages. We slept on the floor of a teak cabin in the home of complete strangers in the mountains of Myanmar. But even in a completely foreign setting, tea and babies allowed us to bridge […]
The first question I get after the requisite “how are you feeling?” is “did you find it hard to be pregnant on a sailboat?” Short answers? Really good and not at all. Actually, I’ve felt eerily not pregnant, based on the lack of first trimester symptoms most of my friends […]
The Republic of the Union of Myanmar, a.k.a. Burma. Our 11th country this year, and by far the least developed. This country is truly a melting pot of hundreds of ethnic groups and religions, it’s borders hugging Bangladesh, India, Laos, Thailand, and China. Burma was a colony of Great Britain […]
Here it is: the video for part two of our week-long motorcycle trip through northwest Thailand. This one features fly fishing footage from our trip on the Yuam River, guided by NG River Guides (partly run by Montana Fly Company). Check out the nice mahseer I caught. It also shows […]
Last week, we put the two-and-a-half of us, one small duffel and our beat-up Panamanian guitar on a motorcycle for a week-long road trip in Southeast Asia. We were ready for smaller towns and some Thailand scenery. The 800 kilometer Mae Hong Son motorcycle loop has over 2,000 turns. Most […]
The moon is my journal and my scrapbook, the keeper of my secrets. She silently, serenely observes the moments of my life, a sentinel and supporter during the passage of time. It gives me comfort and a feeling of rightness each month to look up and find her. To mark […]
A few days after peeing on a stick, I cringed when I realized that appeasing pregnancy cravings in Tonga would be like trying to sail a yacht down Montana’s Blackfoot River. In other words, I had a snowball’s chance in hell of fulfilling my food fantasies in this remote island […]
My grandpa loved trains. And by ‘love,’ I mean a borderline obsession. He grew up in Connecticut, raised by a florist and a Congregational minister in a pedigreed line that dated back to the original founders of New England, and of America. Grandpa became the sixth Congregational minister in that […]
Sailing the Pacific already feels like a distant dream as we navigate the crowded streets of landlocked Thailand. This video from our first bluewater passage vessel, Llyr, brings back sweet memories of swimming and sailing (and, yes, a few seasick memories, too!). Well done, Island Reach, and thanks for the shout-out to […]
River ferries, food stalls, woks, kids, temples, bright lights, fast motorcycles, foreign alphabets. Bangkok has been a blur of activity and culture after the past year of our slow-paced South Pacific Ocean explorations. I tried to catch the vibe of Bangkok in this 60 second video. Check it out. After […]
Rob and I piled into the 1990 mauve sedan with a Kiwi, a Brit, three ukeleles, two guitars and a mandolin. The car pointed southwest for the three-hour drive from Auckland to Tauranga, windows down, keeping time with our own clapping and strumming since the radio didn’t work. We were […]
As we leave the Pacific for Southeast Asia, it seems like a good time to reflect upon what we’ve seen this past year. Here are a few of our favorite photos, which give a taste of sailing, swimming and living across the South Pacific islands. Note: This Top 10 album […]