I met Ashley when I moved to Seattle. More than the mountains, rivers, and forests of this place I call home, she anchors me. Makes me better. Clarifies who I am and who I will be in my best years of life. She is my partner in adventure, in life, and in abiding love. I am lucky; we are blessed.

Koko Head Summit, a.k.a. the Hawai'i Fitness Club

We have amazing times in Washington state, and when she found a job in Honolulu she wanted to take, we found reasons to make it happen. Shipping Ashley's car via freighter was particularly interesting, and the Mazda 626 has finally found its natural habitat as a true "island car."

Eventually I got some Thule racks on there, but this worked for the first couple of days!

Displacing our life was not as easy. But good things aren't always easy.

Ashley left Seattle during the summer of 2014, and I left my job at REI the following September and embarked on a series of adventures that culminated this past summer in Honolulu. Planning to return to Seattle in the fall of 2015 for my MBA, I experienced local wilderness on my own terms during a year of travel and exploration. In September, I rafted the Grand Canyon with my brother, Erik. I explored British Columbia in October, and finished the fall in Hawai'i. During the spring months of unusual Washington weather, I tapped into the Skagit and Olympic Peninsula, learning all I could about these very special places and experiencing the best of each. Finally, Ashley and I spent an amazing summer together in paradise. It was a gift of unstructured time and a change in routine for reflection and growth.

This is probably going to be a relatively short blog, as I'm starting my program here in Seattle in ... well, about a week from the publishing date of this post! The writing is meant to capture a special period of time in our lives. There will be few posts about our adventures in the islands this summer, as well as my time chasing wild steelhead, waves, and bonefish this past year. Well, there might actually be a lot of posts about wild steelhead. Too many? Probably not!

It's my hope that family, friends and anyone who is interested will take a gander and at least know what we're up to and see some of the concrete reasons why we decided to embark on this adventure. At least it might help explain any erratic behavior we'll display on the flip side, like a proclivity for SPAM (probably me) and/or returning with a number of pets with Hawaiian names (probably Ashley).

The best of life for us is not necessarily found in the routine. It's not safe, and it's not predictable. It's out there, and it changes based on your perspective. For me and Ashley, it's in doing something like this year.

Please read on, enjoy, and reach out to say hi if we haven't spoken in awhile.