This is Yan’s first time on Oahu, and we base ourselves out of the Moana Surfrider. I book a last-minute glass bottom boat cruise from Ko Olina Monday afternoon. It turns out that we’re the only ones on this boat, so we love this private excursion. The highlight for the kids, however, is the luau. They want to see another one, but we’re pressed for time.
Arriving in Tokyo Monday evening is very hectic. We leave the airport and take the light rail to our hotel. Our dinner consists of take-out food court items from the subway station, and we eat in our tiny hotel room.
Planning for the Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons meeting in Kyoto, I figured it would be better for jetlag to add in visits to Hawaii, on the way there and on the way back. And this being at the same time as our tenth anniversary, we would spend it visiting the honeymoon locations on Kauai. Yan and the kids approved of the idea.
Ten years ago, this weekend, I proposed to Yan at Forest Falls. It had just snowed, and today is a perfect day for bringing the kids up to the mountains. Yan and I relive wonderful memories, and the kids enjoy hopping through the stream and throwing snowballs.
This year’s Hand Association meeting took place on the Big Island, at the Hilton Waikoloa. The sessions mainly took place in the mornings, and afternoons were free for roaming around the island. Highlights included hiking to lush waterfalls, watching serene sunsets, and viewing the glow of Kīlauea light up the starry night sky.
Yan’s longtime interest in archeology and the kids’ online Spanish classes were really what catalyzed this trip into existence. During the pandemic, Daphney had the opportunity to transition to Spanish immersion with a teacher in Mexico, and we kept up these classes with various teachers, all based in Cancún. So eventually we decided: we should go visit the teachers in person. While we’re there, we would tour the ruins of the Yucatán.
Anticipation Excitement builds. Daphney and Jayden can’t wait. Last year’s backpacking trip felt like a proud accomplishment. This will be a trip bigger than the last, and this will be Myles’s first such trip. It’s Friday evening of Labor Day weekend. Yan and I are doing some final packing. “We’re…
This morning, the kids gather sticks and cones during breakfast, anticipating another fire. We don’t have much time for a real one, so I douse everything with some leftover sanitizer and introduce them to the brief but huge flames of ignited alcohol. Down the road, we see a moose running in the brush. Yan and I switch spots, and I get out my camera. It’s an elusive apparition, now vanished into the forest.
We have a hearty breakfast at Prey again, then we pack up everything to head into the park. Tonight, we’ll be camping. Arriving at the bus depot, we learn that the next bus availability is at 12:30, and it only goes to mile 43, since the rest of Park Road is closed due to mudslides. We first tour the visitor center and watch two films: one about sled dogs and another about Denali. We buy the last of our Alaska Geographic patches: first Klondike, then Glacier Bay, Kenai Fjords, Wrangell-St. Elias, and finally, Denali.
I’m the first to get up, just before sunrise, while the northerly summer pre-dawn sky glows orange and the distant mountains look purple. Breakfast is a combination of oatmeal with toppings and scrambled eggs for protein. Jayden devours the eggs, but Daphney laments that the eggs don’t taste as good as the free-range ones from home. Retracing the Denali Highway, we parallel the Alaska Range, this time to our left. At a pull-out, we step out onto a small outcrop and take in the expanse—pristine Sevenmile Lake, the vast alpine tundra, glacial streams, and snow-capped peaks that punch into the sky. After a quiet moment, we have to leave.
To save driving time, this day is planned around the Whittier-Valdez ferry. We line up then make it through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel and arrive in town. I check in with the ferry, and after queuing up, we grab lunch at Varly’s Swiftwater Seafood Café. All they have is fried food: zucchini, onion rings, fish and chips.
Early in the morning, we get breakfast at the lodge and pack up for departure. While no doubt the bear viewing and scenery are highlights of the trip, we are happy to leave this place infested with mosquitoes and white sock flies. After breakfast, we pack up and take the water taxi to King Salmon. The King Salmon airport is packed. The previous leg from Anchorage was nearly an empty flight, but now the waiting room is filled with fishermen wanting to leave. The few women there are tourists. The guys behind us describe how this year’s fish prices are terrible, roughly a quarter of what they normally make.
We are really rushed this morning: we swallow breakfast, pack, get to the light rail station, ride to International District/Chinatown, and transit to the King Street train station. The elevator is out of service, so we haul all of our luggage down the stairs to make it with only 3 minutes to spare. The Amtrak Cascade takes us across some spectacular scenery. Soon, we arrive in Vancouver. We heft the stroller and our bags across the street and up to the light rail platform. Another elevator outage at the rail exit, so we make multiple trips up and down stairs.
This trip’s idea began a year ago, as 2023 has a milestone birthday for me, and Yan will finish all her training and begin work as an attending. Our calendars align the best in July and August. I started booking everything in the fall. On January 5, Yan and I both got on our computers and hovered on the reservation site, hearts pounding, to snag a spot at Brooks Camp. Our trip’s schedule will have to revolve around that.
