Monday Nov 10, you are dead to me.

...or rather, you simply don't exist. flying out of SFO on the 9th, and arrive in Hong Kong the morning of the 11th. take that Monday. :P Thursday December 4th and I are going to spend A LOT of time together tho. 

one more adventure for the year...

When I started to dream about my epic 40th year trip, I kept being drawn to explore the Himalayas. When you think big, that is about as big as it gets. I have talked to many folks about exploring this region, and was thinking bout an Annapurna trek, or rafting the river that come down from the mountains. Once I set my mind on the birthday party, I decided to let planning for a trip like this roll for another year or so... but it seems I planted the seed in Rachel's mind along the way. 

After sharing some of the expedition ideas with her, we thought about "potential" dates. dates lead to itineraries, itineraries lead to finding some other people to go with us... and other people lead to booking the trip. Slippery slope, and here I am. About to board a plan to China (1 week of work), and then we are meeting up in Thailand to fly to Bhutan to explore the rivers, mountains, valleys, and sacred Dzongs of the region for two weeks. 

I gotta go get on the plane... but I wanted to share the plans for this last adventure of the year before I left SF. 

More to come, so check back and stay tuned.... :) 

where oh where did the year go?

as always, it's been far too long since I have posted anything. it was not because it was a boring year. not by a long shot. I've logged more travel miles in the past year than I have ever before, as well as crossed the milestone of turning 40 years young. I say it that way because I truly feel I am just finally settling into who I am, and I'm still having a blast. 

in the last year, I have been to southern china for work 8 times (counting the plane I'm about to get on). it's been a whirlwind of a learning experience, and. I feel like it has set a path for my career that I have many years yet to grow into it. the factory towns of southern china aren't terribly sexy and we don't have a tin of time to explore, however, i've spent several weekends in Hong King, and I really love it there. it is a world class city that reminds me a lot of San Francisco, while still having the history and flair of old world Asia. 

2014 started big with an amazing Shel's pals ski trip for a week to Chamonix, France. Dragged Szmytty with me for his first trip outside the US / CA, and it was AMAZE-BALLS! 1 village surrounded by 7 world-class mountains, and 40+ people on the trip to play with. so much fun! 

As winter faded quickly (because there was very little snow in CA this year), I dove into planning myself a weekend-long 40th birthday celebration. My original thought for my 40th was to plan an epic vacation somewhere, but the more i thought about it, the more I realized that the true gift of my life is the amazing people I know and love, and I wanted to be surrounded by them as I rang in this big milestone. plans came together, and I had one of the most memorable birthday weekends ever... it was a 3-day BBQ pool party with friends and family. so much love. After the birthday bash, I spent another week with Christina for our annual Auntie Robin's summer camp. We were pretty pooped from the birthday celebration, so we didn't venture too far this year... but it gave us plenty of time to dream big for next year! (Arizona /Utah national parks loop anyone?) :) 

Looking back, I am not sure how or when, but i did manage to get out to Yosemite and on the Tuolumne and American rivers for some boating fun. In my 13th season as a guide, I love river time more and more every year... especially now that the lil orange crush is part of my tool-box of toys! 

In between the China trips and birthday parties, I picked away at another "little tattoo". this one was really conceived with the idea of continuing on my nature theme, and trying to clean up and tie all the pieces I have together. As always it is a work in progress... taking just enough time off to forget the pain. It seems that I managed to schedule tattoo appointments right before many of my trips, so I spent endless hours on planes and in hot sweaty China with itchy peely skin. ha. 

And rounding out the summer, the SF Giants went big this year, and won the world series! I happen to fall between trips, and I had a blast joining my "home-town" in cheering on and celebrating. The icing on the cake was very unexpected ticket to watch Game 5 in person! Opportunity of a lifetime. :) 

It was indeed a big year, and this little summary doesn't do it any justice... but all I really needed to do was set up for this next trip... have just enough time to fit one more in this year. ;)