I had a beautiful hike in the wild woods with my nephews. I’m forever the caboose on the trail so I can stop to admire all the little bits of this and that, finding tiny ferns and mushrooms, admiring how the light comes through the forest and makes the moss glow. So lovely.

Coastal Alaska is a chilly rainforest. The moss-mobile in the second to last photo gives you an idea of how much rain that is. The moss along the windows is something!

This was my first trip to Cordova that didn’t feel like coming home. I was a little surprised by this feeling, if I’m honest. This sweet little town held my family all the years we moved around and needed to belong somewhere, and this time I thanked it and let it go. It will always be a special place to me, but dang if the Adirondacks and maple trees and fields of green haven’t taken over this heart of mine. The ocean no longer smells like home….. and so it goes.

We had a rainbow on our last day and I spent most of that evening trying not to cry. Holy perimenopause hormones! Ha! Just thinking about saying goodbye to my Alaska kids had me in tears….. oof.Leaving never gets easier. I’m also grateful to come home to a garden that needs tending, that is for sure…

xo

~s