January 1 2020
By Haakon
While we have been rolling down these long never-ending Patagonian dirt roads with enormous mountains to our left and right, I have had a couple things on my mind. One food craving, and two things I miss about Seattle. I have been craving a Dairy Queen blizzard, Hot Cakes (in Ballard), and good Indian food in general. The thing I am really bummed out about missing are, team sports, friends, ski-bus!!, not having to spend an hour and a half searching various stores for somewhat healthy food, and easy routines you can stick to. So, this brings me into what this blog post will be about, how traveling has put perspective on my everyday activities in Seattle.
The main element I appreciate about Seattle is being able to have all your friends around you to hang out with, play sports with, talk with, etc. When traveling, inconsistent Wi-Fi is guaranteed, and you are always on different time zones so it can be hard to even talk with friends. The past 3 months I have really realized how nice it is to have all your friends within a mile from you so you can just do what you like to do together. The second thing I am just really going to miss is ski-bus, last year we talked the whole way to the summit, skied for three hours before hopping back on the bus and riding back to school where we got picked up by our parents we could ask to sleep over because it was only a Friday night and we had the whole weekend to go. The third thing that I have come to really like about Seattle is team sports, not only are they a great way to get some exercise in but you can also be around friends while doing something you love. When traveling it can be very hard to get much exercise in like running for example; if you are somewhere that is unfamiliar you can get lost, and in bigger cities you don’t know how safe it is to run on your own. That doesn’t mean you don’t go on hikes; we have gone on a lot more hikes than we would in Seattle so that is a plus about travel. We have been hiking several times a week through South America in some awesome places.
I expected to miss what I miss about life at home, so I am not surprised. I didn’t think how fast the year would fly by, it’s the New Year already. I don’t know if time feels like that in Seattle but that’s what it feels like on the road. I haven’t got the shock, like oh woah I am really traveling the world; it’s more like I am happy to experience all the things that I am and it helps me be more happy with what I have and what I have learned because of my experiences. As ski bus comes closer, I will get more homesick, but I will just have to remember I have surfed, snorkeled, and mountain-biked while everyone was in school
P.S. Tonight I am flying to Auckland, New Zealand and will be missing out on January 2d because of the time zones, just thought that was wacky.
Happy New Year Haakon.
I can read between the lines of your beautiful story that you
Have a realistic, yet nostalgic, yet appreciative of the familiar versus novel aspects of life.
How wonderful that you have come to this point. Yes more than surfing, hiking and mountain biking, in the Galapagos you were snorkeling in magnificent waters while a seal nibbled on your fin and a turtle swam above you with your parents and grandparents sharing these moments with you, all while your friends were in school! Very very cool!
Happy New Year Haakan and family! What wonderful writing, I can’t believe how much your doing and seeing. This entry is beautifully written and insightful. I will admit I’m a bit envious of such an epic adventure. But you have insight into what these travels mean and a deeper appreciation for home life. That perspective is invaluable. Continue to enjoy each and every moment as much as you can despite missing Seattle. Sorry it’s taken this long to respond to an entry, I’ll try to stay more up to date and respond.
We are enjoying rainy Portland. The kids just returned to school after a two week winter break where we basically did nothing, sadly. We had to work as we had just been to Costa Rica for two weeks, so unfortunately the kids did way too much screen time. Ginger is enjoying her third school in three years which is sort of amazing. She chose to switch to the Access program which is like the HCC in Seattle. She misses her friends but is happy to have smaller classes and more challenges. She is taking Spanish and enjoying it, although may not have the best teacher. She will start winter lacrosse clinic next week and then will do spring lacrosse again.
Wylder is doing better in school but still not interested in sports. But he loves his Trackers program which is an outdoor school all day once a month. He is learning about building shelters, carving knives, harvesting wild plants. We are going sledding this weekend but still working on getting him to ski.
Haakan your entry about the school bus reminded me of my ski bus in Middle school that I did for three years!
Be well,
Sara