In July 2023, I had to return to Washington State for work. Bold Bison would be with a client for a week. It wasn’t, by any means, a reprise of the thirty-five days I’d spent on the road in the summer of 2022, but it was a nice chance to be in the Pacific Northwest in the middle of summer. The year before, flights had been very pricey with the first, halting reopening of post-COVID summer travel. So Sean hadn’t been able to join me. But in 2023, I decided to stay in Seattle after wrapping up on-site client work and have a mix of remote work and downtime at an AirBnB. Sean would join me. As would Andy, then Dan, then Angela. We’d get to see Seattlites, Kathrin and James and Malia and other Sean.

And we’d finally check Mount Rainier National Park off our list.

The trip schedule ended up looking like this:

On Wednesday, July 19, Patrick and I would fly to Seattle and drive up to Bellingham, Washington, to support the Kinship Conservation Fellows program for a week.

On Wednesday, July 26, I would drop Patrick at the airport and then check into an AirBnB townhouse in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle, near Lake Union. Next day, Andy and Sean would fly in from Detroit and Chicago, respectively. We would explore and hang out in Seattle through the weekend.

Then on Monday, July 31, Andy, Kathrin, Sean, and I would spend the day at Mount Rainier National Park. Also that day, Dan would arrive from Glacier National Park.

On Tuesday, August 1, Andy and Sean would fly home. And on Wednesday, August 2, Angela would fly out and join us through her birthday on Saturday. Then on Sunday, August 6, Dan and Angela would start the drive home to Chicago, and I would fly home.

A lot of comings and goings, but also a lot of fun in store!