To my fellow wanders, dreamers and explorers,

I know I said I would try to write a little more regular, but life as it always does has gotten mad busy (but good!) and I've been either at work or chillin with my boy.
 

The California trip. The first week I spent in San Francisco - it was decadent. Chinese hot buns for a buck, 11PM desert cafe runs and runs in general (if you haven't had an opportunity to check out the National Fitness Campaign, look it up, great bodyweight fitness parks all over the place). I am irrationally proud that I placed 17th in the Bridge to Bridge 5k. Look for that on my future tombstone. My friends Kevin and Heidi acted as surrogate parents while I crashed on their couch...and ate all their food.

Then, the hike. It was the first time I have backpacked for multiple days. Total we walked close to 40 miles in 5 days, climbing several thousand feet with a maximum altitude of 11.5k. We saw wildlife, mules, chipmunks, bucks and bears. Wildflowers and rivers.

Above all else, we saw mountains. Big sweeping ridges and peaks surrounding equally big open spaces.  We slept under the stars and swam in the glacial lakes. In the evenings, we talked about everything and nothing (we tried to define empathy - not easy), ate hot food out of pouches and sometimes chocolate. There is not a more perfect group, a collective of kind and open adventurers. We wandered off the trail and into the hills. Much of the trip I walked alone. It was a selfish act on my part, but in a act of true generosity my friends would let me go.

Those miles and those hours - they meant so much. I am still wrestling with everything that has happened the last 2 years, as well as where I am right now. The act of walking served as a form of meditation, at some point I lost my sense of time and space and was fully absorbed in my thoughts for hours. Little by little I began to feel more at ease with things.

On the third day, I woke before the sun rose. We had camped high above the valley on a ridge, next to a lake. I slipped down into the valley and traversed my way up to the next ridge. As I sat there eating my breakfast in the dawn light, the sun breaking above the mountains across from me, I felt a deep sense of peace. A still place and a profound moment.

The last week was spent in San Diego resting and relaxing. My brother and his girlfriend did their best to spoil me. We boogie boarded in water far too deep and ate far too many tacos. Everywhere we went there seemed to be new friends, it is by far the friendliest town I have visited in recent memory (To the man at In-N-Out who wished me "Peace and Prosperity" - we'll go get those arm sized burritos from your buddy Ramone - promise). It's a good place and I plan on running back sometime in January or February with my mother (with more surfing or boogie boarding).

At the end of the trip, it felt right to come back to Seattle though. Despite all the hardship, I have created a home and family for myself here. Excuse me for a moment while I get a bit sappy. That starts with my son, if there is a "why", he is it. I'm not going to try to paint him as perfect. He has his temper tantrums, his ability to ask the same question over and over and over and over, an impressive commitment to sleep and hunger strikes. But he makes my heart feel full. I've become better for him and because of him. If there is a list of badass duos "David and Gaël" are right at the top.

I think that's a good place to wrap this up. Hope wherever you are, you are getting a chance to collect leaves, attend potlucks and rest. I hope I'll see you soon, but if I don't, I'm packing as much love as I can into this little newsletter,

Cowabunga dude,

DJ

Written listening to this and this.

A video from the hike. Some pictures.