I’ll give all credit to my dad for introducing me to photography waaaay back. He had a darkroom in our basement where I would watch his images magically appear in the developing solution. To this day, I carry my Nikon and/or iPhone ready to capture those images that just don’t wait!

Photography seems to be a DNA thing as my son and his wife now make their living traveling the globe as adventure film makers. I think my dad would be quite pleased about that.

My husband, Mark, and I have thoroughly enjoyed living full-time on Guemes Island since 2017, landing here after circling the USA in our motorhome for well over a year, looking for the right place to retire. It was exciting to think where that might be as we traveled state to state.

The PNW was in the back of our minds as we toured. We’d fallen in love with the San Juans chartering boats when our kids were still at home. Then our younger son moved to Washington a few years ago so he blazed that trail.

For a photographer, Skagit County is a dream with jagged mountains, the sea, islands, rivers, forests, migrating birds, and so much more. And there’s ample opportunity for Mark to paraglide in the area which has introduced me to several majestic views from paragliding launch sites. Wow!

Traveling to different places on the planet has been a highlight in our years together. Mark hails from New Zealand. We met in Minnesota when he came on an exchange program at the “U” in 1977. He had a roommate from South Africa and the desire to go has been on the list ever since. We finally made it early on in 2020. We traveled backroads in our rented bakkie seeing much before the country – including us – went into Covid lockdown. We’ll have to return to complete the itinerary which included Botswana and Zimbabwe. It’s amazing.

Other trips in the past decade for us include India, Nepal, Vietnam, Cambodia, Egypt, England, Costa Rica, Israel, New Zealand, Chile, and Peru. For a gal who grew up in Minnesota, I am intrigued by my own list!

What’s so great at this point? We pinch ourselves for having chosen Guemes Island as home knowing we will never run out of jaw dropping adventures close to home and I am always camera ready! You know the Q, “If you could do anything, what would it be?” In my next life I’ll pursue being a NatGeo photographer. Why not?

I am very happy to be included in the Guemes Island Art Initiative and look forward to meeting more interesting folks through this effort.