Exploring the Last Frontier

This summer marks a pivotal time here at SMF, and for each of us personally in the company. Monday we will be moving to our new apartment near Pittsburgh where I (yeah this is Evan officially writing the first non-Samantha authored blog post!) will be starting my first full time job as a petroleum engineer at Range Resources. Alongside this start is the move for SMF and all that comes with moving away from home. We are doing this all while working weddings and events all summer long. But before we really get started, we wanted to do one big trip to refocus on ourselves and let loose our inner wanderers! So, what did two indecisive procrastinating people do?? We booked a last-minute cruise to ALASKA!

We set sail after a night in Vancouver, BC and worked our way northwards across seven days filled with great views, hikes, musical shows and even better pizza. We had days at sea, days stopped in various ports from Hoonah, Juneau, and Skagway, and scenic cruising days in Glacier Bay National Park and College Fjord. We got to watch pieces of Margerie Glacier calve off into the bay, and countless waterfalls. We also saw almost every animal Alaska has to offer but the moose, so I was finally able to convince Samantha to get matching hats with me, and obviously we picked the moose hats! Look through and see the journey we took in our window of time off!

In a summer where we are going through so many big life stages and feel so busy, it was great to break free for a bit and focus on each other, ourselves, and nature. In the end I really had the time of my life out there in Alaska and would do it again any day, but the best part of the trip was not the places we saw, but the time with the person I love. So if you find yourself caught up in the whirlwind of everyday life, take a moment to hug the person you love the most and just take in the time you have with them. It is just that much sweeter with glaciers and mountains in the back though!

Special shout out to Catherine for not only holding down the fort while we were gone, but for carrying the team on her back through social media and even applying to an apartment for me and signing my lease!!

As “Mark Harris, your Naturalist” would want me to end this post, I end with a John Muir quote.

“I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”