Just Going For It

This is an adaptation of my weekly newsletter, Adventures Big & Small. If you want to receive emails like these, click here to subscribe.

I will be the first to admit that parenting has curbed my adventurous inclinations. It is really hard to find sequential days when everyone is free and no one is sick and to pack everything in the old Subaru and make sure the dogs are cared for and get out of the house and endure our daughter’s hatred of car seats. 

So I’m quite proud that we stuck to our plan to spend the night after Christmas in a Steep Ravine cabin. If you haven’t heard of them they are nothing short of paradise (my kind, anyhow). Cozy, wooden, spartan, wood-stove-heated, and perched on a headland just above the ocean  facing directly into whatever the Pacific sends our way.

Reservations are extremely hard to get, so having one was inspiration enough to make us go for it the day after Christmas, despite our daughter’s on-and-off fever and a week of terrible nights of sleep (teething? ear infection?…)

I could make this newsletter really long talking about the experience, but I will let pictures tell you instead. I hope these quick digital snaps (film is on it’s way to the lab) give you a sense of why it was worth it. 

If there’s anything that says it all, it is that our daughter had a great time. The rain and the wind and the heat of the fire and the cozy cabin with the rain blowing hard against the windows and even the mud – kids love all of it.

I have long been enamored by the idea of artistically documenting families that are out on a real adventure. As romantic as it sounds, it is challenging to make happen. But in 2025 I’m going to try really hard.