Making Smiles Happen, Enterprises

01/08/2024

It’s been an interesting few weeks on our summer saga traveling, working remotely, working on the boat and enjoying this amazing place we live. It’s hard to believe we were in Wrangell almost two weeks, but now we’re back in the water and heading west. We’ll make a big push today to get around to the outside of Baranof and will be on the home stretch.

16/07/2024

We’ve been taking advantage of some down time in Wrangell this trip to do some world-class tourist activities. Yesterday was a trip to Anan Creek for some bear viewing, and it was spectacular. It’s a 1/2 mile walk followed by some amazing opportunities to watch bears catch dinner!

08/07/2024

It’s always fun to see old friends and settle right back into old routines. Community events, diving, amazing meals.

07/07/2024

We’ve been really enjoying our time on Prince of Wales. Visiting with old friends, living the harbor life, celebrating the holiday…. There might even be some adventuring and boat projects thrown into the next few posts. In the meantime, I hope everyone had a wonderful celebration of our Independence Day and took a few extra minutes to be thankful.

03/07/2024

Even without Facebook this is the one week of the year when my memories are filled with visions of long days, amazing people, hard work and the knowledge that what we were doing was important and made a difference to thousands. Who were we? We were the best sportsmedicine team in the world, and when you walked into the largest taekwondo tournament in the world you knew that we were there for you. From 0600 in the morning when we’re on the mat practicing saving lives, until 0300 when we staggered back to our rooms, dogs barkin’ and ready to drop—we were there and no one was going down on our watch. You did it right Trish, and I am proud to have been a part of it.

30/06/2024

We’re out and about on an adventure I’ve dreamed about for years. Cruising in SE Alaska on White Bear, with plans to visit old haunts, see old friends, adventure to new places and make more friends along the way. We’re off to a great start, and looking forward to many more smiles.

20/05/2024

When you have a big boat it tends to cramp your camping style so it was a treat to get out this weekend with good friends and enjoy a different Alaska adventure. We stayed in a beautiful cabin, did some great hikes, enjoyed good times with special friends and took a little time to breathe. Life on the last American frontier is a little different.

07/05/2024

Our last day in Canada was spent on the train, followed by a great night’s stay in one of our favorite spots in Seattle. We find ourselves pondering the concept of “customer service” this morning, and how that seems to have changed in our world. At the risk of preaching, I would share the following thought: It doesn’t really matter whether you’re working in the finest restaurant or driving a cab; setting someone up with a bicycle for a day’s ride in the rain or helping someone choose a nice jacket—if you don’t really believe in the product or experience you’re selling, then you probably shouldn’t be in the business. Appreciate the folks you meet every day that want to help you live your best life—they seem to be a dying breed.

06/05/2024

Our last day in Canada gave us a chance to try a few more great meals and go for a fantastic bike ride. This town has really done great things to make it possible to see things by bicycle, and we’re hooked on this for our new favorite way to sightsee…

05/05/2024

Day 4 of our Canadian adventure was all about travel to Vancouver. Vancouver is a bustling city with lots of cultural opportunities. We did a little walking, lots of eating and tried to enjoy the big city.

04/05/2024

Our last day in Victoria was spectacular. Nice morning walks, pastry and coffee for breakfast, a bus to the Buchart Gardens, a great lunch at Fisherman’s Wharf. Power shopping followed by an IMAX movie about Blue Whales and an amazing dinner at the Q. Tomorrow we head to Vancouver!

03/05/2024

Stolen from Master Mike Wickham’s page. I can relate. 🤣

03/05/2024

Day two of our mini-vacation was amazing! A nice walk to start the morning, a float plane from Seattle to Victoria, the Fairmont Empress Hotel, High Tea, Chinatown and great food. We got in nearly 20,000 steps and got to hang with the hoity toity crowd! Can’t wait for day 3!

02/05/2024

We’re squeezing a little vacay into our routine this week. Very unusual for us to pick a destination and opportunity that doesn’t include sailing or diving or rushing around. We’re taking a much needed break away from the day to day and heading to Seattle, Victoria and Vancouver, BC for a few days where we plan to do all sorts of cool tourist things!

17/03/2024

My sportsmedicine work has slowed down a bunch since my return to full time employment. It’s good to be back in the training room and on the floor working some of the best events in the world. It’s not the World Championships, but to the people of SE Alaska this tournament is all that. This is the 75th anniversary of a tournament that had no medical coverage until I brought our team here last year. It’s March Madness in Juneau, Alaska!!

24/01/2024

Today’s photo offering is about the creatures big and small that made this trip amazing. With so much focus on the little creatures it’s easy to lose sight of the big stuff, including the people that made the trip amazing. Angela is my favorite dive buddy, and it is never as much fun to be in the water without her. We met lots of folks on this trip that also made the experience unforgettable.

24/01/2024

Folks ask about where we went on our dive trip, and whether or not the coral was healthy. Here’s a little snippet that talks about the area. It was truly magical.

15/01/2024

Photo post #2 from our trip to Raja Ampat is the star of the show—the nudibranchs! These little guys are really cool, and after a while you get pretty good at looking for them. We’re looking forward to getting back to our Alaska diving where we will see lots more of these, including the biggest ones in the world.

14/01/2024

Our recent trip to Raja Ampat was an underwater photographer’s dream. You might say we were looking for Nemo, but who knew there were so many Nemo’s to find. Red ones, orange ones, black ones…and more different anemones than you could count. It’s fitting to start my photo posts with the clownfish and his symbiotic home. We never got tired of seeing them.

07/01/2024

January 7, 2024... Normally my day would have started with a phone call to my father for his birthday. I have no doubt that he would have been happy to get the call, and he would have started his day in his recliner with his phone in his hand. As Daddy got older and became less able to do things he became less and less happy with his world. The things that gave my father joy throughout his life included contact with family and friends, and he took great pride in helping people with projects and life's challenges, large and small.

There are many things that I learned from my father during my 64 years on this planet. There were many things he did during his 88 years with us that he was proud of, and that I am also proud of... None means more than his willingness to give to others. It's one of the things I consider a fundamental part of 'me', and it's a fundamental part of the people I choose to spend my life with.

Happy birthday Dad. Thank you.

31/12/2023

Finding Nemo! PC for Angela McGraw!

30/12/2023

We’re on board and learning the routines!

The Arenui was built between 2007 and 2009 and received significant attention during the Covid Pandemic. Indonesia was basically closed down, so it gave the owners a little unexpected time to do so…

30/12/2023

Internet has been challenging while on board, but there has been plenty to do. Catching up on a few posts between diving!

The flight from Jakarta to Sorong takes about 4 hours… One more flight…. and apparently this is the one that most of the folks going to this dive paradise will be on. There were LOTS of dive bags g…

21/12/2023

Want to read about international travel?

This isn’t the first time I’ve traveled internationally. I used to do it a lot when I was working with taekwondo. Prior to that I was fortunate to travel a bit to drive sailboats and take people SC…

17/12/2023

I’ve decided to start trying to write again, and share adventures in words instead of just FB…. I hope you’ll read along!

It’s been a while since I have been motivated to write about adventures, but I actually think about it a lot and wish I had not stopped…. I find writing to be challenging, because I’m a bit of a pe…

19/11/2023

For those of you that wonder what I do with my time now that I don’t sail in the waters of the Caribbean and travel with taekwondo. I build health care clinics and hospitals. 😊

15/11/2023

We’ll be opening our Rehabilitation Services Pediatric Clinic here in January!!

SEARHC is excited to announce the construction of the Vintage Park Campus in Juneau. It will feature a range of services – including behavioral health, primary care, urgent care, pediatrics and optometry – open to …

14/10/2023

This is the annual trip to Alyeska for the AKAPTA Fall Conference. This is no longer a rushed two-day trip to learn…. We turn it into a few extra days to enjoy some of the area while we’re here.

05/09/2023

Memories and goodbyes. The weather is turning and Fall is here in SE.

04/09/2023

Had a great visit from family this past week and was able to share some amazing weather and Alaska adventure. Last night we finally caught up enough to cook the okra they brought to share and it was fantastic. My favorite meal with chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and sausage gravy, fried okra and biscuits. We even learned a new drink recipe—mint juleps to help with the cooking creativity. What a great cap to some wonderful family time!