Hello and Goodbye,

And so the adventure ends...but it will always be held close to our hearts through memories forever to be recalled.

We were greeted by some wonderful friends and family when we arrived in Olympia on June 27. It made the homecoming special.

Thanks to all of you who followed our blog and shared in this incredible journey. We feel truly blessed to have had this experience and to be back home in beautiful Olympia.

Thank you again for your prayers, good wishes, and the great energy you sent our way. It helped us live our dream.....

Flying the flags of some of the countries we visited.

Home, with the Capitol in the background.


This dragonfly caught our fishing pole?

We are home!!!!

Hello from Port Townsend, Washington!

So close to home and wanting to be there yet at the same time having difficulty ending this amazing journey. So we are enjoying a slow cruise to Olympia. We were blessed with calm seas for the last Pacific Ocean passage and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

As if to say hello and welcome back we were greeted by a pod of Orca whales as we passed Pt. Wilson which is just two miles from Port Townsend.

We will be pulling into Percival Landing on Saturday, June 27 at noon. All are invited to greet us as Suzanne 2 and crew arrive home.

(Click on the picture to enlarge for a better view.)

The Orcas greeting us.

Port Angeles

Cape Flattery

Tatoosh Island


Ilwaco

Hello All,

Well, the last leg of the journey from Newport, Oregon to Westport, WA was full of mishap. The sail ripped (again); we lost steering (luckily we were entering Ilwaco Harbor); a wad of fishing line wrapped around the prop (hired a diver to remove what Ken could not reach). Also, it was foggy every day so we have no pictures to post.

Then we got a call informing us that Ken's mom fell and broke her hip. So we left the boat in Westport and flew to LA to be with her during the surgery. The day after the surgery she was not looking well but the second day she was much better. We were grateful that we were able to be there with her.

We are back in Westport and plan to leave tomorrow for our last bit of the Pacific Ocean...a 90 mile run to Cape Flattery.

It looks like we could be home by the 1st of July which is the day we left in 2006.

Hello from Newport, Oregon.

After leaving San Francisco the weather has been foggy, cloudy and cold. Luckily, the seas have been calm so the journey has been bearable. We did buy a heater for the cabin to use when we are at port. Our days of sailing at night wearing shorts and t-shirts are now a fading but fond memory.

We will be in WA the day after tomorrow. It will feel strange to be so close to home but still so far (We will be in Westport, a 45 minute drive to our Olympia home).

The Newport, Oregon bridge on another cloudy day.

This big guy was on the dock at Bodega Bay.

Greetings from San Francisco.

After leaving San Diego, we stopped at several harbors along the way including Oceanside, Newport Beach, Los Angeles, Oxnard, Santa Barbara, Port San Luis, San Simeon, and Santa Cruz. We visited with family and friends at some of the ports. Most of the traveling was motoring into the wind and waves and FOG. It has been very cold which has been a shock for us after living in tropical weather for almost three years.

We will leave San Fran in a few days when the weather improves. It is less than 700 miles to Cape Flattery, WA. Yahooooo!

Mariner statue at Marina Del Rey Where we
stayed for 9 days, visiting family, including Ken's
mom for Mother's Day.


Family and friends on the boat.


3 sisters. Tricia, Maggie and Paula.


The lone tree at Pebble Beach in Stillwater Cove.


Pebble beach golf course.


Quintessential San Simeon with the Hearst Castle
on top of the hill.

Is 8 the number of seals allowed per bouy?

This cute little guy was flying all over the boat,

inside and out. (no, Ken was not the one flying)

There were several of them joining us.

Getting ready to sail under the Golden Gate bridge

in the fog.

Hi everyone, we want to thank all of you who are following our journey and those of you who have posted notes. There is more to the story and we won't feel finished untill we dock at Percival Landing in Olympia.

Well it has been over two and a half years since we passed Pt. loma to enter San Diego. We have been here a week now, enjoying being back in the "good ol' USA". We will make our way to Los Angeles this week, maybe with a stop at Catalina Island, depending on the wind and seas.

Pt. Loma, San Diego.


The US Coast Guard was practising rescue tactics
when we were entering the bay. We love the
Coast Guard.




Chilling out on land at Windtree resort.

Hello,

Our plans changed and we are still in Ensenada waiting for warm weather and calm seas before we continue north at the end of April. We did rent a car over Easter weekend to visit family in California. It felt strange to be driving a car, being in the USA, and it was wonderful to see our loved ones again.

The Rauen sisters together again.
Top row from left: Paula, Holley, Maggie.
Bottom row from left: Dana, Elena, Tricia.

The Rauen clan at Windtree.

Ken's lovely Mom at her home in Lancaster.

Preparing for the Easter egg hunt for the kids.

Paula and most of her sisters. Elena is missing,

probably chopping firewood or driving her tractor.


We all met at Windtree where Elena has a retreat

center. A lot of her land was destroyed by a huge

fire last year, but it was still beautiful and we were

all together.

Hand painted eggs. There were some artist among us.