Best gifts for cruisers and other friends going on epic adventures (aka Thank you)

The crew chez Dogbark is getting ready to make another long passage, this time north to Alaska, and besides amassing fuel and boxed milk and fresh produce, another key preparation is creating a Halfway Box. This is a tradition my dear friend Kirsten started back in 2003 on Graeme’s and my first jaunt around the Pacific.

When we left last year for the Northwest Passage, Kirsten rallied the girlfriends to create another Halfway Box full of yummy treats, craft supplies, meaningful quotes, silliness, and, of course, love.

The other gift Kirsten gave us, which I hereby declare the most useful gift for anyone traveling away from “wee-fee” (as French Polynesians pronounce WiFi), is a thumbdrive of audiobooks. Kirsten curated and painstakingly downloaded over a hundred books from CDs she checked out from the library and, knowing we wouldn’t have internet, provided a blurb about each book so we’d know what we were getting into. Wow. If you want to guarantee your traveling friends won’t forget you while they’re gone, this is the gift. We thank goodness for Kirsten (and our audiobooks, which make boatwork and night watches better) at least once a week.

We received some other really useful gifts, too. Our friends Anh and Brandon gave us cool digital notebooks and a bomber waterproof bluetooth speaker for dance parties (and listening to family audiobooks from Kirsten). From Bainbridge friends, Patty and fam, we got a care package of nautical cocktail mugs and eye masks—the latter helped us sleep in the Arctic; the former, filled with sundowners, still does! And of course I’ve already written about the amazing (and activism-inducing) personalized YETI mugs gifted from our Sunrise Drive peeps; we use those every day.

Which brings us to a whole ‘nother type of gift we’ve received, those particularly useful at putting lumps in my throat. Like when our neighbor, Pam, (a former flight attendant) offered airline vouchers if we got in a jam. Or our neighbors, Bob and Kathe, gave the girls calligraphy and watercolor sets. Or our neighbor, Renée, handmade gorgeous quilts styled and sized perfectly for the girls’ bunks.

And then Graeme flew home for work a few weeks ago only to discover the most incredible pieces of art, handmade and left for us by our recent (and amazing!) renters, Ricann and Steve.

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Wow wow wow. We are bowled over and blown away by this amazing art, and the time, skill, thoughtfulness, and generosity it took to make these special gifts. Thank you, Ricann! #BestRentersEver

Of course, there’s another kind of gift without which this voyage would not have been possible. The hard labor that made Dogbark ready (enough) to set sail.

All those desks, mugs, pillows, and audiobooks bring us to the other kind of gift that we’ve carried with us all along. Not something you hold in your hands, or rest your head on, but something you hold in your heart. (Aw.)

We’ve officially been cruising a year and a week now. We’re heading into our last stretch—summer in Alaska—and then we’ll return home to the Pacific Northwest so the girls can enroll in school again this fall. So I guess this is my way of showing appreciation for all the many people—many of whom I haven’t even mentioned (like you, dear reader)—who’ve made this a rewarding and unforgettable voyage. THANK YOU!

Oh. And if you have a friend heading out cruising or embarking on some other epic adventure, be sure to send them off with a Halfway Box. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.