Author Archives: Alan Kesselheim

Criminy! Before the election I adopted the stance that our country had not descended to such a level of depravity that we would actually elect a candidate like Donald Trump. I just wouldn’t accept that possibility. And I was wrong. … Continue reading →

My friend, Joe, is an avid nordic skier. The kind of guy who gets out 100+ times a year on his skis. His definition of summer is “three bad months of skiing”. For me, it’s about paddling, and for me, … Continue reading →

It’s a tad stunning to think that in the past five years, I’ve been fortunate enough to pull off four northern expeditions. The Mountain River in Canada’s Northwest Territory with some of our kids and partners, then a month on … Continue reading →

There are these occasional benchmarks by which we gauge our progress through life. Reality checks. Gut checks. Ambushes. Our kids graduating from college, our enrollment in Medicare, the advent of retirement, parents passing, decades rolling past like the rhythmic click … Continue reading →

It always seems slightly miraculous that we can make plans months and even years ahead of an event, and on the appointed day and window of time, with people vectoring in from far and wide, everyone shows up at a … Continue reading →

I don’t know, maybe it’s an age thing. Maybe it’s the sentimentality of the holiday season . . . Could be that I turned 71 and am more acutely aware of loose ends, and also of the cycles looping through … Continue reading →

It was Kimmer’s brilliant idea, more than 20 years back. “What if,” she said, “as each of us reaches 50, we propose a trip and everyone else shows up for it?” A novel and intriguing challenge. Everyone else, in this … Continue reading →

On our fridge is a list of stuff we have on our adventure/outing to-do list. Some of it is pretty aspirational (travel to Ireland), but most is quite attainable (local trails, bike rides, paddling). One of them is to finish … Continue reading →

Well, if you run a blog, I guess it’s on you to keep it current, which I haven’t been doing lately. It’s not that nothing has happened since spring, it’s just that I haven’t gotten around to posting about it. … Continue reading →

This Plan B world asserted itself once again on our March getaway to the desert southwest. To begin, on our departure morning, March 15, 6 am, we crept out of town on icy roads, made it about 5 miles, and … Continue reading →