Freedom in a Can: Adventures with Hamlet

The Hawaiian Islands are the most isolated lands on Earth.   More than 2400 miles from North America, these tiny little mountain tops are further away from any continent than any other land mass on the planet.   Despite their remote nature, Oahu has become the L.A. of the Pacific, the Big Island thinks of itself as the mainland and little Kaua’i (“The Forgotten Island”) is slowly being loved to death.   Kaua’i is a crazy little dot in the middle of the world’s largest ocean; it is and is not the United States.   Of course, I could say that about a lot of places within our union, especially those far flung and remote enough to require several planes, busses, cars and steps to reach.   This description fits Kaua’i particularly well.    Since arriving in October, my feet decided that shoes, socks and cover of any kind were incompatible with our new latitude.   Flipflops, sandals, okay but nothing at all was even better.   Within 2 weeks,...

If you think you are too small to make a difference you have never spent the night with a mosquito. -   African Proverb On our way back through the Midwest last summer, heading toward Michigan for my parents’ 50 th anniversary, we drove through northern Wisconsin and visited one of sea kayaking’s holy grails, The Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.   We’ve been out on Lake Superior before and know that the big lake demands respect at any time of year, but we didn’t know what to expect in terms of wildlife.    Let me just say that impressive isn’t the word for it.   I’m not talking moose, deer, or even bear, though the National Park Service did shut down Sand Island the night after we left it because of an all too curious male black bear.   We didn’t get to experience his curiosity first hand, but the story goes that he waltzed into camp the night before we arrived, ate some poor paddler’s food and promptly washed it down with a whole can...