Testimonials

________________

“I’ve been wondering about traveling the world with my Micro Preemie. It took me a long time to feel OK about taking her outside of our little bubble. It felt like a huge deal to be on a plane together and going across the country. Your story is giving me hope that travel is possible, and we should keep trying to get out there! I promised my daughter that if she survived, I would show her the world. I don’t think that means being trapped inside a building day after day. I think it means what you guys are doing. This is inspiring!”  Cheryl Silinskas (Micro Preemie Mother)

________________

"All your posts inspire me to get out and do all the hiking and exploring I've always wanted to do! I can't wait to live a life full of adventure like you've created." Jenny Sloan

________________

"So much power and love for you Kellisa, you are one courageous person. You actually did stuff that even a non disabled person would be scared to do. Best of luck."  Anonymous

________________

"I love the paternal love, the optimism and the courage that shines through your blog postings. It brought a big lump to my throat.

My almost 4 year old son has severe developmental delays, and there are days I feel helpless and hopeless, days when I want to throw in the towel and hide under a rock. 

Reading your blog made me feel ashamed of myself. Thank you for letting me realize that we are bigger than ANYTHING that can happen to our children.

God bless your family and your beautiful little girl." Gail

________________

"I'm so glad I found this site today. My wife was injured in car accident (C5 Spinal cord) but we still love to go out and go hiking. We are always searching for accessible trails and this is a great resource!" Anonymous

________________

"This is absolutely awesome on so many levels! Words really can't begin to describe it. A father's strength ... and a daughter's strength ... to not let a disability keep you both from dreaming big and doing big! Big Bend was a beautiful park and the race was a terrific opportunity to visit it. I'm glad you both got to tour the park as participants in the race. So awesome!" Anonymous

________________

"This touched my heart. So much love for you all, everywhere you go. Kellisa is amazing and so are her folks." Ellen Jo

________________

"I love this so much. It's amazing what our kids teach us. I've been reading your posts for awhile now. I don't normally comment but I just wanted my support to be known." Anonymous 

HOME

Vampire Bat Face Kellisa

 Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

Florida

October 2007

15 years ago - While all the little girls were getting butterflies, mermaids, and glittery princesses painted on their faces, Kellisa wanted a vampire bat with blood dripping from one of her fangs. 

Mary Oliver Quote

 

French Toast Casserole

Ingredients and Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375F

10 Slices Thick Bread (1" Cubes)

8 Large Eggs

2 1/4 Cups Whole Milk (Next time - Almond Vanilla Milk)

3/8 Cup Sugar

Mix and spread one layer in baking pan with butter spray applied

Drizzle with topping:

6tbsp melted Sea Salt Butter

3tbsp Sugar

Add a second layer and drizzle topping

Sprinkle Cinnamon

Bake for 38 minutes

Use your favorite toppings. Maple Syrup pictured below with sausage, coffee, and OJ.

Accessible Vacations - An Insider's Guide to 10 National Parks

 I'm excited to have written my first "Blurb" for a new book:

Follow Kellisa's Path by email

52 Trails Challenge - January 2022 Summary

 

Follow Kellisa's Path by email

Black Swan Trail

 

BLACK SWAN TRAIL VIDEO

TRAILS

HOME

Black Swan Trail - Video

 

Follow Kellisa's Path by email

Suisun Hill - Video #2

 

Follow Kellisa's Path by email

Suisun Hill - Video #1

 Video by Egypt:

Follow Kellisa's Path by email

TRAYLOR RANCH BIRD SANCTUARY & NATURE PRESERVE - VIDEO #2

 

Follow Kellisa's Path by email

Traylor Ranch Bird Sanctuary & Nature Preserve - Video #1

We decided to up our video content for our 52 trails in California during 2022. Egypt created this video from pictures taken along our 1st trail of the year. Hopefully, our picture taking and video creations will improve as we experiment and practice. 

Follow Kellisa's Path by email

Suisun Hill Trail

Suisun Hill (Left) from Grizzly Island Road

False Summit (Left) and Suisun Hill (Right) at the start of the hike.

False Summit

Summit Push

Arriving at the Summit

Summit Views

Descending the backside of Suisun Hill

Plane coming in for a landing at Travis Air Force Base

Cattle along the trail

Trail #2 in 2022 in the books!

Follow Kellisa's Path by email

WJXT Channel 4

 January 21, 2016

Jacksonville, FL

Kellisa reminding me to look at the camera while we're interviewed on live TV 
to share some of Kellisa's story and support for Wolfson Children's Hospital

Follow Kellisa's Path by email

Traylor Ranch Bird Sanctuary & Nature Preserve

Blog Post Format Two - Summary, Pictures, and Facts

Trail 1/52 

Penryn, California

Placer County

January 2022

After two years and only two short trails completed, we decided 2022 would be the year Kellisa returned to outdoor adventures in wild places. It didn't take long to hatch the idea of hiking 52 trails in our current home state of California during the calendar year of 2022. With only a few guidelines, we set out for our first trail on January 2, 2022. 

I had read about the Traylor Ranch Bird Sanctuary & Wildlife Preserve a couple of years ago in a local publication and it easily made my list of places to explore. One of the  appeals was how close it is to our house, less than 20 minutes away. Penryn is probably considered a suburb of Sacramento, but it is far from urban as it's tucked away in the foothills of the Sierras. 

Kellisa and I pushiked a couple of miles and enjoyed every minute of our adventure. We had the preserve mostly to ourselves and were serenaded by the local birds during our entire visit to their home. While we observed many birds, the lighting wasn't good for bird photography. 

After more then 2 years off the trails, Kellisa was beyond excited to be back outside in nature. I was happy with the way my body responded to pushing Kellisa, but also realized I have some getting in shape to do. After so much down time, I need to get my chops back, so I can get Kellisa back to going where wheels weren't meant to go!

 

Egypt and Kellisa Meet the Harlem Globetrotters

 Oakland Arena

Oakland, CA

Friday, January 14, 2022

We had a great experience watching the Harlem Globetrotters from our courtside seats. Little did we know, the highlight of the evening would happen after the game. As the buzzer sounded to end the game, security quickly roped off the court. The announcer invited all the fans to come down for one autograph. Fans were advised to stay on the outside of the rope and the players would stay on the court. 

Egypt and Kellisa were lined up to get an autograph on their souvenir basketball from TNT, the only current woman Globetrotter. TNT had the girls join her on the court while she signed her autograph.

TNT escorted the girls towards center court:

Egypt and Kellisa were then guided to all the Globetrotters for autographs, pictures, and videos.

   

Harlem Globetrotters

 Oakland Arena

Oakland, CA

Friday, January 14, 2022

Several months ago, I received an email with a Pre-Sale code to purchase Harlem Globetrotters tickets in Oakland. I would prefer a Sacramento date, but it wasn't on their schedule (it would be added later). Oakland isn't that far from us, so I asked Lisa if we should get tickets for the girls as part of a Christmas present. We decided that both girls would enjoy it and I went online when the tickets went on Pre-Sale. 

I started looking for wheelchair options and quickly found a section midway up the arena. I was close to selecting our seats when I noticed the four seats on the court next to the Globetrotters bench were available. They were more money, but we haven't attended any events in almost two years and I knew the girls would love the action so close to them. 

The timer was counting down and a decision had to be made quick. Lisa and I decided to get the courtside seats. We were not disappointed. The tickets were worth the little extra to be right there so near all the action. The girls got to high five several players and Egypt had her picture taken with their mascot.  It was a great game, evening, and experience that will be hard to match in the future. 

I would like to thank all the staff at the Oakland Arena who took care of us and treated us like VIPs. As we approached the entrance, a security guard led us the the wheelchair line. From there, a nice lady escorted us through the process of security and ticket scanning. She also led us to the elevator that would take us deep inside the arena to the floor level. A man was there when the elevator doors opened. He looked at our tickets and started leading us to the floor. As we walked and wheeled onto the floor, another person met us to walk us to our seats. The same process was repeated on our exit and everyone was so pleasant and kind. I even imagine they were all smiling under their masks.

Traylor Ranch Bird Sanctuary & Nature Preserve

Blog Post Format One - Just the Facts and the Best Picture 

How to Blog Rugged California - 52 Trails - 2022 Challenge?

How am I going to share our Rugged California 52 Trails 2022 Challenge?

Do I share very little like I did when I was working on Rugged Access for All? I only gave periodic updates and shared an occasional picture but saved all the text for the actual book. Do I blog the book? This is where the blog is basically the first or rough draft of the book along with pictures and all supporting information. There’s a third option that falls somewhere between sharing just a little and posting everything.

I don’t want to give the entire book away online, but I also don’t want to keep a year’s worth of adventure from family, friends, and other followers of Kellisa’s Path. After careful reflection, I’ve decided on the third option this time around.

Charles Dickens famously wrote, “Make them laugh. Make them cry. Make them wait.”

I intend to follow that advise in how I share our next project. Hopefully, if the story unfolds as hoped, there will be some giggles and tears shared along our path and just enough left unknown to leave readers wanting more.  

I’ve detailed our hiking goal for 2022 and now my approach to sharing our stories. I will go one step beyond by describing the blog style I’ve decided to use for this project. Each of the 52 trails will be shared on Kellisa’s Path in the order we complete the trails. Each post will go up within a week or two of completion, as time allows.

We will have three different posting formats.

The first will be the simplest, the best photograph from the trail and the basic who, what, when, where, why, and how of the trail.

The second will be posting the best picture or perhaps several, and a brief chapter summary along with the who, what, when, where, why, and how of the trail.

The last format will have a fully written chapter in addition to the pictures and who, what, when, where, why, and how of the trail. The chapter won’t be the final draft because it won’t be fine tuned and edited until after all the hikes have been completed. This will allow for making changes as our story arch develops over time. What might not seem important to mention at first, may become necessary to share as part of the story months later.

Kellisa and I completed our first trail of 2022 on January 2^nd. You might be thinking, “Why didn’t we go out on the 1^st?”

Well, Kellisa stayed up past 1am to welcome the new year and proceeded to sleep until 3:30pm. With the sun setting before 5pm, we didn’t have enough time to head out on the first day of January.

The Clock Strikes Midnight 2022

Over the next few days, maybe even a week, I’ll post three versions of our first hike to show the above defined formats for clarity.

We will share only one format for all subsequent hikes. I’m not sure if we will rotate evenly, let time dictate how we post, or decide which format is best for each trail so we can hopefully leave you laughing, crying, and wanting more!