Egypt's Path (2010 to 2020) - Part I

Egypt's  Path  (2010 to 2020) - Part II

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2017 (Kellisa's First 18 Years)

Kellisa Keeps Her Side  and Reaches 18 

After moving across the country in 2016 and finishing our quest to hike in all 50 states, 2017 was still a year filled with many adventures  and fun times.

 

The year started out with some of Kellisa's hiking adventures featured in the new book, families on foot. We also went to Yosemite National Park for the first time, and the girls enjoyed Disney on Ice in Sacramento. Our family vacation for the year was a week in the Pacific Northwest where we visited several national parks and hiked with a large group of wheelchairs. Kellisa really enjoyed not being the only one in a chair on a trail.

 

2016 (Kellisa's First 18 Years)

Our family would relocate from Jacksonville, FL to Sacramento, CA in 2016 for my job. Our plan to move at the end of the kid's school year was changed when Lisa accepted a position that started in mid-January. 

 

After spending many New Year's Days exploring the Okefenokee Swamp, we spent the first day of 2016 at the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma.

 

We were driving Lisa's van to California over the long holiday weekend and chose a route that went through Oklahoma so Egypt could claim a new state visited and knock off another state that both girls hiked together.

 

2015 (Kellisa's First 18 Years)

The little girl who wasn't supposed to survive more than a few hours at most turned 16-years-old in May 2015. Kellisa endured 22 surgeries, countless seizures, and too many medical appointments and tests to count or even make an educated guess before arriving at her milestone birthday. 

 

Left & Middle- Blue Springs State Park

Right- Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

Kellisa's first wilderness experience happened on January 1, 2000, with a hike while attached to Lisa in a baby carrier at Blue Springs State Park, FL. 15 years later, to the day, we returned to the park for our first outdoor excursion of the year. We stopped at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge the following day on our drive back home.

2014 (Kellisa's First 18 Years)

 

Lisa was in the final stretch of completing her master’s degree and needed as much peace and quiet in the house as possible. I knew it would be easier to travel with both girls than to try and keep them quiet in the house. 

 

Egypt not only wanted to join her sister on her adventures, but it had become clear that Egypt also shared the same passion for travel, hiking, camping, and wildlife observations.