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2017 Washington State Book Award finalist, based on the strength of its literary merit and lasting importance!
The Ocean is calling me. This is my Journey.
With these words, in the spring of 2010, Susan Marie Conrad scaled her world down to an 18-foot sea kayak and launched a solo journey that took her north to Alaska. With no sense of where she belonged in space and unreconciled feelings of a painful childhood following her, she decided that instead of running away, she would run toward her dreams. Her adventure took her along the western coast of North America, through the Inside Passage-a 1,200-mile ribbon of water-in a journey of the sea and soul.
The expedition took her deep within herself, humbling her, healing her, helping her to discover the depths of her own strength and courage. On her way from Anacortes, Washington, to Juneau, Alaska, she grappled with fear and exhaustion, forged friendships with quirky people in the strangest places, endured perilous weather and angry seas, and pretended not to be intimidated by 700-pound grizzly bears and 40-ton whales.
She lived her dream.
About the author
Susan Marie Conrad is an expedition kayaker, award-winning author, public speaker, and lover of all-things-wild. Long slow paddles in long skinny boats are her jam, having completed two approximately 1,200-mile solo through-paddles of the Inside Passage from Washington State to Southeast Alaska. She uses these expeditions, and her resulting life transformations, as a springboard for her work, focusing on inspiring people to reach their full potential. She's authored three books about the Inside Passage and loves sharing her personal stories on the page and the stage inspiring people and demonstrating the power of self-belief and tenacity. She's happiest with a paddle, a camera, a notepad, or a book in her hands. Learn more at SusanMarieConrad.com
