It feels like its been awhile since we’ve posted about our happenings. Lots and lots and lots….and LOTS has been happening of late and Jake and I were in need of a change of scenery and some R&R (not that living on a boat doesn’t have its share of R&R). We decided to take a vacay to sunny Arizona for a visit with the folks.

This would be the longest period of time that we would NOT be on Bosco. Saying goodbye was hard but also not so hard. Both of us have been on edge with stress, lack of sleep, and constant problem solving / money-spending worries. We just needed a break from everything boat-related.

We spent a solid week and let me just say, it was glorious to soak in the dry sun. The quiet peace of the mountains was a welcome retreat from the dreary weather and constant boat work. We did a bit of binge eating the first few days (its hard for us to eat enough on the boat – mostly due to laziness – its a lot of work preparing meals on a boat). The best was the sonoran hot dog.

We also watched tons of great ‘crappy’ TV, which is novel and fun for us since we don’t get to do that very often. And of course, we hung out with the family and drove around in a golf cart taking photos of pretty things; you know all the stuff old people do when they’re retired (or pre-retired in our case).

Much of our afternoons were spent at the pool. Sometimes we would swim laps and other times just play. We even got my parents to play with us and a beach ball. Feels good to act like children sometimes!

About midway through our trip, Jake and I decided to go visit Biosphere 2. If you’ve never heard of this, it is an engineering masterpiece that was created to better understand the conditions in nature that allow life. Basically its like a giant science experiment. Remember that movie in the 90’s with Pauly Shore called Biodome? Its similar to that.

Biosphere 2 (the earth is Biosphere 1) is made up of several very sci-fi looking structures, all of which are connected through hallways or tunnels underground. It was like a cross between Tatuin (from Star Wars) and a space station. The greenhouses were GINORMOUS. The glass facility is over 3 acres in size (that’s over 7 million square feet!). Biosphere 2 was built in the mid-80’s to develop self-sustaining space-colonization technology. Scientists wanted to determine if life could be supported on other planets in a closed system. In the early 90’s, the first Human Mission began, which was basically 8 scientists living completely independent of the outside world inside the Biosphere for 2 years. The goal was to see if it was possible to create a self-sustained environment. While the experiment itself didn’t go exactly as planned (they ran out of oxygen) they discovered so many things that were unplanned.

Today, Biosphere 2 is home to many wonderful exhibits, experiments, scientific discovery, and education. Jake and I love this stuff. We are obsessed with the idea of living in a self-sustaining hovel. We found a perfect template for a greenhouse (though I’m sure we need far more sophisticated equipment and scientific minds, which we don’t have). It was super fun!

The rest of our trip was spotted with social gatherings with family and friends (dinners, lunches, brunches and such). We hung out with one couple, Gary and Dorothy, who spent 6 years circumnavigating the world on their custom 50-foot steel sailboat. They were so fun to talk to and had wonderful advice. Its great meeting other people who have done or are doing something like this (other crazy people as my family might say). So Inspiring!

As the last few days of our trip came and went, Jake and I started to feel the stress of boat stuff creep back in. We had to order our new engine and coordinate projects which was hard to do from the opposite side of the country. We also made the decision to cut back on spending; which really means that we will do more of our boat projects ourselves instead of hiring them out.

But despite that, we had a fantastic and relaxing time with the fam. I won’t lie, it was really nice sleeping in a real bed that doesn’t move all night, using a normal toilet (and shower – woo!). We are looking forward to getting back to finish projects so we can leave for the Bahamas by the end of October.