WHEN THE CLOCK struck midnight on New Year’s Day, I was awakened by a neighbor’s fireworks.
Yes, I had been sound asleep. Plans of a razor clam dig and a Pacific Ocean beach jaunt flung away in favor of a fever-filled week sick at home.
I admit a little bit of wanderlust had invaded after a year where my longest journey was a visit to Yakima to cover the state basketball tournament.
A trip is still on my radar, but it’s likely that a cross-border jaunt to Canada will have to suffice this year.
My passport expires in August and the U.S. State Department recommends a nine-month leeway in applying for a replacement.
There are ways to experience far-flung locales right here on the North Olympic Peninsula this winter, and to help provide food and project materials for volunteers working on the Olympic Discovery Trail.
The Peninsula Trails Coalition’s Adventure Travel Series kicks off Friday at the Port Angeles Senior Center, 328 E. Seventh St., at 7 p.m. Friday.
Suggested donation for each talk is $5.
Four consecutive Friday night lectures are planned, beginning with “Birding on Wrangel Island” by Jackie and Elston Hill.
Wrangel Island is a Russian preserve situated in the Arctic Ocean between Siberia and Alaska, which serves as the northernmost nesting ground for 100 migratory bird species, many endangered.
Next up on Friday, Jan. 16 is “Olives, Sherry, Christians and Moors: A Walking Tour in Southern Spain” by John and Mary Wegmann.
Port Angeles adventurer Chris Duff will recount his successful trip “Rowing the Atlantic from Scotland to Iceland” on Friday, Jan. 23.
Duff rowed 300 miles solo in a 19-foot boat from Scotland’s Faroe Islands to Breidalsvik, Iceland, in seven days and seven nights last May.
It was his third attempt at the journey, having been thwarted by northerly winds in 2011 and 2012.
The Port Angeles series wraps on Friday, Jan. 30, with “Paddling the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness” by Ann Nolan.
This area on Minnesota’s northeastern border with Ontario provides 1,200 miles of canoe routes and 12 hiking trails for recreation.
I once worked with a Minnesota native who while awed by Olympic National Park, raved up and down about the Boundary Waters area, which is bordered to the north by Canada’s Quetico Provincial Park and is bordered on the west by Voyageurs National Park.
Winter Wanderlust
Over in Port Townsend, the Winter Wanderlust series brings a couple of the Adventure Travel Series presenters to the Key City, along with plenty of other locales.
These talks begin Friday at 7 p.m. at Quimper Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship, 2229 San Juan Ave.
Admission is $7 for this series, free for ages 18 and younger.
This Friday’s lecture begins with a nation that will soon become a destination for many American adventurers, Cuba.
Photographer Stephen Cuncliffe will present “¡Cuba — El Corazón de la Vida!”, an exploration of the landscape, culture and people of Havana, Trinidad and Vinales.
The Hills visit Friday, Jan. 16 to discuss and show pictures from Wrangel Island.
Walter Padgett presents “Tokaido — Japan’s Ancient Highway” on Friday, Jan. 23.
Padgett will contrast Edo-era (1603-1868) travel, through print images, with contemporary comparisons, through photographs, of this great coastal route.
The series breaks for a week before Mary Roye and Nancy Krill present “Polar Bears to Penguins” on Friday, Feb. 6.
Roye and Krill sailed from Hudson Strait to Alaska, via Newfoundland, the Azores, Argentina, Cape Horn, Antarctica, Chile, and the Galapagos.
Duff will talk of his journey from Scotland to Iceland during “Viking Stepping Stones — Rowing the North Atlantic” on Friday, Feb. 13.
The series will wrap with “Going Dutch — the Netherlands with Jeff and Louise Davis on Friday, Feb. 20.
The couple cycled across the bike-loving nation, exploring the culture from Van Gogh paintings to the canals of Groningen and Leiden.
Travelers Journal
Another Peninsula Trails Coalition fundraiser, Traveler’s Journal is Sequim’s winter adventure travel lecture series.
It kicks off Thursday, Feb. 5 and continues Thursdays through March 26 at the Sequim High School cafeteria, 601 N. Sequim Ave., at 7 p.m.
Suggested donation is $5 for adults, free for ages 18 and younger.
Duff opens the series on Feb. 5 followed by “Freewheels: A 450-mile Bikepacking Escape Through the Can-American Rockies” by Nick Batcheller on Thursday, Feb. 12.
Other planned presenters include:
■ Feb. 19: “Uniquely India” by Maureene Dubiak.
■ Feb. 26: “You’ll Be Stayin’ Another Night: A Cycling Adventure in New Zealand” by Willie Weir.
■ March 5: “Trekking in the Dolpo Region of Nepal” by Randy Johnson.
■ March 12: “Exploring Iceland on Foot” by Elaine Fredrickson.
■ March 19: “Heat, Hill and Hot Springs: Exploring Idaho by Mountain Bike” by Dick and Heidi Pattee
■ March 26: “Walking Long in Scotland: Finding Value in a Failed Plan” by Ron Strange.
As you can see the North Olympic Peninsula offers a wealth of ways to indulge those yearning for another stamp in their passport.
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Outdoors columnist Michael Carman appears here Thursdays and Fridays. He can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5152 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
