Kenmore. 2019. Epicenter Press. 1st Paperback Edition. Very Good in Wrappers. 9781603811057. 6 x 9. 16 pages of color illustrations. 288 pages. paperback. keywords: Travel Biography Women Alaska. DESCRIPTION - 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. Susan Conrad writes of the things that make solo sea kayaking challenging, rewarding and life changing. The tides are not always in her favor and the crossings are not all sun drenched and paddled with ease or certainty. At times her fatigue is as palpable as the taste of salt from tears or sea spray or both. When Susan reaches her goal, the reader will understand there is so much more to a solo endeavor than the physical act of paddling 1,100 miles. --Chris Duff, expedition paddler and rower, author, On Celtic Tides and Southern Exposure. I had the privilege of meeting Susan Conrad before she set out on her journey. Her excitement about the coming venture was contagious. As we said goodbye I was not a little envious of all that lay before her. And she does not disappoint. Inside: One Woman's Journey through the Inside Passage is a singular epic. It is a brave story. One of personal triumph, of heart break, terrifying challenges, soulful introspection and sheer joy. It is also a moving story about the power of friendship. Her words flow off the pages, carrying the reader along on the current of her adventure. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to read about real adventure, personal challenge and experience, through her evocative writing, the wonders and beauty of the Inside Passage. --Milbry Polk, co-author of Women of Discovery and founder of Wings WorldQuest. It's not often that a person possessing the ability to sea kayak the Inside Passage solo is also capable of putting into words the extraordinary mental, physical, and emotional challenges faced daily on this incredible journey. Susan Conrad, author of Inside: One Woman's Journey Through the Inside Passage is one of those people. By skillfully blending sometimes painful memories of her life's trials and tribulations, with stories of the hardships and accomplishments she faced on her 1,100 mile kayaking adventure, she reveals valuable lessons for every outdoor lover seeking to find balance between themselves and nature. The life changing decisions, impassioned frustration, numbing exhaustion, and internal obstacles that we all face on our life's journey are eloquently mirrored here in one woman's Northwest Pacific Coast odyssey. --Denis Dwyer, expedition paddler, author of Alone in the Passage: An Explorer's Guide to Sea Kayaking the Inside Passage. Susan Marie Conrad's new memoir's title, Inside: One Woman's Journey through the Inside Passage, is a bit of a misnomer: it is not a woman's book. It's a book for everyone. Conrad's narrative is engaging and unpretentious. She comes across as refreshingly transparent. The book is an easy read. Conrad's memoir isn't just a self-discovery, pull-yourself-up-by-one's-bootstraps story. It's an adventure story and a love story. --Robert H. Miller, author of Kayaking the Inside Passage: A Paddler's Guide from Olympia, WA to Muir Glacier, AK. Her 1200 mile kayaking expedition from Anacortes to Juneau in 2010 has adventure, introspection, beautiful descriptions and poetic language that capture the imagination and make the pages turn quickly… she's a powerful, courageous woman who happens to be a gifted paddler and a gifted writer. --Penny Carter, The Paddler, Fall 2016 inventory #46775