Postcards from Friends: Debbie Simon and Jay Johnson
Hello from California, Croatia and Crete
Text by Debbie Simon, Photos by Jay Johnson
Greetings from Croatia
For this year's snowy season, Debbie Simon and Jay Johnson are based in California. They're working as volunteers at Channel Islands National Park, which is off the coast of Ventura.
This was planned and started before wildfires devastated Southern California. As of January 10, Debbie and Jay were in a Palm Springs AirBNB to which they had evacuated with their niece Sharyn Rothstein (a TV writer and playwright) and her family from her home in Santa Monica.
To start their winter trip, Debbie and Jay drove from New Hampshire to North Carolina, where they celebrated Thanksgiving with friends and family. Then, they traveled cross-country, stopping a few nights each in Birmingham, Alabama; Little Rock, Arkansas; Oklahoma City; Sedona, Arizona; and Scottsdale, Arizona before landing in Santa Monica.
The Channel Islands are a remote outpost of the National Parks, so work there is done at a maximum of two-week stretches interspersed with at least one week off-island.
During the first break, Debbie & Jay went on a Viking cruise in Europe. For the second break, they're flying to Hawaii. For the third, they'll be attending the International Builders Show in Las Vegas. And for the last, they'll visit other national parks in California.
At the beginning of April, they plan to return to the East Coast by driving cross-country on a slightly more northern route. This will take them back to New Hampshire with stops in North Carolina and Washington, D.C., to see the premiere of Sharyn's newest play.
And most importantly, Debbie & Jay are excited to return to their BHC community.
