This year’s Camino will be a family affair. Instead of hiking alone, I’ll be hiking with two of my sisters (Ann and Carol). Since it’s a family Camino, I figured, I’d use this post to introduce my sisters.

Ann is the first born. She is single and lives in Ann Arbor. She has two sons (Tom and Brian). She’s retired after a career in nursing. She tried to hike part of the Appalachian Trail a few years ago, but broke her ankle early on and had to be carried to safety. We’re hoping that was a one time thing.

Mary is the second born. She’s married (Ed Kamen) and lives in Palm Springs, California. She has three step-children (Emily, John and Alyssa). She’s still a practicing attorney. She likes day hikes, but didn’t want to join us on the Camino. No problem though, this means she can be in Ann Arbor to help care for our Dad while we’re away.

Carol is the third born. She’s married (Dick Crocker) and lives in Bellevue, Washington. She has two children (Lindsay and Jeff). She is retired after a career in sales and packaging. She now works park time at a tennis club near her home. She’s a sailor, but not a hiker. I had to encourage her to join us, but once she agreed, she was all in, including walking over 800 miles to train for the Camino.

Q: Are you worried about too much together time with your siblings?

Three siblings together for several weeks? What could go wrong?

We all get along really well now. In a few weeks, we may be closer than ever. Or, not. Stay tuned.

Q: So what’s the plan for this Camino?

We arrive in Paris on Tuesday morning. After a few days of sightseeing, we’ll take a train to southern France, then we’ll start hiking on Saturday.

We’ll be walking the middle portion of what I walked last year. I’ll walk 12 stages. Carol and Ann will walk 17 stages. So, they’ll be on their own for about a week. I figure there’s a 50-50 chance that they’ll get lost and spend the next couple of months wandering aimlessly around Spain.

Q: What’s Shirley doing while you’re away?

As you might expect, she’ll be keeping quite busy. About the time we start hiking next week, she’ll be heading to Slovenia and Croatia for a vacation with her older sister. After that, she’ll fly to Greece to meet me. We’ll be vacationing for about 2 weeks in Greece with some long-time friends. So, both of us will have our own individual vacation experience, as well as share some fun vacation time together.