After 34 years of marriage, I can testify — love does. It is an action word that originates from the heart and is carried out through commitment and sacrifice.
My name is Erika Chang, and I wholeheartedly love my husband, our family, and our two six-year-old saluki dogs.
We've changed our entire lifestyle to integrate our salukis into our travels together. Both of our children are grown now and are finding their path. Saxon is 25 and Eland now 21.
The biggest change: Aaron and I now travel in an RV with a tiny, lightweight car that allows us to explore once we're parked.
Our most recent journey began at a dog show…
(Yes, that's Aaron at a dog show, waiting patiently for our next event. He's truly an amazing husband and life partner.)
The dog shows were actually Aaron’s gift to me. After so many years of me waiting at home while he traveled the world chasing light and waves, Aaron wanted to say thank you — and this was how he chose to do it. He committed to showing up, year after year, to something I truly loved. Because of that, Kazper is now an AKC Grand Champion and Memphis a Champion. It has been one of the sweetest gifts of our marriage.
(The reason I even knew about salukis was that I grew up with one. My first saluki was an incredible companion and I loved him dearly.)
Before we could even leave to go north, a dust storm descended upon us in the Central Valley. It stopped us cold for two days.
Winds raged across the valley with gusts up to 75 mph, and there was simply no way we were going to risk flipping a 33-foot RV or getting into an accident. So we waited it out, watching the world turn brown and wild outside our windows, while enjoying the company of our other friends stuck at the dog show grounds as well.
Those two days cost us though… When the storm finally cleared, we found ourselves racing northward to make our ferry reservation from Port Angeles to Victoria, BC — the gateway into Canada. We had to stop along the way, but condensed a 5 day trip into 3. The road up north turned into a scouting expedition, instead of a planned photo trip. We would just have to come back on the way home.
Our first glimpse of Secret Beach in Brookings, Oregon.
On the way north, we stumbled upon a magical place on the Oregon coast called Secret Beach. A redwood-lined highway delivered us there almost by surprise, and what we found took our breath away. Dramatic sea stacks rose from turquoise water, waves rolled across a wide, quiet stretch of sand, and the air smelled like salt and pine.
This was where the decompression began. The stress of the dust storm, the racing, the two lost days — it all started to loosen its grip here. Standing on that bluff above the Pacific, looking out at something so ancient and indifferent to our little scramble northward, it was impossible not to exhale.
Some places find you at exactly the right moment. Secret Beach was that place for us.
Another place that stopped us in our tracks!
Next Stop: Tofino, British Columbia | What Drew us There
Our love for Canada runs deep.
For nearly two decades, we made an annual trip to Whistler every winter for the World Ski & Snowboard Festival — home to the iconic Pro Photographer Showdown, a renowned multimedia and slideshow competition that brings together some of the world's leading action sports and lifestyle photographers to battle it out on stage for the "Best in Show" title. Aaron entered three times and won twice. Eventually, he was invited to join the judging panel, a role he held for many years.
But beyond the competition, Whistler was where our family grew up. Saxon and Eland spent 7 to 10 days there every winter, year after year, surrounded by some of the most majestic mountain scenery on earth. We made friendships that have lasted to this day — and over the years, so many of our Canadian friends would speak fondly of Tofino. Wild. Remote. Unforgettable.
It had been on our list for a long time. This trip, we finally made it happen.
Memphis on the Ferry ride from Port Angeles, WA to Victoria, BC
Memphis and Aaron enjoying the warmth of the mid day sun on the ferry.
Seven hours of hairpin turns from Victoria to Tofino, white-knuckle driving, and breathtaking scenery competing for our attention at every bend — and then, finally, this. Tofino. Kazper saw it first.
Magical forests growing on islands, greenery that reaches all the way to the shore. This is Tofino — wild, lush, and more beautiful than anything we could have imagined.
Our home for five weeks on the road — a 33-foot Bay Star Sport and our little "toad," the tiny car we unhitch once we're parked so we can actually explore. This is how we travel now, and we wouldn't change a thing.
The Slow Road Home
It took us a week to reach Canada. It took us four weeks to find our way back.
We weren’t in a hurry — and the road made sure of it. It seemed like there was beauty around every corner, and we were genuinely awestruck at nearly every turn.
The further north we had traveled, the longer the days stretched, sometimes staying light until nearly 10 o’clock at night.
Every day felt rich with discovery.
The redwoods stopped us in our tracks. We spent hours in the woods each day, walking among trees so massive and ancient they seemed to exist outside of time. There’s something that happens to you in a redwood forest — the noise of the world just falls away.
One of our most unexpected and memorable days came while we were stopped at Mt. Olympus for new tires. (A misalignment issue had caught up with us, and while the RV was being serviced, we wandered into the old growth forest to wait.)
We never really came back out — not emotionally, anyway. We got completely lost in the energy and harmony of that place. We found ourselves in awe of the micro ecosystems all around us — the way the death of a single tree becomes the beginning of something new, feeding animals, regenerating into growth, completing a cycle that has nothing to do with us and everything to teach us.
It was one of those days that reminds you why you slow down.
Mount Olympus State Park - Erika and Kazper
Lush beauty around every corner.
Another coastal hidden gem.
Lake Crescent, WA
All day adventures, looking for the perfect shot.
Living in the Light
Waterfalls everywhere we went. Each one different from the last.
Kazper: So much lush ground cover. Greenery from the forest floor to the sky.
Aaron revisiting the place where he shot Nautilus, a gallery best seller and exclusive edition. His story behind the shot.
Erika & Aaron after a 2 mile hike through the forest.
Memphis patiently waiting at 9:30pm while Aaron captures the last light off the coast.
Toketee Falls in Oregon - the most stunning place of beauty and power in nature.
Solitude and peace like nowhere else on earth. My last moment in the redwoods.
Crater Lake, OR - our scouting trip for where Aaron would shoot the Milky Way on the darkest night of the month.
Aaron’s New Collection is Coming
Aaron was shooting throughout the entire journey — from the dramatic coastline of Oregon to the misty shores of Tofino, the ancient redwood forests to the wild, open stretches of highway in between. As always, he was chasing the light, the moment, the feeling that is almost impossible to put into words.
That’s what his photographs do. They hold what words can’t.
He’s currently in the editing process, and we expect the collection to be released in the next few weeks. These images will be added to the Aaron Chang fine art collection — each one a window back into this extraordinary stretch of coastline and wilderness that we are still, honestly, processing.
We can’t wait to share them with you.
In the meantime, we hope this little glimpse into our journey — the dog shows, the redwoods, the long golden evenings, the four slow weeks home — gives you a sense of what it felt like to be out there. It was one of those trips that changes you quietly, without you even noticing, until you’re back home and you realize something has shifted.
Stay tuned. The best is yet to come.