Barbara started kayaking in San Diego in 1994, receiving rolling, surfing, and sea kayaking instruction from Rocky and other instructors at UCSD’s Outback Adventures program. She joined Rocky on exploratory descents of Ríos Ameca (2000), Balleza (2001) and Atoyac (2009; Veracruz) and has paddled Ríos Valles (Cascadas Micos), Filo-Bobos, and Mulatos-Aros, in addition to many destinations in Baja. The pair made their union official in November 2002.

Since living in Mexico City for a year as an exchange student, Barbara has enjoyed traveling all over Mexico. She previously worked with the Mexican community in the Tijuana-San Diego border area as a bilingual speech-language pathologist and early language acquisition researcher. In Seattle she conducted postdoctoral studies of bilingual language acquisition in infants and toddlers at the UW’s Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences. She currently is a faculty member at the University of Redlands and continues to enjoy river and sea kayaking trips when time permits.

Send an e-mail to Barbara