Ralph Dawes grew up in Edmonds, Washington and realized in college that he did not want to move from the Pacific Northwest. While getting his PhD at the University of Washington in Seattle, he met Cheryl and her two daughters, who approved his marrying her. He has taught geology in the field in Montana and Hawaii, and now teaches at Wenatchee Valley College and online to students around the state and beyond. While more and more interested in what people bring to their relationship with the earth and how that shapes how they think of it, he also keeps returning to the rocks and the mountains to try to understand the stories the earth tells.