No, I am not a gun nut.

Yesterday I went to the rifle range with the honey. It is getting close to deer season and he is a hunter.

Let me just take a moment to say BLICK! Killing things is BAD!!!! Ahem....

Anywhooo... we take off to the rifle range to shoot clays with the shotgun and shoot a few other guns just for the heck of it.
Shooting clays is fun. You stick that little orange puck thing on the ummm I have no idea what the thing is called... But you stick it on this thingy that when you step on a latch sends the orange puck soaring in the air so you can shoot it. Then you aim the shotgun as best you can and try to kill the thing that doesn't die if you shoot it. Perfect! I am not the worlds greatest shotgun shooter. But I did hit a few of those pucks. It kind of gives you a thrill and a giant bruise on your boob.

Next we went over and set up some water bottles in a range. We got to shoot these things and that to me was more fun then the pucks. The pucks just shatter but the bottles... filled with water.... they explode LMAO!!!

I have decided I need one of these.


Yes in pink too. Why? Because it is surely going to piss some total gun nut off. I could just see it.

Mr. Gun Nut... "Oh looky, here comes a girly to shoot" "Bet she has a pansy 22 caliber"

Me... pulls out pink AR15 from rifle case

Mr. Gun Nut... "Wait.. No... That is not!... Is it?... No... Can't be... OMFG that girly has a pink AR15!"

Me... Points and shoots pink AR15

Mr. Gun Nut.... "Stupid girl ruins a perfectly good gun. I think my balls fell off."

LMAO!!!!!!!! Well at least that is how I see it in my head.



I will say though that I have noticed a large difference in the rifle range. See we have been going for years. We drive up on a weekend and pull into our space and set up. But within the last year or so there is a change. It happened fairly slowly but it is blatant now. Very Very blatant.
Gun ownership/practice is growing.
When we first started going there would be about 5 or so other groups of people around the range. You could park anywhere. No waiting at all. The beginning of last year the range was getting full.
Yesterday was wild. That range was packed. Every station was filled. The variety of guns was staggering. And it wasn't just single people. It was fathers and sons. Grandfathers and families. Groups of young men. Some women. (we seem to be the minority)It feels like people are afraid.
Things are changing. Seriously. I think this current leader has scared a large portion of the public into making sure their right to bare arms stays.
You know, me too. I am all for LEGAL firearms. I don't think we need automatic weapons. But I do think we should have the right to a gun. As long as we follow the law that is.

I have made a decision

You know this whole being unemployed crap sucks. You start feeling like you are less of a person. Like maybe you really weren't good at your job. Regardless of the fact that I was laid off due to the economy. You start to panic a bit. What if you don't find a job. What am I going to do since I can't even find listings for the job I do online or in the paper. What to do. What to do!
It also didn't help that my neighbor took great delight in telling me that if I apply online that only 3% of the time will they actually look at my resume. Thanks for that lovely bit of news.

Anywhooooo..
I have been in panic mode a bit. Should I take tons less money then I was making. Should I apply for admin type jobs even though they weren't my thing. I am qualified for them.
Funny how self worth is all caught up in your job and how much you make.

But I made a decision today. Did you hear all the cheering over that? *snort

I made a decision that I am only going to apply for jobs that I honestly want for one month. That means for the entire month of September I am only going to be applying for construction estimator positions.
Now this doesn't mean slacking off and just waiting for one to appear on craiglist or some other job site. Although if they show up on there I am going to apply too! This means actively searching out construction firms in my area also. This means sending my resume to those companies in a cold call type of way. Who knows maybe someone will take a gander and go "you know maybe we do need a new estimator".

I know I am taking a chance by not applying to all open jobs that I can do. But you know what? This is my life. I want to be an estimator. I loved that job. I was good at it. I actually found it fun for the most part. Why should I short change myself by automaticly looking for something I know I won't be happy doing.

Yes, the economy sucks. Yes, there are not many open jobs. Yes, I may be making a mistake. But it is my mistake to make. I don't want to short change myself.

By making this decision I felt like a weight was lifted off my back. I know money is going to be tough. Unemployment sucks. But on the other hand thank goodness I am getting unemployment! But this just seemed right to me.

Wish me luck!!

My animals are making me nuts part 2

Today I am doing the writing workshop from Mama Kats. In fact one of my posts was one of the promts this week. For some reason that made me feel like a real blogger lol. So Thank you Mama Kat and if I had a freaking clue how to do a link thing I would!! But let's at least try this.... http://www.mamakatslosinit.blogspot.com/




Yesterday I am sweeping the floor. As normal I leave a little pile of dirt and fur in each room so I can go back with the dustpan and pick them up.

Let me just quickly explain here that I have two indoor cats and two giant indoor/outdoor dogs. One dog and one cat are white and shed like mad. In fact they shed so much that I get tumbleweeds that blow across my wood floor within a day.
There are times I swear I could build another cat or dog from all the fur they leave around the house.... Anywooo...

Yesterday I was sweeping the hallway and living room. This seems to be where all the hair tumbles to. It is like a regular hair party in that darn room. And I have created a pretty huge pile of hair, dust and random dirt. I move on to the last room I have to sweep which is the connecting kitchen.

In the mean time....

I have this beautiful long haired white cat, Yeti. Really, she is a stunning cat. A giant pain in the rear end pesty cat. A follow you where ever you go pesty cat. But I love her anyway lol.
Yeti has been following me from room to room as I sweep. Except she is not in the kitchen.
As soon as this dawns on me I walk into the living room to find her.

I think my eyeballs bugged out of my head. That stupid cat was rolling in the pile of fur and dirt. With her long hair! She was COVERED in the stuff.

"YETI!!!!!!"

Well yelling her name had the total opposite effect then I wanted it to. That cat jumped up so fast the pile scattered all over the floor and then she took off like a shot down the hallway. (now why she couldn't do this when I TRIED to scare her I have no idea) That stupid cat ran all the way down the hallway onto our bed.

Fur + dirt + Comforter = not fun to clean.

Well I ended up having to clean the stupid hallway and living room again. Along with having to rolly polly the bed.

And you know what.... the whole time I thought of shaving Yeti. Yup, balding my poor cat. Of course if I did that I would have to bald my dog too. Hmmmm

Some people are just.... not right

So have you heard about the woman who is trying to pay off her mortgage so she is selling her husband's burial site due to the fact that it is above Marilyn Monroe?

No?

Here is the news blurb:
To pay off the mortgage on her Beverly Hills home, Poncher is selling the crypt of her husband, who died in 1986, and will move him to an adjacent crypt intended for her.

The crypt is located on top of Marilyn Monroe's final resting place.

The crypt is located at the Westwood Village Memorial Park cemetery, home to such celebrities as Dean Martin, James Coburn, Roy Orbison, Truman Capote, Natalie Wood, Carl Wilson, Minnie Riperton and recent arrival Farrah Fawcett.

Well the last sale fell through but they are looking at other offers. She was selling it on Ebay. EBAY!!!!



Now here is my issues on this. And I have a few let me tell you.

1. Who needs money and decides that they are going to sell their loved ones final resting space? No seriously! What kind of person decides that moving their ALL READY BURIED loved one is a good way to make money? What kind of person looks at their loved ones final resting space as a way to make money? I hope I never get buried next to someone famous so that instead of coming to visit my remains people see me as a way to make some quick cash.

2. The man is ALL READY BURIED THERE!! This "wife" is going to remove her husband's decomposing body out of his grave and move him over. Do we all get that in our head? She is going to move her husband from where he was laid to rest to somewhere else. Did she not ever hear the phrase "Final resting place"
How soon before they start paying off families to "move" the bones of those loved ones who were buried at least a hundred years before our time to make room for new people? How many people will take a cash settlement to move Great great great great great grandma Mabel?

I have more but let's just leave it at the top two lol.

Have we lost all respect for our loved ones? A lot of people I talk to think it is fine to move him. I swear to you my skin just starts crawling when I think of the disrespect given this poor man. Yes, I know he is dead but I was taught to respect the dead. Selling his crypt and moving his body does not sound like respect to me.

I hate greedy people. I just honestly can't even imagine going to visit a loved one's grave and seeing it as a money opportunity. What kind of person does that?

My animals are making me nuts

Since I have been home a while the animals are getting used to me being here. This has led to a few new quirks in thier personalities.
For example.... One cat has decided that she must be in the room with me at all times. It doesn't matter what I am doing or what room I am in she must be there. Washing dishes, she is rubbing my legs. On the computer, she is doing her best to lay on the keyboard. Folding clothes, she has to dive in the pile and play. I go in the garage and she scratches the door wailing wanting in. I decided today to try something.
I walked in the kitchen, here comes the cat. I walked into the living room, here comes the cat. I walked in the bedroom, here comes the cat. So I ran into the kitchen and hid behind the wall/door. I can hear that cat coming due to the wood floors. A little closer.... little closer.... as soon as she was about to walk into the kitchen I jumped out and yelled BOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
Instead of running away like I thought she would, she just sat down and looked at me like I was an idiot. I couldn't help it I started laughing until tears ran out of my eyes. I WAS an idiot.

Also the dog loves tennis balls. She loves tennis balls so much that she loses what she has for a brain whenever she has one in her mouth.
An example seems appropriate here. Let's say it is spring time and I just bought a flat of flowers to plant. The dog sees this as the perfect opportunity to play ball. Well there I am with dirt up to my elbows digging holes and she keeps dropping the ball in front of me. If you make the mistake of picking up that stupid ball and saying no, she now thinks you are playing with her. So that darn ball will go into a hole you just dug.
Yes I have buried balls out of irritation and yes she has dug up my flowers to get that stupid ball.
Anywhoo.... Yesterday the honey is mowing the lawn. Of course the dog has a ball in her mouth. She sees the honey is in the yard and decides that he of course is there to play ball with her. So she drops the ball and stands at attention. He tells her no of course. She picks up the ball and drops it next to him again. Again he tells her no. This time she picks up the ball and runs in front of the lawn mower and drops it.
Now mind you this all takes about a minute. I am standing there watching the whole thing. As soon as she dropped the ball in front of the mower I opened my mouth to tell the honey who wasn't looking that way when it happened. But before I could get a word out he mowed right over that ball. WHAPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!! The ball gets sucked up and comes whipping out of that lawn mower at Mach 10 and slams the honey right in the leg. THAWP!!
The honey starts jumping up and down holding his leg. My mouth is open and I swear to you not laughing was one of the hardest things I have ever done. And I will be damned if that dog didn't run over, grab that stupid chewed up ball and drop it next to the hopping honey. LMAO!!!

Nothing like a job hunt to make you feel....

You know hunting for a job sucks. Really it does. First you have to fix your resume. Boil your working life down into a few pages is actually hard. Then add the fact that you seem to have bad luck with jobs that only last about three years and it gets down right hard.
Once that resume is done you need to start looking.
I worked in construction. Our economy sucks. That means there pretty much are no jobs for which I am qualified for in construction. Oh sure I have many other skills but I want to continue that line of work. So do you give up on that and go back to a general office job even though you don't really want to?
There is a feeling you get as you search too. That feeling of not being good enough. Not having the proper skills. The unwanted feeling. The depression of finding "no jobs found" over and over again.
It is hard not to give up. It is hard not to decide it is too hard. It is very hard to stay upbeat and not let yourself wallow in self pity.
You feel trapped by your house. Trapped by your unemployment. Trapped by the feeling that your actual unemployment money may run out and then what?
See before this last job I was unemployed for eight months. I ran out of unemployment. I started using credit cards to pay for everything. I borrowed money from my grandmother to pay for things. I got over ten grand in the hole due to interest. During this last three years of working I actually paid 90% of that off. I was so proud of myself. I was almost 100% debt free. Now here I am unemployed again. I don't want to go into debt again. I want to pay off that last 10%. I want a damn job.
But I am scared to death that I am not going to get one.
Do you settle for less just because you are afraid? Do you apply for jobs you don't want because they seem to be the only ones there?
All I know is I am nervous about my future. I am afraid. I get depressed looking for the job that isn't there. I can't explain the sense of humiliation I feel job hunting. The sense of being unworthy. The flat out fear.
Sigh...

Hi, my name is Jody and I am a packrat.

Today is writing prompt day from Mama Kat. Here is the one I chose.
4.) Hi, my name is ______ and I am a _______.

So... Hi, my name is Jody and I am a packrat.

Now I am not your have to walk through little pathways to get anywhere packrat. In fact my house is pretty darn clean. All counters and opens spaces have plenty of room on them. My house is nice.
However.... stay the hell away from my drawers. And my closets. And any other nook and cranny that I could possibly fill with stuff.
It drives me insane that I have to fill up empty drawers. It drives the honey insane. Although he really really has no idea how far this sickness of mine goes.
I keep things because I may need them. Or I paid for them why should I throw them away? Now I realize this is a problem. In fact I know where it stems from too. When I was young we moved at least once a year. Every time we moved I had to leave 90% of all my stuff behind. A lot of times it was a quick move in the middle of the night type of thing. I think now that I am older and not moving every year I grab hold of things and don't let go.
I KNOW this is a problem. I wish that I could fix it. There are times I will actually go through drawers to throw stuff away. It kind of goes like this.
"Oh look, I haven't seen this in over a year!" Throw it away! "no! what if I need it!" STUPID
A lot of the times I will huck stuff into the garbage but you know what.... that stupid drawer gets filled right back up.
I honestly hate it and wish with all my heart that I could change it. I just don't know how to get over the "I may need this" mentality.
Maybe I will clean a drawer today.

Last nights show

Was FREAKING GREAT!!!!!!! I loved every minute of it. And no the honey didn't go lol

Here Lookie!!!
Here they come....


His welcome to the crowd. (do you know your enemy)


This show was freaking great (sing along)


And here is a long one. He loved to get people from the crowd


I LOVED this show

I am so excited about tonight!

YES!!! Tonight is the night!!!



Yup that is right. Tonight I go with my best buddy and the honey who will be bored out of his mind.....



Is it mean that when I asked him if he wanted to go I wished he would say no? It is not that I don't love going places with him because I actually do. Most of my best memories include being somewhere with him. YET!! I know he is not thrilled with this music. I can see in my mind him sitting there tapping his fingers in boredom. That is going to make me nuts. And I swear if he asks me if we could leave early I am going to smack him!

YEE HAW!!!!!!!! GREEN DAY!!!!! I am so freaking excited!

More rants.

So yesterday I go to the grocery store. It is funny how once you no longer have a job things aren't necessary anymore. But during this store run there was a woman wearing short shorts and a vest that barely covered her boobs. For a second there I just stared. Who wears short shorts and a barely there top to the grocery store in the middle of the day. Did she not realize that she looked like a hooker? Just because you have a rocking body does not mean that you have to dress like you cost money.
Did she not check the mirror on the way out? Did she think this was appropriate Sunday grocery shopping attire? I just don't get it. She wasn't a teenager either. This was a full grown woman dressed like a slut. In the Grocery Store. Now we are not in a "hooker" neighborhood so this was not normal.
I am not a prude. I am all for rocking what you have but I believe there is a time and a place for clothes like that. A concert maybe. A day at the beach. Anything but the grocery store.

Rant number two.
Who came up with cougar to describe a woman? I would like to kick their ass. I can't believe how horrible that makes women sound. Where is the word for men that means the same thing as cougar? That's right... there isn't one.
I overheard a group at the sushi place I went to the other day. It was a young man, his girlfriend and a older woman coworker (yes I learned this listening in lol) The younger woman had set up the older womans cubicle for her birthday. Did she set up happy birthday balloons and streamers? Nope. She set up cougar stuff. The younger woman found this so damn funny. While the older woman you could see was doing everything in her power not to let the young idiot know she had hurt her feelings by showing her entire office her cougar status decorations.
Just because a woman is over 40 (or younger for that matter) and single does not make her a cougar. What a crock of shit that is. It seriously pisses me off. We as women are not on the prowl. Some of us are sure but not every single woman who now has a title. UGH. My god how rude of that idiot to put up cougar decorations. All I can say is I hope it bites her in the ass when she is older.

The job hunt....
Well I have put out a few resumes. Now I get to wait for the phone calls that probably won't come. I know I know too negative. Sigh.

Unmotivated?

I have decided that there is something wrong with me. No really there is. Unmotivation. (ignoring all signs that it may actually be depression. Don't burst my bubble here ok)
Here are a few examples. Before I left on my cruise I had quite a few sites I visited daily. Actually lets admit it here more then once daily. Since I have been back I have visited this site and my main Lost site. Period. I haven't played any of the online games I played. I haven't wanted to visit any of the other chat sites. Heck I have a hard time feeling like doing anything.
I have worked on my resume. Do I feel it is done? No. Do I have the motivation to finish it up proper? no.
I have looked for jobs in my field. Nothing. How scary is that? Not one single job that I can sink my teeth into. In fact I sent out a resume today (YES the resume isn't perfect. Or even 100%) but it was to a job that doesn't fit what I want to do.
How do you go searching for your next job when your last job was the best job you ever had. That you liked your last job as much if not more then when you had started it. I know... Get over it.
My brain is telling me that constantly. Get over yourself.
Shit happened now deal with it. Deal with the fact that everything changed in less then three weeks.
I need to clean the house. Not mop, sweep, dust type clean either. I have started digging through those hidden areas where you plant stuff you don't know what to deal with. I still don't know what the heck to do with half the stuff I have found and I have TONS more to go through.
I need a job. I need motivation to not sit on my ass feeling sorry for myself. I need motivation to talk to the online friends I have made. I need motivation to figure out what kind of job I am going to start looking for. I need motivation to clean this mess. I need motivation to get up and put my make up on. Hell I need motivation to get dressed. SIGH

Ten things I wish I had the guts to say to people

So I am reading another blog that has writing prompts and I decide that one of them totally speaks to me so here I go.
List ten things you would say to ten different people in your life...if you had the hutzpah.

1. To my dad: Hey Dad I know that recently you just found religion. I am proud that you finally have made a choice in what you want to believe. However, do not push your idea of religon onto me. I have a fine relationship with God but my beliefs are a little less strict then yours. People who ram religion down other peoples throats lose points with me. I don't need you telling me my way to worship is wrong. If I wanted to dance naked by the light of the full moon while pouring sacred oil over my head for my religion you should be tolerent of my choices.

2. Also to my Dad: Recently there are only two things you talk to me about. Religion and Obama. I cannot tell you how tired I am of hearing how horrible Obama is. Of being handed papers that "prove" he is a awful person. Regardless of if he sucks or not let the man do his job. You do not need to write on your money about how he sucks. I know I didn't vote for him but I am hoping he does well. I am really really tired of hearing about Obama.

3. Mom: Could you please let me know why you always took my brother with you but left me at home? Why you go visit him when he lives over 4 hours away at least once a month but haven't visited me once this year and I live 20 minutes away?

4. Random grocery store person: HEY!! YOU!!! Yes I see you. I cannot believe how freaking rude you are. No seriously. There are quite a few of us in line here. Yes you only have like 4 or 6 items but that does not mean when a new line opens that you should be allowed to be first in line. We have all been waiting here longer then you. You really make me want to hit you with this bag of potato chips. Some day I am totally going to call you out. I will get the nerve to let you have it.

5. Random customer anywhere: GET OFF YOUR CELL PHONE!!! What in the hell is the matter with you. Did that stupid cell phone you seem to have surgically added to your head make you forget that that person in front of you is a human being. Just because you are on the phone doen't make you any more special then any one of us. Turn it off or tell the person to hold while Sally checks you out. I swear I see you just gabbing away on your phone not even saying hello to the human in front of you and I want to shove that phone up your ass. UGH

Hmmmm hostile much? oops....

6. PG&E guy: Excuse me. You know how you had to ring my doorbell because this month you needed to verify the meter? Remember I said I need to bring the dogs in the house and you said ok? Well when you left the back yard you had to go through two fences. Right? How hard would it have been to shut one of them hmmm? UGH

7. The ass kisser at my last job: Dude.. seriously did you know that we actually played a game with you? We would bet on how many minutes it would be from when the boss pulled up to when you would be in the office telling him everything that you had done so far. I can't forget winning when I picked one minute. How can you live like that? Aren't you embarrassed? How can you ask the boss if he would like his car moved and go home at night feeling good about yourself. It is just creepy.

8. Cats... HEY. What the heck is wrong with you? The litterbox is about one foot from where you last went to the bathroom. Did you forget about the litterbox? Did you have a accident? Do you even care? I DO!!!!!

9. The honey: I swear to goodness if you use the term womens work one more time I might have to kill you. How does everything in the house become women's work and working on the yard becomes mans work? I didn't make that rule.

10. Job market: Hello!!! I know we are in a recession here but I was just laid off and really would love to actually have a job. I enjoy working. How am I suppose to find work if there is none advertised anywhere? Should I be scared? Sigh

Days 7 - 10 (sorry I was lost in dial up land)

Day 7 ... at sea

About now I have totally gotten myself confused. I have no idea what so ever what day it is. Monday? Wednesday? No clue. I do know it is day 7 because my notes say it is lol.
We ended up getting a note in our room letting us know that we will all be getting a $150 OBC per person and 10% off of our next cruise if we book one by 2011. Not to shabby but I would have loved to seen the fjord instead.
I was totally thrilled when I found out the on board credit counted towards everything. Tips, Excursions, drinks, store purchases. We had been thinking we were going to have to go on a drinking binge in order to use up the credit lol. mmmm champagne... ahem
We decided today was a lazy day. We laid on deck and watched Yes man. We drank and ate and were generally slugs. It felt great.
That evening at dinner we all shared stories of our day in Haines since we had skipped dinner to be on the excursion. We laughed and laughed at how stupid we were to go on the same exursion twice. I tried cucumber soup. Don't try cucumber soup. YUCK. It was like they ground up a cucumber and mixed it with a glass of milk and stuck it in the freezer for a while. Nasty.
At dinner a lot of the tablemates found out we were all going to a comedy show that night. We left dinner and got a giant group of seats together. By this point I think our tablemates are wonderful.
We all grabbed a drink and waited for the comedian. He was awful. So awful that you had to laugh at how totally bad he was. Our group kept looking at each other and starting to giggle at totally inappropriate times. Oh it was bad.
After that we called it a night.

Told you this was a lazy day lol.


Day 8... at sea
After a breakfast at the buffet we decided it was time to do a few ship activities. So we grabbed the paper and looked down the list to find out what we wanted to do. The first thing we came across was a tv theme game. I figured I would kick some serious butt at this since I am a tvaholic.
HA!
The minute they started playing the theme songs I totally blanked. Seriously the first song was the theme to I love Lucy and I just sat there with my mouth open and my eyes glazed. No clue what so ever. And I have watched that show a million times. It was familiar but my brain just never put two and two together. The honey however didn't have that problem. He would write down the name of the show and I would look at it and go OH YAH. I felt stupid lol.
We ended up getting 14 out of 20 right and I didn't answer a single question. Not one measly little question. Big help I was!
We wandered around the boat a while and grabbed an ice cream cone. Those things were yummy. mmmmmmm
At dinner we all talked about the excursions we were going to do in Victoria and found that all most all of us were going to see the comedian that night. We decided to go together.
This comedian was so freaking funny. We laughed and laughed and drank and drank. I love that if you order champagne they give you this little bottle that is two glasses.
Guess who drank just a tad bit to much and was tipsy. Yup that would be me.
When the lights came up from the super funny comedian I turned around and there was the unfunny comedian from the first night sitting at the bar with a big old brandy in his hand. I felt like I could read his mind. "stupid funny comedian... I'll show you....gulp" LMAO!
After the comedian there was a word game where you had to get in a group of six people and create a team name. Since we were all still sitting there we became a group. Of course they nominated me to go up and let them know we were a team. Seems like when ever there was something to do or ask for I was the one who would do it lol
I went up and named our group the tablemates. We all had a good laugh about that. Then the game started. There were 4 crew members sitting on the stage and they would give them a word to define. Three would lie and one would tell the truth. We had to figure out which one was telling the truth.
Again we sucked. We did not get one right. We laughed and laughed and talked about what a horrible team we were. They gave us 10 mercy points. *snort
Since we had to be up to go to our excursion in Victoria fairly early we called it a night.


Day 9... Victoria BC
Today I was so darn excited. We were off to the butterfly garden and then to Buchard garden. I was more excited about the butterflies then anything else.
We got up fairly early and went up for breakfast. We looked over the side of the ship and thought what in the heck. We sure aren't in Alaska anymore.
It was a giant parking lot and a bunch of sea type junk laying around. A pretty big disappointment. But we were going to somewhere pretty!
We hopped on the bus and started off towards the butterfly garden and our guide says "since the garden doesn't open until 9 we will be stopping at this old hotel to take pictures for a while". Ummm if the darn garden doesn't open until 9 why in the heck did the excursion start at 8:25? We walked around this hotel that had ivy growing up the sides. It was really pretty but we were in the middle of a city. Not what we expected. There was a pretty marina across the way but it just seemed a odd place to stop.
Finally we got back in the bus and away we went to the butterfly garden. We walked through the doors and it was humid but it was like walking into another world. Hundreds of butterflies were flying around everywhere. There was lush foliage everywhere. Multiple colors flew by. It was breathtaking.
We walked around a bit taking pictures of all the different type of butterflies we came across. At one point on landed on the honeys head. I tried to get the camera but it flew away to quickly. We saw button quail and these HUGE moths. They live as a pupa for 5 years only to come out and die in three days. They were bigger then the honeys hand.
They had flamingos in a pond in the middle.
I cannot describe the feeling you get walking through this area with butterflies flying everywhere. It was wonderful and something I had never before felt.
We came around a corner and there was this long beaked black bird that stood about as high as a house cat. The honey walked over to take it's picture but that bird had different ideas. First it stuck its beak into his sock, then his shoe, then his sock, back to the shoe and finally pecked his leg. We were cracking up by this point. That bird would not leave him alone. It wanted nothing to do with me but it was totally in love with him. We took a video of that.
We must have stayed with that bird exploring his feet for around 10 minutes before we decided it was time to go. That was the point the bird jumped on top of his shoe, fluffed up to twice his size and started making a really strange hrrrrrggtgggghhh noise. That darn bird was raping his shoe!!! Now we were really cracking up. He shook the bird off of his foot and we continued on.
A giant blue butterfly the size of my hand landed on my chest. We got some great pictures of it and some crazy looking white caterpillars.
To soon it was time to get back in the bus and go to the garden. If you ever get a chance to go to a butterfly garden go. Seriously!
We go to the Buchard (sp?) gardens and again walked our feet to stubs. There was an Italian garden, japanese garden, sunken garden, rose garden and bog garden. Truly incredible how they were able to make it just so perfect in there. The only problem was it was packed to the gills with people. So many people that irritation began to set in a bit. People seem ruder there. Imagine standing in front of a statue looking at it and having someone come stand directly in front of you. Did they not see me? I mean I know I am short but geez I am not that freaking short. Boooo hissssss rude people.
After what seemed like hours on my feet we went back to the bus and back to the ship. Tonight was formal night and we had devised a plan for the honey. He was going to wear a pair of nice pants and a nice shirt. If they didn't like it to freaking bad. I wanted a formal night!
So I put on my dress again..hmmmm little tighter this time... to many desserts.
We tromp on up to the dinner and everyone looked so darn nice. A woman came by and took two pictures of each of us. Later when we went to go see the pictures you could see my bra connection between my boobs. I knew it had a lot of cleavage but MY goodness that is a bit much since the stupid bra almost went to my belly button. At least the other picture didn't show that. I do have to wonder though how long that showed!
My table mates did make lots of ooo la la comments though lol.
When dinner was over we ran as fast as we could back to our room to change. We are so not formal people and we felt like trussed turkeys all through dinner.
We walked the ship and tried the casino for a few minutes. I was still bummed out at the lack of machines. After that it was off to bed. Tomorrow was our last day at sea.

Day 10....at sea

So today was our final day on board. Man how did the time pass so quickly. I remember around the third day wondering if the honey was going to be able to handle being at sea for so long but here we are at the end. Sad!
We started out the day with some breakfast and decided we might as well pack after. I am not sure if any of you have been in a inside cabin but man is it small when two people plus what seems to be 4000 suitcases are in that same area. We must have bumped into each other a hundred times before I lost it a bit. I told the honey put dirty clothes on this side of the bed and clean on the other. After he put them on the bed I told him to sit down and do not move. I then proceeded to pack everything without having to smash him over the head with a suitcase.
Funny thing here. When we arrived on the ship our suitcases were packed to the gills. And we bought a ton of stuff in port. I was a little nervous But when I finished packing we had a empty suitcase!
Yes! I am a miracle packer. *flexes muscles*
We decided to take a walk up to the front of the ship. I grabbed a cup of coffee right before we went around the little dividers. As soon as we passed the first one the wind started blowing. When we passed the second one it really started to blow. When we reached the front of the ship we were laughing at how the coffee was blowing out of my cup due to the wind. Well I was laughing until I looked down and saw my cup was empty and I was covered in coffee spots. Stupid wind lol
We ate yet more ice cream and went up to our final dinner with our tablemates. I have to admit that I was kind of sad that this was our last dinner. I got attached to them all and I am going to actually miss them. I wish I would have gotten their addresses so I could send cards.
When dinner was over there was a lot of hugging and kisses on the cheeks. My eyes filled up with water and I think I looked like a goon. After all who becomes so attached after 10 days. That would be me.
We decided we were going to go see Star Trek but were 15 minutes late to the show and decided to go see Larry the piano guy in the vista lounge. Normally he was in the martini bar. We should have skipped it. Not as funny. But I could see our tablemates on the other side of the room. sigh.
It was then bedtime and time to mentally prepare myself to leave this vacation. I was kind of sad.

Days 5-6

Day 5- Juneau

Today was a whale watching/glacier tour excursion. I was totally looking forward to it. This morning though I made sure to go up early and get some darn food. No way was I going to starve to death today.
Looking over the side of the ship Juneau was really pretty but it didn't have the charm of Ketchikan. It looked more like a big city. Although the mountains were beautiful.
We got on the bus that took us to the whale watching boat. The driver was actually pretty darn funny. We boarded and picked our seats and waited for another bus to come and finish filling up our boat. Once everyone was settled in away we went. It took quite a while before we finally saw some whale spouts in the distance. The boat captain drove us (floated us?) over to where they were just in time for us to see it go under. The naturalist a cute emo man told us that they go under but come back up in a few minutes. Well after going in a darn circle for 15 minutes he laughed and said we were going to go find another less shy whale. We never did see that whale again.
The cute emo man started on a lecture and let me tell you something. If you want to turn a cute man into a incredibly handsome man have him start spouting off things that show you how smart he is. Woo wee... ahem.
Anywhoooo.... we finally found some whales and saw quite a few tails. I have some perfect pictures of the water. See my stupid camera has this delay. So when you click the picture of the whale tail it takes it when the tail is under the water. Very frustrating.
They then showed us some seals too. The whole trip took around 3 hours. By then we were kind of burnt out on whales LMAO. We did get one picture of a tail though.
OH! I forgot to mention at one point a whale surfaced about 20 feet from the boat. Almost everyone on our side had a freaking heart attack thinking we were going to be capsized. FUN! Man they are huge.
We all hopped back on the bus and went to the glacier. The bus driver let us out right where there was a little look out over a stream. We walked up and looked down at the salmon that were spawning. What a sight to see. Bright red fish with green heads the size of my calves just swimming in about 7 inches of water. Every once in a while one would woosh the ground with it's tail to release eggs. It was stunning.
That's when we see a tiny white thing go flying by. Then another and yet another. The ranger starts yelling don't feed the fish. Some yahoo was throwing cookies at the salmon. Seriously what is wrong with people!
A little further down the stream there was this huge group of people. So being the nosy person that I am I wanted to know what was up. Of course I am only 5'-2" so I can't see a darn thing. After a bit of shaking and squishing I finally get up to the edge. I look over and there is a momma bear and two cubs. She was brown and one cub was brown, the other was black. They were just sitting there happy as can be munching on a salmon.
YAY!!!! I saw a bear in Alaska
After watching them for a while we walked on down the path towards the glacier. That first sight. Holy cow. That is something I will never forget. This giant beautiful blue wall of ice. Smaller blue iceburgs floating in the lake before the glacier. Incredible.
We walk down to the edge of the lake and are looking at this beautiful blue floating iceberg in front of us when clunk. A huge rock hits it. We were stunned. Seriously someone is throwing rocks at the pretty blue iceberg... Yup same stupid fish feeding yahoo. Seriously dude what is wrong with you. Sheesh.
By then it was time to get back on the bus. It brought us back to Juneau and I started to drag the honey to the Red Dog Saloon. See I watch deadliest catch and the fisherman go in there to have a drink called a Duck fart. I wanted one lol. We didn't get to go on the deadliest catch excursion in Ketchikan due to the fishing excursion so I didn't want to miss this. The problem was every other person on the planet wanted to go in that bar too. We couldn't even get in the door. I was so darn disappointed. But I did move people out of my way, open the door and put both feet right inside that darn bar so I could say I had been there lol.
We walked all over that town and by the time it was time to go back on the ship I no longer had any feet. No really I just had stubs that pretended they were feet.
We got back on board just in time to go to dinner so off we went. By now we are liking all of our table mates. In fact the guy that had a bitchfest that first night was turning into one of our favorites. That table was rolling in laughter as we talked about our day ashore. Each one of my tablemates was a character. They were all beginning to find me amusing since I have no fear of asking for something different. Or ordering two deserts *snort.
After dinner we walked around the shops and had a drink up on the deck. I was pretty careful with my smokes by the way since I had a giant scab in one nostril. At least it was up high enough that I didn't look like I had blown my nose to death.
We were tired and decided to go to bed around 9:30. Hell we were beginning to feel like the old people of our group by this point. Bed at 9:30 geez.
So off we went on our stubs and crawled into bed. I should mention that the seas were so calm now you almost couldn't tell you were on a boat at all.
AND
What in the heck is up with all the mirrors on the boat. Seriously if you are going to eat yourself silly do you really need mirrors in the elevator that show you just how fat you have gotten in 5 days? UGH

Day 6.... Haines

We didn't have an excursion until the evening. We were going on a evening wildlife viewing around 5 so we didn't have to be up early. Felt like the first time in a long time. We went upstairs to the buffet and looked out over Haines.
Where in the heck are we? There was almost nothing there. Everything was spread out and it looked like small town America in a really pretty setting. We decided to go down and walk around for a bit. Maybe see if we could find someone to take us to the eagle park that was suppose to be here.
We ran into two of our tablemates on our way down. They didn't have anything planned for the day and they were exploring too. We decided to go somewhere together. We found a woman selling excursions on the shore privately. The eagle one started at 12 and got back to late for us to get back to our next excursion but she did have one that started in 15 minutes that was going to a lake where eagles were suppose to be. So the four of us decided why not. It was only $40
We hopped on this little rickity bus and away we went. The first thing we ran into was road construction. Felt like home lol. I am not a height person by the way and due to the road construction we ended up inches from the side of a cliff. It was at that point I was wishing I had depends. It was also at this point the woman tour guide tells us that there are no bathrooms for the next 3 hours. Ummm couldn't you say that before we left. And why is it when someone tells you that there are no bathrooms for the next three hours you suddenly feel like you are going to pee your pants?
Driving through Haines was stunning. The water is a milky blue due to glacier run off. We passed this little house with wildlife flags that sat on the inlet. Then we passed a fish weir.
Let me explain this for those who don't know what that is. When the salmon run the fish and game people set up this wier to block off the fish from going through the river except at a certain point about a foot wide. So all the way across the river is this wooden fish net type thing. Minus the middle foot. Now where this foot wide space is there is a man standing looking into the water. He has a clicker in his hand and every time a fish swims through he clicks his little clicker.
This is his job. Counting fish. For hours a day. Seriously there has GOT to be a better way to count fish then this poor man standing there with a freaking clicker in his hand.
We then get to this beautiful lake where the bus driver lets us go walk around in the forest. This is after she shows us fresh bear poop.
"ok people, look this is fresh bear poop, that means the bear is close by, have yourselves some fun walking through those woods by yourselves, see you in a 1/2 hour"
I will admit though the forest was wonderful. Lush and wet and filled with plants. After our half and hour was almost up I ran to the lake, took off my shoes and waded in.
BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
I actually had to look down to see if I still had feet. At this point I look at the honey to make sure he took a picture of me standing in a lake in Alaska and he is gabbing with our tablemate instead.
Ummm honey... picture before my feet freeze please.
When I got out of the lake my feet were bright red LMAO!!! But I did inspire a few more people to wade in that lake. Grab life by the hands people we are in Alaska! We may never be here again!
We hopped back in the bus and started back when we saw a bear walking along the river. The lady in the bus wasn't going to let us out. You could see steam coming from some of the peoples ears. But then the bear walked under a bridge so she let us all out on the bridge to take pictures. Turns out the bear was a juvenile who had a collar on. Pretty skinny little guy. He was walking towards a fisherman who grabbed his fish in one hand and ran up the side of the river and onto the bridge. You should have seen this man standing there with a fish in one hand looking over the bridge. Funny stuff.
After taking pictures for a while we hopped back on the bus and went back to the ship where we had enough time to have lunch before we went on our princess excursion. We joked about how we were going to go on the same excursion and giggled to ourselves how funny that would be.
When we hopped on the bus for our second excursion. Sure enough what happens? We go towards the same exact place the first excursion took us. We laughed until we had tears in our eyes and figured what the hell. We will never be here again time to enjoy ourselves lol.
We actually got to stop at the house with the little wildlife flags on this tour though. We watched seals bobbing up and down in the water. Looked at a eagles nest. Took pictures of a beautiful eagle in a tree.
We drove right to that lake passing the wier. The tour guide told us we would be stopping there on the way back.
When we got to the lake they had two guided tours into the woods. We joined up with one group and away we went. For some reason we always end up in the back of these tours. I guess I like to make sure no one gets left behind. Wierd quirk of mine.
As we are walking along the tour guide is telling us about the plants in the area. "oh these are blueberries, watermellon berries, cloudberries, elderberries... all are edible"
So what are me and the honey doing as we are walking along in the back.. eating berries. Just popping those suckers in our mouths and chewing away. It was about 1/2 way through the walk that I realize we never saw her point to which berries were which because we were in the back. We were just eating random berries in the wilderness. So smart.
At this point we get back in the bus to to the wier. As we are driving down someone stops the bus driver and tells her that a bear has been sighted down the river so we went driving to go find it, bye wier and counting guy.
At the bridge (yes that same bridge) we see a bear walking back towards the wier. We hop out to take a picture of the bear (yes, it was the same bear!) The bear starts walking down the bank of the river and all of us are following along on the road.
Way in the middle of the river (wide as a 4 lane highway) there is this incredible rock. Standing on that rock is a fisherman. Standing on the shore is a bear. Standing on the road is a huge group of camera happy people.
Suddenly the bear stands straight up, puts it's nose in the air and turns to look directly at the fisherman. The fisherman looks at the bear. The bear starts walking towards the fisherman and scrunches down into a little ball on top of the rock. See now this guy is directly in the middle of this river. He has no where to go. The bear starts ambling towards the fisherman and you can see when he realized that this bear wanted him and his fish.
Somewhere around here is where I would have peed my pants and threw my fish at the bear.
The fisherman starts sliding off the rock the whole time eyeballing that bear. The bear would take to steps towards him.. amble a bit... look back at the fisherman and take another two steps.
It was around here that I also began to worry I was about to watch a bear mauling.
The fisherman was finally in the water that reached his chest (he was wearing waders) and the bear turned fully towards him. The guy started yelling and moving his arms around and trying to scare the bear. At first it didn't look like that bear was going go give up but finally it started to go back up the river towards the wier. As we passed the car from the fisherman it's plates said Washington. That guy (who by the way was out of that river and back in his car so fast I almost didn't see it) has one heck of a story when he gets home.
The bear walked all the way back up the river (with us all following him) to the wier where he reached his paw in the water, pulled out a giant fish and ran across the road into the woods.
We all got back into the bus and went back to the boat.
As we headed to the buffet the captain came on with an annoucement. Our ship was broken down, an expert was being flown in to see if the repairs were adaquate and we would be missing Tracy Arm Fjord. CRAP But! The captain says you can go ashore here until midnight.
Remember the first line of this... there was almost nothing here in Haines. So big woop.
Everyone was really disappointed at the news.

Days 2-4

Day 2....

After getting dressed we decided to go up to the buffet for breakfast. The whole time I was so thankful that I hadn't got seasick. The boat was still rocking and rolling pretty darn good. It made it difficult to walk in a straight line and I kept hearing people comment that they had never felt rocking like this before.
Once we got to the buffet and grabbed some breakfast we went looking for a place to sit. Let me tell you wobbling and carrying a tray of food and a cup of coffee is not an easy thing.
We had to walk around several areas that were roped off due to people being sick. Seriously if you feel sea sick maybe the best place for you is not in the front of the ship with the rocking and the smell of food everywhere. There were these roped off areas all over the ship and all you had to do was look around to see green people. Again I said thank you that I didn't get sea sick!
After breakfast we went to the smoking area and just as we sat down BOOM!! CRACK! the whole ship shuddered. The honey and I looked at each other like OMG we just hit something. Of course there were many other people looking at each other the same way. Turns out we hit a giant swell that actually went over the top of the ship.
Think about that.. over the TOP of the front of the ship!! The people in the buffet had a nice view of water rushing down the windows.
We took a lttle more time to explore the ship and noticed that over half of the people on board had these little circles behind their ears. We learned later that it was for sea sickness. We made a game of seeing who could count the most circles on their side.
Today was the first day and we were going to go meet our roll call group at tea at 3:30. I was looking forward to it.
However.... because we hadn't slept the night before we decided to go lay down for a few minutes at 1:30. We didn't wake up until 4:30 so we totally missed the tea.
We got ready for dinner and went down to the dining room. As a table we were more talkative. Turns out that the Al Bundy/Kramer type dude was actually pretty darn nice. Poor guy and his wife both had those circles behind their ears....*snort.. ahem....
What amazed me was two of the couples all ready remembered everyone's names! I am soo bad at that so it amazed me.
And can someone tell me how a dinner can last that long? Over 2 hours! Did I mention they had creme brulie and I ate 2 LMAO!!
After dinner I wanted to go to the casino for a bit. The honey HATES gambling with a passion but he went up for a little while with me. What a small casino. I was really shocked at how little machines there were on board. I guess in my head I was expecting more then 30 machines. It was kind of disappointing since I like to gamble. However I did win $30 during the short time we were there.
We walked down the stairs and found this little area with a piano in it. No one was really there so we plunked ourselves down and looked out the window for a while. Then a piano man showed up. (Larry)
This guy was funny as hell. We laughed and laughed. At one point a kid walked by and Larry says "Where are you going you wretched boy?" The honey and I laughed out loud at that. Larry kept telling people who were walking by. "SIT down!"
There was a large family group and it's members kept showing up. After about 5 of them showing up at odd times Larry stops playing and asks them how many more are coming. They said something I didn't hear and he said "good god are you people mormans?"
The honey and I looked at each other with giant eyes and open mouths and didn't know if we should laugh or be offended for the morman people. We chose to laugh. (sorry morman people!)
There came a point when about 5 woman with walkers decided to walk in front of the piano when Larry was singing. He stops playing, looks at them, says "Good God" and starts playing Chariots of fire. Funny stuff there!
However... it was at this point when we realized that we couldn't leave without getting some kind of a comment. It was late and we were pretty tired. We whispered back and forth for a bit and waited until he just started to sing and ran. LMAO!! Seriously we ran to the elevator that he couldn't see, went down a floor, walked back to our side, went up a floor and totally avoided him. Such cowards aren't we.
Actually we are because we totally did the same thing every time we saw him playing from that point on lol.
After a nice (OMG I AM FROZEN TO DEATH) smoke we went back to the room for the night.

Day 3..... at sea still

Around this day I could see the honey beginning to fidget a bit. He is used to being busy constantly so this relaxing few days at sea were beginning to take it's toll on him.
But!! It was finally sunny and finally the ship stopped rocking so much!
Today we decided to try a few of the activities on board. We started out with a jeopordy game. We met a really nice couple and they joined our team. Again they were older. Turns out this Alaska cruise was mostly older people although they did say there was 300 children and teens on board. We totally sucked at jeopordy by the way lol.
We then went upstairs to watch a movie under the stars... although technically it was a movie under the sun. It was still cold and I noticed peope had these blankets so off I went to grab us two. I brought them back to the chairs and proceeded to unfold them. What in the heck kind of blankets are those anyway. The stupid thing was a 3 foot by 3 foot square. So either your feet were warm and your top was cold or your top was cold and your feet were warm. We made a mental note to grab two blankets each the next time we watched a movie.
When the movie was over I took a look at the honey. oh oh.. Bright red. I looked at myself and I was pretty darn red too. We laughed and turned in the blankets.
Around this time we could see some whale spouts off in the distance. It was kind of cool to see.
We looked at the paper and noticed we had time to play bingo before dinner. So off we went. We purchased the cards and two daubers only to realize when we got in to the bingo lounge we didn't actually need the darn daubers. Live and learn right. We lost at bingo. Seems like we are losing at everything we try on this ship... well except me and the one casino trip.
It was formal night so we went upstairs to go get dressed. I showered first since it takes me longer to get ready. I slipped my dress on to quite a few comments of ummm can you close the top a bit more.... that's a lot of cleavage... Typical but irritating at the same time.
At this point he grabs his suit pants and proceeds to try to put them on. Fail. See for the last three months I have been telling him to try on his suit. The last time he wore it was almost a year ago and he has been out of work for the last 8 months. I don't know about anyone else but when you have 24 hour a day access to a fridge and all the snacks in the house you tend to gain a bit of weight. Well he had never tried them on and now here it was formal night, with me all dressed up and him trying in vein to button those pants. I admit to being disappointed while at the same time highly amused. I knew we had to tell the tablemates we weren't coming so I headed off to the elevator to let them know. Lucky for me I ran into one of the woman at the elevator. I let her know we wouldn't be at dinner so they wouldn't have to wait and went back to the room.
Once there I changed into something more comfy and we headed off to have pizza. I have to admit it felt kind of strange walking around in comfy clothes while everyone else was all spiffy and having their pictures taken. We did have a really good view of the champagne fountain though.
Pizza was excellent even though we did have to wait a bit. By the time we were done it was fairly late and the paper said that the clock would be changed back an hour that evening. So even though we gained an hour we decided to head upstairs to bed. After all tomorrow was Ketchikan and the honey's dream of fishing in Alaska for salmon.

Day 4.... Ketchikan

Woke up super early since we had a fishing excursion and had to be on dock at 7:50 in the morning. We skipped breakfast since there was going to be drinks and a light snack on the boat.
When we reached the dock we looked around at one of the most beautiful places I have seen. Everything was olden style and the mountains were wonderful. We had dressed for Alaska. I had on a teeshirt, turtleneck, sweater and a jacket. Standing on the dock we realized our mistake though. It was all ready 70 degrees! So I ended up stripping off everything but the teeshirt.
We met a man from the boat on the dock as we waited for our excursion people to come get us. He was fully decked out in fishing attire with two fishing poles. You could see by his eyes that he was totally excited to go fishing. The honey chatted with him until they came and got us. We all walked down to the smaller dock and waited for the fishing boats to line up for us.
There were salmon just jumping out of water everywhere. It was incredible.
We got onto the fishing boat and were greeted by the captains dog. A really pretty springer spaniel. There was a group of 6 of us on the boat and we all settled in as we drove... errr floated.... err...sailed??? out into the ocean to start our fishing trip. We filled out fishing licences on the way.
Off the side of the boat we would see whale spouts. Each time one would blow the dog would start barking. The captain told us that he hated whales and could smell their spouts. We saw a few whale tails and some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen in my life.
Finally it was time to fish. The captain's wife came out with 6 playing cards and had us each draw one. The honey got the ace so he got to go first and I drew the 3 card.
They set up 4 fishing poles on the back of the boat and started trolling for salmon. When the first pole bent over the honey's eyeballs lit up like Christmas bulbs and he ran to the pole. He grabbed it, yanked it back to hook the fish and WHAM there was no more fish on the line. You could just see his whole body sag in disappointment. However they allowed each of us two times if you miss your fish so when the second pole bent he ran over again. YANK.... no fish. The poor guy was devastated.
The next lady took her turn and pulled in a salmon. Then it was my turn.
Now I have fished in lakes and streams before but never have I been on a fishing boat like this. The pole bent over and everyone started yelling "Fish on" I walked up to the front and thought "ok here is where I make a fool out of myself". I looked at the captain and asked him to hand me the pole. So the captain hooked the fish and handed me the pole.
I had watched the last two people fishing so I tried to copy them by putting the pole on my stomach but I couldn't get the leverage I needed so I put it where my leg connects to my middle. Then I tried to reel in the fish. Ummm hello! Who knew it was so damn hard to reel in a fish. I struggled and struggled to move that little handle around. I pulled and pulled and began to sweat to death. Finally I could see the fish jumping around in the water. I got it to the boat and the captain reached out with the net and grabbed it. It was a freaking MONSTER fish. Everyone started clapping and I turned around to the honey who had this look like UGH on his face.
See we have this thing where when ever we go fishing I tell him I am going to catch the biggest fish.... and normally I do LMAO!!
My fish made the other womans fish look tiny. After the next group of peoples turns went it was finally the honey's time again. He looked like a little boy he was so excited.
FISH ON! He ran to that pole so fast, yanked it back, started to reel it in and Bam the fish got loose. I swear to you that poor guy looked so horrified that I wanted to pat him on the head. Here we were in Alaska on his dream and he was the only one who hadn't caught a fish.
At the next fish on shout you could see it in his eyes that he wanted that fish bad. He yanked and started reeling it in. You could see it off the boat and everyone was cheering. I had my fingers crossed that it wouldn't fall off and SUCESS!!!! He caught his first Alaskan salmon. A nice beautiful small salmon. Did I mention small? But he did it! He was living his dream and I couldn't be happier for him.
We each caught about 4 more fish and after each fish everyone would check the catch. I still had the biggest fish. The honey was jazzed with the sizes of his fish but he really wanted that bigger fish then me. On the second to the last fish (we were each allowed 6) He finally hooked one that made him struggle a bit. He reeled and reeled and I could see him break out into a sweat. That fish was jumping and pulling and the honey was grinning from ear to ear.
When it finally got close enough for the captain to net I grabbed the camera and waited for his catch to come up. It was HUGE! He actually laughed out loud turned around and gave me a high five he was so excited about his fish. Of course I pretended to be so disappointed that he had the biggest fish when in reality you know I was so happy for him. His dream not mine. He needed that biggest fish.
I missed my next fish so when it was down to the last few people who needed the last fish I let him take my turn.
After we caught 6 fish apiece we were done for the day. About now it was 1:00. We were starving. We went inside to see what kind of "light snacks" were provided.
Guess what they were.
Tootsie rolls. Yup the light snack after a day of fishing with no breakfast was a basket filled with tootsie rolls. You could see the bear coming out of everyone due to hunger.
When we got back on dock we wanted to go into the shops before we went back on the ship to eat. We only had a limited time in Ketchikan and wanted to buy something. I bought a wonderful pink jacket for only $20! This was a steal for me since I don't own a jacket.
After that we ran back to the ship and had lunch. I swear to you I cannot remember being that hungry in a long time.
After eating we went up to the top deck and I had a smoke. During this time a giant blast of wind happened and blew the cherry off my smoke and into my nose. No seriously it did. Something like that would probably never happen again in a million years.
So there I am smashing my nose with my hand trying to make the ember go out while burning the crap out of the inside of my nose. My eyes are watering. All I smell is burned hair and on top of that I shocked myself into a coughing fit. Needless to say I had a big owie in my nose.
Stupid!
We wandered around for a while and looked at the art. Some of that stuff is UGLY!! There were a few good pieces though. Not anything that I would buy but it was fun to look at.
We got ready for dinner and this time the table was super animated. We all talked about our days and had a really great time. I had some really nasty food that I sent back and traded in for something different but dinner was so much fun. And I was finally beginning to remember names.
When dinner was over we went back to the cabin and I grabbed a bottle of desert wine I had brought on board. The honey got a few beers and I drank my wine while we sat on the upstairs deck. We were both totally beat from the fishing and the day. After we finished drinking we went back to the cabin to get ready for bed.
It was at this point that I saw it for the first time. A huge bruise the size of a grapefruit on my leg where I was holding the fishing pole. It was bright red and purple. It is a darn good thing I didn't bring a swimsuit because that thing was UGLY!!

Hi Honey I'm Home!!

I thought I would update you all about my cruise to Alaska. Might take a few days lol.

Day one.....
After a drive from hell through San Francisco we finally saw the ship in the distance. We pulled up to the front of the pier and it was HURRY UP QUICK Move the suitcase run UGH... Bye Saz.....Sheesh. Poor Saz.
We dropped our carry on's off and went up and had a quick lunch. We grabbed our camera from the room and went to the top deck where we waited to shove off and go under the golden gate bridge. As soon as the ship started to move I grabbed myself a HUGE pina colada and settled myself on the railing to watch Alcatraz go by. A picture dude came by and took our picture with Alcatraz in the background. It was totally freezing to death as I stood there with my foo foo drink.
As we got to the bridge people were standing on it waving goodbye to us. You should have seen the ship full of people waving back to the people on the bridge. It was fun. In the back ground a band was playing happy music and people were dancing. Did I mention that I was freezing to death?
As we passed under the bridge the ship honked it's horn. Its incredibly loud OMG I almost peed my pants loud. I laughed my ass off.
We went back to the room and put all of our 5 bags of luggage (plus 2 carry ons) away. We then went exploring for a while. Very pretty ship.
At 5 we went back to the room to get ready for dinner at 5:30. We sat down at our table and waited to see who would join us. We had requested a table for 4 but got one for 10. The first couple was this little tiny full of life older couple Ruth and Joe. The second couple was very quiet and didn't seem to happy. (Joanne and Tom) The third couple was another older couple (heck they were all in their 60's or 70's. (Kathleen and Ed) The last couple was a very pretty woman who walked up with a combo Kramer/Al Bundy man. He was completely pissed off that he did not have a table for 6 and stormed off to give the waiter a piece of his mind. (Al and Barbara) Mr. hello and I looked at each other and thought oh great.
As we sat there the boat started to rock and roll a bit. I could feel my head swim every time it moved up or down. I was super worried that I was going to end up sea sick it was moving so bad. Another lady (al bundy/kramer's wife Barbara) and I kept looking at each other like UGH.
I decided on this trip I was going to try all new things to eat regardless of if it sounded like something I liked or not. After all I could send it back if I wanted to so why not!
After dinner we walked around a bit more and I located the smoking areas. By this time the ship was really moving wierdly making my head feel really bizarre and I wanted to go lay down. (around 9:30)
After taking showers in our tiny tiny little room (and yes it was tiny!) we got into bed. Wait I forgot to mention by this point I had to hold myself up in the shower we were moving so much. And I was totally terrified that this was normal for a boat.
When we laid down you could literally see our feet go up above our head and then our head go above our feet. Over and Over and OVER again. I figured this would be the test to see if I got sea sick or not.
Around 2am the boat started rocking worse and we woke up. Side to Side, Up and down, Roll roll roll. We were not able to sleep. But I didn't get sea sick!!!