A Vacation Down Under

I'm just back from my vacation to Australia, and boy did I need it! With all the changes going on at work, I was definitely ready for a break. I can't imagine a better place to get away from it all than half a world away...especially since I forgot my blackberry. I have to admit that being totally disconnected from the outside world was a bit disconcerting and uncomfortable from time to time, but it's funny how easily you can get use to not being at someone's beck and call 24 hours a day. Ah the sweet sound of peace and quiet!

Australia was easy to fall in love with. First of all, they speak English, so it wasn't too hard to feel comfortable right away. Second, they seem to like Americans--they often refer to us as their "cousins" as we both have English roots. And finally, Australians have a great sense of humor and are extremely friendly. Settling in to this new and wondrous world was fairly easy. So easy in fact, that one of my friends is ready to move there.

My trip didn't start off as smoothly as I would have liked. My first flight was delayed and eventually cancelled all together. Luckily, the ticket agent helping me took pity on me and got me on a direct flight to LA that got me into CA a couple hours before my original flight would have gotten me there. Unfortunately, although she'd promised me that my luggage would travel with me, it didn't. I actually wouldn't see it for about 72 hours. It turned out that it went my original route, but then got lost. I couldn't get hold of the airline, but Steve became my hero when he answered my SOS email and worked with the airline to track it down and get it to me in Sydney (See picture of me being joyously re-united with my luggage).



After 27 hours of travel, it was great to finally reach Sydney. I had met up with my friends in LA, but we weren't seated close together at all on a VERY packed plane. Luckily, I was seated right behind the screaming baby on the plane, so that was fitting in with the rest of my trip just fine. :-)

Sydney was GREAT! It was much cooler than I expected--pretty much in the 70's and 80's the entire time we were there. It rained the majority of the time we were there, but the last day and a half was warm and sunny.

Sydney was the place where the English first settled, so we explored "the Rocks", which was the oldest and most historical part of the city. Luckily, it was also right on Sydeny Harbor, so it was right in the heart of the city. We took a city bus tour, which was pretty good. We took a Harbor Cruise, which was one of those hop on/off again tours.

One of the stops was the Tarongo Zoo. One of my friends was really into koala bears, so he paid for a "koala experience" that we all got to join him in. Basically, we got a picture of us with the koalas as well as the opportunity to spend some time up close and personal with the koalas. One thing I thought was kind of weird, but in Sydney, it's illegal to touch a koala, so we could do everything except touch the koalas. My personal favorite animals were the giraffes. We were able to get up close and personal with them during their feeding time. Over all, Tarongo Zoo was probably the best zoo I've ever been to. Not only were the displays unique and fun, but it had amazing views of Sydney Harbor. The pictures I have of the zoo makes it look like it has fake views because they are so amazing. Who would imagine giraffes with the best view of the city I've ever seen anywhere? Lucky giraffes!!



My one and only disappointment with Sydney was our tour of the Sydney Opera House. The Opera House is such an amazing and beautiful structure. I learned that the tiles on the roof that make it gleam so pretty in the sun are specially designed self-cleaning tiles. I personally am investigating these tiles to decorate my entire home in....I'll never have to do more than hose my house down again! Although the outside is aamzing, I found the inside to be a huge disappointment. It was like they ran out of ingenuity when it came to the inside. Oh well, if they'd made it as great on the inside as the outside, the rest of the world just wouldn't be able to compete.



On the last day, my friend Erin and I decided to walk their major street through the city stopping at all the jewelry stores to see if we could find a great deal on the world famous black opal. We went into I don’t know how many jewelry stores, but there just wasn’t a store that offered us a good enough deal. These opals are so colorful, but so expensive. The ones I liked seemed to range from $3,000 - $23,000 each. The long and short of it was that we walked a LONG way with our only purchase being some chocolate from the famous Australian chocolate store Darrell Lea. In the interest of full disclosure, since we knew we were heading the hot outback the next day, we only bought a couple small pieces so that we wouldn’t have a chocolate melted mess on our hands. We expected to buy some at the airport, but they didn’t have any at the Brisbane airport, so none of you will be getting fat on Australian chocolate. Sorry!

Because we walked so far, our feet were dead! We decided to go to have reflexology a foot massage. That was the best 30 minutes of our trip!! We found this little hole in the wall Asian place offering 30 minutes for A$30, so we hobbled in. The guy there took us out of the main part and down this little back alley and up some stairs. Now the thought DID occur to me that this may not be the best plan, but he took us to another location with more people. When they were done with us, we could actually walk again!

For dinner, we decided to pick up some Australian cheese and fruit at the market and have a little picnic in the park. Things were going just fine when the bushes we were sitting by started rustling. At first I thought there was a little bunny I saw run under the bush, so Erin threw it some bread crumbs. Soon, however, we saw that they were HUGE rats!! The longer we sat there, the more there were. I about freaked out!! We decided to move to a less bushy area. We soon realized that the park had more than its fair share of drunk, homeless people and women of questionable professions. We decided to go back to the hotel as more people started making up their beds for the evening. As we were exiting the park, I saw a woman start heading into the bushes where we saw all the rats. I tried to stop her, but Erin pointed out to me that she was probably very familiar with the rats. Not all things are good about big cities I guess.

Our next stop on the trip was the outback. We flew into Ayers Rock. The weather was slightly different there…hot (at least 102 degrees) and dry. While we were waiting to check in, quite a few people came into the lobby with fly net hats on. To say the least, they looked a bit strange to us—but not as strange as the people at the pool we walked by with their bikinis and fly net hats. It didn’t seem like the best fashion accessory, but to each his own!

The first thing we did was take a tour of Uluru (the Aboriginal name of Ayers Rock) and the Olgas. Uluru is the biggest monolith in the world (basically it’s one HUGE rock!). There is not much out there to compete with it except a little scrub brush here and there. The Olgas are a set of 36 really big rocks. The first day, the bus pulled over and we were told that we had a hour to hike at the Olgas up to a gorge that they say everyone should see before we headed back to Uluru to watch the sunset. Off we set in 102+ degree sun swarmed by flies over extremely rocky terrain. The further we went, the more people dropped off the hike. Brent, Carrie and I made it all the way. As we walked farther along the path, I kept thinking “this gorge had BETTER be worth it.” Once we finally made it, I realized that it absolutely was NOT worth the hike to see that gorge! (See picture below.) However, when I turned around to head back down, the view was amazing. Luckily, I was able to enjoy the view for quite some time on the hike back.



Below are pictures of Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjara (the Olgas) respectively.






We finally were bussed over for the big main event—sunset on Uluru. All the advertisements made this as the “not to be missed” event of the area. We got out, joining hundreds of our new friends to watch the big rock. As we looked to find a place to watch the sunset and get some pictures, there was a group of French students who had commandeered a spot on a wall and were not allowing anyone to stand on the ground in front of them for a space of about 50 feet. At first, we respected their space, but as more and more busses came in, the space got really crowded. I decided, “the heck with it”, and went and sat on the ground in front of this wall. Now I could not have possibly have blocked anyone’s view as the wall was at least 3 feet off the ground, but they threw a HUGE French hissy fit. One guy in particular took exception to me being there, and did everything in his power to get me to move. The more of a jerk he acted, the more I dug my heels in. Once I sat down and made myself at home, others came in and sat as well. I guess the French folks there didn’t get the message that I’ve been known to push French people around by their faces while in crowds in foreign lands, but luckily I restrained myself.

I have to say that sunset on Uluru was a huge disappointment. I never saw the rock change color…nothing but the shadow move in. I finally gave up and packed up. I turned around to head back to the bus, and saw the most gorgeous sunset. Once again, the best view was behind me. How FRUSTRATING!!

By the time we got back to the hotel/compound (the resort is a series of about 5 hotels and a miniature town, and is the only thing for hundreds of miles in the desert), the flies had about driven us insane. We had all come to a greater appreciation for the fly net hat accessory. We got back and bought them up right away. The flies are TERRIBLE out there. They try to get to all the moisture on your skin, your eyes, your nose, your mouth…you get the idea. THOUSANDS of them. It was incredibly disgusting. My best travel advice to anyone traveling out there….just invest in the fly net hat. Don’t ask questions. You’ll thank me later for that advice!! Below is a picture of me modeling the look.



The next morning, we got up at 5 a.m. to go watch the sunrise on Uluru and to do some hiking. It was MUCH cooler, and the flies hadn’t yet woken up, but we were prepared!! Sunrise was much more impressive than sunset had been. It really was beautiful, and by then, I realized that I needed to turn around every now and then to see all the beauties to be found.

Uluru is one of the most sacred spots for the Aborigines, and they prefer that people not climb on it, but of course, many do. We decided to respect their sacred spot (besides, it’s REALLY high and really dangerous) and stay off of the rock. We did tour around it and took a couple simple hikes, which were absolutely beautiful. Our guide has lived with the Aborigines for the last 20 years, so he was extremely knowledgeable. One thing that was made very clear to us is that Australia is one of the most dangerous and deadly places on earth. Things that look so harmless and beautiful can be the most deadly. You can’t let you guard down anywhere there. You’re always living on the edge…it’s kind of exciting!

From Ayers Rock, we flew up to Cairnes (pronounced “Cans”). Cairnes is again a very different climate in that it’s a tropical rainforest—very hot and humid!! One of the things I learned right off is that Cairnes shuts down pretty early in the day. We arrived on Saturday afternoon. We decided to go to the big mall in town and then find some food. It was just a few minutes after 5 p.m. when we got to the mall, and it was already closed!! We walked and walked, but everything (even the adult stores) was closed by 5 p.m. on a Saturday!! We did, however, find the “night market” in Cairnes. It’s nothing more than a tourist souvenir haven, but we found one little jewelry store in there that sold semi-precious stones native to Australia. We fell in love with it right away…this little booth became quite a popular place with us while we were there. I think we all spent WAY more than we’d planned at that place.

Our first full day in Cairnes was spent at the Great Barrier Reef. Since I’d never been snorkeling or scuba diving, I have to admit I was a bit nervous about going, but there are all kinds of options in which to enjoy the reef. My friends told me that they’d help me out if I wanted to try to snorkel, so I took them up on it. OH MY GOSH!! The reef was amazing!! I picked up snorkeling in less than 5 minutes, and we were off! The colors and ocean life were unbelievable. It was hard to get my mind around. Because the reef is a living thing, we were told we couldn’t stand up on it or touch it at all. We didn’t think we’d be able to say out long, but we were out for about an hour or more before we came in for a rest and lunch. I couldn’t wait to get back out!!

While we were inside, a school of jelly fish had moved in. I had been reading a book on Australia on my way over, and one thing I had read was that the Australian box jelly fish are the deadliest animals on earth. One sting will kill you. The boat also announced that some types of jelly fish will send you to the hospital. They encouraged us to rent lycra suits to protect us from the stings of regular jelly fish, which we wisely had done (note: this is NOT a look you’d ever want to be caught in, but it’s better than a trip to the hospital!). When we went out to the reef again, it seemed we couldn’t turn without coming face to face with a jelly fish. These were normal jelly fish, but they still scared the bejeebers out of me. I decided to sit out for a bit to let them pass. As I was sitting on the bench, a woman came over and gave me a lecture about the fact that the lycra suit would protect me from these jelly fish, and that I should stop wasting time and get back in, so I did. It really was very addictive! We stayed in until we had to get out. I’d go back any day!! My friend Brent did warn me that I will never have a snorkeling experience that great again, so I’ll just take my time for the next one so I won’t be too disappointed!! :-)

The next day we took a train up to the rainforest at Karunda. They had all kinds of activities for us up there. We started with shopping—as any good tourist would do, then moved on to an Aboriginal show—dancers with their traditional didgeridoo musical instruments. We then had lessons in how to properly throw a boomerang (not as easy as it first looks). All I can say is “watch out world! I’m armed and dangerous!!” They also did a spear throwing demonstration, but they didn’t trust us with the spears. They must have suspected our capabilities after the boomerang lessons.





For our lunch break, we ate a traditional Australian BBQ, which was pretty good. Then, Brent’s favorite activity of the day—getting our pictures taken while holding a koala bear. They are much smaller than I expected. I doubt they weigh 10 pounds. They basically just put the bear in your arms, snap the picture, and then swipe it right back out. You only hold the koala for a total of about 30 seconds if the picture taker is slow. It wasn’t much, but it was fun.

After lunch, we took a DUCK tour (a combination land/water) through the rainforest. Once again, we were reminded that Australia is not a place for wimps and/or the careless. I was afraid to touch anything once our guide was finished with telling us about all the plants and animals we saw.

We also got to go to the wild animal park, and my favorite thing of the trip happened. We got to pet all the wallabies and kangaroos we wanted to as they roamed free. I had been hoping to see some kangaroos while I was in Australia, but hadn’t had the opportunity yet. I had the impression that kangaroos could be somewhat aggressive, but they were allowed to roam free. They were so docile that I was able to pick some blades of grass and hand feed them. The wallabies, which are a small, soft kangaroo cousin, were absolutely adorable as well. It really made my trip—see the picture below.



We wrapped up the day by going back down to Cairnes in a sky rail ride. It’s the second longest sky rail in the world—more than 5 miles. The views were astounding—riding over the tops of the rainforest. There were a couple stops along the way, where we were able to get out and walk through the rainforest and take pictures. Here is a picture of my friends in the rainforest.



The next morning we spent exploring the town of Cairnes. We found this amazing community infinity pool that they are famous for. It sits right next to the ocean, and from many angles, looks like it’s part of the ocean, but it is a fresh water pool. In a city that is so hot and humid, it gets a lot of use, but it’s so neat…and free!! That afternoon, we headed back to the hotel for lunch. One of my friends went back to the infinity pool for the afternoon, but I was too lazy. I wound up staying at the hotel pool. I had it all to myself. It was a GREAT way to cool off. Unfortunately, I wound up getting a terrible sunburn on my legs. I’m still recovering from that burn. YIKES! :-)

That evening, we decided to go to the Night Zoo. There were only about 25 people in attendance at the zoo. They fed us a BBQ, and then they let you get in much closer to the animals. We could pet the koalas as much as we wanted to. They fed the crocs chicken…and got them to jump for us, which is a pretty amazing thing to see. They also brought out about 45 kangaroos which we were able to hand feed. It was incredible! After a couple hours, they wrapped up the evening with song and dance. They taught us an Aussie Polka and the Australian version of the Hokey Pokey, which was a real hoot. It was so much fun to do the zoo at night. Since so many of the animals we liked best are nocturnal, it was a fantastic experience.

Our final day was spent relaxing and visiting our favorite haunts around Cairnes. My friends and I went swimming in the hotel pool in the afternoon. It was a bit busier the second time, but it was still a great way to kill a hot afternoon.

It wound up taking me about 37 hours to get home. We flew from Cairnes to Brisbane to LA. I then left my friends and continued on to Charlotte and then to DC. The airlines were running behind, so I wasn’t able to get any earlier flights and had a couple really long layovers. By the time I got home, I completely crashed. I have to admit that while I was ready to return to the US, leaving my friends was very hard. I miss them a lot. It was fun to spend time with them again. Personally, I think I could live the life of leisure much longer than 2 weeks at a time. Hmmm…..I’m already thinking of my next vacation. It can’t come soon enough!!

Happy 2000 and WHAT?!?!!

It's January 1st, and that means a new start to a new year. In my case, it means getting back to my little blog. I can't believe it's been six months since I last wrote. What a slacker I've become! New Year's resolution #1 -- be at least SLIGHTLY less of a slacker.

The end of the year is always one of my favorite times of year--work shuts down for a couple weeks, and I get an opportunity to go home. This year, the weather was a bit crazier (read FREEZING) than I tend to prefer. I got home on Saturday (12/20), and was able to get the rest of my Christmas shopping done and was able to stop and see my Grandparents. It was very nice.

The next day, I woke up and the weather was between -15 degree and -20 degree wind chills. I felt this was a good day to put in my "lazy, don't leave the house" plan that I wanted to do at least once during my vacation. Because it costs so much to heat Mom's house in addition to the fact that the woman NEVER gets cold, she tends to keep the house a bit on the chilly side, unless she's babysitting my nephews or nieces...then the heat gets turned up over 60 degrees. Luckily, she babysits several times a week...and I was able to get feelings to my fingers and toes several times while there. :-)

On Monday, I was able to get over to Lafayette to spend the day with my friend Nicole. We decided to go to the spa to get manicures and pedicures. That was so much fun. I have to say that I could really learn to love the life of luxury...being pampered is something I aspire to in my next life. After all that pampering, we hit the mall searching for slippers for Mom to give Annette for Christmas. We searched high and low...no slippers, but Nicole found all kinds of bargains. Overall...quite a success!

The next day I was suppose to head up to Schererville to see Steve and Jennifer and work on getting the final Christmas gift finished up. Unforuntately, bad weather in the form of freezing rain hit. I was extremely bummed to not to get to spend some time up with them, but I figured that it was safer and wiser to stay in off the ice since I'm a terrible driver on a good day. With ice added...I think I'd wind up shaken, not stirred.

My Christmas holiday was great overall. I was able to spend Christmas Eve with my Grandparents, which I always enjoy. Christmas day was with the family. I have to admit that I am related to some of the most adorable kids I've ever seen. All of my nephews and nieces are just so cute. We didn't take any family pictures for me to share with you, but it's still true. And finally, after Christmas, my Aunt Jane and her family all came in to visit my Grandparents. It was great to see all of them. I can't believe that her boys are all grown up. Zachary and his wife Caytie are about to have their first baby (our Grandparents first Great Grand child!). Andrew with his big old Grisley Adams beard has graduated college and is working in the real world these days. And even Jacob is now a junior at Princeton. Since I don't see them very often, I tend to think of them as young teens...I think it allows me to feel younger than I really am. Ah well! It's still great to see them even if I have to face the cruel reality of life.

I made it back to Washington, DC on Saturday (12/27) night. I have to say that I've been more productive than I expected. I have visited a couple new places--including the biggest outlet mall that I have ever seen. I also got several things done around the house. Don't worry...I'm very carefully pacing myself. I don't want to be TOO productive; afterall, I am on vacation.

I'll finish up on a good note. I'm very excited about an upcoming trip. Over the holidays, my friends and I decided to travel to Australia in February. We're going for 11 days and will be visiting the Great Barrier Reef, Ayers Rock, and Sydney. I'm very much looking forward to it. We leave on Valentine's Day. I'm sure I'll update by blog with pictures.

Well, I wish everyone a very Happy, Safe, and Prosperous New Year!!

It's Official

I packed up the car this weekend, and headed to Virginia. After an 8.5 hour drive, I arrived at my new home. The first few hours were great, but then I hit NYC. I have to say that it was just as bad as I always thought I would be. It took me an hour to cross a bridge, but I survived in tact.

It's great to be in one location. I was looking out the window the evening as I was talking on the phone. The view of the lighted Washington Memorial and Capitol building was beautiful. I'm excited to be here.

Now I'm looking forward to seeing many of you at Jeff's house over the 4th! For those of you who won't be there, I hope you have a happy and safe 4th of July!!

Alaskan vacation

I can’t believe that May has come and gone, and so has our Alaskan cruise (sigh). I have to admit that I had a marvelous time. Having never been on a cruise, I have to say that I was expecting to be treated well, but we were treated EXCEPTIONALLY well. The morning before we traveled, I received a call from the travel agent who told me that Mom & I had been selected for an upgrade to a premium suite (I had reserved a mini-suite) if we wanted it. The only catch is that we would be at the complete back off the ship instead of the middle. Not knowing what to expect with this kind of move on a ship, I asked the travel agent what she would do, and she said that she would take it even though it might be a little louder when we dock and we might feel a bit more movement if things got choppy, but things that could be overcome. We took it. I am SOOO glad we did. We never heard anything and I didn’t perceive any more movement in our cabin vs. what we felt anywhere else on the ship, and our room and balcony were both HUGE, and the views…amazing.

Anyway, here is my travel log. I warn you that it might be more detail than you care to read, but read as much as you like, and I hope you enjoy the pictures.

May 17 – Vancouver, BC & Embarkation

I had reserved a room at the Hotel La Soleil, which was an extremely beautiful hotel just 3 blocks from the docks in Vancouver. The staff was so great there. We told them that we had about half a day in which to check out Vancouver before our cruise began, and they gave us a recommendation of a trolley tour around town. Not only would be able to get around easily, we’d be able to see all of Vancouver’s high points. There were a couple of really cool stops, most of which involved Stanley Park. The flowers were in bloom – the tulips and azaleas and blooming trees were just incredible.

Mom also really enjoyed the totem poles. I saw her eyeing the poles thinking to herself, “Hmmm…I wonder if they can carve me into one of these. I bet I’d make a GREAT totem pole story.” Unfortunately, she has too large a family. Who wants to carve that many people in a tree??

The one thing that surprised me was the weather. It was so warm (80 degrees) and sunny. The locals told us that 2 days before, the weather had been very winter like. Luckily, the sunny warm weather turned out to be a good omen for us. It really did follow us through out the trip.

By about 1:30 p.m., I was so excited to start the cruise that I felt like that little kid on the Disney World commercials who says “I’m too excited to sleep!” I was too excited to waste any more time to look at anything else. I wanted to head to that darn ship, so we did. ::Smile:: Mom is such a good sport!

Luckily we had waited long enough to speed right through customs and the check-in process. Within about 20 or 30 minutes, we were on the ship and searching for our suite. We walked and walked and walked (the back of the ship is a LONG way from the mid-point). Once we got there, our cabin steward, Marvin, was there to help us. One of the first things we asked him to do was take this photo of us out on our balcony. See also some pictures of our cabin.







It wasn’t long before it was time to head up top for the Bon Voyage party. We found ourselves a couple of lounge chairs and enjoyed the views. We met a couple right off that seemed really great. We actually never saw them again, but people were so friendly and wherever we went, people were happy and friendly. I like people who are upbeat and nice to me. There just isn’t enough of that in this world…or maybe it’s just me. Hmmm. LOL

For our first night, we had chosen an early seating for dinner at a table for 8. Dinner started at 5:45, which really was early. The people at our table seemed pretty nice, but there was one woman from Australia that liked to dominate the conversation with stories about herself. That wouldn’t have been bad if she would have been interesting and/or upbeat, but that wasn’t the case. As we left the dining room, we decided to switch to any time dining, which we later learned meant we had a lot more choices in dining rooms, table companions, not to mention eating times. We liked the idea of choices.

May 18 & 19 – A day at sea and Ketchikan

Our first full day on the cruise started a bit rough. At the muster (emergency evacuation exercise you have to do at the beginning of the cruise), they announced that we had to set our clocks back an hour, which we did. Then in the morning, they had sent out announcements that they had NOT moved the clocks back, but for some reason that didn’t click for us. They put out a daily news letter letting you know of all the activities, times, locations, etc., so we picked our activities for the day and headed for the first one. We waited, and waited, and waited. We finally asked one of the crew members when it was going to start, and he informed us that we were an hour too late for it. GREAT…that just meant we were an hour closer to lunch in my book. (It did feel like everything revolved around meal times.)

The second thing that made the day kind of rough for me particularly was the weather. I was surprised at how choppy the water was on the inside passage. I wouldn’t say that I was sea sick per se because my stomach wasn’t upset at all (don’t worry, I didn’t have to pass on the buffet), but I had a terrible headache. Every time the water was choppy throughout the cruise, I would get horrible headaches. I did bring wrist bands for sea sickness with me, and they seemed to help me out…that and sitting. I think the movement of the ship and trying to stay vertical was too much for my simple brain to handle. I know that may not surprise too many people. LOL

Since we were at sea, there were tons of activities available to attend. We went to a couple demonstrations from some of the staff. One was the fruit and vegetable sculpting. Mom was VERY intrigued. She studied those sculptures, photographed them in detail. If you guys see a really impressive food sculpture at Mom’s next family function, don’t be too surprised. I think that 30 minute demo is really going to yield great things.

Watch for something like this at Mom's next dinner event:


I attended the first art auction on the ship. I went because I was intrigued and wanted to learn how these art auctions happened. Man, I fell in love with the art auctions. I wound up attending every single one they had. I actually bought a couple pieces, which I’m very excited about. Maybe art collecting will be my new hobby. Of course, I would be a more successful are collector if I could actually afford to buy art. Oh well. I guess I have to start somewhere! ::Smile::

Our first day at sea was also the first of two formal nights on ship. I made Mom get dressed an hour early so that we could walk around to all the photographers they had set up around the ship. I wanted one picture that we would want from this trip. By about the 5th station, her smile seemed a bit strained. The funny part was that in almost all the pictures my hair was standing up and I looked like I had a black eye in every picture, which of course meant I made her go through that all again the 2nd formal night. She really was a good sport both nights.

The first port of call happened on our second full day. Our first stop was Ketchikan. There really isn’t much going on in this little town, but we had signed up for a couple tours. The first one was the totem pole park. Mom was still excited about the totems, and as you can see from the pics below, they are pretty cool.




The second tour we went on was the Lumber Jack show. I have to admit that I was expecting total corn ball on this, and I was clearly not disappointed. It was one of the cheesiest things I’ve seen in a long time, but it was fun. How can you not like plaid and cheese? It’s like a match made in heaven. I did have to wrestle a flannel outfit out of Mom’s hands at the gift shop. I threatened to nominate her for TLC’s “What Not to Wear”, so she gave in because she didn’t want to have to face the 360 mirror. J/K!



Ketchikan was the one and only port at which we received rain, but we didn’t let that stop us. As you can see here, we walked through the historical part of Ketchikan in the rain. Here’s a picture of Mom in front of one of the most famous “house of ill repute” in all of Alaska. I’ll let you fill in your own inappropriate jokes here.



May 20 – Juneau

This was by far my favorite port of call. Again, I had planned two different tours—a morning and an afternoon of FUN! The first tour, whale and wild life watching, Mom chose. They bussed us out to Auke Bay to meet our boat. It was so cold that morning that Mom and I actually broke out our heavy coats; although it warmed up as the day went on. It was so beautiful on this trip. We wound up seeing 2 brown bears, eagles, seals, sea lions, dorsal porpoises, dolphins and LOTS of whales. The only species we didn’t see (and never did the entire cruise) was Orcas (the killer whale). It was amazing all the animals we saw. Near the end of our 4 hour cruise (hmm…sounds a lot like the Gilligan’s Island trip), we saw a mother whale and her calf. I was out standing by the aft (back) corner of the boat, when all of a sudden they came up right by the boat. Surprised me so much, I didn’t even think to snap a picture! Just amazing to see. The people who run the tour couldn’t believe everything that we saw. They said that they almost never see that many variety of animals nor the quantity we saw, but luck was smiling on us.

(A whale tail for you)

The afternoon was a tour I chose. I decided that since I probably won’t get back to Alaska any time in the near future, I was going the whole way in getting my Alaskan experience. With that in mind, I chose a helicopter ride up to a glacier where we rode/drove the Ididerod dog sleds. I expected to have to wrap up really warm, but the weather had gotten so warm, that we were told to leave all of our winter clothes in lockers down at the bottom, and the only “winter” clothes we wore were the special boots they gave us to put over our shoes so that we could walk on the ice. The helicopter had to go up more than 5,000 feet over the mountains. It was incredible to fly over all the ice and mountains. They dropped us down at a dog sled camp. It was really hard to walk on the snow, and Mom had a gift for finding weak snow and sinking down clear up to her knees. It made the going very slow for her. There were 3 people plus the professional musher to each set of sleds. The musher drove the first sled and then one of us needed to “drive” the second sled while the other 2 rode. I volunteered to be the first “driver”. Within less than 5 minutes, we had an accident where Mom got dumped out in the snow. I hadn’t realized that I was suppose to move from blade to blade to counter balance the weight through the terrain. Mom wanted to go back after she was pulled from the snow drift, but we just dusted her off and promised to be better going forward. It was incredible and TONS OF FUN. See pictures below.






May 24 – Skagway through the end of the cruise

Skagway was probably my least favorite port. I think it’s because we spent about 8 hours on a bus driving for a 1 hour lunch break in the Yukon. The scenery was incredible, but I have to admit that so much time on a bus just for some BBQ chicken in the middle isn’t my idea of a great time. The best part of the trip was the bus driver. The vast majority of the tour guides were college kids (mostly from BYU shockingly enough) who go up for the summer. They had great stories that they shared about the gold miners. I did enjoy that so much that I wound up buying a few books and reading up on the trip home.

Pictures from our long day:





The rest of the cruise was all at sea. We saw Glacier Bay and College Fjord. They were both beautiful. During our time in Glacier Bay, we got to see a lot of ice calving (where large chunks of ice fall off the glaciers into the water…makes a lot of noise and great pictures. It kept my attention for a couple hours, but they cut back almost all activities because you were suppose to sit and stare at (err…I mean appreciate) the glaciers. This was definitely set for a more mature audience. I spent time at the art auctions and Mom and I each spent some time at the spa. Ahhhhh.




I do have to say that we were treated very well on the cruise. Because we were in a premium suite, we got all kinds of free things—chocolate covered strawberries in our suite every evening, free stocked refrigerator with our favorite beverages, free laundry service, special lounges to wait for transportation (we of course, were too special to wait with the riff raff of the ship). It really is addictive to have every need met, food cooked, cleaned up after 3 times a day. It was great.

The Land Tour

The land portion of the cruise started in Whittier where we disembarked on May 24. We went from the ship straight to a sight seeing (a.k.a. glass-topped) train. We had a 10 hour train ride to Denali Park. The roughest part for me was that we were sat at tables of 4 people for the ride, and Mom and I wound up riding the whole way facing the back of the train, so it was hard to see some of the sights. I wound up with a stiff neck by the end of the trip.

We stayed at three beautiful locations in Denali National Park, in Denali State Park, and in Anchorage. We were some of the lucky few who were able to see Mt. McKinnley (known as Denali by the natives). They say that only 30% of visitors to Alaska get to actually see the mountain…and some for only a few minutes. We saw it for a few minutes at Denali National Park. The next day while we were at the State Park, we put in a request to be woken up if it became visible during the night (they have about 20 hours of daylight right now, so “night” is definitely different at this time of year). We got the call at 5 a.m. that the mountain was visible. We threw on some clothes and headed out with hundreds of others to take pictures, then headed to bed. When we came back out at 8 a.m., the mountain was still completely visible. We had the good fortune to have it visible for the rest of our visit, but it was starting to cloud over as we left.



Overall, it was just an amazing trip. We had a great time, and the weather was incredible the entire time for us. For a state where it rains 85% of the time, we only had 2 days of rain—one in Ketchikan towards the end of our stop and one during a day at sea. Luckily, I took a couple extra days off after I returned to recoup. It’s been great to continue to be lazy. Now all I need to do is figure out how to keep this life of luxury full time! Any donations you want to send to the “Samantha’s Living Like a Queen” fund would be greatly appreciated. LOL

Happy Easter!

I would like to tell everyone that I have been neglecting my blog because I have found a terrific guy and have been jet setting all over, but that would be a lie. Nothing even close to that...I've just been a lazy bum about getting on here to blog.

I have had a couple of business trips that I was able to extend a bit and have a little fun as well. At the beginning of March, I had to head out to my old stomping grounds in Southern California, so I flew out the Friday before my meeting, and spent some time with my friends. I had SUCH a good time seeing everyone. Friday night, my friend Brent, who was kind enough to put me up for the weekend, invited several people over to his house to just hang out and catch up. Then on Saturday, some friends joined me at Downtown Disney. Then we went back to Brent's house and helped him decorate his living room. He's spent the last few months doing some really great upgrades, so he was ready to put up pictures and final touches, which was fun...always count me in when I get to give my opinion. :) Then we headed out to see a play, "The Importance of Being Ernest", which was done REALLY well. I had a GREAT time. Sunday was church, of course, then my friend Dawn threw a dinner party in my honor, which was a lot of fun to see everyone. Monday, I worked from hotel room, and then my friend April came over and we went out for dinner. I have to admit that being back there felt great...like coming home. It made me really sad to head out of there, but unfortunately, my boss wouldn't agree to pay for me to live in a hotel and work out of there for the rest of my life. LOL

After a couple days of meetings, I flew back to DC for a couple days to actually work. Then, Friday I flew home, did some laundry, and less than 12 hours later, I was back on a plane, but this time heading to Orlando, FL. I've been wanting to go to the Orlando temple for quite some time, and Joyce and Don surprised me by letting me know that they were meeting me there. You know, every temple tends to have a theme in it's decoration, and I was feeling pretty strongly that the Orlando temple may have snuck in a "Hidden Mickey" or two in its decor. I spent quite a bit of time looking, and once I squinted my eyes and used a LOT of imagination, I was pretty sure I caught a glimpse or two of the "hidden Mickeys" I was was searching for. I was told that there actually is a Mickey doll in the time capsule that was sealed in the corner stone when the temple was dedicated. How cool is THAT? :)

After we finished up at the temple, we met up with Shari, Sarah, Lydia, and Aubree for dinner. I hadn't seen Shari, Sarah, and Lydia since I visited them in June of 2000....and Aubree wasn't even thought about at that point in time. They had spent the day at Sea World, and poor Aubree was EXHAUSTED, but it was great to catch up with them. After dinner, Joyce, Don and I got a little lost and wound up at Universal Studios, so of course, we had to go check out their City Walk. Well, it was no "Downtown Disney", but it was nice.

The next morning, we (and I mean the greater we....Joyce, Don, Shari, Sarah, Lydia, Aubree, and me) woke up WAAAAAYYY too early, and headed over to Sea World. I wasn't sure it was really worth getting up at the crack of dawn to go look at some sea animals, but once we got in, we got to feed (and pet) the dolphins, we fed the sting rays (which scared me to death...and one even sucked my fingers up into it's mouth when I fed it, and bit me. Luckily, they don't have sharp teeth). We saw all of the shows, rode the water ride, and we got SOAKED!!. The sad part about that is that I bought Joyce and me rain ponchos for the ride. When we came down the big hill, they take pictures of you to sell you later....all you could see of me is my hand holding the face opening closed...it was hillarious. Even with all of that, my leg got soaked because we were heavy loaded in the front. Those without rain ponchos were totally soaked from top to bottom. Sarah & Shari had to buy the little ones new outfits because it was too cold for them to be that drenched. It was hillarious!! After we were done with Sea World, everyone headed back to their respective homes, and I caught some shut eye before my meetings began.

Other than that, I've been on the road Monday through Friday. I'm seeing more traffic through my house the last week or two, but still no offers. The stories I'm hearing seems to be 6 - 9
months on the market. I've just passed the 2 month mark.

I hope everyone had a super Easter weekend. Mine was very quiet to say the least. I reserved the shore excursions for Mom's and my cruise that's coming up. I'm really looking forward to some time off and for a FABULOUS experience.

Next weekend, I have to fly out to DC on Sunday to get to my Monday meetings on time. It's much more spring-like in DC. As a matter of fact, the cherry blossoms are starting to bloom, and next week is suppose to be the peak, and the Cherry Blossom festival starts next weekend, so I'm glad to be there. As a matter of fact, I'll be there the following weekend so that I can start acclimating more to the area. The following week, I'll fly out to TX for a meeting, and will fly out the Sunday before to catch up with one of my friends out there. I have to say, this business/fun trip stuff can get to be addictive!! :)

Anyway, I hope all of you take care, and I hope even more that I'll have a great romantic story to share very soon. :)

A quick update

Well, this has definitely been a busy week. I was in DC for only the first few days of the week, then I was in MA for the balance of the time. It was great to spend more time at home for a change. I was up in MA to pack up and close up the MA office. I've now officially made my office in our Falls Church, VA facility, which is a Northwest suburb of DC.

I was very excited about the fact that my boss has agreed to make my life a bit better by getting me a hotel room with a kitchenette that I can keep 7 days a week. This will really help me with the travel. I won't have tote everything back and forth between DC & MA every week, which is a great relief. He told me that he expects me to make a final move by July, but until I either sell the house our make it until July, I'll have someplace a bit less transient.

I am very much looking forward to an up-coming trip to CA at the end of the month. I have a meeting out in my old stomping grounds, and will head out the weekend before to catch up with my friends. My great friends have all kinds of things planned, including a trip to the ultra-exclusive Disneyland Club 33. (http://www.disneylandclub33/) One of my friends has a friend who is a member and will be signing us in. I'm very excited about it. We're also going to be attending a play while I'm there and a dinner & game night is planned. Oh, to be back in the swing of the single scene. To say the least I'm THRILLED!!

The following weekend, I'm heading to Orlando, FL for a meeting. I'm hoping to be able to attend the Orlando Temple, since I have never been there before. All the temples seem to have some theme in the decorations. I am guessing that the Orlando theme is probably "hidden Mickey". I'll keep an eye out!! J/K I'm also hoping to catch up with Joyce, Sarah, and Shari while I'm there. It's been a while since I've seen some of those FL relatives, so I hope the timing works out for everyone.

Happy Groundhog's Day!

Well, the groundhog saw his shadow today, so we're in for another 6 weeks of winter. This has been a pretty tough winter, so you can only imagine how excited I was to hear about that. Aww well. The year is already flying by, so I'm sure the winter weeks will go by quickly as well.

Last week I was able to spend some time in sunny Tampa, FL for work. That's the one good thing I like about the business I support--we can visit our FL sites during the cold months. I also had the opportunity to visit with Joyce and Don over the weekend. I actually had dinner with them on Tuesday night before my meetings, and they were looking good. Then when they picked me up on Friday afternoon, Joyce had strep throat and some sinus infection. The poor thing!! She was a wonderful hostess though....wanted to show me a good time even with her being sick. We went out to dinner and a movie on Friday night. We saw "27 Dresses"--great chic flick if you are looking for a good romantic comedy.

Saturday, they took me to the farmer's market in St. Petersburg. I always love a good farmer's market! We found some yummie crepes for breakfast and then bought some veggies for dinner. Then we headed up to Dade City and attended the Kumquat Festival. It was actually quite a large festival. We got the opportunity to try both sweet and tart kumquats...we all agreed that the tart ones were the best. That's actually the ones they make all their "products" out of. We hung around looking at all the intersting stuff until it started raining on us. We decided to head home where Joyce and Don made home made pasta and chicken for dinner. Talk about a GOOD visit!! :)

While I was hanging with the Davidson's my house went on the market. My realtor held an open house. Apparently no one showed up, which is a depressing thought. This past week, I had 2 people come and see the townhouse. One is interested in the place, but wasn't approved for enough for the house. She was going to go back and see if she can get approved for more. Keep your fingers crossed for me. It's weird living in my house right now...I feel I have to keep everything staged and shiny clean for the unexpected house hunters. I also had to take down all my pictures because they say if people see our family pictures, it's harder for them to picture their families in it. It feels a bit weird without my family's and friends' pictures out around my home, but I have some sitting inside my TV armoire, which I can open when I'm home. I can't be happy without all of your smiling faces!!

Until I move, I am commuting Monday through Friday down to D.C. This past week, I had all the HR folks in that support my business for a one-day event. We went over goals and objectives for 2008, then we took the afternoon to go bowling for a team building activity. I'm the worst bowler in the world, but I think everyone had a good time.

This weekend, I finally caught up on a little sleep. I was able to catch another movie this weekend--Juno. I have read such great reviews for it and know it's up for some Oscar Nominations, so I wanted to check it out. It was a good movie, so if you have a chance, check it out.