Sailing on the Pacific Princess

Hi All!

Well, I am being brave today and trying for some more pictures. This time they are from around the ship, the Pacific Princess.

During dinner on one of the nights close to the end of the cruise, some of the dining room staff entertained the passengers with a fun medley of songs.

It was pretty dark in the dining room so I apologize for the dark picture. I love the guy with the ukulele!

The guy on the left was our waiter Amadoro. He was a very nice guy. In fact, he helped put the entire "show" together!

This is Larry and Linda. They were one of the two other couples at our table for dinner. We all laughed because each of us (all three couples) had asked to be seated at a table for two and instead we were at a table for eight (two chairs were empty the whole cruise)!

This is Theresa and Sal - the other couple at our table. They are originally from Italy and now live in Hollywood, Florida. They were so much fun. Also, they bought the table all kinds of treats - antipastos and fancy liqueurs. Such wonderful people. By the end of the cruise we were calling them Mom and Dad!

This is Teodorico, our assistant waiter. He is showing off the baked Alaska on the last formal night. I LOVE this dessert! Teodorico was always smiling.

I HERE TOO! THIS MY ROOM. (This is a little cupboard above our little refrigerator. T.O.D.D. liked to hang out in here when he wasn't out with us exploring the ports. He didn't want to go out too much on the ship because he was afraid of being trampled by "old people.")

I EXPLORE ROOM. FIND ODD CYLINDERS. NOT TASTE GOOD. (The batteries were from my camera. Of course, they needed recharged the very first day we were on the ship! This little table was great for all kinds of stuff, especially for holding the breakfast tray in the morning!)

SOFT. I DECIDE SLEEP HERE AT NIGHT! (This is the love seat in our room. Not the most comfortable thing in the world but the two feather pillows were nice. I read here many times while waiting to go places.)

What is this???? Hubby is reading? Kind of? On each cruise, Hubby has a goal to read a book. We read when the ship is at sea and there aren't any activities that we want to do. It is nice when Hubby reads too!

Smile, Hubby! I caught you reading!

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That is all of the pictures for today. More will be forthcoming when I decide to deal with Blogger. Actually, today all of the picture loading went very smoothly. I guess it is only when I am pressed for time that Blogger acts up!

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Yesterday I worked for about four and a half hours. I was the only person in the office! Three of the therapists are on vacation and the other took Monday off! I got a lot of work done since it was so quiet but then decided to take off a bit early to get some grocery shopping done, oh joy of joys!

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Do you like grocery shopping? I am not a real big fan. To be honest, it isn't the actual shopping that I don't like - even though it IS frustrating when people stop in the middle of the aisle and you can't get by and when they barge out of aisle without looking and then glare at YOU because they almost hit you! However, the actual shopping is sort of fun - a scavenger hunt of sorts. Looking for the right product with the best expiration dates and for the least amount of money.

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Checking out . . . not as much fun as shopping. Why? Good question! Checking out isn't too much fun because, normally, the store has five express lanes open (four of which are the self-check out lanes) and only one "regular" lane open. That means that there is pretty much always a line in the "regular" lane. Not that a line is all bad - it does give me time to catch up on my tabloid headline reading. Some interesting stuff is on those rags!

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Loading stuff in the car and then unloading at home . . . THIS is where everything takes a dramatic nose dive into yuckiness!

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Loading stuff into the car in HOT temps isn't too much fun. Add to the heat the fact that the packers always think that putting boxes and tomatoes together is a good idea! Another favorite bagger combo is the strawberries and cans combo. This one makes a nice smoothie in the bottom of the bag when the strawberry container inevitably opens during the ride home.

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Hop into the HOT car with the AC cranking for the five minutes drive home - not long enough to get cooled off properly - and then it is time to unload - in the HOT weather! Naturally, the unloading can't be done in one trip since the baggers enjoy putting each item in separate bags (except for the combos I listed above!). Leaving the door to the house open is out of the questions since my kitties would love to explore the garage and great outdoors.

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Once the bags are all inside - finally - it is unpacking and putting away. And let me tell you, once you are sweaty from the heat outside, you just keep sweating away while moving around to put the groceries away.

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Yes, I LOVE grocery shopping!

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Trisha

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Voice Update: Doing okay. Not as good as I would like but . . . okay. I need to hit the massage harder than I have been. I forget when I am at work!

Vacation Part 2 - Seattle to Ketchican (plus some other stuff)!

Hi All!

Well, I finally got my pictures onto blogger - one darn picture at a time!

Here is a continuation of the vacation story starting at the Seattle Airport.

Look! I saw an Orca up close and personal!

Hubby saw the Orca too!

This particular Orca was outside a shop in the Sea-Tac airport. We got there with loads of time to spare so . . . we messed around a bit!

Speaking of messing around - look who emerged from my suitcase while we were waiting! T.O.D.D.! He didn't end up saying too much but he was certainly hamming it up for the camera!

He chased an old woman out of this seat at the airport just because he could! Luckily, there were lots of empty seats - there were only about 50 people on our plane to Ketchican.

Hubby and I insisted that if T.O.D.D. was going to sit in a seat he had to buckle up and read the emergency procedure card. I am not sure if he was happy about that and waving to us or what . . .

Once that "fasten seatbelt" sign blipped off T.O.D.D. had a field day. We looked away and he literally dove into our M&M box and ate them all!

When he found out that he could get a snack and a soda he managed to ask for these from the flight attendant. Oddly enough, she didn't even blink at having an alien ask her for a Jones soda.

T.O.D.D. spent a lot of time looking out the window. Apparently, they don't have mountains or snow where he is from.

I managed to look out myself. It is beautiful country which isn't done justice by my pictures. Snow peaked mountains were everywhere. I couldn't help but think what the first people to explore this land thought when they struggled to the top of that first mountain only to see these as far as the eye can see!

The fog among the mountains intrigued me - Hubby said it looked like water from the plane. It sort of does.

Here is a picture of our plane at the Ketchikan airport. Yes, it was a jet. No, it wasn't a little prop-jobber. We saw larger cargo planes take off from the airport here. It was impressive when you consider the size of the airport!

Here are ALL the hangars at the airport. Apparently, jets don't stay too long!

The airport consisted of ONE gate, a snack bar/bar, a small gift shop and a pair of restrooms. Jay and I were tickled by how tiny the place was. At least you never have to worry about which gate you are leaving from!

Okay - this picture - I don't remember what it is of. I don't even know if it was really taken in Ketchikan so . . . let's just move on!

We had to cross this channel on a ferry. This is the dry dock and the water plane airport (apparently!) right next to the ferry building on the other side.

Here is the ferry! We walked on with all our luggage. It was fun when an oil tanker got on - the whole ferry tilted!

From the ferry, we took a taxi to our hotel for the night. We were given a warm welcome as you can see below!

Actually, this is one of the totem poles out front of the hotel. I just love that big tongue!

Here is a view of all of the totem poles. They are pretty neat.

This is the entrance to our hotel - the Cape Fox Lodge. Very nice!

Once we got to the hotel and got all of our stuff into the room we decided that we were a bit hungry. After polling a panel of locals, we ended up at Annabelle's. We chatted with the server and decided to take a shot at his favorite - crab cake sandwiches. They were WONDERFUL! For dessert I had peanut butter pie. Very, very yummy! I hope that if we ever end up in Ketchikan again, we will get a chance to eat at Annabelle's.

As you can see, T.O.D.D. went with us. He got a bit of crab cake (his tiny little tummy doesn't hold too much, thank goodness) and some of Hubby's beer. He was a happy alien!

After Annabelle's we did a bit of shopping. I found a very neat bead shop which I had seen on a previous trip but which had moved leading to disappointment before we found it again which led to happiness. I bought three Alaskan themed beads for some bookmarks and T.O.D.D. enjoyed looking at beads.

He really didn't want to leave but Hubby was getting restless!

Our next stop was a fabulous bookstore called Parnassus. In the bookstore I met Maggie. She had great suggestions for books and also agreed to have her picture taken with T.O.D.D.

Maggie decided to match T.O.D.D. scowl for scowl to honor the fact that he is a demon.

I will certainly be visiting this bookstore again if we get to Ketchikan again!

Hubby and I strolled through the entire town (okay, mostly the "touristy" section) and saw this at the waterfront.

Isn't it cute? They had several others - seashells and stuff - but this one really caught my fancy. It looked so good just hanging on the top of the post! It was tough to get a halfway decent picture because of the shadows being cast by nearby buildings but I think I did okay!

Speaking of the waterfront.

This picture is of the creek which runs literally under Creek Street - a boardwalk supported by tall stilts. All day we walked back and forth and lots of people were crowded around this spot preventing me from taking a picture. Later in the evening I finally got my chance!

From looking at this place would you think it had the best burgers and some of the best food in town? Well, apparently, it does. Hubby and I decided to eat here for dinner but, when we arrived there at 7:15 P.M. we learned that it closed at 7:00! Rats! Another "next time" place.

Let me stop for a moment to talk about the whole "closed at 7:00" thing. Since the touristy areas of Ketchikan are primarily for the ships which come into port and they leave around 7:00, the entire town rolls up the sidewalks at 7:00! We were walking around trying to find a different place to eat - after walking through the tunnel to find out that Burger Queen was closed - and found that the town was pretty much shut down. There were a few places open though.

We ended up at the Pioneer Diner - another local hangout. The food was good and the service was fun. Our waitress was named Lou and she was a real character. She did win my heart by leaving me an entire pitcher of ice water! The diner is the kind of place where old men gather to solve the world's problems. I like those places!

More waterfront. Such neat scenery!

Meet Leanne (I hope I spelled that right!), T.O.D.D.'s new friend. Leanne works in a shop where I bought two CDs of local Ketchikan music. She was kind enough to talk to me about the various CDs and groups that were represented by the CDs. So far I have listened to one (Partial to Blue by David Reynolds) which I really like. The other I am still waiting to listen to during my drive to work sometime soon.

Okay - I am finished for this post. Have you had enough pictures yet?

Trisha

Voice Update: See Wednesday's post for the update.

Blogger Problems

Hi All!

Okay, I had planned to share more pictures from the vacation with you but, Blogger seems to have different ideas! No matter what I try, I can't get the pictures I want on the darn post.

Meanwhile, Skor is sitting on the desk trying to get into as much trouble as possible. I put the iPod away so the earbuds are out of danger and he immediately moved on to Hubby's nametag from the NSDA symposium. This cat can certainly chew!

Oops - he found the iPod! Time to move it again! Skor is just being darn ornery today! And I was so pleased that he let me sleep until 6:15 - when Hubby gets up for work! That will teach me to be excited by his "progress."

Now it is the rubberbands Hubby has on the desk - and even the stapler. Crazy cat!

Yesterday I headed to Fort Worth to attend a Deaf church service with my friends from ASL. We met three Deaf friends and then, after the service, we went to Logan's Roadhouse for lunch. This was after getting lost and losing half of our people en route to have them catch up a while later at the restaurant.

It is always fun to go out with Deaf friends. Having to "speak" in ASL is a challenge - especially for me when I haven't done any signing for at least two weeks!

On Saturday, there was a meeting of the North Texas SD Support Group. We met in a new location this time - a church. The church was big and beautiful. They also provided water and coffee - a pleasant surprise!

The support group meeting went well. There was a total of 15 people there including myself and the speaker. The speaker was Dr. Mau, an ENT from the UT Southwestern Medical Center. He does a lot of work (Botox injections) with SD patients and came to speak about what he does and his background, etc. He spoke (basically answering questions) for almost two hours!

After Dr. Mau left we did some organizational kinds of things and had refreshments. Overall, a nice meeting! I am thrilled it went so well considering my co-leader, Lori, was out of town and I was "alone!"

I guess that is all I have for today . . . oh, my! What is that post right before this?

Oh - it is T.O.D.D. Hubby and I discovered him in our luggage during our recent trip. It took a while but we figured out that he had decided to live with us. Interesting, huh?

He introduced himself to us as "The Outlandishly Destructive Demon." Let's hope he doesn't start destroying our house! Hopefully we will learn more about him as time goes on. He did end up in a bunch of our Alaskan pictures though so you will see him some more!

Have a fabulous Monday!

Trisha

Voice Update: Doing okay but not as well as I would like. I am working on getting back into the exercise/massage routine!

ME T.O.D.D. !

ME T.O.D.D.

ME GO TRIP TOO.

SNACKS GOOD. PURSE HOT!

ME LIKE TV. CON-TI-NEN-TAL BREAKFAST. WHAT THAT?

THESE LOOK LIKE FOOD. ME TRY.