Well, my blog reading friends, I am BACK from my Alaskan cruise with my sister! 


I had such a wonderful time! We had this cute, little room with a small veranda that turned out to be a great blessing. Not only did it make the room feel bigger, but we had a spectacular view during the cruise. 


Out the window was my first glacier! We cruised from Seattle to Glacier National Park (something the hubby heartily approved. He LOVES national parks.) 



I had never seen a glacier, outside of pictures and it was absolutely amazing! I even saw some chunks fall into the water. Very cool.

After leaving Glacier, we went to Juneau, Alaska. This is a shot of Juneau after we rode up a cable car. One of those ships is the Westerdam. I think it's the one on the right.



We also visited Sitka:



You can see a bit of the tender we rode on right there on the right (in orange). It also serves as a life boat in an emergency. Glad we didn't have one!

In Ketchikan, we rode a sea plane!



And to prove I was really in it:

One of the things I got a big kick out of, was when they told us some of the funny questions people asked. Here's the ones I remember:

1. What altitude is the ship? (in case you don't know: sea level)

2. Does the ship generate it's own power?

3. Does the crew sleep on the ship?

4. What do you do with the ice sculptures after they melt?

5. How small does your face have to be to get a mini-facial?

They also told us to be sure and pack our Ulu knifes (curved, very sharp and pretty big!) in our checked baggage. Apparently a LOT of knives were getting confiscated by security.

We also got to stop in on our way home and see my DARLING new grand-nephew!



Jeremy isn't quite three weeks old and already I'm totally in love with the little guy. Just wish I didn't live so far away from him!

I managed a little reading (the rocking of the ship was very conducive to napping) on the cruise. Finished Magic Lost, Trouble Found by Lisa Shearin (read it on my Sony Reader) and thought it was light-hearted fun. My sister was toting The Host, Stephenie Meyer's new novel (that thing is HUGE) and she handed it off to me when she finished. I'm almost done with it. It's very dark and very intense. I hear it has a happy ending and am really hoping other readers are right! It's very well done, just very intense.

My sister brought some dvd's for us to watch, too. I think my favorite was The Lady Killers (the original, haven't seen the remake). Then next was Dan in Real Life. Loved the happy ending. HATED Serendipity. I would have thrown it off our veranda, but I wouldn't do that to such a pristine environment! My sister has promised to give it the end it deserves. I'm hoping for a bull dozer, but that might be hard for her to find. 

No surprise the airline misdirected my suitcase for a short time. Thankfully it was one night at the END of the cruise. I was totally glad to get home and get into clean clothes (not as fun to face a Mount McKinley sized pile of laundry and cat vomit).

And just in case you were wondering, I took some of my pictures with my new iPhone. I'm still loving it. 

While I was cruising, Our Son was in Canada fishing. I think this picture speaks for itself on the question of whether he had fun or not:



He said it tasted good, too. :-)

Here's hoping that June got off to a great start for you! Happy reading (and eating!)
Perilously yours,
Pauline





 

Okay, I watched as much of Dancing with the Stars as I could stand. Was it just me or was it totally boring for the first hour and a half? I know ABC wants to milk all the good ratings they can out of the show, but boring the audience to death is not the way to do it, IMHO. I wonder how many people did what I did, which was tune out until the end of the show to see Christie dance and the final results? I was so glad to see Christie win! She totally deserved it, though I couldn't BELIEVE it when Cheryl and Christian were eliminated first!

Idol made me crazy last night, too! The judges were so far up Archelleta's tush, it was embarassing! I wasn't an early David Cook fan, but now I'm squarely in his corner! DA has a sweet voice, but he is just so YOUNG. At least I know, no matter who wins tonight, DC WILL have a career and albums to buy. He's totally a class act. :-) 

I heard Idol is going to shorten their results shows next season. Smart move. Hope ABC takes notice, but not holding my breath. This is the network that canceled Men in Trees. Idiots.

Son and I saw Prince Caspian and really liked it, though I guess I'm too old to get the whole, Prince Caspian is so hot thing going on out there. It was fun to see the kids again. Edmund has grown up well and Lucy was great, too. Will miss Peter and Susan from the next movie, which I understand will be Voyage of the Dawn Trader. 

I'm looking forward to the new Mummy movie and Get Smart. Hey, I used to love the original. Yes, I am that old. :-)

And I'm really looking forward to my "healing" cruise to Alaska with my sister at the end of the May (which probably explains my anxiety for the month to end!). The son is well and the sister and I are celebrating! (Son gets his version of a celebration: a fishing trip). The hubby will get his celebration trip later, too. Someone has to take care of the cat. Yes, we are ruled by a cat in this house, a real tyrant. 

My son got his second lesson in how girls are different from boys with Mario Kart. You can set up your own saved games and if you win grand prixs on the various maps, they fill in this chart. He wants to win for the glory. I just want to fill in my chart. (vbg) I may be defeated by the 150cc races and my own age, though. 

I feel guilty that I'm suddenly not reading as much, but my head is filled to the brim with my next book (a good thing!). :-)

If you're looking for a good book, and live in the Houston area, I'll be "appearing" twice in the next two months. This Saturday I'll be at Murder by the Book with the Sisters in Crime and I'm going to my first science fiction convention: ApolloCon June 27-29. I'm doing a rapid-fire reading with others from Broad Universe. If you're in the area, stop by and say, hi!

Perilously yours,
Pauline