Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Zippers

<iframe width="560" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/pnpbPHEO6R8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Zippers

http://www.youtube.com/user/bauereee#p/u/7/pnpbPHEO6R8

shananogins in alaska


Trip with my bud shannon:)
Seattle August 5th -
So, after being home for a luscious week and a half, I got to spend some amazing time with my wonderful, dear old friend shannon. She got a free cruise out of it too :) (oh the perks of working in a sailing hotel). First off, I flew to seattle really early on the fourth, not sure why, maybe the ticket was cheap...anywho, flew back early, and spent a few hours in the portland airport. As soon as I got to Seattle, I called my friend Dan (who also worked on my ship) and he was my tour guide for the day. He took me to the most amazing places in seattle. We got to see these old abandoned houses that some artists took over and we took pictures through them. They were called mad houses. So cool. Then we went to a tibeten/indian restaurant and ate a delicious meal. After that we wandered around the park near his house and found some bluegrass band jamming. We then went back to his place, chilled with his roommates and had an amazing time singing and playing music. It was awesome, and this all happened before Shannon’s flight got in. He then drove me back to Shannon's friend Emily’s place where we were going to stay for the night. Emily was so sweet to let us crash there. Her house was so cute too! We all got up early in the morning and went to a gluten/vegan and sugar free bakery called “the flying apron” and it was to die for.....no litterally. TO DIE FOR! I almost could see myself moving to seattle for this bakery...I would also get really fat....hahah worth it! But man, this place was soooo good! And then Emily kindly took us back to the ship because we didn’t quite know if we had to be there early to get Shannon checked in or not. I’m not gonna lie, I was kind of nervous and excited to be back. It felt like I was away for the summer, and I was coming back to school to see all my friends. It turned out the process was much easier than we thought and it only took about a half an hour. We then called back Emily and went to lunch with her at Pikes Place market at a greek stand. So incredible I must say! Then, we got back and watched sail away.....did our show and went to bed (soooo tired after that long day) It was a great start to the two week adventure with my bud though! Oh, and Jessica’s sister was sailing with her as well, so it was perfect for Shannon to at least never be bored when I would be doing shows!
8/7 ketchikan, Alaska
Could it have been a more beautiful day here in Ketchikan? I am not sure....the salmon were swimming fiercely upstream and the sky was cotton candy blue. Of course, we had to hike deer mountain. The trail is so awesome. Dani, Jess, Shannon, J.C (our new cruise director) and myself decided to make our way up the mountain. We took so many photos and laughed the whole way up. J.C is from England and so naturally we decided we wanted to speak in British accents while he worked on his southern drawl....obviously. Shannon, sorry to say this, but you need a little work :) Anywho, J.C also introduced us to the best creek game in the world! Pooh sticks! Basically, you find a stick in the woods and we all race them down the creek and see who wins. It doesn’t sound quite as cool as it was, but I swear to you.....its a real treat! haha. Once we got to the first lookout (which was breathtaking) we stayed there for a while, and decided to trek back down since we didn’t have a ton of time left. Then we hopped in to see the free lumberjack show for a few minutes....and headed back to the ship. Such a splendid day!
8/9 Juneau
Today the four of us girls, plus Eli, went to the Mendehall glacier viewing point and took magnificent photos. It was stunning. Waterfalls, salmon, a huge glacier and we even saw a baby bear! It was adorable. We had such fun taking crazy photos by something so majestic. We then went back in to town, and jess and dani and eli went back to the ship to take a nap. However, Shannon and I took the cable car up to the top of mount juneau and chatted for a few hours. We also watched a free movie about the tribes...but I fell asleep (whoops). Then when we headed back down, we wandered into a bar called “the alaskan bar” (how fitting :)) because we heard a bluegrass band jamming. We got a drink and the girls met us in the bar. One of the band members came up to us and started talking to us, and in conversation told us that he inspired the cookie monster character for Jim Henson. He began by telling us he used to have cookies thrown at him  by kids in the cafeteria because he always would ask them for their cookies. Then Jim Henson came to their school (he visited many) and did a workshop with them, and he made up the (menamana...doodooodooodoodoo) voice....and he kept it! Now, I dont know if this is true, but why would someone make that up? haha whatever, it was a good story! Then we met Dale, who offered to buy us all drinks because we reminded him of his daughter who was our age, We hung out with him and later on he bought us a       
bunch of chinese food! ahhh it was so sweet of him! We had a blast that night! :) Really interesting characters in Juneau.....Oh and I forgot to mention, the night before Juneau we docked early because of a medical emergency and a few of us got off the ship to explore Juneau at night.....let me just tell you, Juneauvians, Juneites, or Junes...whatever you call the natives of Juneau, well, they are not so friendly at night.....it put a sour taste in my mouth....good thing we don’t have overnights there....those drunkards are crazy! haha
8/10 Icy Straight point
Let me just say, if you haven’t yet watched the video of me and everyone else posted by Eli on my facebook of the worlds longest zipline.....please watch it.... (you have no idea how fun it was!) Such a day!
8/12 Achorage
Today, was again a beautiful day in Anchorage! It makes me so happy to be able to go outside in this awesome city! Early in the day, I went to the park for a bit to hear some live music, climbed a tree and hung out with some locals. Then everyone met up with me, and we met a young girl from france staying with the singer of the music for the summer. She was so sweet and hung out with us while we wandered around to a thrift store and the park. She thought we were much younger because she came up to us and asked us if she could hang out....haha. It was cool, she was very mature. Oh europeans are so much more mature! :) Then shannon and I stayed off the ship for a while and went shopping in JC Pennys..... of course haha. We had so much fun....like old times when we used to go into Kmart in yorba linda and try on bras that were way too big for us just for laughs....(hmmm, I don’t know if I should have said this, but whatever! ) haha.....anyway, anchorage was a pretty cool day I must say!
8/13 Homer
Today, the girls and I went downtown on the shuttle bus to the wildlife museum and
 then walked all the way back in to town. We wanted to rent bikes, but our HRM wasn't in the office in the morning so we couldn’t. It was a bummer. But the walk surely did us some good for the giant meal we were going to have for dinner. We were so lucky to be invited to a very special wine- pairing dinner at our five star restaurant on board with our friends Jochem and Mark. It was Jochem’s last cruise so he pulled some serious strings to get us to come with them. We couldn’t actually make reservations. Oh my gosh the food and wine were to DIE for. And I almost died.....too much wine haha. But we had many laughs and had a wonderful time enjoying perfect food, wine and company!
8/14 Kodiak
We have one of our shows on this day so we rarely do much in this port. But, jessica and I have been up to the top of the mountain before, and Shannon and Dani got off early enough to hike up the mountain. So, Eli, Jess and I took a taxi up the mountain and wandered back down with them. I swear to you, Kodiak looks so much more amazing from the top of the mountain. It is so peaceful up there, I just wish we had more time up there. It’s a slice of heaven.
8/16
Sitka
Today, Annette, Darren, myself and the girls took a trip to the bear fortress. Oh my goodness, these bears were rescued from being killed and now they are in a safe environment. They are so cute and they can do soooo many adorable tricks! I loved watching them. We never get this close to bears.....it was awesome.
8/18
Victoria, Canada
Today, the girls and I took a bus to Butchart gardens to have afternoon tea there. It was extravagant and it was free to get in and a cheap bus faire so why not? Oh my gosh, I think these gardens are stunning. No, stunning doesn't describe it. It’s almost as if I would never get to see some of these flowers in my life, if not here. They are so unique. It truly amazes me that something growing out of the ground can look like this. Let’s never forget how lucky we are to live on this earth. We are truly blessed. Anyway, after the gardens, we went down town to listen to a bluegrass band in the irish times pub. What a way to end a magnificent day!
Oh, I almost forgot....Fog watch! Jessica and I wanted to play a prank on Shannon and Danielle because we thought it would be a memorable thing for their vacation. Now, we didn’t come up with this, but Heather (one of our dancers) had been pranked like this before and we wanted them to have to do it too. Well, anyway, we had been telling the girls since the beginning of the cruise that they may have to do something called fog watch since they are newly embarked crew...but we weren't sure...We actually didn't know if we were ever going to go through with it, but it turned out they took a tour of the bridge the day before Victoria and we decided, why not? So, we asked our friend Mark, who is an officer of the ship if he would call them early in the morning and make them report for fog watching duty. So, he calls my cabin in the morning and asks (I am going to ask you one more time, do you want us to prank your friend?) in a groggy voice I said yessss! ahahah, then he made me give the phone to poor Shannon and she said she had to report. I was getting up too, because I thought, I have to see this, but she said to go back to bed....I wanted to call Jess to ask if Dani had to do it, but Shannon said not to cause she probably didn't have to....(goood call shan) but Jess ended up calling me, phew! Then they went up there and Jess and I said we could get up too, cause we felt bad and we wanted to take pictures of the sunrise....(haha) then, we go up to the bridge, and neither of them went to the Bow of the ship, like they were supposed to, So, Darren went down and found them. They looked so funny with their large life vests on and dinky   
little flashlights in the water. Darren was telling them to keep an eye out for the vessel ahead that might turn the wrong way and hit us. It was perfect. They only were there for about ten minutes, then they came up and still thought it was real, until we told them otherwise. It was hilarious.....but really, the joke was on us because we got up at 6 am too. hahaha. I guess I needed to feel like I was capable of pulling off a prank as good as  my lice check april fools joke. (nah...nothing will ever beat that!) hahaa

shananogins in alaska


Trip with my bud shannon:)
Seattle August 5th -
So, after being home for a luscious week and a half, I got to spend some amazing time with my wonderful, dear old friend shannon. She got a free cruise out of it too :) (oh the perks of working in a sailing hotel). First off, I flew to seattle really early on the fourth, not sure why, maybe the ticket was cheap...anywho, flew back early, and spent a few hours in the portland airport. As soon as I got to Seattle, I called my friend Dan (who also worked on my ship) and he was my tour guide for the day. He took me to the most amazing places in seattle. We got to see these old abandoned houses that some artists took over and we took pictures through them. They were called mad houses. So cool. Then we went to a tibeten/indian restaurant and ate a delicious meal. After that we wandered around the park near his house and found some bluegrass band jamming. We then went back to his place, chilled with his roommates and had an amazing time singing and playing music. It was awesome, and this all happened before Shannon’s flight got in. He then drove me back to Shannon's friend Emily’s place where we were going to stay for the night. Emily was so sweet to let us crash there. Her house was so cute too! We all got up early in the morning and went to a gluten/vegan and sugar free bakery called “the flying apron” and it was to die for.....no litterally. TO DIE FOR! I almost could see myself moving to seattle for this bakery...I would also get really fat....hahah worth it! But man, this place was soooo good! And then Emily kindly took us back to the ship because we didn’t quite know if we had to be there early to get Shannon checked in or not. I’m not gonna lie, I was kind of nervous and excited to be back. It felt like I was away for the summer, and I was coming back to school to see all my friends. It turned out the process was much easier than we thought and it only took about a half an hour. We then called back Emily and went to lunch with her at Pikes Place market at a greek stand. So incredible I must say! Then, we got back and watched sail away.....did our show and went to bed (soooo tired after that long day) It was a great start to the two week adventure with my bud though! Oh, and Jessica’s sister was sailing with her as well, so it was perfect for Shannon to at least never be bored when I would be doing shows!
8/7 ketchikan, Alaska
Could it have been a more beautiful day here in Ketchikan? I am not sure....the salmon were swimming fiercely upstream and the sky was cotton candy blue. Of course, we had to hike deer mountain. The trail is so awesome. Dani, Jess, Shannon, J.C (our new cruise director) and myself decided to make our way up the mountain. We took so many photos and laughed the whole way up. J.C is from England and so naturally we decided we wanted to speak in British accents while he worked on his southern drawl....obviously. Shannon, sorry to say this, but you need a little work :) Anywho, J.C also introduced us to the best creek game in the world! Pooh sticks! Basically, you find a stick in the woods and we all race them down the creek and see who wins. It doesn’t sound quite as cool as it was, but I swear to you.....its a real treat! haha. Once we got to the first lookout (which was breathtaking) we stayed there for a while, and decided to trek back down since we didn’t have a ton of time left. Then we hopped in to see the free lumberjack show for a few minutes....and headed back to the ship. Such a splendid day!
8/9 Juneau
Today the four of us girls, plus Eli, went to the Mendehall glacier viewing point and took magnificent photos. It was stunning. Waterfalls, salmon, a huge glacier and we even saw a baby bear! It was adorable. We had such fun taking crazy photos by something so majestic. We then went back in to town, and jess and dani and eli went back to the ship to take a nap. However, Shannon and I took the cable car up to the top of mount juneau and chatted for a few hours. We also watched a free movie about the tribes...but I fell asleep (whoops). Then when we headed back down, we wandered into a bar called “the alaskan bar” (how fitting :)) because we heard a bluegrass band jamming. We got a drink and the girls met us in the bar. One of the band members came up to us and started talking to us, and in conversation told us that he inspired the cookie monster character for Jim Henson. He began by telling us he used to have cookies thrown at him  by kids in the cafeteria because he always would ask them for their cookies. Then Jim Henson came to their school (he visited many) and did a workshop with them, and he made up the (menamana...doodooodooodoodoo) voice....and he kept it! Now, I dont know if this is true, but why would someone make that up? haha whatever, it was a good story! Then we met Dale, who offered to buy us all drinks because we reminded him of his daughter who was our age, We hung out with him and later on he bought us a       
bunch of chinese food! ahhh it was so sweet of him! We had a blast that night! :) Really interesting characters in Juneau.....Oh and I forgot to mention, the night before Juneau we docked early because of a medical emergency and a few of us got off the ship to explore Juneau at night.....let me just tell you, Juneauvians, Juneites, or Junes...whatever you call the natives of Juneau, well, they are not so friendly at night.....it put a sour taste in my mouth....good thing we don’t have overnights there....those drunkards are crazy! haha
8/10 Icy Straight point
Let me just say, if you haven’t yet watched the video of me and everyone else posted by Eli on my facebook of the worlds longest zipline.....please watch it.... (you have no idea how fun it was!) Such a day!
8/12 Achorage
Today, was again a beautiful day in Anchorage! It makes me so happy to be able to go outside in this awesome city! Early in the day, I went to the park for a bit to hear some live music, climbed a tree and hung out with some locals. Then everyone met up with me, and we met a young girl from france staying with the singer of the music for the summer. She was so sweet and hung out with us while we wandered around to a thrift store and the park. She thought we were much younger because she came up to us and asked us if she could hang out....haha. It was cool, she was very mature. Oh europeans are so much more mature! :) Then shannon and I stayed off the ship for a while and went shopping in JC Pennys..... of course haha. We had so much fun....like old times when we used to go into Kmart in yorba linda and try on bras that were way too big for us just for laughs....(hmmm, I don’t know if I should have said this, but whatever! ) haha.....anyway, anchorage was a pretty cool day I must say!
8/13 Homer
Today, the girls and I went downtown on the shuttle bus to the wildlife museum and
 then walked all the way back in to town. We wanted to rent bikes, but our HRM wasn't in the office in the morning so we couldn’t. It was a bummer. But the walk surely did us some good for the giant meal we were going to have for dinner. We were so lucky to be invited to a very special wine- pairing dinner at our five star restaurant on board with our friends Jochem and Mark. It was Jochem’s last cruise so he pulled some serious strings to get us to come with them. We couldn’t actually make reservations. Oh my gosh the food and wine were to DIE for. And I almost died.....too much wine haha. But we had many laughs and had a wonderful time enjoying perfect food, wine and company!
8/14 Kodiak
We have one of our shows on this day so we rarely do much in this port. But, jessica and I have been up to the top of the mountain before, and Shannon and Dani got off early enough to hike up the mountain. So, Eli, Jess and I took a taxi up the mountain and wandered back down with them. I swear to you, Kodiak looks so much more amazing from the top of the mountain. It is so peaceful up there, I just wish we had more time up there. It’s a slice of heaven.
8/16
Sitka
Today, Annette, Darren, myself and the girls took a trip to the bear fortress. Oh my goodness, these bears were rescued from being killed and now they are in a safe environment. They are so cute and they can do soooo many adorable tricks! I loved watching them. We never get this close to bears.....it was awesome.
8/18
Victoria, Canada
Today, the girls and I took a bus to Butchart gardens to have afternoon tea there. It was extravagant and it was free to get in and a cheap bus faire so why not? Oh my gosh, I think these gardens are stunning. No, stunning doesn't describe it. It’s almost as if I would never get to see some of these flowers in my life, if not here. They are so unique. It truly amazes me that something growing out of the ground can look like this. Let’s never forget how lucky we are to live on this earth. We are truly blessed. Anyway, after the gardens, we went down town to listen to a bluegrass band in the irish times pub. What a way to end a magnificent day!
Oh, I almost forgot....Fog watch! Jessica and I wanted to play a prank on Shannon and Danielle because we thought it would be a memorable thing for their vacation. Now, we didn’t come up with this, but Heather (one of our dancers) had been pranked like this before and we wanted them to have to do it too. Well, anyway, we had been telling the girls since the beginning of the cruise that they may have to do something called fog watch since they are newly embarked crew...but we weren't sure...We actually didn't know if we were ever going to go through with it, but it turned out they took a tour of the bridge the day before Victoria and we decided, why not? So, we asked our friend Mark, who is an officer of the ship if he would call them early in the morning and make them report for fog watching duty. So, he calls my cabin in the morning and asks (I am going to ask you one more time, do you want us to prank your friend?) in a groggy voice I said yessss! ahahah, then he made me give the phone to poor Shannon and she said she had to report. I was getting up too, because I thought, I have to see this, but she said to go back to bed....I wanted to call Jess to ask if Dani had to do it, but Shannon said not to cause she probably didn't have to....(goood call shan) but Jess ended up calling me, phew! Then they went up there and Jess and I said we could get up too, cause we felt bad and we wanted to take pictures of the sunrise....(haha) then, we go up to the bridge, and neither of them went to the Bow of the ship, like they were supposed to, So, Darren went down and found them. They looked so funny with their large life vests on and dinky   
little flashlights in the water. Darren was telling them to keep an eye out for the vessel ahead that might turn the wrong way and hit us. It was perfect. They only were there for about ten minutes, then they came up and still thought it was real, until we told them otherwise. It was hilarious.....but really, the joke was on us because we got up at 6 am too. hahaha. I guess I needed to feel like I was capable of pulling off a prank as good as  my lice check april fools joke. (nah...nothing will ever beat that!) hahaa

shananogins in alaska


Trip with my bud shannon:)
Seattle August 5th -
So, after being home for a luscious week and a half, I got to spend some amazing time with my wonderful, dear old friend shannon. She got a free cruise out of it too :) (oh the perks of working in a sailing hotel). First off, I flew to seattle really early on the fourth, not sure why, maybe the ticket was cheap...anywho, flew back early, and spent a few hours in the portland airport. As soon as I got to Seattle, I called my friend Dan (who also worked on my ship) and he was my tour guide for the day. He took me to the most amazing places in seattle. We got to see these old abandoned houses that some artists took over and we took pictures through them. They were called mad houses. So cool. Then we went to a tibeten/indian restaurant and ate a delicious meal. After that we wandered around the park near his house and found some bluegrass band jamming. We then went back to his place, chilled with his roommates and had an amazing time singing and playing music. It was awesome, and this all happened before Shannon’s flight got in. He then drove me back to Shannon's friend Emily’s place where we were going to stay for the night. Emily was so sweet to let us crash there. Her house was so cute too! We all got up early in the morning and went to a gluten/vegan and sugar free bakery called “the flying apron” and it was to die for.....no litterally. TO DIE FOR! I almost could see myself moving to seattle for this bakery...I would also get really fat....hahah worth it! But man, this place was soooo good! And then Emily kindly took us back to the ship because we didn’t quite know if we had to be there early to get Shannon checked in or not. I’m not gonna lie, I was kind of nervous and excited to be back. It felt like I was away for the summer, and I was coming back to school to see all my friends. It turned out the process was much easier than we thought and it only took about a half an hour. We then called back Emily and went to lunch with her at Pikes Place market at a greek stand. So incredible I must say! Then, we got back and watched sail away.....did our show and went to bed (soooo tired after that long day) It was a great start to the two week adventure with my bud though! Oh, and Jessica’s sister was sailing with her as well, so it was perfect for Shannon to at least never be bored when I would be doing shows!
8/7 ketchikan, Alaska
Could it have been a more beautiful day here in Ketchikan? I am not sure....the salmon were swimming fiercely upstream and the sky was cotton candy blue. Of course, we had to hike deer mountain. The trail is so awesome. Dani, Jess, Shannon, J.C (our new cruise director) and myself decided to make our way up the mountain. We took so many photos and laughed the whole way up. J.C is from England and so naturally we decided we wanted to speak in British accents while he worked on his southern drawl....obviously. Shannon, sorry to say this, but you need a little work :) Anywho, J.C also introduced us to the best creek game in the world! Pooh sticks! Basically, you find a stick in the woods and we all race them down the creek and see who wins. It doesn’t sound quite as cool as it was, but I swear to you.....its a real treat! haha. Once we got to the first lookout (which was breathtaking) we stayed there for a while, and decided to trek back down since we didn’t have a ton of time left. Then we hopped in to see the free lumberjack show for a few minutes....and headed back to the ship. Such a splendid day!
8/9 Juneau
Today the four of us girls, plus Eli, went to the Mendehall glacier viewing point and took magnificent photos. It was stunning. Waterfalls, salmon, a huge glacier and we even saw a baby bear! It was adorable. We had such fun taking crazy photos by something so majestic. We then went back in to town, and jess and dani and eli went back to the ship to take a nap. However, Shannon and I took the cable car up to the top of mount juneau and chatted for a few hours. We also watched a free movie about the tribes...but I fell asleep (whoops). Then when we headed back down, we wandered into a bar called “the alaskan bar” (how fitting :)) because we heard a bluegrass band jamming. We got a drink and the girls met us in the bar. One of the band members came up to us and started talking to us, and in conversation told us that he inspired the cookie monster character for Jim Henson. He began by telling us he used to have cookies thrown at him  by kids in the cafeteria because he always would ask them for their cookies. Then Jim Henson came to their school (he visited many) and did a workshop with them, and he made up the (menamana...doodooodooodoodoo) voice....and he kept it! Now, I dont know if this is true, but why would someone make that up? haha whatever, it was a good story! Then we met Dale, who offered to buy us all drinks because we reminded him of his daughter who was our age, We hung out with him and later on he bought us a       
bunch of chinese food! ahhh it was so sweet of him! We had a blast that night! :) Really interesting characters in Juneau.....Oh and I forgot to mention, the night before Juneau we docked early because of a medical emergency and a few of us got off the ship to explore Juneau at night.....let me just tell you, Juneauvians, Juneites, or Junes...whatever you call the natives of Juneau, well, they are not so friendly at night.....it put a sour taste in my mouth....good thing we don’t have overnights there....those drunkards are crazy! haha
8/10 Icy Straight point
Let me just say, if you haven’t yet watched the video of me and everyone else posted by Eli on my facebook of the worlds longest zipline.....please watch it.... (you have no idea how fun it was!) Such a day!
8/12 Achorage
Today, was again a beautiful day in Anchorage! It makes me so happy to be able to go outside in this awesome city! Early in the day, I went to the park for a bit to hear some live music, climbed a tree and hung out with some locals. Then everyone met up with me, and we met a young girl from france staying with the singer of the music for the summer. She was so sweet and hung out with us while we wandered around to a thrift store and the park. She thought we were much younger because she came up to us and asked us if she could hang out....haha. It was cool, she was very mature. Oh europeans are so much more mature! :) Then shannon and I stayed off the ship for a while and went shopping in JC Pennys..... of course haha. We had so much fun....like old times when we used to go into Kmart in yorba linda and try on bras that were way too big for us just for laughs....(hmmm, I don’t know if I should have said this, but whatever! ) haha.....anyway, anchorage was a pretty cool day I must say!
8/13 Homer
Today, the girls and I went downtown on the shuttle bus to the wildlife museum and
 then walked all the way back in to town. We wanted to rent bikes, but our HRM wasn't in the office in the morning so we couldn’t. It was a bummer. But the walk surely did us some good for the giant meal we were going to have for dinner. We were so lucky to be invited to a very special wine- pairing dinner at our five star restaurant on board with our friends Jochem and Mark. It was Jochem’s last cruise so he pulled some serious strings to get us to come with them. We couldn’t actually make reservations. Oh my gosh the food and wine were to DIE for. And I almost died.....too much wine haha. But we had many laughs and had a wonderful time enjoying perfect food, wine and company!
8/14 Kodiak
We have one of our shows on this day so we rarely do much in this port. But, jessica and I have been up to the top of the mountain before, and Shannon and Dani got off early enough to hike up the mountain. So, Eli, Jess and I took a taxi up the mountain and wandered back down with them. I swear to you, Kodiak looks so much more amazing from the top of the mountain. It is so peaceful up there, I just wish we had more time up there. It’s a slice of heaven.
8/16
Sitka
Today, Annette, Darren, myself and the girls took a trip to the bear fortress. Oh my goodness, these bears were rescued from being killed and now they are in a safe environment. They are so cute and they can do soooo many adorable tricks! I loved watching them. We never get this close to bears.....it was awesome.
8/18
Victoria, Canada
Today, the girls and I took a bus to Butchart gardens to have afternoon tea there. It was extravagant and it was free to get in and a cheap bus faire so why not? Oh my gosh, I think these gardens are stunning. No, stunning doesn't describe it. It’s almost as if I would never get to see some of these flowers in my life, if not here. They are so unique. It truly amazes me that something growing out of the ground can look like this. Let’s never forget how lucky we are to live on this earth. We are truly blessed. Anyway, after the gardens, we went down town to listen to a bluegrass band in the irish times pub. What a way to end a magnificent day!
Oh, I almost forgot....Fog watch! Jessica and I wanted to play a prank on Shannon and Danielle because we thought it would be a memorable thing for their vacation. Now, we didn’t come up with this, but Heather (one of our dancers) had been pranked like this before and we wanted them to have to do it too. Well, anyway, we had been telling the girls since the beginning of the cruise that they may have to do something called fog watch since they are newly embarked crew...but we weren't sure...We actually didn't know if we were ever going to go through with it, but it turned out they took a tour of the bridge the day before Victoria and we decided, why not? So, we asked our friend Mark, who is an officer of the ship if he would call them early in the morning and make them report for fog watching duty. So, he calls my cabin in the morning and asks (I am going to ask you one more time, do you want us to prank your friend?) in a groggy voice I said yessss! ahahah, then he made me give the phone to poor Shannon and she said she had to report. I was getting up too, because I thought, I have to see this, but she said to go back to bed....I wanted to call Jess to ask if Dani had to do it, but Shannon said not to cause she probably didn't have to....(goood call shan) but Jess ended up calling me, phew! Then they went up there and Jess and I said we could get up too, cause we felt bad and we wanted to take pictures of the sunrise....(haha) then, we go up to the bridge, and neither of them went to the Bow of the ship, like they were supposed to, So, Darren went down and found them. They looked so funny with their large life vests on and dinky   
little flashlights in the water. Darren was telling them to keep an eye out for the vessel ahead that might turn the wrong way and hit us. It was perfect. They only were there for about ten minutes, then they came up and still thought it was real, until we told them otherwise. It was hilarious.....but really, the joke was on us because we got up at 6 am too. hahaha. I guess I needed to feel like I was capable of pulling off a prank as good as  my lice check april fools joke. (nah...nothing will ever beat that!) hahaa