City Life in Cali

San Francisco  wasn't ready for us....and boy (or girl), lemme tell you- we weren't quite ready for the streets of San Fran. These two Alaskans in our F350 just didn't mix well with the traffic and congestion in the hilly city. The first hour or so was quite stressful as we tried to navigate around the city and attempt to not  dismember any innocent pedestrians. Thanks to the help of Magellan, we found our way to our first stop: Wags Hotel.

We knew hauling two huskies up and down the streets of a busy city was just asking for trouble so we chose to board them for the night. I swear, their "hotel" was better than ours. You wouldn't believe the ammenities/goodies/extras they offered: One on one swim time, Yappy Hour, and more. I'm pretty ashamed of myself for pampering them so, but I'm sure they had a good time (Their report card said so! ;) ).

After Captain J and I decided on a location to rest our pretty little heads, we set out to explore the city...on foot. No more driving for us! We walked everywhere we went. I'm surprised I survived.

We strolled down to Fisherman's Wharf to walk along the water and view Alcatraz from a distance. Later we spotted Ghirardelli, which quickly became my favorite place in this whole entire world. I was in chocolate heaven!

After a quick snap of this photo (and J telling curious onlookers that I was a "chocolate fiend"), we strolled on down the street where we came to a wine tasting. Being in California and not tasting wine is criminal so we sat down to enjoy a few swigs of California's best aged grape juice.

Afterwards, we continued on down the road to Pier 33 where there were tickets to Alcatraz being sold. Knowing that I'm slightly obsessed with prison shows and culture, J hopped in line to buy us tickets. The boat ride took approximately 12 minutes. In no time, we were standing on the island- looking out at the bright lights of San Francisco. I regret that I didn't bring my camera during this time. How could I forget that?! All I had was the iphone and it doesn't have great capabilities in the dark. Oh, well...I'll have to savor those memories in my mind. I did get a picture of a quote from one of the wardens of "The Rock"-

I thought this was pretty profound especially when I think about all our soldiers who have given all. Did you know that before Alcatraz was a prison that it was actually a military base? Did you know that families occupied the island as well during the time the inmates were there? The tour was quite interesting and I'd definitely like to check out some more literature on the topic.

Around 8 o'clock that night, we finally had dinner. As suggested by my dear dad-in-law, we had dungeness crab and chardonnay. It was excellent! These Californians have it down a little better than Fairbanksians, I just have to say. We left the restaurant with our bellies full and began the long trek back to our hotel.

I didn't get much sleep that night because there were two women in the room to the left of ours that were having an excellent time together, if you know what I mean. Then to to right of us, there was a young couple who argued in German during the wee hours of the morning. Add in cars honking, tires screeching, and the hustle and bustle of city life and it's easy to see why I slept very little.

I woke up with a spring in my step, though. I was ready to get out of that hotel! Captain J and I put on our walkin' shoes and got to stepping bright and early. We had breakfast in the Wharf then headed to Lombard Street to see the crooked roads and beautiful gardens.

Photo Credit Here

Then we went to see the interesing Chinatown district where I wanted to snatch up a couple of those beautiful Chinese children and high tail it to GA and call it a day! (I promise I'm kidding) They were all so precious and it reminded me of the pull I feel to adopt from China. Maybe one day.

We followed the streets to Coit Tower. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to go to the top due to construction on the tower.

Note Annoyed Smile

I could go on forever. We literally went all over this city and by the end of the day I felt as if I had done a half marathon, at least. Then I began to ponder how San Francisco(ians?) stack up in marathons. I bet they win more often than not. You wouldn't believe the steep hills that I was huffing up. Whew! I get tired just thinking about it. I just know if I lived there, I'd look amazing with all that extra exercise I would likely get.

We loved this city, but were glad to drive out of the congestion and back into a slower pace. We definitely wouldn't make it as city folk! Tomorrow we're camping in Yosemite. The adventure continues...

P.S.- Does anyone else have the Full House theme song in their head now?

Hello, Sunshine.

I'm not sure how much sense this post will make as it is 2:30 am and there are a bunch of yayhoos next door being obnoxiously loud. We're in California- San Fransisco to be exact. I'll have to save this city for another post, there's just too much to tell!

But I will tell you about Northern California- It was very rainy at first. We had experienced rain all throughout the ferry ride, Washington, and Oregon so it was just more of the same to these ole vagabonds. Finally, we drove out of it into a town called Crescent City where we were able to catch our first glimpse of the shoreline. After a quick stroll around the water, we loaded up the dogs and were on our way to our next stop.



Orick was interesting, a tiny little dot on the map- nothing at all like you would picture when you picture the state of California. It was here where I met my first Californians and....wait for it....

Sarah Palin fans! I was surprised, to say the least. I knew these people had to be good people when I walked in their cafe and saw this:



Right beside their Northern Cali flag were the flags of the two places I've lived- Alaska and Tennessee. It was pretty cool. We talked to them a bit and hearing that we were among people who held TN very dear to their hearts made me happy all over again to be on this journey back to the south. To all you Tennessee folk reading, one man told us he was "at a place called Tellico just two weeks ago." Small, small world.

I'll tell you what wasn't so small, though- those huge Redwoods! They are magnificent. We saw some on our trip to NZ, but those were transplants, if you will. They weren't native to that area so they hadn't had the time to get as big as these it seems. I had so much fine hiking around the national park (except I have a bone to pick with them--but I'll save that for later) and exploring these very old, very large trees. I'm too lazy at the moment to get my camera, but I will post some photos later that certainly won't do them justice.

Thanks for following along in our adventures! I apologize for lack of commenting/contacting on my part. I've been trying to keep up with all of you as best I can with limited internet access. I hope this post finds you well! Much more travel joys and woes to come...

a quick drive thru- Oregon

Oregon was much more interesting than I originally thought it might be. Before this journey, the only thing I really knew about Oregon was how much they beat UT by this year in football (blah). We quickly drove out of Washington into beautiful stretches of green farmland. Along the perimeters of each farm, there seemed to be hills nestling the land into a miniature valley. It's safe to say that I wasn't expecting that at all. There was so much green that it made my heart leap because I hadn't seen so many shades of green in quite awhile. Every so often, we'd pass a single tree with fall colors decorating each branch. I loved it because I missed most of the fall while I was in TN in September and I missed the only fall Alaska offers during that same time period.

That wasn't the only part of Oregon that I enjoyed...Every rest stop we passed had a sign reading: "Free Coffee". It was awesome, but I wonder how much money is going toward that little luxury each month. This brings me to my next point--

There are numerous signs saying, "Your tax dollars at work" which I think is a completely facetious saying by now so much so that I can't take it seriously. Does anyone look at those and say to themselves, "oh good...I'm glad that road was repaired"? Maybe...but when I see them I just fight the urge to roll my eyes.

All the people we came into contact with here while we were overnighting in Salem were very nice. I decided I liked Oregon(ians) back in September when they expressed their disdain for Lane Kiffin, too. Residents of Oregon- here's to you! You're okay in my book.



In short, I really enjoyed Oregon, but I was welcoming the sign to California more than you know! More on California tomorrow.

Love,

Gift Idea! #1

Want a stocking stuffer idea or a gift for a special lady in your life? Consider this! Last year, Santa (or was it Mom?) ;) brought me this yummy smelling goodness. The pink stuff pictured can be purchased as a three in one product- shampoo, bubble bath and body wash! It all smells heavenly and has been a lifesaver on this trip.



If you'd like some decorating tips, take some from my mom over at her blog-
http://kimbodarlin.wordpress.com

Boat (and Book) Reviews

Hey! It's Mrs. K- back in real time. :) Captain J, the dogs, and I got off the ferry around 10 AM this morning with a spring in our step. The boat ride cut off many, many miles from our car trip so we were thankful for that, but we were also very ready to be on dry land. The weather was yucky and rainy most of the time so it was difficult to see much along the way due to all the fog in the area. Still, we're glad we took the ferry. We had a lazy couple of days and I read so many books- I may just have to review them for you in a moment.

As soon as we drove off the boat, we used the awesome "Dog Parks" app to locate the nearest fenced in play area for our furry friends. It took us right to one so Drifter and Holly were playing and running within 10 minutes of being in Bellingham, WA. After getting all that energy out, we loaded them up and hit the road again. Now, I'm writing to you from Salem, Oregon. Our plan next is to head over to the Red Wood National Forest and camp for a few days so if you don't hear from me--that's probably why ;)

Now, on to what I've read the past few days-

The Last Bridge was written by Teri Coyne. It is a very dark book about a woman who has become estranged from her family due to disturbing issues involving them in her childhood years. When she gets word that her mother has committed suicide and left her the only suicide note reading, "He's not who you think he is", she wants to get to the bottom of it and find out who her mother meant when she wrote it.

I didn't want to stop reading this book, although I wouldn't recommend it if you can't handle reading about child abuse. Parts of it were quite shocking, but it is a work of fiction!

I also finally read Sweet Love, a book lent to me by the lovely Nicole. This novel was written by Sarah Strohmeyer. It's a cute book, but do not read while hungry! She describes desserts to die for! The main character, Julie, receives a gift from her mother to attend a class by a renown chef. She hesitates to go because her career seems to be on the downhill slope much to her dismay, she finds out her first love is enrolled as well, and to top it all off- she's juggling the role of single parent along with all her other titles. If you enjoy Shakespeare, you'll enjoy the quotes that the author ties in quite frequently.

Remember how I told you I wanted to read Whistlin' Dixie in a Nor'Easter? Well, my dear friend, Sarah, got it for me for my birthday and I absolutely loved it! I read this one in about a day because it was just so relatable for me. Written by a resident of Memphis, Lisa Patton created a witty work of fiction that describes the life of a Tennessee woman who loyally follows her husband to Vermont to fulfill his dream to open a bed and breakfast inn. LeeLee finds herself changing as she adjusts to life with a bunch of yankees ;) As I said before, I loved this novel and would definitely recommend it to a pal!

Whew, I read a lot of books in five days! Let's see....2 more to go:

On Captain J's recommendation, I finally picked up Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern. J and J's friend were talking about how hilarious it is and when I ran out of things to read, I perused his collection. I sometimes read what this guy has to say on Twitter and I hear they have a show coming out on tv, too. The book is funny. There's a lot of profanity and crudeness, but still there are many humorous quotes. I suppose it's good end table material!

Last but certainly not least is- I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced. This nonfiction book was written by Nujood Ali with Delphine Minoui. This young lady is from Yemen and was forced by her father to marry a man 3x her age. With much courage, she decided she would no longer tolerate her husband's tendency toward abuse. She found a chance to flee from her family and marched up to the courthouse where she insisted a lawyer help her to get a divorce. She was honored by Glamour magazine (alongside Condoleezza Rice!) as their Woman Of the Year. This book is excellent!

 As you can see, I've had a lot of time on my hands. I owe you all some more book reviews, but I'm going to stop with what I've read recently. Perhaps I'll catch up eventually. Now, I want to get to reading some of your blogs!

 Adios.

knitting once more

Remember when I decided I would start knitting? Wellll...

I didn't exactly follow through --until now! I finished the first scarf I ever attempted about a year later than when I began my little project. I have a lot of free time on the road so I've been plugging away! I even started another one for my dear hubby. Do you think he'll wear it? Yeah...me either.

Anyway, here's a look at my handy work...

We are getting off the ferry today! I'll soon be back to my shenanigans on facebook and twitter. I'm quite positive I've been missed. Maybe.

P.S. It's my sister's birthday! Thank you, Paige, for creating the most beautiful, sweet, little nephews and niece in the entire world. I'm so thankful for you every single day. God blessed me when he made you my sister! I love you and I'll see you soon :)

a happy (Thanksgiving) day vlog

Hello readers (especially friends and family we can't be with on this special day!)- We want to wish you a very merry, happy, thankful Thanksgiving Day! We love and miss you-



Love,

Mrs. K and Captain J

Wordless Wednesday (Terrifying Edition)

(Can anyone do these without any words? Not this girl! Haines has many, MANY, bald eagles this time of year)

A peek at Haines

Haines, Alaska is picturesque and much more than I expected. I imagine if I were going to stay in Alaska, I would settle down in a town like this. This small town is a place where, I imagine, everyone knows your name (if you're a local). Right on the coast, it offers views of water with snow covered mountains in the background. The little cabins with their outhouses close by are just what I pictured Alaska would be like before I moved up here. You know what? That actually seems intriguing to me now. I can see the appeal of this way of life the more time I spend in this beautiful state. My husband and I are reluctant to leave.

Driving into Haines, we were surprised by the lack of snow! There are places where the grass can actually be seen which we weren't expecting because this little town gets a lot of snow in the winter. I suppose Jack Frost hasn't made his way up to this part of our country just yet!

Puppies will be puppies

When we walked into the hotel at our last stop, a sign read:

Pshh, right...like that's going to happen. There's also "no pets allowed on my couches" either but that never stopped them! Basically, they do what they want. I sure hope my pets aren't a reflection of me-or worse yet- of my future, hypothetical children. Oh, well...You pick and choose your battles in life and protecting this little hotel room furniture against doggy mayhem isn't really one I would choose to fight. Besides, they're being angels right now.

We left earlier, though and I can't say that they were good. Well, I can say that Holly was perfect because she always is! Drifter, on the other hand, is a completely different story. We drugged him for cryin' out loud and he's still being mischevious! Before we left, the vet gave us some tranquilizers to keep Drifter asleep while we travel- he's so restless (read: annoying). These magical pills had been working quite well so we decided it would be okay to leave our furry friends in the hotel room while we walked to the nearest restaurant. When we came back, we walked in the door to this-

Medication or none, puppies will be puppies! Drifter can't keep his eyes open but he can destroy a book like nobody's business.

We're in Haines now (where we'll be boarding the Ferry). I'll be out of a reach for forever about four days so if you don't hear from me--that's why! I'm going to work on some posts to schedule for you, but if I don't get them written you'll understand, right? I just knew you would!

Talk soon!

Don't Judge Me

I got a little ahead of myself by publishing the previous traveling post on this blog. I mean, how could I leave out our last days in Fairbanks?

Wednesday evening our dear friends, Sarah and Graham, gave us a going away soiree complete with many of our Fairbanksian friends. The food was excellent (as always) and it was nice to be able to visit with everyone before we went on our way.

The next night was one that I had been looking forward to for a long, long time. No, not the anticipated last night in Alaska--It was time for the release of Harry Potter! Never missing a chance to bring out our dorky sides, Sarah and I went searching for HP tees. We emerged from the local Hot Topic with these-

(It's the Gryffindor house symbol...lol) and then walked over to Michael's where we made our magic wands :)

With the whole clan in tow, we settled in for the midnight showing of our favorite literary icon.

Oh, what fun there is to be had! Who cares if I'm twenty five years old? Harry Potter will make me young again, dang it!

We had a good night, but were forced to wake up the next morning, load the truck, process out of this duty station, and head to the next. Goodbye Alaska! We are sure to miss you dearly.

 

Free?! Yes, please...

Remember when I so boldly proclaimed that I was going to make all of my Christmas cards this year? You didn't believe me, did you? How could I make them when this sweet deal came along...

In case you live under a rock, I wanted to let you know that Shutterfly is offering bloggers 50 free Holiday cards! Now tell me, why would I make them when I could have some much cuter ones at no charge? There are Christmas Photo Cards, Holiday Cards, calendars, birth announcements, religious Christmas Cards and more. It seems like a pretty simple decision to me. Here are a few of my favorite options:







I used Shutterfly when Captain J and I ran off together and got married. I wanted a beautiful announcement to let our friends and family know that we had tied the knot! They did an excellent job on the design and I was happy with the end result. I look forward to seeing the end result of my Christmas cards as well! It will be nice to have something tangible to send to all of our friends in Alaska now that we've left that part of the country. :) I'll be sure to post the final product!

Want to get in on this, too? Click here.

Cheeseburger 2010 and other tales...

Bonjour! From Canada :)

The last hotel we were at in Tok, Alaska boasted that they had wifi on a small piece of paper in the lower corner of the mirror. All you had to do was type in the password- "cheeseburger2010". It was at that moment when I looked over and said, "I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas (Fairbanks) anymore, Toto (Holly)."



Now, it's around 5:15 pm and I'm writing you from Canada. We happen to be ahead of schedule so we decided to stop in Haines Junction to relax a bit. The roads have been okay not ideal but not completely wretched either. As we drove into Canada, we felt a noticeable rise in temperature which I wasn't expecting. It was odd to see snow covered mountains, trees, and shorelines with waves crashing on a nearby lake. I'm walking around in a t-shirt so I'm welcoming the warmer temperature with open arms.

Here's a photo from close to the Alaska/Canada line:



3 Caribou just after crossing in front of us:



I'll be back soon with more tales from the Alcan...

Farewell Festivities

We've really been living it up these past few days! As you Army people may know, Captain J has a ten day period of time to out process from Ft. Wainwright so I've seen him a lot more than usual. It makes me pretty happy to get more time with him even if he has been playing PS3 with his buddy, Joshua almost constantly. That's a-okay, after all- it allots me time to catch up with all of you!

Last Wednesday, we made our final trip to The Pump House for karaoke night. We were regulars there for quite a while so naturally, we had to head back for one last time. Many of J's friends from work joined us and we ended up shutting the place down shortly after J sang Fat Bottomed Girls and dedicated it to all the women in the room. Real crowd pleaser I've got on my hands!

A couple days later, it was my turn to let my hair down and hang out with friends. Sarah, Michelle, Ashley, Laura, and I decided it was time for a ladies night! We started off the evening at Ashley's place with wine and good conversation. Then we went out to eat for Mexican (and margaritas!). The restaurant was just down the street from her place so we decided to walk, just in case. Our walks quickly turned into a trot, then a jog as we were slowly losing feeling in our extremities due to the cold weather. We laughed when I realized this was the first time I had ever sprinted to a bar and I'm hoping it will be my last. It wasn't the alcohol I was after--it was the warmth!

It took us forever to decide on a location after we left the restaurant mainly because we couldn't just choose anywhere. Fairbanks is fairly small, but it is still a military town full of young guys who patrol the bars off duty like no body's business. We wanted nothing of the sort! After a phone call to a local, we determined the best place to NOT get hit on was a place called the Boatel. This was an interesting choice. While there were definitely no soldiers in it, there were many other unique characters that looked at us with questioning eyes as the four of us strolled in. Despite our mostly unwelcome entrance, we were able to sit around, talk, and have a good time.

I'd love to tell you about the going away shin-dig that was thrown for us tonight, but this is getting lengthy and I'm pretty tired already so I'll save that for later. Tomorrow I'm getting my hair highlighted and then I'm off to watch Harry Potter at midnight (and I may or may not be in costume)! That will be the last time we get to see our dear friends we've made up here for a long while. :(

This Alaska girl is Georgia bound in less than 48 hours. Lord willin'!

VS

It's no secret, I LOVE Victoria's Secret...so much so that we might go broke when I get back to civilization and there's one within driving distance. The good thing is, I cut up my VS credit card into a million little pieces when I paid it off so we won't have to worry about that ;)

I'm loving their new PINK Collegiate and NFL lines. Do you have a lady football fan on your Christmas list? Check out all the super cute loungewear that I found:





Army PINK wear found here





Tennessee PINK wear found here





Steelers PINK wear found here

I also found these cute jeans in their clothing line (ahem- size 4- ahem)



I could go on forever, but most of their clothes are over 100 bucks and after living in the land of flannel for over a year, I just can't justify spending that much money on a single article of clothing. Maybe I'm cheap.

What's your take on VS? Overpriced? Do you love it? Do you hate it?