Cedar Breaks

We spent the day at Cedar Breaks, outside of Cedar City, UT. A fun
filled day of hiking and beautiful vistas.

Leaving McMinnville

Evergreen Aviation Museum

This isn't a very good picture, but this is where we spent the day. We
got there around 9:30 or 10:00 am. Due to the expected temps today, we
were advised to do the aviation museum first and then the space
museum, as the building for the space museum is air-conditioned and
the other one is not.

The "Spruce Goose" is amazing. A got some good pictures of it, but due
to it's size, none are a full picture of the plane. They also have
some of the miniatures that were used to film The Aviator.

They have so many exhibits in this building, that it took several
hours to see them all. We went and had lunch in the building for the
space museum, then went to the IMAX theater (the middle building) and
watch a really cool 3-D movie about the Apollo space program.

Then it was back to the space museum to see what they had there. You
can tell that it is not complete, but it is still really impressive.
They designed the space building to house one of the space shuttles,
when they are retired in the next few years. We plan to come back for
that.

You can see a 747 in the picture as well. It just arrived and was
transported to the museum on Wednesday. They have plans to put it on
top of one of their newest buildings and turn it into a water park.
The model of the new building shows water tubes running from the doors
through to the building below. Should be worth a return visit as well.

Lunch at Tacoma Narrows

After a wonderful morning, we got in touch with an old friend from
Hawaii who lives at Gig Harbor. We met him for lunch at this
restaurant on the field of Tacoma Narrows airport. Pretty good French
Dip.

Dawn if Day 2

The only good thing about bring up at 5:30 AM while you are on
vacation is the beautiful sun rise. This one is particularly nice, as
the light is diffused through a haze layer and the remnants of a
pretty impressive thunderstorm that was building over the mountains
yesterday. I'm not sure if the iPhone does it justice.

Overnight in Bellingham

As seen from the beach near our friend's house north of Bellingham.
Perfect end to the perfect flight.

Day 1 - Departing Juneau

You couldn't ask for a better morning to start a cross-country flight.
The weather looks good all the way down the coast. We will be in
Bellingham tonight!

Well into final preparations...

2 more work days left until vacation... I can't wait...

Until then, with A's help, we are well on our way to being ready. I (finally) cleaned out my office/spare bedroom for A's grandma. All we have to do is set up her bed and put away the stuff she's already sent ahead of herself.

A's been working on getting the car clean (again, finally). It looks like it has been professionally detailed. There is no point in taking it to a car wash, as it is forecast to be constantly raining every day until we leave on Sunday...

He's also been loading our entire music collection (and then some) into his MP3 player. At last count, we have almost 2 days of constant music without songs repeating... I think we will be OK...

Up next is the final clean on the house, then packing up the plane to leave.

Our plans have changed so much since we started planning this trip. As of right now, we are leaving Juneau for Bellingham, WA on Sunday, where we will meet up with the former owner of our airplane. Then, on Monday, we will proceed down to McMinnville, OR. Tuesday will be devoted to the museum where the Hercules resides (for the uninitiated, that is the "Spruce Goose"). Wednesday, we will fly to Cedar City for my family reunion. I am really looking forward to seeing everyone again. This branch of the family holds a reunion every 3 years, and the last one we were only able to participate for one day. Saturday, we'll head out to Walsenburg, CO to see my grandma, aunt and uncle (and eat some FABULOUS BBQ that my uncle makes... we may need to re-do weight & balance after that stop). Then, it's on to SLC to pick up A's grandma to head north again.

Everyone pray for clear skies and tail winds as we make our trip. As we can, I'll blog about where we are and what we are doing. Thank goodness for iPhone's and their functionality.

Movie Review - Labor Pains

I know that I shouldn't expect too much from the movies on ABC Family.
They are usually stupid and campy at best, but have a cute story line
at heart. However, the movie Labor Pains is the exception to this.

I saw the previews for this movie and thought it was a stupid premise
for a movie. There also wasn't anything else on TV tonight, so I
decided to give it the benefit of the doubt.

First, I will say that the only person that they could get to play the
lead in that piece of crap was Lindsey Lohan, probably because anyone
with any real talent wouldn't do it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but she
plays the same character in EVERY thing she does.

The story line is moronic at best. Who in their right mind thought
that making light of someone committing fraud (pretending to be
pregnant) just to keep their job would be good entertainment?

And then, of course, they have to show the "heroine" falling on her
face to gain retribution. There's nothing like showing to the youth of
America that if you pretend to be something you are not (in the most
disgusting and disrespectful way you can IMO) that everything will be
aces for you!

The best part of this show was her little sister, who was the constant
voice of reasoning. She was someone with some actual moral fiber, who
told her sister, everytime she had a scene with her, that she was
insane and a liar and a cheat. Too bad our "heroine" didn't listen.
But we aren't teaching our kids about good morals anymore anyway. We
are obviously teaching them that they should go to whatever means they
need to to get what they want in life. Because it's not about being
responsible anymore, it's about who you can screw to get to the top.

I remember reading news stories and seeing news programs on TV about
people who pretend to be pregnant to get money from adoptive parents
who pay for the "pregnant" woman's expenses. Completely disgusting.
Not only does this woman commit fraud, but she breaks the hearts of
people who have very few options if they want a family. How can they
think that this is appropriate entertainment? Probably because the
woman in this movie was not screwing prospective parents, but
deceiving the company she works for, manipulating them for a promotion
and a raise. Not to mention the theft of store property so she can
pull it off. I don't care who you are, it is still disgusting.

A klutz... Awake and asleep...

I woke up this morning with my left pinky REALLY sore, at the knuckle where it joins the hand... I must have slept on it funny...

This is not the first time I've done something to my self in my sleep. I sprained my ankle once while I was asleep... I remember waking up that day and trying to walk, and not being able to... We had to get crutches for me to use for a few days...

As for my pinky, I have a doctor's appointment this afternoon, so I'll have it checked out then... Hopefully I didn't do anything TOO bad to it... It doesn't feel broken, but you never know with these kinds of injuries. I have dealt with claims where someone hurt their hand, thought it would get better, only to find out months later that it was (and in some cases still is) fractured... We'll see...

Afraid of bees, part 2...

As I've posted before, Noni is seriously afraid of bees... To the point of running and hiding... Unless she can't run and hide somewhere, then I get a dog with a full blown panic attack...

What happened, you ask? Well, I'll tell you...

Noni came with me to work today, and she came with me to run errands. One of my errands was to go to the bank to make a deposit. Usually, I go through the drive thru and they give me a dog biscuit (because they can see the wonderful, cute, happy dog through the window). Today, I couldn't do that, so I parked and went inside. Before I did this, I cracked the windows in the car, because it was rather warm when I went to the bank...

Several minutes later, I find Noni's face practically pressed up against the glass of the back window opposite of the driver's side window... Initially, I thought "Hey, my dog saw me through the windows and is excited to see me!" Not so much... Although she was happy to see me (her protector), it wasn't because she missed me... Apparently, I had parked near a flowering bush, full of bees, and one got in the car... Poor baby... She didn't have that much space to try to get away from it... She wanted to jump in my lap, but the bee was hovering around the driver's side window... I got the car started, and rolled the window down further to "assist" the bee in departing my vehicle...

Noni was so anxious at this point, that she took the cookie that I got for her from the teller, then spat it out on the seat... Normally, I roll down the back windows when it is warm, so she can get more air, but I didn't dare do that, for fear that she would jump out the windows... When we got back into the office, she couldn't get out of the car fast enough... She sat under my desk for several minutes, shaking... Poor baby... I know from watching Cesar Milan, that you are not supposed to coddle them when they are in that state, because it reinforces the bad behavior, so I just let her get over it.

Getting her back in the car to come home was another matter... I had to tell her several times to get in (I usually only have to say it once, maybe twice if she's distracted)... I almost had to physically put her in the car, but she jumped in on her own...

A visitor in my yard...

In all the years that I have lived in Alaska, I have never seen a bear... I've seen porcupine's that have been mistaken as bears (from a distance), but not a bear... Until today...

Imagine my surprise when Noni starts growling loudly and incessantly... She wouldn't stop even when I told her to be quiet... From my vantage point on the couch, I saw something with black fur and took it for a dog that someone was walking off leash... But Noni doesn't usually growl like that when there's a dog outside... So I got off the couch to see what the deal was and saw something black go behind the car... I just caught the butt end and it just looked like a fat black dog with a docked tail... I figured that Noni was just being crazy... But I sat there and waited for the "dog" to move out from behind the car, and this is what I saw...

OK, that's not really what I saw... I only saw a cub, but it looked just like this one... By the time I realized it was a cub and got to my camera, it had moved from the dumpster (which is bear proof, by the way) to the woods behind it... I could still see it, but the camera couldn't... I wasn't about to go outside to try to get a better picture either... Where there's a cub, there's usually a momma...

Happy 4th of July

To some people, the 4th of July means nothing more than a three day
weekend, barbecues, and a rockin' fireworks show. But the 4th
celebrates the day we, as a nation, declared our independence.

So, today while you enjoy your fried chicken, or watch a great fire
works show, remember those who fought to give us our freedom. Remember
what this day is really about.

My list of things to do this weekend...

Clean & organize the office (it's a mess since we re-arranged it to make room for a twin sized bed)

Clean bedroom (throw away the crap/garbage that the husband insists upon collecting on his side of the bed and then "forgetting" to clean it before he goes to work... argh...)

Mop bathroom floor

Clean window and screen in the bathroom

Vacuum hallway and stairs

Re-organize the linen closet...

Sort recycling

Go shopping for some "summer" clothes (we'll be in Southern Utah for a good chunk of our upcoming vacation... Quite a difference in climate from what we are used to... I don't even own any shorts...)

Laundry

OK, maybe this is my "today" list... Thank goodness for 3 day weekends... Don't worry... I'll make an official 4th of July post to honor our country...