In Seattle we went to the famous Beth’s Diner seen on the food network; home of the famous 12 egg omelet. Snoqualmie Falls was breathtaking and 100 feet higher than the Niagara Falls if I remember right. The Snoqualmie train museum was fascinating. Learning to use the public transportation system was a fun challenge that we all actually conquered! We went up the Space Needle, visited the Ballard Locks and Botanical Gardens, and watched them throw the fish in Pike’s Market. We enjoyed the Klondike Gold Museum. Be sure to look at my pictures of the fantastic talent performing on the streets and some of the magnificent architecture there!

We boarded the boat and it took the whole cruise to explore all it’s wonderful nooks and crannies. The scenic views were out of this world! After cruising for a day and a half and having our first formal night we arrived in Ketchikan where we did a horse drawn trolley tour and explored the town on foot. I had no idea there was so much to know about totem poles! Spent a lot of time on famous Creek Street with it’s amazing stories!  Took the tram to the top of the mountain and you could see for miles!! Absolutely beautiful!

Next we cruised the inside passage of Tracy Arm and I saw my first floating ice bergs. Did you know the ice is really blue? That was so spectacular I had to buy the DVD of the cruise so I can show my kids how beautiful it is up there. Then we landed in Juneau where we went to the Mendenhall Glacier and then went on a whale watching cruise. We saw lots and lots of whales. I have some wonderful pictures of Orcas, Humpbacks, and sea lions playing next to our boat. That alone would’ve made the trip worthwhile if the rest of it hadn’t been equally as good.

In Skagway we went to do glassblowing, which was an awesome experience. The Jewell Gardens and model train setup as a miniature Skagway were just icing on the cake! Since our glass pieces had to slowly cool anyway they mailed them home so we didn’t have to worry about them getting broken on the trip. We also had English tea there in a quaint little tearoom. Awesome experience all the way around. Then we did the White Pass Scenic Railway which took us up into Canada and the views were just incredible. John and I didn’t go all the way to the Yukon like some of our friends did because of our glass blowing but it was still magnificent!

Back on board we cruised for another day and a half and had another formal night. There was always something going on onboard the ship. We visited the ship’s arcade, casino, saw all the live productions, enjoyed several famous comedians, and took dance classes. We attended wildlife lectures, art auctions, and cruise produced game shows. The food was incredible! Was as much a work of art as it was tasty! Be sure to check out the pictures of the Neptune buffet when I get them up. Incredible! I’d never seen anything like the parade of the Baked Alaskas on our last formal night. There just are no words!

With the last stop I officially left the USA for the first time in my life as we landed in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. There we toured the town, learned the story of the rabbits, took pictures at Mt. Tomie, and last but certainly not least toured the Craigdarroch Scottish Castle. The entire trip was just an incredible, once in a lifetime experience! I took over 2300 pictures and my husband took over 500. I am putting the best ones up on Facebook. If you ever have a chance to do this cruise I highly recommend it! We had a blast!!!

Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio.

“To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me.  It is the most-requested column I’ve ever written.  My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:”

1.  Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.

2.  When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3.  Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4.  Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick.  Your friends and parents [close family] will.  Stay in touch.

5.  Pay off your credit cards every month.

6.  You don’t have to win every argument.  Agree to disagree.

7.  Cry with someone.  It’s more healing than crying alone.

8.  It’s OK to get angry with God.  He can take it.

9.  Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10.  When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11.   It’s OK to let your children see you cry.

12.   Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

13.   If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.

14.   Everything can change in the blink of an eye.  But don’t worry; God never blinks.

15.  Take a deep breath.  It calms the mind.

16.  Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.

17.  Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.

18.  It’s never too late to have a happy childhood.  But the second one is up to you and no one else.

19.  When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.

20. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

21.  Over prepare, then go with the flow.

22.  Be eccentric now.  Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.

23.  No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

24.  Frame every so-called disaster with these words ”In five years, will this matter?”.

25.  Always choose life.

26.  Forgive everyone everything.

27.  What other people think of you is none of your business.

28.  Time heals almost everything.  Give time, time.

29.  However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

30.  Don’t take yourself so seriously.  No one else does.

31.  Believe in miracles.

32.  God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.

33.  Don’t audit life.  Show up and make the most of it now.

34.  Growing old beats the alternative — dying young.

35.  Your children get only one childhood.

36.  All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

37.  Get outside every day.  Miracles are waiting everywhere.

38.  If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.

39.  Envy is a waste of time.  You already have all you need.

40.  The best is yet to come.

41.   No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

42.   Yield.

43.   Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.

My husband bought a used black Honda Shadow 750cc motorcycle.  I barely weighed 90lbs at the time and the weight of the bike was a huge consideration for me.  I had to be able to pick it up off it’s kickstand at least.  We hunted all over town for a small 250cc bike that would be appropriate for me.  With gas nearing $4.00 a gallon at that point there were no small bikes to be found in the tri-state area.  Eventually in August 08 we found a new Red Vulcan 500cc at a local dealer.  I thought it was a little heavy but knew that it was the lowest cc I was going to find at the time so we purchased it.  I enrolled in the Motorcycle Safety Course and quickly learned how silly I had been flying around on my little scooter with no protection other than a helmet!  I learned the proper gear and bought myself gloves to protect my hands, boots to protect my ankles, and an armored and reflective vest to protect my upper body in case anything happened.  The safety course provided 250cc bikes and I didn’t think I was going to pass because I had a wicked problem doing the figure 8 in the little square provided for it.  I worked hard and the instructor stayed after class and worked with me and I manged to pass the course.  But my confidence took a hit since I struggled with it so hard.  After riding the 250cc I found the Vulcan to be even more top heavy and the center of balance was not right for me.  Anytime I had to do the U-turn around the median to get out of our subdivision I was afraid I was going to drop the bike.  If I barely turned the wheel the bike wanted to fall in that direction.  I did drop the bike several (?) times.  Although guys would always stop to help a girl pick up her bike I became unsure of myself and somewhat scared of the bike.  Although my husband loved it, to me riding was not really fun anymore.  I missed my scooter.

Then in February of 2009 my husband was coming home down the main boulevard of our neighborhood and a car pulled out from a stop sign right in front of him.  With a car in the right lane turning right the car at the stop sign did not see my husband coming in the left lane.  My husband t-boned the back quarter panel of the car and totalled out his bike.  Thank goodness he was only doing 25mph at the time and he was wearing his protective gear!  He fractured his left leg and broke three bones in his left hand.  This was probably 50 yards from our driveway and I got the call that my husband was laying in the middle of the intersection by a neighbor.  Surgery was done and a plate was put in his left hand.  His leg healed on its own.  Neither of us was sure at that point if we wanted to ride again.  Other drivers just do not look out for motorcyclist the way they should.  But once you’ve riden it infects your blood somehow and within a few months we were talking about riding again.  There’s just a freedom in riding, even with all the protective gear, some motorcyclist think we are nuts for wearing.

With the insurance money John bought a V-Star 950 Touring Bike and we got a call from a dealer that they finally had a 2006 Virago 250cc traded in if I wanted it.  I put the Vulcan up on Craig’s List and I bought the Virago.  I was happy with it for a few months.  I really started enjoying riding again.  I still had some leftover fears because of my experience with dropping the Vulcan.  I still feared U-turns but it was certainly easier to handle than the Vulcan had been.  But going down to half the cc’s that I’d had with the Vulcan was not easy.  Especially since John had gone UP in the cc’s with his new one.  He’d leave me behind at the red lights and I could forget riding on the interstate.  There was just no get up and go.  Although I loved riding, I became more and more unhappy with my bike.  As much as I enjoyed riding this whole sport was just not working out the greatest for me. 

We browsed the bike shops and eventually in Dec 09 we came across a used V-Star 650.  I was afraid to buy another new one.  We’d taken a hit on the scooters and then quite a hit on the Vulcan since we’d been unable to sell it.  The 650 had quite a bit of mileage on it but it had quite a few of the extras installed that are quite expensive to install yourself too.  I had learned by now it wasn’t the cc’s that I needed to be aware of but the center of gravity.  And of course the weight of the bike is still a consideration although I’m up to 110lb now.  I traded in the Vulcan and the Virago both on the Star 650 and quickly came to love my new bike.  Although it was bigger than anything I’d ridden before even John commented how much better I handled it than I had any of my previous bikes and how he felt more comfortable with me riding now.  I gradually started getting over my fears and feeling more and more confident with my new sport.  I really do love to ride and I feel pretty comfortable on my new bike!  My skills are getting better anyway.

I am adamantly against anyone data mining privacy information to sell to other companies. This is wrong (I know I said that but I really, really mean it!) and against the very integrity of our country in my opinion. The reasons they give are totally bogus! Law Enforcement has access to the information in the DMV database for Amber Alerts or Missing People. This is a company paying to get people to help them gather information that they themselves cannot get from the DMV and have no right to have.   This is a way for these privacy thieves to circumvent the rules that are in place to stop them from getting just the information they are paying people to get FOR them!  They are then selling our information at a huge profit to themselves and a huge privacy loss for us!!!

Another friend immediately asked me how we could stop it.   I don’t know how to stop it.   My husband says we probably can’t stop it because our vehicles are on the street and are not going to fall under “reasonable expectation of privacy”.  But it’s not just vehicle information they want.  They want every scrap of information they can get people to fork over about YOU!!!  People are going to sell out their neighbors to get the money. If you can’t get people to roll over on their neighbor then pay them to do it and they will. This is a sad, sad commentary on what the almighty dollar can do.

My german shepard had seen snow when he was a puppy back in New Mexico in 2006 but he seemed to have forgotten all about it and appeared to have no idea what this cold, white stuff was when I took him out to play in it.  First he walked along the edge of the screened in porch where the overhang had kept the snow from hitting the ground.  Finally I enticed him out into the yard to play with me. 

It was fun!  As I threw a snowball he leaped up to catch it as he does with his frizby.  His expression as the cold saturated his tongue was priceless.  He would quickly drop the snowball.  Although he was surrounded by snow he would nose around until he found the ball with my scent on it and try to pick it up.  Soon he came to me where I was making the snowballs and would bite at the snow in my hand destroying the snowball before I could compact it.   We ran and we played and we had a wonderful time as the snow quickly melted.    Later in the afternoon when I went out with him again the snow was pretty much gone.  He’d go to the edge of the shed where the overhang had kept the snow from melting yet and look back at me like, “Come on Mom; we’ve still got a little bit!”  I hope it’s not so long that he totally forgets the fun we had before we see snow again!

Now down here we’ve got Mardi Gras.  People think Mardi Gras is just in New Orleans.  That’s not true.  I’m in northwest Louisiana but Mardi Gras starts at the end of January or the beginning of February and goes til Fat Tuesday and the start of Lent.  That means parties and balls and drinking and king cakes and parades, and, oh, you just wouldn’t believe the festive atmosphere.  People bundling up and standing out in the freezing, rainy weather to have masked people on floats throw beads and cups at you.  Fighting with grannies and kids over that throw you know that cute guy aimed right YOU!

Now you take our Saints.  And all of a sudden after 47 years they are going to the Super Bowl for the first time!  Louisiana just EXPLODED with WHO DAT fever!!!  And then the Super Bowl fell on the same weekend as the first weekend of Mardi Gras!  It was absolutely CRAZY here!  I don’t think you could’ve whipped anyone into more of a frenzy than the Louisiana citizens were this past weekend. 

I desperately wanted to go to one of the many Super Bowl parties going on but I didn’t dare.  Why?  Because I’ve been quit smoking for a little over seven months now.  Most days I feel strong but sometimes ole Nic sneaks up and tries to bite me in the butt.  I dig my heels in and I say NOPE (Not One Puff Ever), NOPE, NOPE.  But I’ve lost LOTS of quits in the past.  And I knew with emotions in such a fever pitch here and everyone drinking and smoking, it was too dangerous for me to go to one of the parties.  It would’ve been too easy for me to get caught up in the frenzy of the moment and do something really stupid that would’ve cost me my quit.  So…..  I missed out.  I stayed at home and I watched the game with hubby.  I yelled at the TV and I texted WHO DAT? to every Louisianian I knew. (Hey, we shut down AT&T’s network here if that tells you anything!)  I jumped around in glee and then I jumped on FB to celebrate with friends from all over the country who were rooting for my team.  But I wasn’t at any of the big parties going on here!  I didn’t get to share Louisiana’s big historical moment with any of the groups of people that were going wild.  And you know why?  Because my quit was more important!!! 

As the dust settles here (kinda, Super Bowl is over but Mardi Gras goes on!) I’m sorry that I wasn’t at any of the parties.  I’m sorry that I missed out on the big events.  But I’m awfully glad that I am still SMOKEFREE!!!  I’m glad that I chose to protect my quit!  My quit is the most important thing in my life!  Even more important than the Saints winning the Super Bowl!  Ack!  WHO DAT????