slidergirl

Day 2 at sea. After a hot and sunny day yesterday it’s cold and foggy with rolly polly water. But that’s OK. I’m just hanging out, more music and maybe some reading. Breakfast at the buffet was typical stuff. Got a nice little mixture of fruit, nuts and granola for my yogurt. As usual at a buffet, there were people who filled up their plates like it was their last meal on Earth. Never understood that one. Two pics: yesterday on my balcony and today. No food worthy of a pic. OOTD: Free People hiking pants, REI hoodie long sleeve shirt, and the Chameleon.

I’m on the Eurodam now. Seattle had it’s first warm and beautiful today, according to the guys at the wine store. It made for a nice day to walk around. BUT, with people getting off/on the Norwegian Bliss and Eurodam people, it made for a crowded waterfront and Pike Place Market. I stayed on the other side of the street from the Market to go to the wine store. Up the hill I wanted to go to Biscuit Bitches for breakfast but the wait was 45 minutes. Nope! Settled for a fresh-from-the-oven almond croissant and an excellent cafe latte at Le Panier. Boarding was relatively fast - about 40 minutes from dropoff by Uber to in my cabin. The security check did not care that I brought 2 bottles of wine with me, actually no one cared. So the $20/bottle was “waived”. My cabin the the last balcony on the 5th before the aft cabins. I thought this would be a good spot. I put on my headphones and sat out there from about 2:30 until 6pm. Listened to Bobby McFerrin with Chick Corea and then with YoYo Ma. Really esoteric stuff, but I love it. It was soooo relaxing! The ship is pretty underwhelming. I didn’t remember it being so bland and dark. The Lido was not a really pleasant place to eat, esthetics-wise. But my salad with seared tuna and a nice chuck of salmon added to it was a nice dinner. Might be my go-to. I went at 8pm and it was pretty well empty. Came back to the room to have some wine and catch up on the ‘net. The guys at the Wine Shop steered me to a nice Italian Rosso for $15 when I said I wanted an Italian but under $30. Sipping it now and it is a nice mellow sipper. The other is a Rosè that i picked up at a store across from the Market called, I think, Kitchen and More. Yuppie food, grab & go stuff, and some cute bottles. I’ll have that one the last half of my cruise. That’s all. OOTD: jeans, pink & white striped short sleeve T, Chameleons.

Thanks Lois. I’m sitting in the Hyatt Regency downtown SLC (love that new hotel smell). With the weird weather and the intermittent landslides on the Interstate the past 2 weeks, I decided to be cautious and stay here. My Flight is at 11am, so I wanted to keep away from the rush hour traffic, too. I think I overpacked. I’m going to go through my bag again and remove some stuff. I’ll just keep it in my car. I’m using the keyboard on my iPad now. It’s pretty nice. I can actually touch type, not the one-finger “peck” on my iPhone. OOTD: the Ralph Lauren jeans I got from my nice owner, Smokey Bear T-shirt, jean jacket and my Chameleons.

I board the Eurodam on Saturday. Leave it in good condition for me 😃

There is some that I have been looking at.

I want to do some color streaks but my stylist won’t let me. We’d have to bleach it to be able to hold bright color and my hair would break. So I make do with natural red streaks in my brown hair.

After Alaska on the Eurodam this weekend, I may set my sights on a ship that has entertainment and does singles pretty good - Virgin!! Maybe Europe next year. Yeah, I am an old matron but I think it would be fun. Whattya say Hank 😉

2 til I fly, 3 til I cruise. Based on the weather reports, I’ll be packing exactly what I’ve been wearing here at home - rain, snow and sunshine.

Take a look at Rip Skirt Hawaii. 4 different lengths of wrap skirts and a sport skirt. Sizes 0 to 22. I’m thinking of getting a length 3 to use as my “going to the church “ skirt. But I wear leggings with very short insulated skirts in the winter. Taking one or two of them on my Alaska cruise this weekend.

Ok. I couldn’t help myself. Went down to the valley. REI stop. Got my waterproofing. But wait, there’s more. Got a new Cotopaxi hybrid vest - half Sherpa fleece, half poly fill, with typical Cotopaxi color mix. And 3 more socks since more Wrightsocks came in. And another SPF long sleeve shirt. Then I went to the mall to the Apple Store and picked up an iPad (my eyes and fingers thank me!). Walking back to the car I spy the Cotopaxi store. Ended up with a little hip bag/crossbody. No more shopping!!! I think I will pack tomorrow. Play with setting up the iPad this afternoon. I did get my Osprey bag out and ready.

Cynthia- congratulations on retirement!!! I think I’m the oldest here (69) but I just can’t give up working totally. have to run down to the valley today. It’s sunny and not snowing so I should be good. Have to stop at REI to pick up waterproofing because no one had it up here. And I think I am going to buy an iPad to upgrade my 2015 one and have something bigger than this phone to type and read on. OOTD: jeans, long sleeve T, my Merrill Chameleons.

My bag is the Osprey Sojourn 60 wheel backpack. Not made anymore. They do make others. It’s 26x 14x 9 so not too big. Got it I think I’m 2010 when I went on a Kenyan safari. Love it. Have you thought about doing a fun color? I’ve seen many “mature” women rocking their hair that way. Have fun with it!

I fly to Seattle Friday morning. Board the Eurodam Saturday afternoon. I think I’m taking my Osprey roller bag instead of my Cotopaxi carry on. I’m not doing any trains or walking, just plane to hotel to ship. I can’t lift my bag into the overhead anyway ( the shoulder is really bad lately), so I’m not going to fret taking my Osprey.

Sharon - with any electronics, I always unplug, slowly count to 30 then plug back in. When that fails I’ll go to the ‘net and look for troubleshooting hints. Did this with the MacBook but nothing worked. Cynthia is on her way back from Japan. Then we start up next batch of cruises. We’re quite the cruising group now. It is “pick up the meds and sundries” day. And a rain/snow day. So OOTD will be jeans, T-shirt and my new Patagonia rain shell.

Apparently small bottles of sparkling water MIA so had to buy big bottles of Pelligrino was more than what was in the HIA.

Black tea? Whiskey? Lemons? Bottled water?

Host BJ - was the limoncello mixed with cream? That’s a yummy mixture!! Or sometimes limoncello is naturally cloudy due to the way it was made.

5 days until flight, 6 days until I board the Eurodam.

May I suggest you look at the thread here on the current Japan cruise on the Westerdam by Hlitner (aka Hank).

Cynthia - safe travels home! “Talk” to later on our usual spot when you get home and I get a new MacBook. I can’t deal with typing on my iPhone! Hank - I look forward to reading about the continuing journey on the Westerdam. Hope you get more provisions in Yokohama!!

Thanks for calling my experience odd. Do you work outside in the cold of Winter for $17/hr? Hard enough to pay for an inside, let alone a suite. I wasn’t trying to make “besties” of crew. It just felt to me that existing crew and passengers had things down and lone me was an afterthought sometimes:

Going to be offline today unless I can get my MacBook working again. This happened before but I can’t remember what I had to do. Lois - safe travels!

I like the Coastal cruises. They are a quick refresh after my hard Winter seasons. Usually they are nice and relaxing for me. I did have one on HAL Eurodam that left me with a less-than-good feeling. The Coastal part started in San Diego to reposition the ship up North for the Alaska season. There were many guest who stayed onboard from the cruise through the Panama Canal. I guess they had formed all their groups and friendships with the staff during that cruise. I felt like an interloper a few times when I tried to get into things at a bar or a place to sit for dinner. I felt "sorry that I didn't have enough money to do the whole cruise and I had to work anyway". I moved to other lines for my Coastals.

I'm going on a cruise to Alaska next week. I'd rather do that after a long, hard Winter than go to Florida to take a cruise to someplace nice and warm.

Purple - love the monkey shot! Sorry DH wasn't a happy camper with his hip. I hope it was a good cruise outside of that for the both of you. He will be much happier when he gets that taken care of this year! Lois - Happy that you have been enjoying the cruise. Have a safe trip back home! Cynthia - I didn't realize you were gone for a month! Wish the weather had been more cooperative, but you made the most of it. Your photos have been very nice. Snowed/freezing rain overnight and this morning. Good thing I went down to the valley yesterday - the interstate down the mountain was black ice at the summit and there were cars and trucks strewn everywhere. Shut it down for awhile. Dentist visit was good. I do have to get an inlay done on my end upper tooth as it has a good crack in it. It's a 2-visit thing so I'll get it done in June when I have nothing planned. Did my REI run in search of the rain shell. I ended up with the Patagonia Torrentshell. It fits well with room to have my Patagonia down sweater (it's really a jacket) underneath and have good movement. I got the Coral color so it complements the bright red of the sweater. I couldn't get generic black. Ugh. I wanted to get a pair of rain pants, too, as the ones I have are now 3 sizes too big and I can't get the waist tight enough to not fall down. They really didn't have anything so I'll go to my 2 stores up here to check before I order online. Picked up 2 more pair of socks to replace 2 that I wore through this Winter and a couple of Bobo's Bars as snacks for the cruise. Then, I did a mini-TJ's run. First time that I spent under $100 there. Picked up some salad goodies for the week, a couple bags of sunflower seeds for Squirrel, some Spindrift waters, some almonds and a trail mix for the cruise, and a bag of Cacio e Pepe corn & rice puffs. They just sounded good, and yes, they taste good. If you like cheese puffs, give them a try. A very subtle taste with a little pepper lingering on the tongue. The rice gives it a little more of a good crunch. Staying off the streets & roads today, so OOTD is sweats and a Tshirt. I have to do some laundry!!!