for fun: Do/Would you still put on all your makeup and decent clothes if you are quarantined

[purduemom1]

Kat, sounds like everyone really enjoyed the wedding reception. Your grand niece’s dress is beautiful. Her great aunt looked pretty darn good too.  BTW you have great legs. Love the Bar Menu design. Great memories for all.

[slidergirl]

1 hour ago, purduemom1 said:

Kat, sounds like everyone really enjoyed the wedding reception. Your grand niece’s dress is beautiful. Her great aunt looked pretty darn good too.  BTW you have great legs. Love the Bar Menu design. Great memories for all.

Josie (the lab) and Bella (jack russell) came to the reception for awhile.  They are both sweethearts.  
Not sure the bride’s teenage bro & sis will remember- both were drinking quite a bit.  I know sis barfed 2x after the party.  She’s only 15 but mom & dad let her drink.  Bro left for college this morning so he was probably hung over.  Teenagers- what are you going to do…

Dinner tonight and say ‘bye’ to everybody.  Leaving in the morning for DC.  
OOTD:  Jean shorts and black Woolx tank, changing to white & blue long sleeve T.  And the hi tops.

[awhfy]

Gorgeous dress & setting. You look great Kat, need to watch that sneaky moonshine!!

[slidergirl]

8 hours ago, awhfy said:

Gorgeous dress & setting. You look great Kat, need to watch that sneaky moonshine!!

Thanks.  
The moonshine mix was 190proof grain alcohol, vanilla vodka, orange juice and something else.  Really tasted like a creamsicle.  A tasty but sneaky mix!!!

The farm does a lot of the events around here.  They have some gorgeous Percheron horses that the owners show.  

[awhfy]

Celebrity & Royal Caribbean announced that vaxxed passengers sailing 10 or fewer days do not need to do a Covid test prior to sailing!!!  Such a relief for us. Unvaxed still need to test within 3 days if sailing. We’re celebrating tonight!!!  Melody

[cruisemom42]

Well, with all the recent talk about Woolx, I found a top on sale last night that I like the look of (nice color for me), and ordered it. It's more of a mid-weight for my late fall/winter Europe travels.  I hope I like it!

 

 

[slidergirl]

21 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

Well, with all the recent talk about Woolx, I found a top on sale last night that I like the look of (nice color for me), and ordered it. It's more of a mid-weight for my late fall/winter Europe travels.  I hope I like it!

 

 

I hope you like it, too!   If you need leggings, try the Stella.  They are what I wear multiple times a week for work.  Super comfortable.

[slidergirl]

I spent the afternoon in DC, walking around the Capitol Mall area.  Took a photo of the fenced off Supreme Court-somehow my middle finger got in the way 😉  Best of the day was spotting an albino squirrel!  He was hanging out on the Mall grass and trees with the other squirrels.  Totally white and had pink eyes.  

I stopped in at this little bakery in the next town from us that my niece said had the best donuts.  She wasn’t kidding.  Bought a cream-filled one to eat with my coffee on the road and one for a night snack.  They also had raisin-filled cookies that I loved as a kid so I had to buy a bag.  They are soooo yummy!  
After walking around for a few hours I went back to the hotel and absolutely crashed.  Slept from 6 to 11!!  Got up and had my donut for dinner, changed to my sleep shirt and went back to sleep until 7 this morning.  I REALLY needed that!  
My flight home is at 5, so I am just being lazy for now.  I’ll grab some lunch somewhere and do a little something in places with air conditioning before I go to the airport.  

[purduemom1]

Sounds like a nice way to finish your trip, yummy donut treat and all. I’ve never seen an albino squirrel, in fact didn’t know that they existed. 
 

Safe, uneventful travels home.

Sharon

[Lois R]

Hi girls, things are going well. Got in Sunday night to Anchorage. Didn't get to the hotel till almost 11pm. Stayed at The Capt Cook. 

We are now at the Denali Grand Lodge for 2 nights. There really is nothing Grand about it. 

Took the train yesterday which was a really beautiful ride to get here. Have met some nice folks but it is very windy and cold today. 

Tomorrow we go to our final hotel before taking another train ride to Seward to board the ship on Thursday. We stay at The Alyeska Resort in Girdwood tomorrow night and I have been told it is the nicest of the 3 hotels we are using.

Anyway, hope all of you are doing well. 

[slidergirl]

Lois - good to hear you are enjoying the land portion of your trip.  The Alyeska is probably nicer because it is also at a ski resort so it is usable year-round and not just for tour groups.  

 

I got back home last night.  Yes, I'm now crashing on the sofa.

I thought I had taken a picture of the parking aisle sign when I left on the 12th.  I knew I got on the shuttle at stop 1 (what I usually try to do).  Well, when I got off the shuttle and went to look at my sign pix, it wasn't there!!!  I spent a good 30 minutes wandering around the area looking for my KIA.  Not the first time that has happened to me, but the first in a long time.   I had some yogurt in the fridge that was still "GOOD" so I had it with granola and a cup of coffee this morning.  I've got to go to the market today!!!

 

Again, I thought I packed really light, but still came home with things not worn:

pink long sleeve linen shirt - just never went anywhere cool enough or needed to dress up

blue long sleeve linen shirt - same

bathing suit & sunscreen shirt - we didn't sit out or go to a pool for girls' weekend - we just sat in the house  or went walking around town.  no one has a pool where i was in PA.

rain jacket - lucked out and the rain only happened during the night or when I was just hanging out at the house.  

denim jacket - one little kid wore it at an outdoor dinner in SoCA.  I took it with me to the wedding reception (it was outside at a farm),  but it stayed in the car. Again, it was too warm for me to wear.

Yellow Laguna Surf hoodie - I bought it on the girls' trip, but never had weather to wear it.  

Sweaty Betty leggings - I just was too lazy to put them on to hang out in on the girls' trip - just put on my jeans shorts first thing in the morning and kept them on until I went to bed.

Smokey Bear trucker hat - just didn't have anyplace to wear it.  I ended up wearing my Gigi Pip hat when I needed a hat.  

 

OOTD:  running shorts and a Tshirt.  Add a bra under the Tshirt when I go to the market, and add my 

trail runners.

This trip to SoCA, DC and Pennsylvania was definitely a jeans, jeans shorts and T-shirt kind of trip.  Right up my alley!

 

[awhfy]

Kat, both trips sound like a great way to just relax

[purduemom1]

Lois, good to hear that your trip is going well, Thats too bad about your not so great horel experience. We stayed at the Princess Hotel when we visited Denali and there were problems for us also. Most of the guests were from a Princess cruise but we had booked our land portion on our own and had been on Celebrity so maybe our room was not one of the better ones. We couldn’t close and lock our door even after maintenance spent about an hour working on it. We had to tape it shut. Also saw employees carrying, not rolling, guest luggage up stairs using the telescoping handles so they could haul more at a time. Wonder how many bags didn’t survive that treatment. Anyway, would never stay at Princess Lodge again. Hope your last hotel was a better experience.

 

Kat, I remember when you told us about your travel schedule ending with “fall on sofa…..”  When you posted that it seemed like a long way off. Thanks again for taking us along on your amazing adventures.

Sharon

[Lois R]

Good morning from The Alyeseka Resort. This property is really nice😀. Just heading out for breakfast (included in my package). We take the train this afternoon to Seward. Have a good day everyone😀

[slidergirl]

2 hours ago, purduemom1 said:

...

 

Kat, I remember when you told us about your travel schedule ending with “fall on sofa…..”  When you posted that it seemed like a long way off. Thanks again for taking us along on your amazing adventures.

Sharon

It is all a big blur for me right now.  I can't even remember the few days I was at home in between trips!   Good thing I took lots of photos and the iPhone nicely labels the location automatically.

I lived vicariously through all y'all's vacations and cruises lately, so it was my pleasure to take all y'all on my trip!  This group inspired me to "go big"on the trip.  It was definitely worth it!!!

 

OOTD:  didn't make it to the market yesterday.  I may try today.  Different running shorts and Tshirt.

[slidergirl]

1 hour ago, Lois R said:

Good morning from The Alyeseka Resort. This property is really nice😀. Just heading out for breakfast (included in my package). We take the train this afternoon to Seward. Have a good day everyone😀

yay for a good hotel!!!  Enjoy your breakfast and have a relaxing train ride to Seward.

[cruisemom42]

Kat -- hope you made it to the market. Either that or you're gnawing on the furniture by now! 😱

 

I was up late last night making some final travel plans for the October trip to Italy. Even though I'll only have one night in Rome prior to flying home, I found a nice rate at my favorite hotel and grabbed it. The airport hotels were outrageous. With the amount I saved I can stay in the center AND pay for my taxi to the airport next day, so it's a win-win.  (I tried several times to find shared transportation into Rome or to the airport but most of the folks on this particular cruise are staying onboard for the next one, which is a TA....)

 

Now I can start planning for my "one dinner" in Rome, lol. Although I don't feel bad -- this is an added bonus. I'll be back in Rome for 4-5 days over Thanksgiving, after being in the Campania area the preceding week.

[slidergirl]

2 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

Kat -- hope you made it to the market. Either that or you're gnawing on the furniture by now! 😱

 

I was up late last night making some final travel plans for the October trip to Italy. Even though I'll only have one night in Rome prior to flying home, I found a nice rate at my favorite hotel and grabbed it. The airport hotels were outrageous. With the amount I saved I can stay in the center AND pay for my taxi to the airport next day, so it's a win-win.  (I tried several times to find shared transportation into Rome or to the airport but most of the folks on this particular cruise are staying onboard for the next one, which is a TA....)

 

Now I can start planning for my "one dinner" in Rome, lol. Although I don't feel bad -- this is an added bonus. I'll be back in Rome for 4-5 days over Thanksgiving, after being in the Campania area the preceding week.

no furniture gnawing was needed.  I picked up food and gassed up the car.  And, I ordered some pork products from my favorite on-line ribs & bacon supplier (Pig of the Month).  Good for at least a few days.

 

I didn't realize you were doing these trips to italy!!!  Cruise,  land trip...  I have to say I'm jealous.  Yes, even after my trip, i'm jealous.  Where in Campania are you visiting???  More ruins that you haven't visited??  

 

As for the 'one dinner' in Rome, I have a few suggestions 😸

[Lois R]

Hi from Juneau where it has been raining all morning with cold and fog. I decided I am just relaxing on the ship😀. Yes, I know most folks do some kind of tour but after all, it is my cruise and if I feel like just relaxing that is what I will do😀

[Lois R]

On 8/25/2022 at 9:40 AM, slidergirl said:

yay for a good hotel!!!  Enjoy your breakfast and have a relaxing train ride to Seward.

Oh, we ended up taking a bus due to land/mud slides. No trains were running.

It was fine with me because the bus only took 2 hours😀. The train would have taken close to 4!

[slidergirl]

1 hour ago, Lois R said:

Oh, we ended up taking a bus due to land/mud slides. No trains were running.

It was fine with me because the bus only took 2 hours😀. The train would have taken close to 4!

Hoping this is the only "hiccup" you encounter!!!

[slidergirl]

20 hours ago, Lois R said:

Hi from Juneau where it has been raining all morning with cold and fog. I decided I am just relaxing on the ship😀. Yes, I know most folks do some kind of tour but after all, it is my cruise and if I feel like just relaxing that is what I will do😀

you go girl!!!  Do what you want to do, not what you think you should do.  Break away from the herd!!!  

[cruisemom42]

Good morning all -- I happened to catch the Anthony Bourdain documentary "Roadrunner" last night.  What a sad loss of talent.  It almost sounded like he had undiagnosed manic-depressive disorder.

 

Kat, I would kill for a 64-degree morning right about now. Sounds so refreshing!!!

[Lois R]

Hi from Skagway.  No rain right now and I actually stepped out on my balcony for a few minutes and the Temps were not even too cold. No sun is out though.

[PurpleHays]

We fly out this evening for our London/TA cruise this evening. It seems like we booked this trip a gazillion years ago, but it was really only June 2020. Originally Alaska 2021 for our 10th anniversary.  I *think* I have everything packed (yes, our passports are right next to me and getting ready to go in the backpack)

 

I. Can't. Wait.