Papa Whiskey

One Friday, just over a month and a half ago, Paul and I were sitting on the couch discussing our finances and how we planed on paying off all our loans.  About an hour later Paul is looking at boats online and saw one he really liked.  Very uncharacteristically, Paul decided he wanted to buy it.  So, the next Monday he made an offer.  So now a few weeks later and quite a bit of money latter, we own a fishing boat.

Winter Back East

Visiting the Mall in Washington D.C. 

 Paul’s favorite building in D.C.

The D.C. Temple at Christmas

Ocean City

The Tunnel-Bridge between Maryland and Virginia.

Visiting the museum in Oregon.

Thanksgiving week

I’ve decided that it’s time to get a little bit caught up.  Here are some pictures from our cruise Thanksgiving week.

Here are some pictures from Nassau

I tried, but he wouldn’t let me get a feather.

 Trying some local food.

 

Check out the shorts on this guy!

Paul putting both his hands to good use upon the ship.

Can’t get enough of ships.  Paul even helps to launch a cannon in Baltimore.

Fall In Maryland

Paul was chosen to attend some work training in Maryland for twelve weeks this winter, so I chose to go along with him.  The first weekend we rented a car and visited Annapolis.  It’s a cool looking old city.  The streets are really narrow and curvy.  The buildings are old and fun to look at. 

  A wedge shaped building that I thought was cool.

      

                                                        

Paul at the state capital.

The harbor

The chapel at the Naval Academy

We also planned a stop at the Washington D.C. temple.  However, because of my lack of planning, we didn’t have a chance to go in. (I forgot to pack my reccomend. Thanks Avery for sending it.) We did get to walk around the outside and visit the visitor center.  I am looking forward to going back and actually going in.  I’ve also heard the lights they put up for Christmas are fantastic, so there may be more pictures of it coming.

It’s been great having another fall.  The one in Alaska went really fast this year.  It ended over a month ago.  I’ve been enjoying the reds, oranges, and yellow.  Not to mention weather I can go out in without bundling up.

Aleutian Chain Ferry Trip

     For the week of my birthday, I decided to go to work with my wonderful husband and take a trip out to the Aleutian Islands of Alaska.  I’ve always been fascinated with the history of the islands and thought a free trip out would be the best way to see them.  Plus, it enabled me to spend my birthday with Paul.  It sure bet spending the day alone, or worse, working.

We left Homer on Tuesday the 18th of September.  The first few days, the weather was beautiful.  There was beautiful scenery and lots of wild life to see.  We saw literally hundreds of otters.  Later in the trip we saw a pod of whales.  I was watching the whales through the binoculars and didn’t get any pictures, but it was pretty cool.  There were lots of them.

The villages were also beautiful.  Some were fishing villages and looked almost empty.  Most if not all of the seasonal residents were gone and they looked like boarded up ghost towns.

Even though Chignik was pretty deserted, it was still a beautiful setting.

Along the way, I got to spend a bunch of time on the bridge.  I didn’t get to steer this time, but I did get to sit in the captain’s chair.  The bridge had the best view on the ship.

However, after a few days it did get a little repetitious. Luckly I had a few good books along with me.

Once we got out on the islands, there were no more trees.  Even without the trees, it was still beautiful.  However, I can’t imagine living in a place again with no trees.

There was also a lot of cool mountain/volcano scenery.

Castle Cape

Aghileen Pinnacles 

When we arrived on Dutch Harbor, Paul had rented me a car as a birthday present so I could get out and see the island.  Dutch Harbor/Unalaska and the surrounding islands have a huge military history.

 The islands are the only part of the United States that have been occupied by enemy troops.  Parts of the Aleutian Islands were occupied by the Japanese during WW II.   Dutch Harbor is full of left over military relics. As you drive and hike over the island, you see them all over.

The Greek Orthodox Church also has a great presence on the islands that dates back to when Russia owned the area.

While the first few days were beautiful, the last half of the trip wasn’t quite as nice.  The wind and the waves picked up on Friday night.  I was OK with the 6-8 foot waves on Friday night, but Saturday night was a different story.  I was OK when I went to dinner, but after dinner I think I did a bit too much reading with the waves, because my stomach got a little queazy.  I got to taste dinner twice.  I have to say it was a lot better the first time.

The next few days the waves got worse.  At one point we got a few 30 foot waves.  Anything not fastened down was rolling around.  The funny thing is I didn’t get sick after the first time.

Even though I got sick, I would still go out again.  It was great to see a part of Alaska that I hadn’t seen before.