Alaska , The Wild Frontier

This last may, my mom Diana and our friend Judy Q

and I took a Holland America Cruise to Alaska.

We sailed out of Seattle on the Oosterdam

and headed to Glacier Bay National Park.

On the way up the channel we saw whales, eagles,

sea lions, sea otters and a bear on shore.

The glaciers are incredible,

"Big, Blue and Cold"

Our first onshore stop was Juneau, were we took a bus

tour to the Mendenhall Glacier and Visitors Center.

A few Juneau highlights and then

a trip up the mountain on the tram.

Just to be clear here,

"I HATE HEIGHTS !!!!!!!

AND I REALLY HATE HEIGHTS THAT MOVE !!!!!"

But it was Beautiful !

OH...................see that thing way down there pass

the tower leg? That's Our Ship !

After the ride back down, we decided it was time

for lunch, and what better place then the

RED DOG SALOON.

I guess I should back up a bit to the title

"The Wild Frontier"

I have to admit, the only wild thing on this

tip was the lunch at the Red Dog Saloon.

I had Caribou Pizza ( that tasted a lot like pork) and

the Honky Tonk piano player was great.

What a fun day in Juneau.

We sailed all night and the next day we were at Sitka.

It caused quite a stir when the ship's "Life Pods" started

unloading. There are no dock to handle the big

ships so the pod were our ride to town.

Walked around for a while had coffee and

a bit to eat and the caught our tour bus.

The weather was perfect on this trip.

St. Michael's Cathedral was a highlight, built by the

Russians. The artifacts inside are incredible.

Then stopped by the Sheldon Jackson Museum.

Would have liked to spent more time at both.

The fallowing day as the ship pulled in to Ketchikan in

the early morning, I took this picture.

It was so quiet and float planes in every color were

lined up. You could see the stores starting

to turn on light and open doors.

It was just a perfect morning.

That all changed. Three ships pulled into town all at

once and about ten thousand people took to the streets.

Not us, we took Old Dan and Joe and went for a

slower tour. "Already planning to go back"

Thursday's Thoughts

"If you can't fix it with

duct tape or a martini

it ain't worth fixing."

Pretty Picture Monday

Sunday Stills, Statues or Figurines

JR Livestock Auction !!!

See this cute face, it belongs to Little Miss A. who is

the granddaughter of my dear friend Gwen.

This is Buddy, who is Little Miss A's very first

market animal for the fair.

Well, Buddy now belongs to me and

Little Miss A's first year of college is payed for.

BUTTE COUNTY CATTLEWOMEN

Well it's that time of year and the Cattlewomen

are starting they're new season.

Sharron O and I manned the booth at the O.E.D.C.O.

BBQ, serving meat ball and J. Lee Roy sauce.

This event is held every year and for me it's great,

it's right across the street at my neighbor's

Lou and Yola's "Long Creek Winery."

The silent auction is always a big hit.

Sharron and Yola were visiting and

Lou was talking wine, I'm sure.

The Cattlemen were working hard

to feeding everyone.

Yummmmmmmmm! Tri Tip!

What a great evening, no one when away hungry.

The rest of the Cattlewomen are tending a booth at the

Butte County Fair. If you at the fair stop by and say

hi to the ladies and don't forget the

JR Livestock Auction is Sat at 10 am

and the Cattlemen will be cooking.

"So! Get out there and support your local County Fair".

Thursday's Thoughts

"If a bear eats your citronella candle,

doe's that count as bear repellent ?"

Pretty Picture Monday

Sunday Stills, Metal "Gold"

California Sierra Nevada's saw hundreds of thousand of

pioneers arrive because of one word "Gold"

Mining camps became towns over night because of rumors of a

"Big Strike."

Places that have survived like Angles Camp, Nevada City and

others at are now just wide spots in the roads such as

LaPorte, Downyville, Organ House and American House

and those were tens of thousands lived Port Wine and St Louis,

that you'd be luck to fined a rock foundation,

now see only tourist and hopefuls.

At one time our towns had the second largest Chinese population

outside of China, second only to San Francisco.

The Chinese Temple, cemetery, and hundreds of miles of

rock walls and tunnels are all that remain.

Now relics like these old peaces of mining equipment stand as reminders.

"Trophies to those who survived and

Monuments for those who did not".

JS, "A Moment in the Spot Light"

Wednesday night we headed in to town for a Chamber of Commerces Mixer

It just happen that two of the jobs that JS and The BBC

(Better Builders Construction)

were working on are right across the street from each other.

Our city chamber was hosting a get-to-gather

for all the chamber members to see the finished projects.

We're not members, but JS was invited and I tagged along.

The group started at "Dirks Transmission" to see the new front

office,and then walked across the street to take a look at

the refaced buildings and the new parking lot.

Everyone commented on how great the work was, how nice everything looked.

JS..............................Having His Cake and Eating it Too !