Let’s hope that this blog is like an old friend; one of those friends whom you haven’t seen in years and haven’t even bothered to keep up with regularly.  They don’t know your latest drama at work or that you even cut all of your hair off.  Old friends are not even like the paintings that hang on your wall or the family pictures that you glance at every so often; they are the foundation.   And that is why old friends are the easiest friends.  They don’t need to know your latest drama at work and they aren’t fazed when you cut all your hair off, because they have known you for so long.  And just like old friends you can pick up where you left off and not have to fill in all of the blanks.

I am hoping this blog can be like one of those old friends…who isn’t fazed when you disappear for several months.  Who doesn’t ask where you’ve been and what you’re doing in any worrying tone.  It’s just the friend who sits down next to you and cannot wait to hear what story you are going to share.

Thanks to my old friends…I have returned to this blog.  So grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, and maybe even an old friend…cuz I have some stories to share!!

A city girl…has been transformed!!

I kinda like the outdoors!!  This girl put away her heels all summer and slipped her feet into the hiking boots purchased at a thrift store.  For $4.99 they turned out to be the best bargain around!!  Currently they are sitting on the dock in disarray.  There are mud stains and caked on something that is going to require a deck brush to get clean.  But these same cheap boots took me to a place that I never thought I would like going.  On a hike up Harbor Mountain in Sitka, through muddy brush to get to a salmon colored beach in British Columbia, to the landing pad of a helicopter on a glacier, through silty water in Glacier Bay, along an Alaskan shoreline where salmon were spawning and bears were feasting, and now back to the city in the Pacific Northwest.  

There are many places that I have traveled to and several stamps that I have acquired in my passport.  I have visited almost all of the states in America and I am about to visit my fourth continent.  Through every single trip and every small adventure I have gained knowledge and insights into so many things.  You learn how to travel only by experience.  You learn confidence only by feeling fear.  I have learned languages while I was teaching my own.  I have changed careers because I learned how to survive and keep the journey going. 

But in the last four months I have learned more than I had anticipated about myself.  I managed to gain more perspective in exploring my own country than I have overseas.

And it is these hiking boots that took me there… 

Do you know that I don’t think I have ever owned a proper pair of hiking boots?  I have never really camped out.  I can’t recall having ever fished legitimately.  I have always thrived in the pulse of a city.  I love subways.  I love skyscrapers.  I like cabins and not tents.  I am a city girl.  I didn’t like to think myself opposed to nature, yet once again I have proven myself ignorant in the scope of self awareness. 

A few years ago my parents sold the home that I grew up in and they ventured to something bigger and in the country.  Personally, I found it strange that they bought a larger home and in a place that I considered very far away from the life they had built ‘in town.’  Turns out they were hoping for the peace and quiet and simple life that you can find in country towns.  They looked forward to the wide open spaces, even if they had to spend more time mowing the lawn.  In reality, that’s what they have on their hands these days…time.  So why not enjoy it in a place that has cleaner air and less traffic?

I guess I accepted my parent’s move out to the country simply because I saw the smiles on their faces.  They were peaceful and happy and living a life for themselves and not for their children any longer.  And that is a comfort to someone who is living their own life for themselves and not for their parents.  Yet, it was with apprehension that I returned to my parent’s home just over six months ago.  With no idea of my next step, I settled into life in the country. 

It didn’t take long for me to crave the pace of the city, though.  I began packing my bags and arranging to stay at friend’s homes for a few days at a time.  I loved being around my parents but the solitude, quiet, and peacefulness of it left me feeling uneasy and bored.  Within just over six weeks I accepted a job and a new adventure on the other side of the country. 

With the pep back in my step I happily headed out to Seattle to give it another try on another boat.  This one was headed to Alaska!  A place that I never thought I would visit…and yet I didn’t know why.  Five months I spent preparing for Alaska while sitting at dock in Seattle.  Five months of imagining what it’s going to be like to go to Alaska.  Five months of exploring Seattle, a city that I fell in love with in spite of the grey skies and rain. 

At the end of those months I was left with many great memories.  I felt a new side of the city girl emerging and I was anxious to test my limits a little more up in ‘The Last Frontier’.  I came to realize that I was lacking something that may be necessary for the road ahead; until one Saturday afternoon inside of the Ballard Goodwill store. 

In the fashion of a city girl I bought my first pair of hiking boots.  They are bright yellow and black, which sums up the busy bee personality that has been used to describe me at times.  If they had actually been worn it was impossible to tell.  The treads looked brand new.  And the price couldn’t be beat…$4.99. 

In the six weeks that I’ve been in Alaska I have barely worn anything else.  These boots have helped me walk straight into a new part of myself.  This city girl has transformed!!

It’s 1993.  There is a peace agreement in the Middle East.  Terrorists attack the World Trade Center.  David Koresh is brainwashing people down in Waco, Texas.  Eighteen American soldiers, members of the UN Peace Keeping Forces are shot down by Somali rebels.  Janet Jackson is singing, “That’s the Way Love Goes.”  Both Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern have top-selling books.  Seinfeld is still on tv and Schindler’s List wins the Oscar for Best Picture.  Nelson Mandela receives the Nobel Peace Prize.  The Dallas Cowboys win the Super Bowl.  Jurassic Park is the top grossing film of the year.  But millions of women fell in love with one lovelorn widow, a clever child, talk show radio, one woman searching for romance, and a houseboat. 

The hugely popular romantic comedy Sleepless in Seattle skyrocketed the city’s popularity to something beyond Microsoft and Boeing.  Women began to believe that the city was populated with tender hearted widows and romantic vistas on the water.  In truth, there are about 450 of the infamous houseboats scattered around the city; most of which offer spectacular views of the skyline. 

Situated on Seattle’s Lake Union you can find several communities of quaint houseboats; which are more like floating homes than they are boats.  There are no motors equipped, although most of the homes have smaller tender boats in which you can take a scenic ride out into the lake. 

These last two months I have been lucky enough to live just a block from the infamous Sleepless in Seattle houseboat.  During that time I have lingered at the entrances to the dock, wishing that I could stroll along and peep into the windows.  These homes are small and unique, not just in their ability to float but also in their facades.  Each one is different in their own right and each of them share one common denominator:  they are worth a lot of money.

The Sleepless in Seattle home has recently found itself on the market.  After being such a popular tourist attraction for so many years the lack of privacy and the note of popularity would become too much for almost anyone calling it home.  Thus the home could be yours for the quaint asking price of 2.5 million dollars.

Personally, I dream of owning one of these homes.  And yet I am humble enough to acknowledge that I simply don’t have that much money lying around!  But…a dream is still a dream!

There is something unsettling about a 20 foot long freezer completely full of meat.  Can you imagine having 25 full chickens in your freezer at any one time?  Do you have any idea how much meat can be derived from one full cow?  How much bread do you think you use over the course of 4 months?  And if you would have no opportunities for the next four months to go shopping for groceries, what would you buy?

The yacht that I work for is also my home.  The refrigerators and cupboards hold the contents of food that will be cooked for me or snacked on by me just as it would in my own kitchen.  And yet we will be having very important guests on board (the owners & their family and friends) intermittently over the next four months.  And those guests will meet us in Alaska. 

In the meantime, we have to feed ourselves and plan on feeding all of them without the assistance of a grocery store around the corner.  We will be out on the water…or asea to be precise.  And that requires some serious provisioning and even more serious planning.  It also requires a very large budget.  What many average people might spend a year on groceries we have spent solely on procuring meat.  They have been vacuum packed and frozen and placed in our aft deck freezer. 

Shortly before leaving Seattle it was part of my responsibility to find a home for all of our provisions.  We needed to stuff every cabinet full of every possible thing that could fit.  We needed to assure that it was safely tucked away in the event of rough seas.  We needed to make sure we had enough toilet paper, paper towels, and tissues to last the next four months.  And so we have 5 extra large garbage bags full of nothing but chips.  We have the span of a twin bed stuffed with only a quarter of the toilet paper that we have on board.  There are 120 boxes of tissues and 30 bottles of laundry detergent.  Cases and cases of both beer and soda are stowed where customs can’t find it all at any one time!  Every possible thing that we could need for the next four months is stored aboard our ship.  And that is only part of the reason why the ship weighs over 200 tons!!