ALASKA / Part Two

Ok. Here it is.
My favorite part of my trip to Alaska: ten days spent with my cousins.
If laughter is truly the best medicine,
I'm gonna be an old, old lady.














There were some beverages along the way.
You don't get to be 40/50-something without learning a few things along the way.
None of us grabbed the karaoke microphone. We just sat and made fun of the people who did.







The scenic background to all of our on and off-board fun can be pretty easily described........OceanOceanOceanICEBERG!!!OceanOceanOceanOceanOceanOceanWHALE!!!OceanOceanOcean
TreesTreesTreesTreesTreesTreesTreesIceberg!!!TreesTreesTreesTreesSEAL!!!TreesTreesTrees BALDEAGLE!!!!! Back to the beverages.............

SnowCoveredMountainSnowCoveredMountainSnowCoveredMountainSnowCoveredMountainSnowCoveredMountain


BEAR!!!!!!

SnowCoveredMountainTreesSnowCoveredMountainTreesSnowCoveredMountainTrees
OceanOceanOceanSealOceanOceanOceanTreesTreesTreesSeaGullOceanOceanOceanOcean...

OMG!!! Is that Kate Winslet???!!!!!

There you have it.
Great fun.

I Pledge Allegiance

This flag, which we honor and under which we serve, is the emblem of our unity, our power, our thought and purpose as a nation. It has no other character than that which we give it from generation to generation. The choices are ours. It floats in majestic silence above the hosts that execute those choices, whether in peace or in war. And yet, though silent, it speaks to us — speaks to us of the past, or the men and women who went before us, and of the records they wrote upon it.

Woodrow Wilson

Operation MiniBlind

Mmmmm ok. This is a bad sign.........but the instructions are in English. How tough can it be?










Beauuuutiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ohhhh crap.

Geek Out

Love this video. A bunch of smart techno-type kids were invited to give a quick visual of what they love about living in Des Moines. This is my favorite.

Des Moines really is a great place to live. It's a diverse city full of people that are educated, well-traveled and interested in other cultures. It's fun, progressive, entertaining, centrally located in the USA so you can get to anywhere from here and the average commute to work is............yeahh baby, sit down for this one.......NINETEEN MINUTES. Put that into your gas-guzzling, car-pooling rat-race-fightin' life and ponder it. Yuppers. Nineteen minutes after most of us here get into our cars at the end of the day, we're pouring something cold into a nice, tall glass and wandering out to relax on the porch while urban neighbors to our North, South, East and West have barely made it onto their first of three freeways.

I've lived here all my life and thought lots about maybe moving. But I think I'm here to stay. Another interesting little factoid: numerous independent studies all confirm, in the next 10 years the greater Des Moines area is going to be SHORT thousands of workers. THOUSANDS. These are not Burger King window people we're talking about. These are jobs that pay well and offer excellent benefits in a city that consistently ranks right near the top when compared to other cities for quality of life.

Smart?
Adventurous?
Looking for a place to plant some roots and grow a career and/or a family?
Honestly. Check us out. There are M A N Y awesome employers here that will go to great lengths to make it very easy for you to move here if you are young, educated and looking for a place to call home.

Check out the Greater Des Moines Partnership for more info at:

www.desmoinesmetro.com

Hey Neighbor.....

Time to light up the 'crackers.

Saugatuck

Every year I work in Saugatuck, Michigan for a weekend in June.
We stay in a little cottage.
It reminds me of my Grandma.
Sleeping there feels like a hug.