Yes, we did miss you and now we envy you!! lol. You just took my hubby's dream trip and I'm glad it was so wonderful for you. Which port did you sail from and did you book through a local agency? We may get to go one day. Waiting for pictures. Ginny

Cena, whenever you have free time, you have my permission to paint any of those pictures...what an honor! But only if you take a picture of your painting so that I can see it!! One of my co-workers also asked if she can paint the lake picture (with the reflections of trees). Quinn, Anchorage is such a beautiful city! The only thing that was weird about it is that it doesn't feel like Alaska (except when you see mountains in the background!). The phrase we were told that Alaskans use when they are in Anchorage is "I can't wait to get back to Alaska" - I just love that!! Anyway, we were in Anchorage for a bit, but mostly we were in the Denali area and in the Kenai/Seward/Homer area. Denali was my favorite. As for moose poop, I don't think there was a gift shop ANYWHERE in Alaska that didn't have those moose poop gifts...you are so right!! Glad you enjoyed the article - but yes, I think this top ten feature might make people go broke! Gabi

In Texas, they use Bee Cave Bob, who is an armadillo, and he predicted an early spring. I don't put my faith in any of those animal predictions, and just consider them entertainment, not weather forecasting. Considering it has been in the 60s and 70s here in our county a lot the last few weeks and the spring wildflowers in our yard are starting to bloom, and the fruit trees are on the verge of blooming, I'd predict an early spring based solely on what I am experiencing here. It was 60 degrees here when I went outside at 7:30 a.m. but, this is Oklahoma, and I know good and well it could be 40 degrees, or 20 degrees, on any morning in February. Maybe what we are seeing is not an early spring, but just an abnormally-warm period that could change any day now. I just don't trust the weather here. Often a warm January or February is followed by a cold March so we all have to be careful and not let our guard down, or we could be dealing with frozen plants.

Many years ago, I and my brother, and a large friend, took a trip down East in my Model A Ford Roadster, from Pittsburgh, Pa. area. We camped along side the roads, wherever we could find a place away from the hiway. Only travelled during the day. One night, we camped on top of a mountain, on a nice grassy plot, far from traffic. Crawled into our sleeping bags, and drifted off to sleep. Along about midnight, my large friend woke me up and whispered: "Jim-Jim-wake up! I hear a bear!" It was pitch black dark, i listened-didn't hear anything, but my friend insisted he heard a bear! This went on for 15 minutes or so. Then my friend grabbed my brother, then me, stuffed us into the car, threw our blankets in with us--jumped into the drivers seat, started the car----and there stood a very BIG bear!! WOOOFF! Didn't take long to get out of there, and go find a motel for the rest of the night!