Late Vacation Post, Sorry Everyone Super Busy, Congrats to My sister, some Alicia,some Derick and Why You should always try to get Stranded with CB!

First Off Congratulations to My sister and her friend April for Winning Trophies in their weight Lifting Competition On Saturday.
It Must Have been all that Beef we had at the Brazilian place!
Or Maybe it is all the work she does running around at the Fox's Pizza place (Her second Job) In Ridgway PA.http://www.ridgwayfoxspizza.com/ABOUT.html If there is a Fox's Pizza near you you already know it is one of the best Pizza's You will ever have. I'm so Proud of her! (And to think, she used to not even be able to make Chef Boyarde pizza's when we made them at home...)


My Pizza and Austin's Meatball Grinder.
So, The weather in PA was pretty much bleech! the whole time, so much so that my early morning flight was postponed to the afternoon.
So it gave me one more chance to have dinner with Mum and Ernie, and get a funny photo of her to post.
And it gave me a chance to go to Valley Dairy http://www.valleydairy.net/menu.html
for one of my favorites, A hot chipped roast beef sandwich and French Fries with Gravy!
(Oh, and for the one commenter that said that my diet is Heart attack heaven, I NORMALLY DO NOT EAT LIKE THIS!! Heck, most nights it's a grilled chicken breast with rice and veggies for supper. This is a vacation, I Indulge a bit.)

So after that was done I finally got on my plane at like 2pm EST went through Cleveland, then on to Houston (Where We sat on the Runway for two Hours) and Finally got to Seattle at almost Midnight PST. It was a very long day.
After a few days of shopping I headed into Central Washington to go see Alicia.

It was a Beautiful drive up there..............

...but lots of snow, especially in Snowquamie (Sp?) pass which was shut down for road crews to remove an avalanche and delayed me for about 45 minutes.


Still made it and got to see Alicia and introduce her to the Wonders of T.J.Maxx and Auntie Anne's pretzels.

Then Once out of the mountains and back to rainy Seattle it was up to me to take Derick.........
To His first Comic Book Convention!
Here he is getting the autographs of the stars of "Boondock Saints"
And A shot with a HALO trooper.

So, Then it was on to Anchorage, Where it turned into a situation on Saturday that PenAir was asking/telling me that I could "Volunteer" to be bumped or just be Bumped. Kayla was also stranded sooooo I "Chose" to be "Bumped". But Now Kayla Knows why you should always try to get stranded with CB!!

First, I got the Cutest little car from Alamo on Priceline! ($14 a night on Priceline! KILLER DEAL!) http://www.priceline.com

Then I got us Rooms at My Company's Chosen Hotel in Anchorage, The Millennium Hotel http://www.millenniumhotels.com/millenniumanchorage/index.html Even though it was full up with The start of the Iditerod Race.
Unfortunately we did not have enough time on Sunday to go see them off as it was about 2 hours away and with traffic so we just had a nice day in Anchorage.
Breakfast at McDonald's with a Shamrock Shake (The night before out to Outback for steaks)
While we were at the Airport getting our confirmed flights (instead of waiting around all day on standby) we stopped by and visited with Gert Svarny's artwork on display there.
Then it was on to downtown Anchorage to check out the sights.

And WHAT is the best way to see the sights? In a Helicopter of course!
Kayla looking a little nervous before her first ever 'copter flight.

It was just a quick 15 minute buzz round but we got to see All of Anchorage in a way I never did before.





The Pilot even did a few dives that made Kayla shriek a little...........


The sun was incredably bright for such a cold day.


And Kayla finally started to enjoy it about 5 minutes in to the flight.
While we were up or Pilot pointed out the Snow Sculptue Exhibit so we decided to head there next.



Landing in a Helicopter always spooks me a little, Visions of rotating blades hitting concrete and slanshing through me and all that. I blame TV.

On to the Snow Sculptures!

A Biblical Scene
At first I thought Eagle, but from the side Gryphon?

A Crab!
A Mammoth
Old Style Radio
And OF course, only in Alaska, in 10 degree weather would you find an outdoor carnival!
Funnel Cakes, Turkey Wings and The Like!
We Shared the Funnel Cake, I promise. We both looked like Cocaine addicts afterward!
Yup, Blanket Toss near a Busy city street. Sometimes I wonder about the intelligence of the Human Race in general.

Next up was some shopping and Just because we could.......Pedicures with a sea salt and herbal mud leg scrub.

Kayla had to try out all the functions of the Massage chairs!

Funny to believe that under 5 hours later we were back in Dutch..........minus some of our bags!!!
Again, Sorry everyone for the late post. Just busy, Hopedfully more this week!