Ferry to Seldovia, Outside Beach, Linwood 7-6-10

We got up early today to finish packing and pick up groceries for our camping trip to Seldovia. Seldovia is a cute little fishing village across the bay that apparently you can't get to other than by ferry or plane. For this reason, I was surprised to find so many vehicles when we did arrive. Anyway, Ray checked in while I searched my bag for the dog leash I bought and thought I'd packed somewhere. We let the dogs run on the beach for a few minutes before heading to the ferry. We were carrying huge backpacks, pushing our bikes, and holding dog leashes (I used a rope and carabiner). For a second it looked like we wouldn't fit on the boat, but they helped us on and we ended up outside in the front, which was exactly where I wanted to be anyway.

The ferry ride was beautiful, as you can see from the pictures. We saw sea otters, lots of seagulls, puffins, tufted puffins, red-faced cormorants, cormorants, clam catchers, magpies, crows, bald eagles, weird diving birds (I don't know the name), and best of all... a HUMPBACK WHALE!! It was so amazing. The whale was a check off my bucket list, but I really want to see some up close. The sea otters were fun to watch too. They floated around eating fish like they didn't have a care in the world. I was almost jealous.

When we got to Seldovia, we put our packs on, got on the bikes, and headed for Outside Beach, which is where we were planning to pitch the tent. Riding bikes with those huge, heavy packs proved to be rather challenging, but we made it eventually. At one point we stopped at a campground thinking it must be ours, but turned out we'd passed the beach entrance and had to go down a rather treacherous path to get to the beach. At one point, I over-compensated when my bike slid and actually fell off, pulled by the weight of the backpack. It had to have been rather comical. I laughed. :-)

The ride was worth it when we saw the beach. It was beautiful. We saw a camper pull away as we were riding down to it, and no one else was there, so we claimed it by putting up the tent and leaving some stuff on the picnic table. We were lucky we got there when we did, as multiple vehicles came driving through to check it out. I'm starting to think Marmot should hire me to pitch their tent in random beautiful places and take pictures of it for their ads. Just a thought.

After Ray hung our food in a tree to keep it away from potential bears, we rode our bikes back to town with the dogs running alongside, and went to a cafe for a sandwich. We then went to the local bar, which is apparently the place to go for locals. It was okay. We had a couple drinks and headed to the Mad Fish for dinner. It was a delicious burger! We rode back to camp and went to bed after a few Reese Cup S'mores. They were an end to a fantastic day.

Day off, catching up 7-5-10

After yesterday, I was so exhausted I decided to take a day off. This wasn't a very exciting day, but it was rather theraputic for me, and for my aching body. I did laundry, took a hot shower, bought rain gear, walked around the spit, had a cup of love (from the coffee shop), walked with Eddy on the beach, re-scheduled our ferry trip to Seldovia, and basically just took it easy.

I woke up wanting to get a glue gun to put things together. There are many ways to psycho-analyze this, but my original idea involves shells and cool rocks, and other such things from the beach. Stupid, maybe, but it sounds like fun, so I also bought a glue gun. I also bought socks. :-)

When I got home and Ray arrived, we re-packed, planned for tomorrow, and watched a movie. It wasn't very exciting, but it was a nice day.

Lots of kettle corn, crazy bikers, lost camera battery charger 7-4-10

I worked hard today. Ray said it's the record for working a stand alone (where profit/money is concerned). It was insane. I was practically taking reservations two batches ahead of the one I was making for bags of kettle corn. I had no idea so many people were so crazy about the stuff! I hurt.

Dear Harley-riders,
Do you really have to be so obnoxiously loud everywhere you go? You don't need to make an entrance. No one cares if you are there or not, other than the fact that you are disturbing the peace for EVERYONE. Compensate in some other way, please. Oh, and get your fingers out of my fresh kettle corn. It's not yours yet, and it's not in YOUR bag.

Sorry, I was a little irritated today.

So one big problem for me is that I seem to have lost my camera battery charger. Those of you who know how much I LOVE to take pictures might understand what a huge loss this is for me. It HURTS. I looked it up on Canon's website today, and they don't appear to have it for sale. SERIOUSLY, Canon?! Oh, and they are taking tomorrow off, even though it's NOT a holiday, so I can't even call. Jerks.

Yep, a little irritated today.

If anyone is reading this, I hope you had a great 4th!

Busy day, Alice's, new friends 7-3-10

Today started pretty badly since it was raining and wouldn't quit. During the rainy slow time I continued with "The Book Thief," which started making me cry a little harder than I would like while trying to sell kettle corn, so I had to stop. It's probably a book better finished at home!

When the sun came out, business picked up enough that I could call today my biggest day by far! It was nice keeping busy, and the weather was beautiful for a while.

After work, I took a nice, hot shower at the Washboard, and after having debated all day about what to do after my shower, I decided to go to Alice's for a beer. I figured it couldn't hurt, and if it sucked I could just leave. After sitting there for a while, listening to the band (which wasn't bad), and drinking my beer, the girl next to me started talking to me. As it turned out, she was also from Colorado and had traveled up here alone for a little adventure. She was touring Alaska. She ended up buying me a beer and giving me her bear spray, since she's going home soon and won't need it. It was really nice. Someone else who stopped by and chatted for a while was Pauline, a lady who works at my favorite store on the spit, the Better Sweater. She's really nice too. It was great having people with whom to talk, instead of just sitting there by myself and wishing more of my friends were here.

Now that I'm home, it's bedtime, and I'm still a bit tipsy from the beer. I really am a lightweight, and I think it's getting worse! Weird, considering how I live at 10,200 feet, and now I'm at sea level. What's up with that? I seriously hope I don't end up with altitude sickness when I finally go back to Leadville.

Long day, Tired Hearts, etc... 7-2-10

Today was basically just a long blur of selling kettle corn. Ray went back to Soldotna to sell some corn and get ready for the weekend in Seward. I spent an extra two hours at my stand for a couple reasons - to see how much corn I'd sell after I'd usually pack up and go, and to keep myself entertained instead of coming back to hang out with "Grey's Anatomy" again. It was actually the most kettle corn I've sold yet, but not really due to the last two hours.

While I was not busy, I spent some time reading more of "The Book Thief." It's really an awesome book. Anyway, the girl in it, Liesl, mentions that she is reading a book that talks about tired hearts, and how her heart feels tired too. I'm thinking anyone could probably relate to having times when his/her heart feels tired. Sometimes I think mine is exhausted to the point of just being in constant survival mode. Maybe that's why I feel the constant need to "shock" it with different surroundings like I always do, hoping it finds the energy for another round if it's in a different place. Am I being too metaphoric or open for a blog?

When I finally got home I watched two episodes of "Grey's Anatomy," now I'm writing this blog, and I'm probably headed to bed soon. I'm still debating between doing laundry and finding someplace to go out tomorrow after work.

Rain, sugar, and Kenton 7-1-10

Today Ray picked up the fixed kettle and we put it back in the stand. He was still not feeling well, so he went home and I sold kettle corn. It was pretty rainy today, which always seems to hurt business, but it wasn't bad for a rainy day. I spent the extra time writing postcards, and realized when they were finally done that I'd forgotten to bring stamps with me. I guess they're going out tomorrow!

I had a customer today that said he'd been looking for "the kettle corn guy" all winter because he really wanted double-sugar kettle corn. He was very excited when I said I'd make it for him, and he ordered two extra large bags. These are HUGE bags, by the way. He said he'd be back next week for more.

A very strange moment happened when I was in the middle of writing the zip code on a post card going to the LaVergnes in Kenton. I was interrupted mid-zip code when a couple came up and wanted to buy some kettle corn. They happened to mention they were from Ohio. Of course after that we have to share where we are all from in Ohio. Randomly enough, they were from Kenton! I had to pick up the postcard I'd just written to show them how strange it was that I was mid-zip code on a postcard to Kenton. I don't know if anyone else finds that strange, but I'm still greatly amused by it.

After closing the stand, I came home and was very happy to find that Ray had rented "Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief," since I'd wanted to see it, so we ate brats and watched the movie (which was really not very satisfying since they changed half of the book). I hate it when they change movies so much from the books.

We are now watching "Hot Tub Time Machine." It's actually pretty funny thus far. Tomorrow, more work!

Day of rest, a pretty drive 6-30-10

We didn't end up going to Seldovia today since Ray is sick. We vegged in front of the tv and watched several movies instead. I spent some time on the porch working on my current book of choice, "The Book Thief." It's really good, by the way, but rather sad. We drove a way down the coast on a road called East End. It led to a gorgeous view. I forgot my camera, of course, but I took one on Ray's phone so eventually I'll load and post it.

Speaking of cameras, I seem to have lost my battery charger, so if my camera dies, I might be at a loss for a while, which might nearly kill me. I'm going to do a detailed search (again) tomorrow, and if I don't find it I guess I'll have to try Wal-Mart (an hour away), and if that doesn't work, I guess it'll have to be ordered online. Grr....

On the way back, we picked up a pizza and a couple more movies. It's been a nice, restful day. Tomorrow I'll be back on the newly fixed kettle, hopefully making some money. We re-scheduled Seldovia for next week, which fortunately means we can camp there for two nights instead of just one, so that will be fun anyway. :-)

Oh, and I visited the post office yesterday and decided that those wretched places would be so much more friendly and nice if they would just play some music. It always feels like you have to be quiet in there, as if you were at a funeral, church, or the library. Is there any reason a post office can't be a little more pleasant? Just a thought...