The count down is on

Well, "T" minus 42 hours and counting until we leave on the ferry. Hard to believe, but I was busy today getting ready. I made chicken salad, egg salad, pasta salad, and a cinnamon stussel bread for the trip. Tomorrow I will cook some hamburgers in the skillet and put them in the fridge - that will be supper some nights when we have driven all day and I don't feel like cooking anything else. We also have bought hot dogs and chicken patties that will be a quick easy dinner. I know, this will not be the healthiest of meals, but it will fill the hollow spot and get us through the night. We will make up for it when we get back to Florida. I also did another load of laundry today - tomorrow afternoon, after we finish loading everything we will both take a shower and I'll do the final load of clothes before we head out on Tuesday.

I still have a lot of packing to do inside - I didn't do any today because Dan talked to a guy this morning that seemed interested in buying the unit. I know it would have been a very long shot, but you never know. Anyway, he said that he had to talk to his wife and he never came back, so I guess she wasn't that interested. He was local and it would have taken a lot of work to get everything done before leaving on Tuesday, but I think we could have done it. Anyway, we will never know now. Like I said, we knew that it would be an absolute long shot, but I guess that wasn't meant to be.

Our boss did hire someone today to take our place - so we will train him tomorrow and then follow him around on Tuesday morning to make sure he understands everything that has to be done. Right now, he is camped in the campground - and he will move onto our space after we leave on Tuesday afternoon. I'm glad they found someone - and then I won't have to worry so much about helping Dan out tomorrow - I can concentrate on getting everything packed up inside the unit and pad those things that needs to be padded.

Tonight we went out for the last time here in Juneau - Dan wanted to take me to this place he found while I was in Florida that serves Fish (Halibut) and Chips. It was really very good - very expensive ($12.95 per person plus drink) but we haven't found anything here that isn't expensive. I guess we could call this Dan birthday dinner since we weren't able to go out on Friday. Of course, while we were sitting there eating (I forgot to mention this was an outdoor place on the harbor overlooking the cruise ships) there was a group of kids playing around on the dock and all of a sudden this one little girl - probably 10 or 12 climbed over the railing and jumped in to the bay. I couldn't believe it - I know that water had to be in the high 30's or maybe the low 40's, but anyway you look at it that water is COLD! Well, she just proceeded to swim across the bay to a dock that was in front of the cruise ship and climb out. Then she ran around and did it again - these kids were just playing around jumping in the water and having a great time. It was unbelievable to us! You just never know what you are going to see around here.

On the way home we went over to the Visitor's Center to see if any of the bears were out feeding - I waited very patiently for about 10 minutes and out walked this little black bear. I was not able to get a good picture of him - first he hid behind some trees, then it got so dark that the flash would reflect off the leaves and you couldn't get a good picture, but at least we saw him and watched him catch a salmon and go up the side of the hill and eat it. That was pretty cool, I just wish I had been able to get a good picture - oh well.

Actually Dan and I talked this afternoon about all the things that we thought we would be able to do here in Juneau and weren't. For example, we never had any crab (which is really very good), we never rode the tram up Roberts Mountain, and we didn't get over to Admiralty Island to see the grizzly bears. We were trying to figure out why we didn't do these things and we figured that we are just too cheap - and the older we get the more frugal we become. Who would have believed that! Oh well, the next time we cruise up we'll have to take the excursion over to the Island and see the bears, and we can always order some crab and have it shipped to us.

Well, I think I will close for tonight- I need to go in and get ready for bed - tomorrow is going to be a busy day. I know that a lot of you that are still working have to report back to school tomorrow, if you didn't last week. Dan and I wish you a good school year with good kids and no problems!

Take care and I'll talk to you tomorrow!!!!