Red Shirt Lake

Bryan and I went on a hiking/camping trip last weekend, out to Red Shirt Lake. The trail is about 3.5 miles long and is very well maintained. The bugs are horrible, though – I really do not like mosquitoes! Our packs were full, but not too heavy. Mine sat very well on my hips, but Bryan’s gave him fuss pretty much the whole way in.

The canoe we rented was waiting for us at trail’s end. We figured it was better to rent a used one than to try and carry our own the whole way. The key they gave us did not work at first, until we realized we were trying to unlock the wrong canoe. Once we got that all straightened out, we were good to go.

The cabin we rented is a Public Use Cabin (or PUC) of which there are at least 4 on the lake. We weren’t sure exactly where it was, so had to paddle around and search for it a bit – but we eventually found it and were quite pleased with the site.

It was old and very hard used, though, but still quite functional. The previous users had left it in a filthy mess, however, so I had to sweep it out before we could put our stuff in there. Really not cool, guys!

Bryan spent most of his time out in the lake fishing for pike. Apparently, there are some big ones in the lake, but he only caught the smaller ones. He had fun regardless!

There are lots of critters in and around the lake: we saw a moose, two swans, some grebes, and a huge loon.

I stayed at the cabin and read my book, wrote my letters, and just generally enjoyed my relaxing weekend. Bryan was very happy to discover the previous users had left behind a 6-pack of beer (which sort of made up for them leaving it in such a horrible mess) while I was overjoyed to discover they’d left two partially used citronella candles. We burned those the whole time we were there, which helped to keep the cabin livable without mosquitoes.

We gathered up deadfall and twigs so that we could have a fire each morning inside, to help take the edge off the chill when we got up. We had enough left over for a bonfire one evening, which is always nice. We did not have any marshmallows, though.

The paddle back to trail’s end was considerably shorter since we didn’t have to search for it. Such a beautiful lake – I really enjoyed it.

And as is usually the case, the hike back to the truck was a lot quicker as well. I’m not sure how that works since the mileage is the same. But soon enough we were back at the truck and headed home again.

One thing bad part of this trip was the fact that I did the whole thing with a broken toe! I really do not recommend this, by the way. It hurt! Like, a lot.

Hawaii 2022

This was our big trip for the year, so there are lots of pictures. I’ll post a few for each day, but if you want to see all of them – feel free to come over for a visit to look at the book I’ll be making!

Our first day was mostly just arriving in Maui and getting situated in our room at the resort. Bryan owns a time-share at the Ka'anapali Beach Resort, so we had a suite: a kitchen, a dining area, a living room w/ balcony, and a nice big bedroom with a huge bathroom. It was on the 11^th floor so it had a nice view of the ocean!

The official First Day of Vacation we got to go to the Feast of Lele, one of the finer luaus in Maui. They offer a sit-down meal (as opposed to the more usual buffet style dinner) with 5 courses of food from the Pacific Island Nations (Aotearoa, Tahiti, Samoa, and Hawai’i). Each course featured three different dishes to sample while enjoying the dancers on stage. It was quite the experience!

Day two was my birthday so I got to choose the entertainment for the day: so of course, we went to the Maui Ocean Center! What a fantastic place: we got to see all kinds of fish, turtles, history, and artwork. Their finest exhibit, however, is an astonishing, virtually immersive experience that brings you eye-to-eye with Hawai'i's humpback whales! It’s a dome-shaped theatre showing a 3-D film that literally feels like you’re right there with the whales. At one point during the movie, I looked over at Bryan. He was sitting there looking up at the whale, and the whale was looking right back at him, not two feet away! It was the most amazing thing I’d ever seen! I could have SWORN it was real. It completely took my breath away.

The next day was our Road Trip to Hana. We had our own personal guide, downloaded onto our phone – SHAKA GUIDE - that took us step by step all the way there and back again. Honestly, if you’re ever in Maui – I can highly recommend these guys. We bought their bundle offering 6 different tours, so we were able to use it multiple times. The road to Hana is quite the experience even without the guide: it’s a one-lane, two-way highway that has over 600 twists and turns to it! It takes you from one end of the island all the way to the other, giving you some really spectacular views along the way!  

We didn’t want to be rushed during our Road to Hana trip, so we rented an AirB&B in Hana for the night, making it a two-day trip instead of trying to do it all in one day. The place we stayed at was okay – not the best place ever (no air conditioning) but not the worst either (no cockroaches). But I’m glad we stayed the night – we had lots to see!

One of the negative aspects of owning a timeshare is that you are required to attend meetings with them each time you use the timeshare. This gives them an opportunity to get you to spend even more money with them and are truly an awful experience. But we had to go because they had gotten us in to the Feast of Lele for free, and that would have cost us roughly $200.00 per person if we’d gone ourselves. And the meeting was just as awful as I expected it to be – but we did it, and then got to spend the rest of the day just relaxing and recovering from our roadtrip. These are some more photos from the day before.

Thursday was exciting – we rented “glass bottomed” kayaks and got to paddle around for two hours looking at the fishes! Unfortunately, Bryan could not see anything (he did not have his prescription glasses on) through the bottom of the boat – so he mostly paddled while I looked. Most of you know this, but I do not know how to swim – so I was a tad bit nervous. But I had a life preserver on, so really wasn’t that worried. However, the wind picked up while we were out there, so getting back into the little cove we set out from was tricky!

Friday we went inland and did a few tours on our way to the volcano, where we got to use the Shaka Guide ap once again! Our first tour was of the Surfing Goat CheeseFarm: we got to feed the goats AND do a cheese tasting! From there we went to the Ocean Vodka Distillery where we got to tour their grounds and taste their vodka (surprisingly good). We ended the day at the Haleakala National Park up at elevation 10,000.

Since Friday was such a hot day (temps were in the upper 90s pretty much our entire time in Hawaii) I needed to spend Saturday just relaxing and recovering in our rooms. Bryan went out and got some fresh fruit, so we munched on Mangos and Papayas! We played cards, watched movies, read books, and basically just enjoyed each other’s company.

For our last day in Hawaii, we went on another brewery tour at the Maui Brewing Co. and got to taste five or six of their best beers. Afterwards, Bryan really wanted to go to a place called Moose McGillicudy’s for a late dinner: apparently it was a favorite of his from past visits to the island, and his favorite t-shirt from there had just recently disintegrated to the point where it had to be thrown out – so he needed a replacement.

Another MRI

Yup, I had to have another one recently. I really do not enjoy them. But at least this time it was on my liver and not my brain. Slightly better, in that I could at least move my head around.

I am a tad bit claustrophobic – not like full-on panic mode, but enough that I have to psych myself up each time. This time, the techs working with me were kind enough to demonstrate that my head would be quite close to the opening in back, and that if I turned my head rather sharply to the side and looked up, I could see the opening the entire time. That helped immensely.

I was also able to listen to the music again, and this time I chose to listen to OLD country rather than NEW country so at least I knew the songs playing and could follow along with them, even though I could barely hear them. MRIs are incredibly loud, plus this time – since the liver is located just under the lungs – they kept breaking into the music to tell me to hold my breath please… okay, breath now… hold your breath again please… okay resume breathing… etc…etc.

And of course, they had difficulties finding a vein for the IV again. They tried the right arm first then the left arm, going back and forth until they finally got one. I now have a tiny little bruise on my arm (but hey, it matches my toe at least!).

The truly amazing part of all these MRIs and Ultrasounds and blood work being done is that all the results are online. I can actually see the pictures of my brain if I want to – which, of course, I do. Next on my list of things to do today is to log on and take a look at my liver.

The other amazing thing is that the results are available within 24 hours. My doctor knows the very next day and calls me to discuss things as soon as she can. Which means that I already know this particular MRI was negative. They did not find what they thought they would find. Which means that they STILL don’t know what’s wrong with me.

But at least they know what’s not wrong with me – right?

Memorable Moments on an Airplane

I’ve traveled a fair bit in my time and have had more than a few moments worth remembering. Feel free to share your moments in the comment section below!

Once, when I was in high school, I went to Ketchikan to visit a friend of mine for a long weekend. The airport in Ketchikan is on an island across the bay from the main town and flying into that airport is always tricky. This particular time, it was probably the closest to crashing as I’ve ever been; the plane bucking all over the place and was nearly tossed upside down a few times, even. The poor lady sitting next to me had a death grip on the arm rests and was shouting over and over, “OH GOD! OH GOD! OH GOD! OH GOD!”

Another time I was traveling to Valdez for work when a guy tried to open the door mid-flight. He was in full-on panic mode, and it took four grown men to subdue him. The plane had to turn around and land back at the Anchorage Airport, where the guy (who, coincidently, happened to be my boss) was escorted off and we resumed our flight. He ended up driving to work that week!

When my brother was going to school down in Seattle, I decided to spend a 4-day weekend to visit him. Normal flight times from Anchorage to Seattle are roughly 5 hours – this particular flight lasted over 17 hours! As you know, Seattle has horrible weather at times, so my plane had to circle Seattle for a while in hopes that a break in the weather would allow it to land. We ran out of gas, so had to be re-routed to Vancouver to fill up. Vancouver is a foreign country, so we were not allowed off the plan at that time because no one had their passports with them. We went back to Seattle and continued to circle until we ran out of gas a second time. This time, they sent us to Denver to refuel – where they made us all get off the plane to go through Customs, because we’d been in a foreign country (even though we never got off the plane there). Then we boarded our plane again and went back to Seattle to circle some more. Sure enough, we ran out of gas a third time! They sent us to Portland this time, to refuel and restock the drinks, which by this time had bee freely flowing - before once again heading back to Seattle to circle some more. FINALLY, we got to land and get off that damned airplane. Sadly, that turned my 4-day visit in to a 2-day visit, but it was still cool to visit my brother a while.

On a flight to London one time, the guy who was seated next to me was suffering from food poisoning. Man, he looked terrible: pasty white with tinges of green around the edges. Thankfully, the flight was barely half-full so the stewardess managed to give him the back row of seats so he could lay down, and he had one of the bathrooms dedicated solely to him. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more miserable person.

Coming home from Hawaii back in ’82 the airplane took off like normal, then within two or three minutes made a very sharp turn and landed again back on the runway. The pilot came on the intercom to inform us that they literally just dropped an engine. Like, it fell OFF THE PLANE! Maintenance crew transferred us to a different plan so they could reattach the engine. Thankfully our new plan made it home safely.

The best one, however, was coming home from Seattle once – I don’t remember the trip, but I certainly remember that flight. Mid-way home, some high school kid thought it would be a good idea to strip down and streak naked from the back of the plane all the way to the front and back again, all the while shrieking in a loud voice “Yeeeaaaahhhh!!!” The stewardesses grabbed him, with the help of a few passengers, and locked him up in one of the bathrooms until we landed. We were not allowed to disembark until the police came and hauled him away in handcuffs. I heard later that he actually went to jail for that little escapade.

Medical Update

I had my MRI a week ago, along with an ultrasound on my liver.

The Ultrasound was no big deal: just lay back and have goo squirted onto your belly. At least they heat the goo up for you! Bryan says when he had one at the urologist’s office they did NOT heat it up first. Anyway, I was not concerned about that test in any way – except to say that the prep for it required me to fast: No Food and No Water for at least 8 hours prior to the test.

No problem. The test was at 9:15 in the morning, so I simply went without my morning cup of tea.

The prep for the MRI, however, was that I should arrive “Well Hydrated” to facilitate the IV process. How exactly am I supposed to be Well Hydrated for this procedure and yet have no water for 8 hours for that procedure?!? I compromised by drinking a LOT of water the four or five days prior to fasting.

It didn’t really work, however. The tech running the MRI machine had the darndest time finding a vein. He tried for a good 15-20 minutes, looking at first this arm and then that arm. At one point, I had a tourniquet tied around both my elbow AND my wrist, hoping to make one appear somewhere in between that was big enough to handle the needle. He finally had to call in his supervisor in hopes that she would have better luck. Eventually they did manage to find one – and she was able to insert the needle with minimal pain or bruising afterwards.

The MRI itself was just horrible, no other way to say it. They were looking at my pituitary gland which is located pretty much dead center of my brain – so I had to have my head in this cradle thingy, with a helmet on that focused the x-rays right exactly where they needed them to be. I was able to wear some earphones with music piped in, so that helped to distract me from the fact that I’m basically tied down onto a conveyor belt and squeezed into a tube just barely big enough to fit my shoulders into. And of course the noise levels are horrendous so I could barely hear the music, even though I had ear muffs on.

Of course, I had a migraine that morning – stress will do that to me every time. One of the weird things about my migraines is that they do not like to lay down. The MRI required that I lay down for at least 45 minutes, as well as deal with with loud noises and tight spaces. I was NOT a happy camper, to say the very least.

Eventually I got to go back home to recover, and ended up having a great day. Surprisingly my doctor called me the very next day with the results – I thought I’d have to wait at least a couple weeks.

MRI = negative, which means no tumor!

Ultrasound = positive, which means … well, heck. I don’t even know what that means.

The results really caught me off guard. I totally expected the reverse! Now I don’t know what to do. I’m supposed to get a phone call soon from a specialist about my liver to find out what’s wrong with it.

Living the GF Life

It’s been over a month now, since I started eating Gluten Free. I have to say it’s not as hard as I thought it would be. My diet in general was pretty much GF anyway, so there really wasn’t that much to give up. I also have to say that I feel no difference at all. I’m neither better nor worse – I still have headaches, I still have joint pain, and I’m still exhausted all the time.

The hardest part has been trying to overcome the “I can’t have it anymore” attitude. Now that I know I can’t have toast or bread or cookies or, or, or… I find that I WANT TOAST AND COOKIES AND BREAD AND, AND, AND… I also find that I am absolutely STARVING and could literally eat all day long. Hopefully that will go away soon, before I have to buy a whole new wardrobe.

I did find a cool ap for my phone to help in the grocery store. All I have to do is scan a bar code and the ap tells me if it’s GF or not! I know, I could figure that out on my own by reading the ingredients list – but more often than not I forget to bring my reading glasses with me, so can barely even see the ingredients list let alone read the darned thing. There are the occasional items that the ap does not know about, but for the most part it’s been really helpful.

We were happy to find out that The Palmer Alehouse, one of our favorite places to eat out, not only offers GF burger buns and GF pizza crust but also a GF veggie patty, so whenever Bryan feels the need for one of his giant jalapeño burgers I can get my veggie burger too!

We also discovered that my favorite fast food truck, Elwood’s, located right in the Credit Union parking lot, has a GF version of their Buddha Bowl so I can still treat myself occasionally when I’m out and about. To be honest, their original version tastes a whole lot better – but at least I can still eat there occasionally. You just need to watch them – the other day I ordered the GF Buddha Bowl and ended up with a regular one.

We had a hankering for sushi a while back and discovered that our favorite sushi restaurant in Eagle River (Jimmy’s Sushi, next door to Jitters) offers up a wide variety of GF sushi rolls, GF soy sauce, and is quite happy to work with you to make whatever you wish to order more palatable for you! We will definitely be going back there again.

And finally, there is The Omnivore restaurant in Palmer (located in the building where Humdinger’s used to be). Everything on their menu is GF! Admittedly, this is not Bryan’s kind of food – but at least it is somewhere I can go and order whatever catches my eye without needing to ask if it’s GF or not.

Interesting Things Seen While Driving in Palmer

Just a few random things I’ve seen lately that seem worthy of note:

There’s this guy who rides his bicycle all over town. That, in itself, is not exactly noteworthy - because there are a lot of bicyclers in town. But this guy – he rides his bicycle while singing and playing a guitar! He’s quite good, too.

Then the other day I saw a car with a sunroof. Again, not exactly noteworthy on its own – but this one had a rather large husky with his head sticking up out of the open sunroof. He was perfectly centered in the car, and his was like, “oh, I’m driving down the road watching the world go by.” It was so cute.

And finally today up by the high school I saw two teenagers taking their caribou for a walk. Yes, you read that correctly: they each had a caribou on a leash with a halter, and they were on the bike path just taking a stroll. I thought to myself, “Only in Alaska!”

Bowling!

Mother has been talking about how much fun going bowling is and how much she wanted to go again – so finally I took the hint and organized a Bowling Party. I invited the whole family to join us, knowing full well that not everyone would be able to. The final tally was Me, Bryan, Mother, Lisa and her friend Josh. That made for a very fun afternoon! We rented two lanes side by side, so it was Me, Bryan and Mother on lane 17 against Lisa and Josh on lane 18.

Bryan blew us all out of the running with a very strong pitch (is it a pitch when you’re bowling? I don’t know the proper terminology) with Mother following closely and with me trailing along behind… way, way, WAY behind. The scoreboard that keeps track of everybody’s score also clocks how fast the bowling ball travels down the lane: sometimes Bryan’s ball went over 20 mph! I was doing good if mine went over 10 mph…

We worried about mother’s balance and coordination, but she did really good. Her thumb is all swollen today, and she has new bruises up and down her arm – but she had such a good time, she’s talking about going again! Maybe more of the family can join us this time.