Monday, July 9, 2007

Ah, Alaska

Hello again. I hope all is well with you, as it is with me.

For those of you who don't know, I'm now sitting in the hallway outside of the internet room on crew deck "B" onboard the M.S. Ryndam, sailing North from Vancouver, Canada to Ketchikan, Alaska. For those who do know, I'm sorry to waste your time with old, meaningless information, such as mu whereabouts.

Sadly, there's not much new to report. I mean, it's a cool job and all, don't get me wrong. It's just fairly repetitive. Not much new happens to write about. Actually, I just thought of something. Awesome.

Happy July 4th! I, like you, realize that today is not july 4th, and it's surely not going to be july 4th when you read this sometime in the future. But, we all experienced it last week, and I'd like to tell you about mine... with pictures.


I celebrated my independence day in Haines, Alaska. It's kind of your typical small town U.S.A. type place. Really filled with old fashioned town pride and the whole bit. The day was marked with several high points, one of which being the town parade. Hence the picture. I don't know if you can see this, but the picture is really quite an oddity, in and of itself. Here we have a tiny child, on a four wheeler, being pulled by a truck. The only thing more impressive than an ATV driver under the age of 10 is an ATV driver being pulled by a truck... under the age of ten. So what if it's not an actual float. She threw some of those orange tootsie rolls, and those are totally sweet.


This is the next high point of the day, the mud volleyball tournament. Rednecks + Mud = fun for all. Overall, it was really just that. A bunch of hicks from the boonies of Alaska, just hanging out, playing some mud volleyball. Most of the people were cool, and really nice. However, there were a couple of people playing volleyball that were really intense... like really intense. Like "smear mud on your face and let out a Braveheart-style yell to intimidate your opponents" intense. Woah. You know how much I like loud, annoying people... wait, did I say like? Hmm. Moving on.

Lastly, there was a huge bar-b-que in the town park, for pretty much everyone that lived within walking/driving/crusing distance. Complete with fun-jump, local desert bake-off, a pie-eating competition, and used book sale. Very fun, very wholesome. The only thing missing was Kate :)

*The rest of you, shut up. You'd miss her too if you were me, so keep your mouths shut

Overall, it was a fun, family friendly way to celebrate the day that George Washington Carver, Teddy Roosevelt, and Colin Powell defeated the Germans to win our independence. Or at least that's what I thought. Apparently none of those guys were there, and it was England. Whatever... I'm not a historologist or anything.

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it, which is to say, not much. Just kidding. This is fun. It's like writing a letter to all your best friends with no response... or interest. Ouch. Just kidding.

Anyone who wants to call, I welcome it. I get homesick sometimes, you know? Thanks for your concern.

Anyways, this is over now. I'm off to watch my new pat metheny DVD, "The Way Up." Cody, we're gonna watch it when I get back.

Talk to you soon,

B

2 comments:

Kate O. said...

hurry home! i love you...that's all there is to it (and i have the right to be mushy since no one else comments) :)

Unknown said...

Hello foreign object, it's me..Philbill. Well it's pretty much official, I'm waiting on the papers to come in so that i can sign away the next year of my life to you. I'm happy. You?
Me and your fam have been talking a lot, i like them. You?
Ok..have fun missing me. See you soon.