No fixed address...

Thompson Clan Expansion

2009-07-09T16:04:00.001-07:00

Welcome to the world, wee Ian Malcolm Thompson! We can't wait to meet you!

And the word on the street is that he's wearing a wee blue hat. Cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute!!!!!

Ross's visit

2009-05-06T05:22:00.002-07:00

To catch up where Iff left off...

The wedding day was absolutely fantastic. Afterwards, we had about 3 hours of sleep before we got a bus from Cambridge to Heathrow airport. We got there only to find out that Ross's flight would be 2 hours late. Och, well! We had some Krispy Kreme donuts (tough life) while we waited, and then the boy strolled into the airport in shorts and a t-shirt. Shocking!

We then had a really great week. We spent the first night in London and got to see Wicked, which we all loved. Also, while Ross had a jet lag-inspired nap, we battled the London public transportation network to meet William, the newest Noden. Thrilled!!! The next morning we just got to the train station in time to collect our tickets, only to find that I didn't have the credit card I used to book the tickets. We couldn't get our tickets in time, so we had to shell out for full-price tix on the next train, which was packed to the gills. Never mind, we made it to Edinburgh and chilled there for a night. While we were there, I was reminded that Wee bowling is a LOT easier than real bowling, and Chris managed to scare me again by sneaking up right behind me while I waited to see if any pins would fall down. Cheek!

After that, we had two nights in Aberdeen which included a gorgeous meal at Christos Greek Taverna (any excuse!) and plenty of dog-stalking. In fact, we managed to stalk lots of dogs in each city we visited! Then we were in Aviemore for two nights, including my birthday. We stayed in a gorgeous flat owned by Amazing Annie, a family friend (and her amazing dog Tig). We visited the Highland Wildlife Park, where Ross got to watch his seemingly favorite animals, red pandas, frolic about. But beavers were not to be seen! We took a funicular to the top of Cairngorm Mountain and saw a wild reindeer while we were there. We spotted ospreys guarding a nest and ate cake while watching lots of wee birds and a cheeky red squirrel help themselves to free food. Genius.

Then we had another night in Edinburgh, mostly to make sure we ate at every vegetarian restaurant there. Then we made our way to Macclesfield, where Chris was born, to watch their football team play their last home game. We were 20 minutes late, but we enjoyed the rest of the game, and our team won! Woo-hoo! Then Chris drove the rest of the way to Heathrow, where we stayed in the very "cosy" Easyhotel. All part of the adventure! Ross managed to beat me THRICE at Skipbo while Chris slept. Monkey!!!

Then the next morning we returned the car to the hire placey and Ross to the airport. I didn't want to see him go and nearly pulled a Miss America by bursting into tears. Nonetheless we all had a great time. Come back, Ross!

1 wedding and no funerals...

2009-04-26T11:01:00.004-07:00

4 months has passed since the last major update and so a little catch up is probably required. Sine the last update:

1. We are now both gainfully employed. I am indeed working for the NHS. My job basically involves answering phones from people whose computers don't work and logging a job for someone to go and fix it. Not the best but it keeps me off the streets. Tracy is working for Aberdeen University. She's an administrator for postgraduate courses in one of the schools there.

2. We now live in a flat in town which means that we can both walk to work of a morning and don't need to patronise the expensive bus too much - although it's still handy for getting over to the Hill.

3. Tracy and I have each had a birthday. Although I'd like to think I'm a year wiser I'm not sure this view is commonly held.

What, you may ask (please note I wrote MAY and not DID. For those who did ask the question I am about to pose, I shall enlighten you. For those that didn't, feel free to stop reading here... although I guess you'll need to read as far as the question itself to know whether you asked it or not), has prompted this sudden glut of blog activity? Well, I suppose I could probably have managed to avoid passing comment at the wedding of a family member (after all, this is the second such event and it's now old news) but if that wedding coincides with the a new addition to the family - and that event happens almost concurrently with a member of Tracy's family paying us a visit, then the combined blog-worthyness reaches a level that cannot be ignored. I will, however, break from current blog etiquette by ignoring, completely, forty-something TV singing sensations who may or may not be from Scotland - no matter what their previous romantic experience may be.

So - to business!

Libb's wedding went unbelievably well I thought. She may have her own opinions, but I was well impressed. Everything seemed completely hitchless and good time was had by all. Hopefully, this will soon all be borne out by the photos which were taken, but in the meantime you'll just have to take my word for it. The day itself was blessed with good weather - meaning that the umbrellas which had been gathered by the better prepared guests were not actually required in the end. I represented my adopted homeland by donning the kilt but made a few concessions to compensate for my lack of orange beard and nationalist sympathies - namely by wearing a tartan which can no way trace its roots to any particular clan which may have inhabited any area north of Hadrian's Wall. One of the main reasons I chose it was that it tied in with the wedding theme colour (purple) and the colour of the rest of my get-up (black). But it was also in an ex-rental kilt sale and was cheap. I think the kilt was generally well-received - although I'm pretty sure I got a few funny looks parading around the middle of Cambridge in it. I even got my picture taken by some Japanese tourists. Nice! We had a pretty full turn out, though. We had 4 out of 5 Swarbricks (& 2 from 3 spouses of those present) as well as 4 of 5 Noden kids (1 of whose absence would have ruined the occasion) and an excellent 100% attendance of spouses (i.e. Trace). The one notable absence from our family (Nick) was rather understandable. Why? Allow me to explain...

The night before the wedding we got the news that the Noden family was larger by one: William Anthony James arrived at 11:30pm on the 16th of April. He's got all 20 fingers and toes (10 of each) and at 8lbs was a touch on the heavy side, but not close to breaking my family record (for which I'm sure Sarah is quite grateful). We've since been lucky enough to be in London twice (more later) and were able to drop by to see Nick, Sarah and William. He's such a wee cutie, the little guy. He's definitely got the Noden ears (i.e. 2), but as for the bandy legs, we'll have to see...

So this rounds off this edition of "Iff's blogging hour". Tune in next month for 'massive catch up number 2: what happened next...'. Can't wait until then? Give me a phone and I'll tell you!

Greetings

2009-04-20T12:03:00.002-07:00

A very happy welcome to the world goes to (in date order):

Mr William Anthony James Noden (born 16 April 2009)
Mrs Elizabeth Alice Cecilia Hanlon (married 17 April 2009)

And many congratulations to all the parties involved!!!

Precious!

2009-02-06T14:11:00.001-08:00

Howdy to wee Benjamin Theodore Goudy! Congrats to Nadine, Jon, and Aspen!

Weekend update

2009-01-17T02:47:00.002-08:00

A week is a long time in politics...

This coming week will probably seem pretty long to one particular politician, however. I guess January 20th won't be able to get here quickly enough for Barak Obama.

This past week has been pretty productive for us in a few areas. First up, paperwork has come and gone for my upcoming NHS job. References have been asked for (and provided - despite my referees having to ask me what my dates of work were) and assurances provided that I'm not suffering from any horrible ailments or contagious diseases. I'm now waiting on them to get back to me about when (or perhaps 'if') I'll be starting next week. I also went for an interview with Anderson Anderson Brown who are a local accountancy firm. I figure I may as well keep looking in case the NHS pull the plug (maybe not the nest choice of words, but you know what I mean) on the job before I get started. The interview went well enough I thought, but they won't be making a decision for a few weeks so I'll probably have started work for someone else anyway.

Tracy got a couple of phone calls with offers of temp work and will be working at Aberdeen University all next week. It'll be in the department of modern languages - the same department as Tom's girlfriend - so that should be interesting. Unfortunately it does mean getting an early bus into town again. In the meantime Trace has been keeping her hand in with freelance proofreading for RGU. She's had a couple of assignments to proof-read and although it's plenty of work, she's had them both done on time.

The big news of this past week, however is that we've managed to find ourselves a flat (or apartment for those American readers - or piso for any Spaniards or Latinos). It's a top floor flat in a small street just off Rosemount Viaduct called Baker Street. While it would have been cool to live in 221B, the numbers only reach 60 or so as it's not a very long street.

It's quite similar to the flat in which we were living in Edinburgh, but a little smaller and one floor closer to the street. It's also fully furnished so we don't need to lug huge items of furniture up the stairs - or bring them back down again when we move out. If all goes to plan we'll be in there on Wednesday.

So much to do - so little time...

2k9

2009-01-11T03:58:00.002-08:00

Alright folks!

So 2009 has arrived and brought changes a-plenty already.

First up, Tracy's job finished. They tried to keep her on, but unfortunately they could only offer part-time work, so she's now back in the job market. I went for an interview with the NHS and they decided to offer me a job in their IT department (more fool them!) so I'll be headed off to work as soon as the paperwork's done.

All this has meant that we need to find ourselves a place in town. We're off into town later on to look at some places up for rent. It's not a great time to be looking for a rental apartment - as it's FREEZING cold right now - but if we can find somewhere that's good enough (and we can afford it) then we'll be moving in.

So other news from "The Hill" is fairly sparse and involves cats, chickens and suchlike, but I won't get too involved except to say that everything is pretty much OK and life continues as before.

Anyway, better go. Got to go get ready for some serious flat-hunting!

Major Catch Up

2008-12-29T07:19:00.006-08:00

Having been under pressure from various sources (i.e. Tam) to update the blog I figured that there was no time like the present - so here goes...

Not much has happened since the last update.

The end.

OK I can see that it won't be that easy, so here goes...

Christmas time has come and gone with many mince pies, chocolatey things and glasses of various alcoholic concoctions consumed. This festive season has been a particularly cheesy one (and for once that doesn't refer to Tam's choice of Christmas songs) with a wide variety of interesting fromages appearing from various sources - including the best stilton I've ever had. Yum.

This year has been marked by Trace's willingness to try anything veggie which has meant that she has joined in with the mince pie consumption for the first time this year - meaning less for everyone else. This has obviously been a mixed blessing.

We managed to get everything done that we'd intended to do before Christmas. This included buying presents, carols by candlelight and getting down to Manchester to see the Mighty Boosh. We first saw the Mighty Boosh when they were playing the Edinburgh Fringe Festival - just the two guys on stage with very few props and a sound and light guy to a crowd of 100 max. This time they were playing the MEN arena, which seats thousands, with special effects and costume changes a-plenty. They did most of their characters from all 3 series and were supported by a band. We managed to get all the way down and all the way back in time for Christmas Eve evening which was a bit of a stretch but we made it. On the way down we stopped in Edinburgh which meant we got to stop by all our favourite places one more time.

The candlelight carols went pretty well. There were just a couple of slip-ups and they were fairly minor. Only one of these was located in the tenor department and noone noticed except for me (or maybe us) so all was well. We were rewarded with mince pies and mulled wine, so I guess it was worth it. It's a good job the mulled wine came after the performance because otherwise things may not have gone so smoothly. Anyway a good time was had by all. We did attend other Christmas carol concerts too, but none was quite so good. In my opinion.

Anyway, Merry Christmas dear reader(s) and Happy New Year when it arrives.

Happy Birthday Dad

2008-12-09T03:37:00.002-08:00

Remember, remember the 9th of December - cos it's Dad's birthday!

So far things are going pretty well - there's a fire in the grate, hobnob biscuits and coffee a-plenty and taxes to get done (well, OK maybe it's not all perfect, but HM Inland Revenue are notoriously Scroogy). Anyway, there's a restaurant booked for this evening and presents to be opened, so hopefully that'll provide a welcome distraction if one's needed.

In the period between this post and the previous one, not much has happened. Tenoring has continued apace - in fact I had to carry the tenor section on my own at the last practice. Hopefully we'll have a few more for the actual event. We've not been able to manage another game of football yet - there's one this thursday, but we'll be out at the choir practice. This one's the last one so we can't really miss it.

Trace has been continuing her job - and has actually picked up MORE work, this time as a proofreader. I'm still waiting on news of interviews and jobs and stuff. It's a bit frustrating, but at least I get to sit in front of the fire. It's a hard life, but I'll struggle through somehow.

We've also been cooking some more things and are hoping to make some moussaka at some point this week due to the otherwise unwanted presence of an aubergine in the veg box.

Anyway, time to go bother the agency about jobs...

Snowmen

2008-11-30T06:32:00.002-08:00

I forgot to mention last week that Chris has been utilising the snow to make some ace snowmen. He made a little one on top of a random car; he thought it was his mum's car (wrong!). And back at the hoose, he built one nearly as big as himself, although his mum soon claimed the carrot nose for soup!

The past week has been a good one. I had the now usual work week, which was good. My highlight was discovering the wonder of woolly tights. Chris had a great interview and mention of another job possibility. He has yet to experience the wonder of woolly tights himself. He's diverting himself with training to be a tenor in the upcoming carols by candlelight service at the Nodens' church.

The real fun began this weekend. On Saturday, we had a delicious lunch out with Tom. We'd been trying to get into this restaurant for lunch the past two weekends, but they were booked full each time. So this weekend, we booked in advance. Luckily the entree we were after was still on the menu: tagliatelle with pesto, spinach, garlic and haloumi cheese. STUNNING. We then met up with Tom's partner Fran and wandered through the international street market on our way to the thea-tah for the eagerly (on my part) awaited performance of "The Woman in Black". I'd seen it a couple times a long time ago in London, and I couldn't remember what happens in it, just that I loved it. I loved it this time too. It's absolutely spooky, good fun. I highly recommend it!

After the play, we wandered back through the market, sampling some lovely Dutch pancakes with sugar and lemon on the way. We then helped Tom and Fran move some stuff into their amazing new apartment before we made our way home. We had a lovely, lazy evening in front of the fire.

Today is a gorgeously sunny yet freezingly cold day (-2 degrees C). After church, we all worked to make a gorgeous lunch of buttermilk scones with Cheshire cheese and chives, washed down with some heavenly vegetable soup made by Shelagh.
We are so spoiled by the food and kitchen here, it will be hard to stay in hostels again!

It's hard to believe that tomorrow it will be December!

There's no business like snow business!

2008-11-23T10:07:00.002-08:00

Check out the view from my (temporary) work on Friday:

It's all good!

Meanwhile, Iff has been getting some exercise (and accumulating bruises) at 5-a-side football with his dad each week. I do not approve!

Down to Business

2008-11-16T06:31:00.002-08:00

Another week has passed in Aberdeen, and it's been a good 'un.

I've had my first week (or four days anyway) at the Disability and Dyslexia Service at Robert Gordon University. The people there are ace, so friendly, and the work they're doing to support students with any sort of disability is fantastic. I'm really happy to be a part of it. My work there will only last four or five more weeks until their permanent administrator is due to start, but that means I'll finish in time for a nice Christmas break. So it's all good.

Shockingly, I don't mind the crazy hours I've had to adjust to for the sake of public transportation. I get up at 6:30am to get the 7:23am bus which goes right by the house and into town. Then I get another bus out to RGU. I get there at least 30 minutes early, so I happily read for a wee while in the library before I start work. Then after leaving work at 5pm, I get a bus into town. I wait there for about 30 minutes before getting the bus back to the house. All in, I get home about 12 hours after waking up. It's a bit tiring, but I like the work I'm doing and the people I'm working with, so I'm happy. Plus when I'm riding the buses, I feel like a backpacker still!

Meanwhile Chris has been fielding calls and attending interviews, but a job hasn't quite materialised just yet. A few options are in the works, though, so hopefully he'll be gainfully employed in time for the next blog post. As I type this, he's outside chopping logs with his dad. My husband the lumberjack!

We're still having a great time living with Chris's parents. It's so wonderful to feel at home and to spend time with them after being gone for so long. We're very much looking forward to Christmas time, when all of the Noden kids (and some of their partners) will be here. That reminds me, we need to start doing some Christmas shopping!

I'm typing this post in front of a lovely, roaring fire. It's cold outside, but it is toasty in here. It's great to be back!

Edinburgh revisited

2008-11-10T23:59:00.004-08:00

So after a few weeks in Aberdeen looking for jobs, we decided that it was time to head down to Edinburgh to see various friends of ours - and also we'd heard that there was a little baby tapir at Edinburgh zoo. We figured that it was a good idea to get down there before we found jobs because it would be too difficult afterwards.

Funnily enough, a few days before we left for Edinburgh, Tracy registered with a recruitment agency in Aberdeen and they phoned back almost immediately offering her a job. Luckily, our Edinburgh plans didn't get in the way of the job otherwise we'd have had to cancel them. She'll be working at Robert Gordon University doing some administration for the Dyslexia and Disability unit in town. Her first day is today and I haven't heard anything so far (it's 9:15). Hopefully all will be going to plan.

Anyway, we had a great time in Edinburgh. We stayed with Craig & Kerry and got to see their family as well as Simon, Jenny and Freya who dropped by for tea. It was our first time to meet Freya - we've only seen pictures of her so far - and she's every bit as cute as the pictures make out. To check out wee FR, look up SimonLogan on Flickr and you'll see what I mean. After an initial bout of shyness brought on by with meeting new people, she stomped around the house in her wee pink boots like she owned the place. She even tried to get in on a game of Halo3 on the Xbox, but that was a little much for her. Unfortunately, she was also a little tall to be standing up under the table and managed to bash her head a couple of times. Luckily, no serious damage was received (by her or the table) and normal service was quickly resumed.

We also managed a trip to the zoo where we saw all our old favourites: Tango the wol, Dillon the armadillo, the Pallas cats, capybaras, bongos, penguins, lemurs, rhinos etc. We also met a few new arrivals for the first time: the baby tapir (still young enough to have the spots & stripes), some Sumatran tigers, the new chimp exhibit and the free-flight bird enclosure.

The next day, we all went into town and I spent the morning annoying my former colleagues at Microsys. Russell, Neil and Kerry all tried to get on with work, but in the end I managed to persuade them to entertain me. I didn't get to meet Gordon Freeman Steven because he was out, but I got to meet Part Time Steven and Geoff - which was nice. We even managed to get Russell down to Kalpna (whose decoration has been updated to sparklingly gaudy effect) and all enjoyed the buffet.

Sadly, our time in Edinburgh was limited as Tracy's new job (and an interview for a job for me) were awaiting us in Aberdeen. Much though we wanted to stay around and play with Freya, we had to return to the frozen north and the prospect of gainful employment.

A Welcome Return

2008-10-28T10:33:00.004-07:00

We're back in Scotland, land of the heelin coos! Woo-hoo!!! Here's how we got here...

We had one week aboard the Queen Mary 2 boat from NYC to Southampton. It was better than expected. We attended some cool lectures, ate a bit too much food (but not as much as last time), and met some really cool people. We shared our dinner table with two other couples. The English couple were lovely, and the American couple included one of the lecturers on the boat. We had to miss three of the dinners because we didn't have formal enough clothing, but we really enjoyed the three dinners we did get to attend. During the three formal nights, we roughed it in the buffet upstairs. The Queen Elizabeth 2 boat was making the same journey as us simultaneously (the last transatlantic sailing for the QE2), and they made a huge deal of it on our boat.

Then it was time to set foot on British soil once again. We got out at Southampton and were amazed at all the sunshine! Once all the shops opened, we ran a few errands, grabbed some very tasty cheese and onion pasties, and then got a bus to Cambridge. We spent the night there with Lib, James, Scoobs, Demetri, and the wee sheepie. It was about time we got to see their lovely new house!

In the morning, we got more buses to Manchester, where we made our way to Mary's house. We hung out for a while until Iff's mum showed up. She didn't know we were there, so it was a big surprise for her. We had a lovely dinner at a nearby Indian restaurant, and then it was time for Shelagh, Iff, and me to head to Garstang. We got to Garstang late and crept into Iff's grandmother's house. We spent the night there but unfortunately didn't manage to see Nanny (aka Iff's grandma). We were happy to spend a few minutes with Iff's cousin Damian while we were there, though. We hope to get back down to Garstang soon for a proper visit.

We left Garstang at 6:30am the next morning for Scotland. Except for a brief pit stop, we got to Aberdeen in a oner in very good time and found Dave waiting at the gate to greet us. It's been so lovely to be back in the Noden household. Plus in honour of Shelagh's birthday, both Lib and Mary came up for the weekend. Nick and Tom, Iff's brothers, were doing a 10km run in London on her birthday, but we at least got to see Tom before he caught his flight down there. Discounting the annoying cold I've had and unfortunately passed on to some of the Nodens, it's been a fabulous time for all up in Aberdeen.

Chris's parents were amazingly helpful to us while we've been travelling. We've already been through all the mail they received for us during our two years away (a lot of mail!) and been to Edinburgh and back to fetch all of our stuff out of storage. Now it's time to find employment and a rental flat in Aberdeen. Fingers crossed!

No matter, it's great to be back. And it's snowing in Aberdeen! I've heard of a white Christmas; we might wind up with a white Halloween this year...

Can you Digget?

2008-10-16T09:25:00.002-07:00

Just before we left the US for the last time in a while, we stopped by Allentown, home of the Butlers (that's the Butler family - not a refuge for domestic servants).

Although we didn't stop for long and managed to miss uncle Chris and only catch glimpses of Wills & Alice we did have a great time chatting with auntie Dig, playing with Bart the dog and getting all the essential things taken care of before we left (email, laundry, figuring out what we're going to be doing when we get to the UK).

Anyhow, we're now in New York, trying to figure out how to get the few remaining miles to the cruise ship terminal without paying the rest of our life savings in taxi fares. The way the economy's headed here the fare is most likely to be internal organs, solid European currency or Rolex watches - internal organs being our only option in that case and quite frankly I've grown quite attached to my liver...

So if all goes to plan and we don't repeat our San Luis Obispo Amtrak experience and get left behind, we'll be on a ship for the next week or so - meaning no blog updates, emails or facebook hilarity. I'm sure you'll all struggle through somehow...

Aimless meanderings

2008-10-15T07:04:00.002-07:00

So it's almost time to draw our global wanderings to a close - at least for the time being. In a couple of days we'll board our ship back to good old Blighty and this leg of our journey will be well and truly over. It will have been two years since we last set foot in the British Isles and I'm sure a lot will have changed - but then so will we.

Even if we don't get to travel any more, we've certainly done a lot more than most people have - and although we didn't get to visit as many countries as we'd hoped to, we certainly covered those countries in some depth. We spent 6 months in Australia, 2 months in New Zealand and 6 months in Central America (including a whole month in Mexico and another in Guatemala). We looked after sick koalas, endangered kiwis and neglected Alaskan cats. We learned some Spanish while living with a Guatemalan family. We spotted moose, bears and folk singers in Alaska. We sailed the length of the Panama canal and the width of the Pacific. We trudged through ancient Mayan cities and modern shopping malls. We spent days (and days and days...) on buses, trains and... even more buses. We've met friendly locals, travelers and even border guards. We traveled to the other side of the world and back and never once left the surface of the Earth (unless you count Tracy's canyon swinging or my bridge jumping).

In a week or two we'll be back in Scotland and looking once again for gainful employment. Once again real life will intrude upon our existence. Hopefully it won't be for too long.

Texas!

2008-10-14T12:53:00.003-07:00

Backing up a wee bit, we had a great time in Texas. We had a couple days in San Antonio with Ross and then five days in Houston with Ross and my parents. It was all quite hectic since we had lots of errands to run, including finding birthday and Xmas presents for my family. But it all got done, and we managed to have some quality family time in the bargain (as well as my meeting up with Nadine and Iff helping with an email server problem at my dad's office). We were especially happy to be there for Ross's and my mom's birthdays. Brilliant timing! Luckily Ross wanted to go to the Renaissance Festival for his birthday, which happened to be their opening day. It was cool to be back there, and the performers were in fine form, and Iff won a free DVD! A brilliant day was had by all.

Happy birthday again, Mom and Ross! And today, very happy anniversary wishes go out to Nick and Sarah!

Update

2008-10-12T06:18:00.002-07:00

Hi folks.

Here's a quick update to let everyone know what's up. There haven't been many updates lately (sorry) and there may not be many more in the next fortnight, but we're about to leave Houston to catch the ship bak to good old blighty.

If all goes to plan and we on't get left behind by any more trains, we'll drop by Pennsylvania before hitting New York and boarding the ship.

At some point in the future, I'll fill in the gaps, but just for now, we're safe, well and everything is looking good.

Unexpected Road Trip

2008-10-05T13:59:00.002-07:00

We had it all worked out: two days on a train from Seattle to Los Angeles, a hotel room booked and paid for in LA, then two days on another train from LA to San Antonio. Easy peasy. Ha! We were on the train to LA, and all was fine until we stopped in San Luis Obispo, just 300 miles from LA. The conductor announced that we'd be there for 10 minutes. Loads of time! We wandered into the station, checked out the vending machines, stretched our legs. I thought we still had plenty of time left, so I thought I'd use the lovely normal-sized bathroom in the station (rather than the tiny, cramped bathrooms on the train). The train decided to leave while I was in the bathroom.

I came out to find Chris with a very stressed way about him, shouting that the train had just left. Sure enough, I ran outside just in time to see the train disappear around the bend ahead. Of course, all of our stuff was on the train (except for the one bag we always keep with us, which luckily had our train tickets and mobile phone in it). Also luckily, I had my jacket and glasses on me. Chris had nothing but the clothes he was wearing and his wallet. He didn't have a jacket, so we were really lucky to be in warm California!

I was mortified to find that there was no way to stop the train. We could only try to catch up with it. The next stop was Santa Barbara, a couple hours away. Now, you'd think there'd be plenty of public transportation options. Wrong! To make a long story short, the wonderful Amtrak employee in the San Luis Obispo station wound up putting us on an Amtrak bus (for free) that happened to be leaving soon for Santa Barbara. The hope was that we'd arrrive before the train did and be able to get back on, reunite with our belongings and finish the journey to LA. Of course, by the time we got to Santa Barbara, we found out that our train had already been and gone.

We then had lots of phone calls to make. I spent a while on the phone with Amtrak, finally speaking to someone in the LA station who very kindly offered to get our stuff off the train for us to retrieve. Amtrak had nothing else going south that night, so I caved in and spoke to the dreaded Greyhound, who luckily had a bus going from Santa Barbara to LA at 10:45 that night. The delightful Greyhound employee assured me that it was fine that the Greyhound office there was closed; we could just pay the driver in cash rather than buy tickets beforehand. Cool! So we made our way to the Greyhound station and waited about an hour. During that time, it completely escaped our attention that there was a sign on the door informing passengers that Greyhound drivers no longer accept cash. The bus arrived, and we went to give the driver our money and were directed to that sign. ARSE!!! Damn you, Greyhound!

By this time, our only options were to try to rent a car and drive ourselves to LA or spend the night in Santa Barbara and get to LA the next morning. We decided not to spring $45 for a taxi to the airport (and who knows how much for a rental car, provided there was a car rental agency even open at that time). The hotel we'd booked and paid for in LA refused to refund our payment, which was annoying. But we were too tired and cheap to mess around with a rental car. Meanwhile, the incredibly helpful Amtrak guy at the LA station called to let us know he'd “got most if not all” of our stuff off the train, but the train employees had kicked him off because they needed to leave again. We were so anxious about getting all of our stuff back, but it turned out that the lost and found office at the LA station would be closed until 7am anyway. We fortunately found a hostel near the train station and grabbed a few hours of sleep. Luckily this hostel provided soap and towels since we didn't have ours!

After about three hours of sleep, we got up and dragged ourselves to the train station. We told our pitiful story and were very kindly allowed to take the 6:45am train to LA at no extra charge. It took three hours to get to LA, and my stomach was in knots by the time we got there. Would we find all of our stuff? If we didn't, what would we do? We practically ran to the lost and found office, and there to greet my suddenly teary eyes was all of our stuff lumped together – backpacks, food bags, our jackets, a sleeping bag out of its cover, various things usually in our backpacks but out loose because we'd spread out a lot during the train journey, even Chris's sunglasses and his cherished mini maglite – underneath a note that we'd pick it all up that morning. That wonderful Amtrak employee, Dave, managed to grab everything we'd stashed overhead, in our seats, at our feet and in the seat backs in front of us in the few minutes the train staff allowed him. It was a big, messy haul, and we were so relieved to see it. We packed up, thanked the lost and found employee profusely, and made our way back into the main terminal. Disaster averted! Thank you, thank you, Amtrak! I shall be writing a long letter of thanks.

Our Amtrak luck continued. The guy in the baggage claim, who also watches over stuff in day storage, knew about our train debacle, rather my train debacle. He sympathized and only charged us a quarter of the fee for us to leave all of our stuff in the storage area. Genius! We only had a few hours before our train was due to leave for San Antonio, but we were starving and wanted to visit the La Brea Tar Pits museum. The last couple times we were in LA, we tried to get to the museum but were thwarted each time. This time, we were determined! And we made it! After a quick fuel stop at IHOP, we got to visit the wonderful museum. It's full of bones and reconstructed skeletons of animals who wound up in the tar pits over many millenia. It's awesome. We're talking reconstructed skeletons of giant ground sloths, a huge Columbian mammoth, saber-tooth cats, and other cool animals that are now extinct. It was a thrill to see it all.

Then we rushed back to Union Station to retrieve our bags and get onto another train. I'm very happy to report that we got from LA to San Antonio with no hassles, and we were only 90 minutes late arriving in SA! Ross picked us up, and now we're here in his newly cleaned apartment. Life is good! Now I need to take about an hour to write that letter of thanks to Amtrak...

Seattle

2008-10-05T13:55:00.002-07:00

We made it to shore, by which time Chris's mysterious welts disappeared. Phew! The highlight on the ferry was spotting a pod of at least five orcas (including one baby) pretty close to the boat. I'd been hoping to see them all throughout our time in Alaska, but it didn't happen until we were in Canadian waters on our way out. No matter, our boat was officially Alaskan (on Alaskan time), so we maintain that we saw killer whales in Alaska! Another ferry highlight was eating the veggie meatball sub sandwiches we were able to make on the boat. Thank you, Alaska Marine Highway, for providing microwaves!!!

Upon arriving in Bellingham, Washington we wound up getting the dreaded Greyhound back to Seattle. Boo-hiss! But luckily we arrived in Seattle uneventfully and got a local bus to Bart and Lauren's house. Then it was time to see our (still wee but frighteningly close to walking and talking) niece and walk the dogs! Woo-hoo!!!! We had a great time with the five of them as well as a lovely visit with Lauren's parents and grandfather. Plus, as usual, the food was outstanding. Lauren makes the best hummus ever, and don't even get me started about her roasted garlic yoghurt sauce! When it was time to leave five days later, we waddled out the door.

Alaska Ferry in Progress

2008-09-24T14:13:00.005-07:00

We have wi-fi on the Alaska ferry! Mental. And it's free!

We're half-way through our journey from Juneau to Bellingham (Washington), and Chris is covered with mysterious welts and what we thought were bug bites. He's itching like a mad thing, and we're flummoxed as to the cause. Hopefully it will clear up soon because we're running out of hydrocortisone cream. He's currently distracting himself with a Snickers bar. Any excuse!

In the meantime, we're enjoying the gorgeous scenery. Plus we've had wee reunions with several travellers we've encountered elsewhere in Alaska. It's a small world!

Juneau what?

2008-09-23T03:05:00.003-07:00

So the one thing we just had to do in Juneau was Tracy Arm - a nearby waterway with spectacular scenery and wildlife. We arranged a trip down the Arm and hauled ourselves out of bed at 6:30 am.

We joined 40-odd other adventurous types aboard the "Adventure Bound" in search of animals and glacial activity. Despite breaking down for a half-hour or so we eventually nosed towards the glacier though heavy pack ice and onlooking harbour seals. It took a while, but eventually we got near enough to Sawyer glacier to hear it cracking and splitting. Everyone was transfixed as the huge wall of blue ice creaked and groaned. Eventually a pinnacle of the glacier's face tumbled into the fjord with an almighty crash closely followed by the surrounding wall. The seals looked on unimpressed.

After an hour or so watching the glacier, we nosed our way back out towards home past the lazy seals and eventually into open water again. On our way back home we trailed a humpback whale, watching him play around for a while before he disappeared. We got back home and collapsed in a heap. On our third and final day here, we stocked up for the three-day journey back to Washington and watched a few movies. Instead of getting an early night and getting up at 3 am we just stayed up until it was time to leave. We're so rock 'n' roll.

Get back to you when we're back in Seattle.

To the Capital!

2008-09-21T20:52:00.003-07:00

Not many people (and certainly very few people outside of the United States) know that the capital of Alaska is not Anchorage, but Juneau. Well, now you know.

Juneau is an odd place to have a capital city. It's inaccessible by road from the rest of the country. It's also inaccessible by road from the rest of the world. There are no roads that go there. The only way you can get your car there is by taking the ferry. You can also fly there too, but the airport ain't really that big. It's also odd because the governor whose official residence is in this tiny little place is running for vice president of the United States, but I think that's a matter for a much more serious blog.

Sarah Palin's official house.
We got here via the ferry from Whittier (which we were very happy to leave behind thank you). It's small, dirty and a little menacing. The people we met there were nice enough, but it has the look of a small port town with not much going for it. I caught myself thinking that it will be a lot nicer once (or maybe if) the cruise ship companies do a bit of development here which is a shame because it will lose its local feel, but then it will also be a good thing because it will (hopefully) lose its local feel. We stayed in the only hotel in town who return phonecalls, June's B&B which was a little expensive, but much better than the rough and tumble(down) Anchor Inn.

On the ferry we didn't really get to look out for much wildlife - although even if we had, our trip through the gulf of Alaska was pretty rough and rainy and foggy so we wouldn't really have seen much even if we had been looking. We slept for most of the trip both from the steady rocking motion of the boat and the lack of much else to do. At one point, when we were in the middle of the gulf, I spotted a bird circling the boat which didn't really look much like a gull. It came a little closer and I was able to make out the distinctive hood and spotty belly of a peregrine falcon. I can only surmise that the poor thing had built a nest on the ferry and was more than a little surprised to find itself miles out to sea! Conversely it's also possible that the enterprising bird was quite happy to travel from one end of the Alaskan coastline to the other, terrorising rodent populations from Ketchikan to the Aleutian chain and everywhere in between.

So we arrived in Juneau at 3:15am - an uncivilised hour to arrive anywhere in my opinion. Luckily we'd arranged with a hotel to pick us up (which they dutifully did) and we were finally installed in our room by 4:15am. We had 3 days to explore the city of Juneau and so we had to get moving!

Anchorage

2008-09-17T10:24:00.004-07:00

We returned to Anchorage knowing that we just had to arrange our passage to Whittier (a mere 60 miles) and then we could relax for the rest of our time here.

What we failed to realise is that despite the distance being a mere 60 miles, NO ONE IN ANCHORAGE WANTS TO GO THERE!!! It seems that they are all aware of the little ditty about about Whittier (HINT: It involves rhyming slang)*. There's also the matter of a slightly crazy one-way single track road/rail tunnel. Essentially, it's only open for a half hour in each direction before they close it for 15 minutes so traffic can clear and then they open it up the other way. Of course this is all interrupted if a train wants to pass and they charge everyone at least $12 each for the privilege!

So after about a day-and-a-half's worth of searching, phoning, pleading, frustration and increasing desperation (as well as at least half a dozen unanswered answering machine messages), we finally managed to find someone brave/stupid enough to go to Whittier. Unfortunately our bus trip and accommodation are costing us over $225. It's a racket, I'm telling you.

Anyway, at least we got a good brekkie from the Middle Way Cafe. We split a big, fat breakfast burrito and the daddy of all smoothies (strawberry, banana, apple and blueberry - yum!) and Trace got to play with a big, fluffy husky who'd plunked him/herself down in the middle of the floor (apparently (s)hes a regular - the husky, not Trace).

Yes, this dog IS alive.
So here we are now, waiting for our bus in the lobby of a swanky hotel, being regarded suspiciously by people paying over $200 per night to stay here. I'm sure we shouldn't technically be leeching their internet for free, but meh. I doubt they'll miss the bandwidth.

*If you still can't work it out, it basically says that nothing could be less pleasant than a day in Whittier.

There's no place like Homer

2008-09-14T18:29:00.002-07:00

This is not a cat called Homer. Read on and all will be revealed...

After a little messing about with buses we made it to Homer. We'd heard that Homer was a quaint little seaside community and a good pace to hang out for a few days. Just what the doctor ordered! We checked in to Homer hostel (despite the fact that there was no one there!) and set off to explore. After a while we'd pretty much covered the whole of Homer town and found ourselves some dinner at a small cafe. The owner was about to shut up shop for the season and only had a few things left, but luckily it was enough to make a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches with pickles and coleslaw and coffee (for me).

The next morning we went by the local farmer's market - although we were a little late so there wasn't much there. We did stop for a while and listen to a local xylophone group. On the way back into town we stopped by the local animal shelter on a whim to see if there was anything we could help with. The woman was delighted that we'd showed up because her Saturday cat helper had not been able to make it. As you can imagine, we jumped at the chance to help out. Although cleaning out cat enclosures isn't high on my list of 'most pleasant jobs ever', we did get to hang out with a bunch of cats for a couple of days - which is something I've been missing.

There are two rooms of cats at the Homer animal shelter. One room contains a dozen or so older cats who are all pretty content to live alongside each other. It also has three or four cats who are either too bad tempered or too shy to deal with the others. The other room is full of younger cats and kittens and a fairly exasperated-looking mother cat.

We had a couple of days to look after cats, watch Pineapple Express (very funny movie) and make food in the hostel kitchen - all in all a great few days.