I have never really been into gardening. I joke that I have a yellow thumb. Michael wanted to plant a garden and he tore up the grass and merrily hoed away. I bought some plants and figured that I would just add to what was already happening. Gary has always said he enjoys gardening so I thought I wouldn't be doing too much with the whole scene. Well it turns out that I am doing a lot more with the garden then I ever imagined. What did I plant? 1 eggplant; 6 yellow zucchini plants; beets; 2 pole beans (died); 2 edamame (died); 1 anaheim chili; 1 green bell; 2 red sweet peppers; sage; thyme; oregano (died); and tomato plants. Lots of tomato plants: 4 yellow pear; 1 green zebra; 1 purple cherokee; 1 other forgotten heirloom; 1 red cherry; 3 roma. Allegedly 4 roma - the leaves of 1 of them doesn't look like the other 3 so I have no idea what it really is. Michael also planted (and then gave up on) corn. His cantaloupe seem to be okay. And this weekend I was the one weeding. And I liked it which is even a bigger shock. I also cruised over to Starbucks yesterday and picked up a bag (40 lbs or so) of used coffee grounds. Today I skipped my opportunity to run and instead I spent the time dirty up to my elbows spreading coffee around the plants (the nitrogen is supposed to be yummy for them). Again - it's odd that I was doing that. And I felt a sense of satisfaction. A sense of accomplishment. Maybe it's because I am faced with some Big Decisions right now and I can't move on those. Maybe that's why the little accomplishments (ooo -- I put coffee by that plant too!) take on almost too much meaning. They are tangible. I can see results. And I know that they are good.

I also tried beers I would normally eschew. Janet, Patrick and I went to Telegraph Brewery in Santa Barbara. Apparently it has been here for a couple of years and I never knew it. Oh the shame. Oh the horror. Anyway, it is not a brewpub but a brewery that supplies beer for local restaurants. They have tasting (not free) Thursdays 4-6, Fridays 4-6 and Saturdays 1-4pm. At present they only have 3 beers and the tastes were generous. I saw the beer list and read "Wheat Ale," "California Ale," "Stock Porter." I am normally a hoppy beer person. I typically go for the IPA when possible and when not, an IPA (Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is a California Ale). I decided, however, to taste the flight instead of hopping (pun intended) directly to what I assumed would be the hands-down winner. I accepted the sample of Wheat Ale and was really pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. Then I tried the California Ale and it wasn't hoppy enough. It was bland and flat. Then came the Porter. Normally I find Porters to be too bitter for me. They usually taste burnt to me, like a stout. Surprisingly this Porter was rich and creamy with a hint of coffee. Nothing bitter. Nothing burnt. Part of the tasting fee includes a 1/2 pint of your favorite at the end. Anne the IPA drinker chose the Wheat. I liked it so much I bought a growler (also a first for me!). I'm drinking it right now.

Other firsts? Well the Lomi Lomi of course. But aside from that. My friend Patrick wanted to try a new restaurant in town called The Hungry Cat. I offered to go with and we went last night (Sunday). All I can say is save your $$. We started with a cocktail and my tangerine margarita was good but for $10 I expected a much larger one than an ice & tangerine filled (nice drink displacers) old-fashioned glass. We then shared a "local beet salad" ($12). I think the plate had 1 beet on it sliced into thin slivers. Served with it were a few slices of goat cheese, a handful of arugula, a handful of pistachios and the wedges of 1 tangerine (hey - were they re-purposing??). I liked the combination but not the price or the serving size. The main courses were both $24. Patrick had the grilled scallops (3 of them) with braised oxtail. I had the California Sea Bass which was a few ounces and had shallots and I think 1 piece of baby corn cut into 16ths. Ok, maybe it was 2 cut into 8ths. That was it. Nothing else. No rice. Nothing. With tax and tip the tab was an even $100 divided by 2. I spent $50 on a meal and had to eat when I got home because I was still hungry. So I guess not all new things I try can be worth while.

I like exploring new things and not letting my assumptions about what I like (California Ale) prevent me from trying and discovering something new and unexpected. It's hard to do this sometimes, especially when you are in a relationship. When you are in a long-term relationship the other person has expectations of who you are and what you like and how you will respond. I think perhaps you find yourself, consciously or not, doing and behaving the way that person expects. You limit yourself. You stay where it's comfortable. Exploring new things without expectations is part of how we grow. How do people in long-term relationships keep growing? Probably a lot of them don't. That's a scary thought.

More on relationships later. This post is long enough.

It's Solstice. I saw a sign here that said 19 hours and 21 minutes of daylight for today. Well I wonder how they define "daylight." It's nearly midnight and cars don't need their headlights (It's actually an hour earlier than the time stamp -- my blog automatically stamps California time).

First let me say something about rental cars in Alaska. No, I haven't yet met Stanley. But I did rent a car from Budget the day I arrived. With tax it was $119 for 24 hours! This is why I have learned how to use the bus. Anyway - in my previous experience rental cars usually have low mileage and that "new car smell." Have you ever wondered where the old rental cars go? Wonder no more! My little Hyundai from Budget (don't know what year) had 34,600 miles on it. I don't recall ever renting a car with that kind of mileage. It was also scratched to hell -- gouged even. No cracks in the windshield but major paint transfer all over the body. And let's just say "new car" is not how I would describe the interior aroma. But that little Hyundai took me up to Independence Mine and that was pretty cool. The drive up was lovely but I didn't see any Moose and Squirrel. Whoops - must be the relative proximity to Russia that made me channel Natasha Fatale. I meant to say that I didn't see any Moose or Bear. Bummer. I did see some angry magpies. They had built a nest over the entrance to one of the buildings on the tour and the wind had knocked the nest down before the chicks were ready. Mom & Dad Magpie were angrily dive-bombing anyone who tried to get near. It was pretty cool. I had been warned about not being bear bait (thankfully that's not an issue for me this week) but no one had warned me to watch out for the maladjusted magpie. I guess that just goes to show you that no one else is going to look out for you... I tried to stop at Eklutna on the way back from Independence Mine. Lonely Planet needs to update its Alaska book -- it said that Eklutna closes at 6pm but when I pulled up at 4:03 the padlock was on the fence right next to a sign that had 4pm as the closing time. Oh well. So I came back and returned the rental car at the airport and then took the bus to downtown. Waiting for the bus were 6 people in their 50s and 60s who had just gotten off a cruise ship and had a few hours to kill before their flight back to Colorado. They reminded me of my parents because I could just picture my folks making crass jokes and generally being obnoxious-in-a-non-offensive-way like these folks. The difference? My parents wouldn't have taken the bus!

But today Lonely Planet did me well for breakfast. I bussed downtown and had the homemade granola at Snow City Cafe. Then I walked over to where my motorcoach (called the "Magic Bus") was departing for Whittier. Our driver told us that yesterday the bus riders saw 5 brown bear. Wah. That was then... Again no bear! To get to Whittier you have to go through this 2.5 mile one-lane railroad tunnel through the mountain. Yes, you read that correctly. It is only 1 lane AND it is for the railroad. So, you drive on the tracks. Trains have the right-of-way. Aside from the train schedule, vehicles can use the tunnel. On the 1/2 hour traffic goes one way; on the hour it goes the other.

In Whittier I boarded the Klondike Express for the 26 glacier cruise which was full of Team in Training folks from all over the country. I met ones from Palm Springs, Riverside, Nashville, and Pittsburgh. We had a lame lunch of almost-still-warm fried halibut but I wasn't really there for the food. The glaciers were amazing. I had seen some glaciers in Torres del Paine (South Chile) about a decade ago (geesh - was it really that long ago??) but I didn't go on a boat to see them. I remember just standing on the shore and looking across at them. I don't recall seeing any "calving" in Chile either (that's when a chunk of glacier breaks off). I do remember, however, this guy in Chile hauling away a huge piece of glacier and when I asked him why he said, "Pa' loj pijco sours!" Ah how I miss the acento chileno. I didn't see anyone prepping for cocktails from these glaciers although I did see some tents in unlikely places near the glaciers. Speaking of cocktails, it was weird to see these chunks of ice everywhere in the water. Why hadn't they melted? In a way it was like riding in a cup of something out of Janet's blender -- pleasant and smooth and cold with chunks of ice. I also got to see some calving. Quite a bit of it, actually. One of the chunks that broke off was so large and dramatic and the sound thundered toward us as the blue ice crashed into Prince William Sound. I hadn't anticipated that glaciers would be noisy.

It was funny when they showed us how to use the life jackets they didn't mention that with the cold water temp there was really no point putting on a life jacket. I was told the water temp was 38F. How many minutes until hypothermia? I guess the bright orange jackets makes it easier to find the bodies. Maybe that's what they are for. Thankfully we didn't need them.

We saw plenty of sea otters. Damn they are cute. There were a few that were swimming on their backs and had to skedaddle to get out of our way. I wish I could have captured that little guy kicking his back webbed feet as he skated across the top of the water to let us go by. Another one was just hanging out on a piece of ice and I swear he was giving us the thumbs up as we went by. Well, maybe he was flipping us off. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure which finger he was holding up. Did you know that a group of sea otters is called a raft? We were told that on the cruise and then later on the cruise I won a prize for remembering that in the "trivia" contest. The prize? A leftover cookie from lunch and a postcard. Yippie!

I hope to have some good photos to put up here from the cruise. Unfortunately I didn't pack the cable to get the pix from my camera to my laptop so that will have to wait until next week. One of the crew members on board, Coby Brock, is an amateur photographer and he grabbed my camera and took some shots of me with different glaciers in the background. I typically do not like photos of myself (oh my god - is that really how I look???) so I haven't reviewed them yet. I'm planning on waiting until I can just download them. I'm hoping that since he is a photographer at least one of them will be presentable. He told me that there was a bbq in Whittier tonight for the Solstice and I think that telling me was the prelude to an invite but since I had to catch the Magic Bus there was no way I could entertain the idea. So it was back to Anchorage and while I kept my eyes peeled for wildlife the most I saw was a glimpse of mountain goats. AND I saw a bald eagle. That was pretty cool.

I was wondering how many people take that cruise and think about what they are seeing. When hearing about how the glaciers are receding, do they think about why? Do they contemplate their role in this? Or do they just say "Wow. Glad I saw them before they're gone" and then go back to their Hummers? People can really suck. Coby told me that the cruise doesn't recycle the plastic containers from our lunch or the bottles, cans, etc from the boat. Why the hell not? A company that is making its profit from nature doesn't do anything to help nature's survival? That pissed me off. He said it was partly due to the whole tunnel thing and how difficult it would be to get the recyclables out of Whittier. Seems like a lame excuse to me (I'm not blaming Coby - he's just an employee). It's so easy to make excuses instead of just doing something. Maybe I should write a letter to the company. Nah - I'll just think of a good reason to not get around to doing so.

Back in Anchorage I went to Snow Goose to try their IPA. Not as good as the others and with a lot more attitude (the place, not the beer). They had an upper deck. I went up there and there were no tables (there is no table service up there; you have to bring your drink from the bar) but I saw a table with 3 guys and 5 chairs. I approached and asked if I could grab a chair and they said they were leaving. Whoops. Did my boldness offend them? Oh well. I sat down and they left. Buh-bye. Then I noticed a couple in their 40s? 50s? sitting in 2 chairs with no table. I told them they could join me at my table. They were quite appreciative. Turns out they are from Wyoming but moved up here about 6 years ago. They offered to buy me a second IPA but I had a goal and that was to get some King Crab so I politely declined and then headed over to what ended up being a mediocre place for crab. The crab was pretty good but I think that I could have had better if I had been willing to spend more.

I want to go to the Native Heritage Center tomorrow and I have to pick up my race packet and I have the pasta party and I might be getting a car from Stanley. So many things to do! I guess I better get some sleep.

So I made some guy's day. That's what he said at least. Let me back up a bit....

I'm now in Anchorage. I rented a car for the first day so I could go up to Independence Mine. My thought was after today I wouldn't need a car. Well, when I got to my hotel I had some doubts. I'm in "the heart of mid-town" but that's kind of like being "in the middle of nowhere." Downtown is where it's at and where I'm not. I think for the TnT pasta party and victory party I'm going to want a car. My hotel is not what I was hoping. Looks groovy, right? Well, had I known that there was an absolutely ZERO ALCOHOL policy I would not have made a reservation. I was looking forward to sitting in my room, surfing the net, and sampling some of Alaska's microbrews. Nope. And the form I had to sign to register was a promise that I wouldn't smoke (I'm fine with that) or have any alcohol on the premises. That's a bunch of crap. AND since they have a 7 day cancellation policy I can't switch hotels without losing $$. Of course I quickly looked around for Jesus Stuff to see if the owners are some fundies or something but nope. I don't know if they are AA extremists or what. But with a liquor store 2 blocks away it seems unfair.

So last night I found a brewpub that is only a mile away. I didn't know it was that close and it took me a while to find it but then when I drove back I discovered it was only 1 mile. AND since it is light out until extremely late (tomorrow is Solstice) I should be able to walk back. Last night I tried their IPA. Quite tasty. But since I had to drive I was limited to 1. IPAs have such high alcohol content -- they hit this lightweight quite quickly. This evening I tried the Glacier Brewpub where I again had an IPA (pint) and then a 1/2 pint of the same IPA as a cask conditioned ale. I also had a fabulous red salmon served over a rice & crab cake. It was more than I wanted to spend on dinner but seeing as how breakfast was lame and lunch was handfuls of Trader Joe's trail mix, I went for it. And since it was downtown and I was taking the bus, I could have 1.5 beers. Yay!

So - Stanley. I forgot to finish the story about Stanley. Thinking that I probably need to have a rental car Friday - Sunday for the marathon events I tried calling some local places. One (called A1 car rental -- I'm kind of worried!) still had cars. The guy answered just "hello" instead of some businessy phone greeting. Anyway, when I asked if he had cars for the weekend he said he did. He wanted to know where I planned on going but I tried explaining that I didn't have any real plans. To hold the reservation he asked my name but when I said it he repeated, "Barnyard??" I said "No. Not BarnYARD..." and he said, "I'll never remember that. You're now Barnyard to me." I said, "Well, that's better than the kids calling me 'Barnfart' when I was little." He cracked up and said "Ok, Barnyard, you've made my day." And just like that I have a car reserved for Friday.

I have more to write but I'm tired. Time to put on my blindfold (even with the blinds drawn there is enough light at midnight for me to be able to read!!!) and try to sleep through the noise of the next room's TV. They are watching Letterman.