Hope everyone had a happy St. Patrick's Day! Today we thought we had a touch of Irish luck, but we decided we were being scammed. O happy day. Why can't there just be a lucky chair? 
The past two days here, it has been above freezing = it has been 40 degrees, so the "break up" has begun. For now. This weekend it should fall to freezing again. The break up is when the ice starts to melt and break apart, as does the snow. Because I meant to take a picture for you all of these extreme roads and parking lots, I had to run out tonight at dusk when I remembered (hence yet another grey set of photos) my mission. You see how thick the ice is? And in the morning when it's all frozen again it's all nice and rounded because of the melting. And that means it's even slicker. How is everything not bashed in? I'm still trying to figure that one out. 
This morning after breakfast, I had an overwhelming craving for chocolates. Last week (the day we boarded the ferry), I got a box of See's Chocolates, which are my all-time favorite. They had been frozen the whole journey, so I had to wait for them to thaw. They're delish. And while I was enjoying a sweet piece filled with the softest caramel, I was reminded of what else had happened that day. I had attempted this blog-post last week, the day of, but the internet on the boat was not the best. So a week and a half ago, I wrote: 
Today I had my first blog-meet with my blog-friend Aubrey; she is a cousin of my friend Mauri's. I have now put a face to a blog. It was my first, so I have to admit I was a bit nervous, but she was such a sweet person, she made me feel like we've known each other for a very long time. Very enthusiastic and encouraging. I can tell her kids love her for it. Her sweet children came a long as well and loved to watch Buckwheat and hold his leash as he traipsed around the park. 
We stopped off the side of the road to wait for the other two cars in our caravan before driving to the hotel. The water was still that slate grey because of the cloud cover, and there were so many bald eagles. At the hotel the next morning when we were packing up the car, Buckwheat got really nervous and would stand on top of his kennel so he wouldn't be forgotten. Poor guy! 
When we were driving through the part of Alaska before British Columbia, Canada, we counted 15 bald eagles, and 1 golden eagle in only a distance of 20 miles or so. They were everywhere. When we drove into British Columbia we saw these two tractors plowing and blowing snow off the highway. It looked like they were trying to make a bunny hill or something.
I had to use the restroom a short distance into Canada, and the only things they had were these little outhouse rest stops off the sides of the highway. That was the coldest seat ever! My family and cousins will know what I mean when I say it is even colder than the Judd cabin's toilet seats early in the morning. 
After British Columbia, Canada came the beautiful Yukon:
After leaving British Columbia (which was desolate tundra nearly the whole way - awfully depressing!), we made it to the Yukon. It was beautiful. Below, this is the largest lake in the Yukon. It was all frozen. In one part of it, there were parts where an actual wave had frozen; almost like it had been frozen while it was crashing. It was bizarre. The caps were even frozen. It reminded me of The Day After Tomorrow. Sorry about Buckwheat's blatant sniffing. How about that hoodie on him, eh?
About 80 miles outside of Anchorage, there was the biggest glacier we have seen yet. It looked a lot like the lake in the Yukon that was frozen because it looks like it has white caps like the ocean would. It came spilling out of a mountain, about 4 miles behind us (you can't see it in the picture) and kept going! We pulled over to all get a picture with it. Where we were wasn't even the end of this glacier. I'm so excited to see it in the summer time when it's green around it. 
These pictures are some of my favorites from the ferry-cruise. The above picture I took Sunday morning when we pulled in to Ketchikan. It was the first stop we made, and the first thing we saw after we passed through Canadian waters. This next picture would fit the right of the one above; the sun had lit up all the fog on the water. The sunrises were beautiful!
In Juneau the following morning (Monday), Mark's cousin Shelly came out to visit us; it was extremely nice of her because the ferry docked at 4:3o! She and her two kids had to wake up so early. But they came out with their beast of a car and took us through the dark snow to the glacier and told us about this "friendly" black wolf who plays with other dogs who are on walks with their owners. Mark says he must have realized that it was easier to get food if he was nice. Makes me nervous (especially if you remember the 7 things post).
The first night we were on the boat, I woke up at 4:00 because it felt like I was falling downwards in my bed (feet first because we were rocking a bit). I woke up to find our first light house. I woke Mark up to see this ghostly white lighthouse with it's beacon light shining our boat every 3 seconds. The lighthouse above we saw on Monday morning after leaving Juneau. The scenery was picturesque.
This picture above is full color, it's not in black and white. Everything looked like Ansel Adams photography. We kept seeing little glaciers every now and again, but this one took the cake this day. 
Here's another light house we saw on Monday before we docked in Haines. It was pretty far away, so it's sort of fuzzy because of my crop job. 
This picture was taken the first night, when the clouds got a little thinner. We were closer to the open ocean, so it's a little rockier. Never got sea sick!
Mark and I spent a lot of time playing a new game his family gave us: Skip-bo. It's a great past time game that doesn't take much concentration, but Mark is still beating me every time! I think he's a bad shuffler. 
This picture was taken in a lounge at the front of the boat by a guy who Mark knew at the Academy who will be in our 3-car-caravan. He just got a new Canon, so I guess he was trying out our old Sony. 
Yesterday we stopped at a new home for my parents, and we loved what we saw! In the back, there's a blackberry bush. I am so excited for summer, when these shriveled berries will be rich, purple, and sweet with juice. 
In the front of the house I saw a huge Bumblebee, but it wasn't scary because it had a lot of fur on it, so it looked like the ones in stories - right. I got about 2 shots of its behind, then in this shot it started to take off and fly towards me! Buckwheat and I ran for the house. 
I turned around, and this is what I saw; it's breathtaking. My parents are going to get sick of me with how many visits I'm hoping to make.
A patchy here, a patchy there. 
We're all packed up - o o oh!
Last night, Mark took me to go see the U2 Imax concert. It was so exciting! The messages of peace in their songs resonated so powerfully and loudly, that you couldn't help but be moved as Bono was singing 3 feet from your face. This 3D recording was done while on a final stop of their Vertigo Tour to Latin America. 
* these photos I took through the glass' lense. I was pleasantly surprised that it worked (still 2D, but you get the gist). I had to get Larry Mullen (the drummer) because whenever you have a good drummer, it brings the music to life. Good drumming + excellent vocals + great guitarists = U2. Go see it. You won't be sorry.
2 years ago, my ring on the left was joined by Mark's ring on the right. His has more wear on it, just like any good man-ring should. These two rings have been with us through pilot training, four moves, dancing, yard work, game nights, and some unfortunate cooking incidences. But what is even more important than these two pretty rings is what they represent. The past two years of our marriage have been very wonderful, and not as hard as many people warned us it would be. We are very grateful for our experiences and our love; that like Elvis said, isn't as strong as it will be tomorrow.
Thursday morning, before we left Oklahoma, we took donuts and OJ over to Ruth's house for a last game of Scrabble. It was a bittersweet goodbye, but we'll stay in touch, so we'll remain good friends. 
We left Altus, OK last Thursday morning, and we needed air in the tires, but we had the hardest time trying to find air!! So many of these gas stations were closed, or didn't have an air machine; sort of weird.
This cute couple are good friends from Mark's flight class in T-6s. They are awesome. This is Tyler and Julie. Sorry, I'm still learning how to crop on our new computer.
