Sigh,

I can't believe

 I've never watched this

until  now.  

Especially since

I've seen Sleepless In Seattle

more times than I care to admit.

If you're familiar with Sleepless...

then you know what I mean.

Test Post

This is a test post 

to see if I can get the e-mail subscription

option to work.

I've deleted the old one

and reinstalled another.

So... we'll see if that solved the problem.

I've subscribed to my own posts

so hopefully I'll get this post in

my own email.

I'm not sure if the posts

will continue to those of you 

who had already subscribed.

 Hopefully this will work for me. 

Edited to add:
It's been several hours since
I posted this and have been
waiting to see this post forwarded
to my email account.
So far nothing.
Would anyone know how long
it takes to get an email after the 
post has been published?

Manton Apple Festival

 Saturday we drove 45 miles up to Manton

to attend the apple festival.

  This was our first time to attend

even though we've lived here for 

13 years.  We used to attend the 

Sebastopol Apple Festival 

when we lived in Napa, CA.

 I loved that festival. 

Manton's Apple Festival is a much 

smaller version, but still fun.

It's held in a field near the museum

in a valley that was devastated  with 

wildfire in 2005.

The hillside in view on the other side

of the festival was bare of trees as the

fire went through that area

burning 1,830 acres.

 

I don't know what they were baking 

in the Dutch ovens, but it did include

gallon cans of apples and bottles

of caramel sauce.

Too bad they weren't using fresh

ingredients and making the dessert

from scratch. I guess though,

when you're feeding crowds

of apple enthusiasts you take the

shortcuts as needed. 

Yummy looking apple hand pies.

Lots of jelly and jams ....oops,

those are body scrubs.

There was even some wine grapes

available for sale.

Olive oil tasting.

Lots of jewelry for sale also.

Ready for the pie baking contest.

Mike Krueger

 (our local television meteorologist)

was one of the judges.

Cute tote bags for Halloween candy.

 Blue Grass / Country music 

The music was wonderful.

Gourds

I have about 4 gourds that I've 

purchased from this vendor.

They've been at several craft bazaars

that we've attended over the last few years.

 I'll probably see them again at the 

Christmas bazaar next month.

I usually buy one when I see them,

but the space on top of the Hoosier hutch

is already full of gourds now.

This pumpkin/jack o'lantern 

was very tempting.

Thinking of storage space

and that green stem were the deciding

factors against purchasing it.

 I wish they had left the stem

in it's natural color.

I liked it's toothy grin though,

and that you can turn the gourd

around to it's plain side for 

displaying the rest of the autumn season.

What a cool wrought iron garden gate. 

Burlap and lace totes.

I've seen burlap and lace combinations

quite a bit in the last couple of years.

Loved these cutting boards.

I  have two similar ones,

 that our son made in high school woodshop.

More pies and jams.

Looks like some serious business there.

They were still tasting pie 

when we passed by again later.

The guy with the red sash ~

he's the mayor of Manton.

I don't know who the other two judges are.

How about a scoop of vanilla ice cream

on that serving of pie?

I love this photo.

I think it's her hands

that evoke stories, or memories...

We loved this photographers photos.

This one of Mt. Lassen

 was seriously tempting.

  

~~~

Note to Mother Nature.

Enough already...please.

It's October and it was 101 degrees

yesterday.  That just isn't right. Okay?

Good Morning Seattle ~ Disembarkation

Ah,  a beautiful morning in Seattle.

 It was 4:37 AM when I started 

taking the first photos of the morning.

Such a beautiful dawn

while we sail in 

towards our berth in Seattle.

On our last night, we were asked

to have our luggage set out for disembarkation

just before dinner time.

You keep what you need for the 

night and and the following morning.

The rest is set out into the hallway

for the crew to take away.

The next morning you can reclaim

your luggage inside the cruise terminal

once you have left the ship and

passed through customs.

After the fact we realized 

that we should have kept one

of the smaller roll on luggage cases

for the last night

rather than the two carry bags.

It would have been a lot easier

  to pull along a rolling case,

rather than lug two carry on bags.

We didn't realize what a mistake 

that was until we saw other passengers

having an easier time walking the plank 

  gangway heading off the ship.

Our bags seemed to weigh more 

with every step we took.

Total distance traveled from

  Seattle to Alaska and back to Seattle.

2024.5 nautical miles

which is 2328.17 miles.

There she is, the Westerdam again.

Hi neighbors.

 We decided to have our last 

cruise breakfast in the dining room.

This photo reminds me

that it's the little extra touches

that make an ordinary meal, 

 something extra special.

Go that extra step to pour creamer

out of a pitcher, instead of the carton.

Not that I've done that since we've been

home... but it does seem that small 

efforts do make a normal meal 

feel like a special occasion. 

We ordered the 'famous' 

 french toast with a cornflake crust.

It's one of the recommended 

not to be missed breakfast dishes.

That's according to quite a few 

Cruise Critic members.

Well... I'm sorry to say, 

I didn't like it.

I should explain though.

I'm not fond of donuts because

of that deep fried flavor they get

from the oil used.

I think the french toast was deep fried. 

It wasn't what I thought it was 

going to be and wish I had ordered

something else entirely.

But hey, overall everything

was fantastic. 
After breakfast we headed back
to our stateroom one last time
to pick up our carry on bags that
were already to go.
Our room steward had already 
started getting the room ready for
the next lucky passengers.
The bed had already been stripped
and freshly made.
We found our steward and waved
a fond farewell to him as he
was working in another cabin. 
 We found the crew members to be
wonderful, and they work awfully
hard to take care of everyone onboard.
We were due to meet in the 
Princess Theatre at 8:05AM
for our disembarkation time.
After a short wait, we were 
told to make our way off the ship.
Oh... no... sniffle ... sad... boo hoo.
  

My last view of the Golden Princess

with her flags waving in the breeze.

It certainly was a wonderful vacation.

Cruising wasn't even on our

'it could actually happen' radar

until our friend Carole said

"you guys should go". 

 Thanks for having the patience

to follow along as I

went way overboard with details

and photos.

I didn't realize how absolutely

long it would take when 

I first started this.

But this is it... the end!

Oh Canada, Our Very Short Visit.

We hadn't planned any excursions

for Victoria.

I knew I didn't want to spend such 

a short time getting out to Butchart 

Gardens. The bus ride there and back

would have taken

 quite a bit of the time,

 and we only had three hours in port.

I know Butchart Gardens is famous and all,

but for such a short visit,

the cost didn't seem worth it.

I'd rather not feel rushed 

while visiting the gardens

and I've read/heard that you

really do need some time there 

to enjoy it.

So maybe in the future

we'll get to explore more of 

Vancouver and Victoria without

the time limits of being on a cruise.

 

Now at least,

I can say I've been to Canada 

and actually stepped off onto the soil.

We were in Canada earlier in the week

but never got to step off the train,

while we were actually in Canada.

It still wasn't quite a real visit,

because we didn't actually even leave 

the port area.

Oh well.

This gentleman was directing passengers

to a tour of some sort.

I thought a tour through town

on a horse drawn carriage would

have been fun,

 but the prices per person

was a bit steep.

Besides that, it was late

in the evening and I was already

super tired by this time.

It had already been a very long day.

So, we headed back onboard

to enjoy the sunset at 9:01 PM.

A look at Victoria from the top deck.

It was beautiful, especially when 

the lights came on after the sun set.

  

The dock workers were busy taking

on more fuel and supplies.

I never got tired of watching 

what happens on the pier.

I had tried to get to sleep,

but I didn't want to miss our 

sailaway.

The Westerdam left

about 11:30 PM.

Just before midnight,

it was our turn to leave the berth.

Next stop.

Back in Seattle.