Here we are, on the road: We’re in Ketchikan, Alaska

July 6, 2014 Lorraine’s report

Well the first thing I need to say is what has been said to me over and over is by my classmates is “what a nice man my husband is!!!” He is the best part of me and I would be lost without him. I sure hope he knows that, without him, my life would be pretty empty. This reunion would not be as fun as it has been without him. Even though we haven’t been to any of his reunions, I would sure hope I could be the same way he has been with me, here at my reunion.

So Chuck has updated what we have done before and during the trip. I just need to write my feelings, etc.

I would like to thank all the people in charge of putting on this reunion. I know how much time, effort and what ever is involved. Thank you all, without you to take such interest and involvement, this reunion would not have been so fun! Lynn, Susan, Cheri, and everyone involved-Many Many THANKS!!! You guys did an awesome job!

So just coming and seeing all the changes that have happened here in Ketchikan was wonderful. Don’t know how we lived here before all the changes etc., as they have now, but it is wonderful.

It was so nice to visit with the many classmates that came for the reunion. Every time we get together we all complete enjoy each others company! Ask who, what, where, and when of the many friends we had still dominates our conversations. It was sad to learn that 20 to 25 something of our class mates have passed.

To have as many of our classmates come for our 50 year reunion was pretty amazing. Laurel Burns came from Hawaii, Lynn Clay has been married the longest, Les Brendible and Jimmy Church has the most kids, 7 each, I think. It was very sad when they read all the names of those who passed away. What a class our Class of 64 was!

So today is our last day in Ketchikan, and it is sad for me to be leaving Ketchikan, know I probably won’t be coming back. But I thank each and every one of you for the wonderful time you gave me and my husband. Thank You all….

Hugs to all,

Lorraine

PS. Looking forward to seeing my son, we’ll see him tomorrow, yea!

7/6/14 Chuck’s report

Well, it’s been a couple of weeks since we’ve updated our blog and guess we should do one now. We are traveling although not with the motorhome. Boy what a shock to the system, flying and staying in a hotel is strange plus eating all our meals out too. Guess we are homebodies at heart and our home is on wheels but it’s back in Blaine, WA.

I don’t have access to the calendar that Lorraine uses to write a short note about our day, it’s back in the motorhome so guess I’ll just wing it here. For the past three weeks, it’s been mostly more of the same, not real exciting for sure. We’ve been enjoying the slower living for sure, visiting with family and friends.

Last week we brought our dog, Misty, over to our good friend Tim. He agreed to watch her while we were gone and it is sure appreciated. He recently got a new dog and they seem to get along ok too. Thanks Tim, see you when we get back.

Lorraine is one very organized and has been planning on what she wanted to bring along and how to pack it for a couple of weeks ahead of time. We have two suitcases and quickly realized that wouldn’t be enough for all our “good” clothes for the reunion and enough for our two weeks visit to our son’s place in Kenai too. So that meant we needed to purchase two more, carry on size pieces of luggage. Lorraine wanted to pack as much as we could a few days early so we tried that first. But after getting the two new pieces, we had to change what was in each bag, re-organize #1. Finally we had everything except for the last minute stuff packed and the luggage set aside until we loaded them in the car.

Monday morning we finished with all the last minute stuff, put the baggage in the car and head over to Joe and Alice’s home. They kindly agreed to drive us to the airport so we didn’t have to leave our car there. Thanks for the help.

We are flying on Alaska Air and we have to pay for all luggage, $25 for each stored and one carry on per person. We have to check-in on-line the day before we left and found they had some 1st class seats still open. They had a special, only $50 each and that would include two carry-on per person, free drinks and a dinner served too. Let’s see, $50 for baggage and sit in coach or upgrade for $50 more and go 1st class. So that’s what we ended up doing, first class from Seattle to Ketchikan. But that meant re-packing everything once again, re-organize #2. Once we got to the airport in Bellingham we found one of our bags was 4 pounds overweight (54#) and they would charge us $75. Well that made us do another quick re-organize (#3). Finally got everything settled, good thing we were there a bit early however.

Then when we checked in they said I was able to leave my shoes on, the computer randomly said so. BUT, I was also randomly selected for a explosive check of my hands?? Never heard of that one, but they walked me back, ran a treated pad over my hand and inserted it in a machine. Of course, they didn’t find any issues and finally we were through the screening, what a hassle.

But once on board, everything was good. I’ve found that I need to take a “chill-out pill” when flying, I’m very closterphobic and have had issues in the past so I took my pill and settled down. A good flight to Seattle, had to change planes there after going to a different wing of the airport of course. But we got on the plane to Ketchikan and had a good flight once again. They did offer us a drink, I had a beer and Lorraine had a soda and shortly thereafter they came by with a plate of meatloaf, potatoes, green beans and salad. Better than nothing but not anything to write home about.

Once we landed in Ketchikan, or should I say on the island nearby, we got our baggage and headed for the ferry to come over to Ketchikan. I was surprised to see they had baggage carts for our use, free too. We can use them on the ferry either way and leave them on the other side. It is $5/person for the ferry ride and extra for a car so we were picking our car up on the other side. Once we got there, the guy was waiting for us to fill out the paperwork and check out the car, pretty slick and didn’t take too long.

Lorraine had suggested we bring our GPS but I didn’t think we would need it, wrong. I didn’t know/remember where everything is in Ketchikan, starting with our hotel. But then I remembered we could use our smart phone, it worked just fine. Guess I should learn to listen to my wife better though, the GPS would have been nice.

Got to our hotel, checked in and put stuff away then headed downtown for a quick road trip. Sure lots of tourist shops waiting for the cruise ship passengers to walk in. Seeing as how it wasn’t raining at the time, we headed North out of town just to see the area and the changes since we’ve been here.

We then headed to the grocery store to pick up a few things for our stay here, we do have a microwave and small fridge in our room. Boy, sticker shock on the prices up here. I had forgotten there was a Wal-Mart here, it is sort of off the highway and we didn’t see the sign when we drove by earlier. We did run by there later and the prices are just as high there, ha. So that ended our first day here.

Tuesday we continued with our exploring of the area, went to the end of the road both North and South plus some of the side roads. We also parked in town so Lorraine could explore some of the shops. Sort of reminded us of our cruise to Mexico, same sort of stuff with lots of Alaska stuff included. Didn’t find anything we couldn’t live without however, whew.

We also met a couple of Lorraine’s classmates, at least two who are staying at the same hotel as us. Lorraine has really been looking forward to meeting/visiting with her classmates and it started with these two, ha. I am not going to try to list names here, I’m sure I would get a few wrong and probably forget to add some so best to not even try, sorry about that.

Lorraine’s brother, Ralph, lives here in Ketchikan, the last of his family to do so. We had stopped by his house on Tuesday but he wasn’t home. But we did make plans to meet him at the ferry on Wednesday. He had some family members come into town, changing ferries and needing to run to the bank. After he finished with those errands and getting them all setting in, he met us at a café for for a nice visit. His wife doesn’t get around much so he couldn’t stay too long, had to get back to her but we had a good visit and got caught up on some of what’s going on with him. Good to see you, Ralph!

Wednesday was the first scheduled activity for this reunion, a no-host meet/greet at the bar in our hotel. We headed down and started visiting with folks. It wasn’t long before everyone headed into the restaurant/bar area where they moved tables around to attempt to get everyone in the same area. It soon became apparent that we were overwhelming this area so they moved us to one of the meeting rooms, much better. I think there were about 15 classmates there, and of course some spouses too. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the reunion with lots of laughter from almost every group. I couldn’t help overhearing lots of “remember when/who/where” type conversations, it was fun.

Thursday evening was the main event, once again at a meeting room here at the hotel. They had it decorated up and the hotel was catering the dinner. Everyone found a spot at a table but mostly just walked around visiting with different folks until the dinner bell rang. It was a good dinner with salad, vegies, fish and beef. The room got a bit quieter while everyone was eating but soon it was back to normal with all the conversations and laughter going on. Sure seemed the everyone had a good time. I think there were 25 classmates at this function, along with us non-classmates being there too.

Friday we were invited to a BBQ at Lynn’s house. We met some of her family members and of course some of the classmates were there too. Once again everyone seemed to be having a good time and the food was great with plenty of it.

Saturday had the last scheduled activity, a picnic at Ward Lake, a few miles North of town. The day started out raining but when we got to Ward Lake, it was pretty nice. They had reserved a building and had tables set up, overloading with food. Once again, lots of different groups of folks talking, laughing and eating. I think there was 25 or so classmates here, some that hadn’t made the other activities too. The rain was heavy at times, sprinkled most of the day but there were time when it quit for awhile too. Once again, we enjoyed the visits with all.

Today is our last day in town, not sure what we will do. We hope to see the folks who are staying here at the hotel, at least. I will say it was a pleasure to meet and visit with the folks here for the reunion. I was surprised to learn how many live in Washington state too, maybe enough to have a mini-rally there someday. Thanks for all the fun times, everyone.

Now for the weather report. It was getting pretty nice in Blaine for the past few weeks, some rain but not too bad. the daytime highs were in the upper 60s or even low 70s most days. The forecast there for this past week was for above normal temps, getting to the 80s on a couple of days. Of course, we aren’t there and the temps here in Ketchikan aren’t getting that high, only into the 60s. I think it has rained everyday we’ve been here, normal for here, but there has been lots of times with no rain. The clouds/fog hang around the mountains most days but when they do clear it is sure pretty here. Oh, the rental car they gave us had an issue with the windshield wipers, they didn’t work! I called up and they didn’t have any other cars available but I was finally able to convince them to give us a different one and to fix this one for someone coming in the next day. So at least we have wipers that work now.

Our plans are to head over to the airport tomorrow morning and fly into Anchorage. Our son, Rick, will be picking us up there and we’ll travel on to his house in Kenai for two weeks. We are really looking forward to seeing him and Donna, it’s been too long.

I’ll go through the pictures we’ve taken and try to post some here. Once again, I don’t plan on adding names as I know I would miss some. Sorry about that but if you see a picture and don’t remember who is in it, ask Lorraine and she may be able to tell you.

Lorraine at the Relay for Life walk in Lynden two weeks ago.