Ivy is on to the plan...

 worked last two nights in PCU.  woke early today and have been running all day getting ready.  hate the process, hate the getting to/from but i know once I'm there it will be a fun vacation.  Ivy is for sure watching me...she sees the bag getting loaded.  as you can see we had this crazy beautiful sunset the other morning as i drove home from work.

 photo below by Karen Rode, thanks!  it was at the restart in Willow. 

 cleaned up the house a bit, changed the litter, picked up dog poop, packed, cleaned more, did laundry...travel is exhausting and i haven't left yet.  no ride for airport so I'll have to catch a cab.  pondering a return a day early since the boat comes in at 7 am...would be nice to have a 24 hour transition time.  will see when i get there, what they say. 

 took the dogs for a short walk in the dog park.  then i headed to the rack...Nordstrom, figured I'd see if there was any more cruise wear.  no idea if i have enough or too much as far as clothing goes but we shall see. i know i will not be the most fashionable person on the boat....but hopefully, people won't be staring and laughing either.

 had to make a quick run to the grocery as i discovered i was almost out of dry cat food.  since i was there anyway, i figured I'd better pick up some new makeup...i will deal with real humans and in the real world people wear make up.  i get totally lazy up here.  the stuff i have here is no doubt ancient so best to just toss and start over.

 posting lots of dog pics on facebook this week for folks to enjoy...everyone seems to like them. 

 someone posted a video of then on Portage Lake after it must have calved.  there was that rolling of the water beneath the ice..there was water splashing up through all the cracks...new and old i guess.  where they were shooting the video was about 2 miles out on the lake so they would still have to make a return trip.  they didn't mention how that went for them.  the ice looked pretty broken up. I'm sure once you turned away from the glacier the ice was a wee bit more stable, but not a good place to be this year.  some have been out there but it looked pretty sketch and clearly it was. stay safe out there.

 lots of laundry done today.

 have been busy with work and prep this week so haven't followed the Iditarod action too closely.  seems Joar and Petit are going back and forth in lead.  last i saw i think Petit was up top. Aily did get to half way point first, but i think that was mostly due to timing of 24 hour stops.  one scratch that i know of so far.

 i even got the garage cleared out and drove the element in...of course, it's super tight.  so tight it's probably going to be totally impractical to attempt to park in there.  still i guess if there were some super cold nights i could swing it. no way to open door wide enough to load dogs in there...i barely can load myself in there. so it's back outside...drat!!

 just a few things left on my to do list.  the house is cleaner, but not clean by any stretch!!

 the twins seem to be sticking close together out there on the trail. 

 so far Lance seems to be doing okay. i think they are expected lots of snow.  not sure what is going on at the coast, but they aren't there yet...

 my niece said she downloaded the app for the ship..so I'm trying to do the same.  my last cruise we were lucky to get email, which was still the newest rage...so yesterday now. 

 still bringing some old school stuff for entertainment.  may have to drag kids away from their phones and play some actual Boggle or Yahtzee

 not sure that there will be much wifi on board and if there is...at what cost.  last time i did quite a lot of walking on the upper deck...if i recall it was 3 laps to a mile.  just nice to be out there enjoying the fresh air.  not sure how warm it will be this time of year.

 wouldn't mind a little spa time, massage...generally a good option. 

 get to see some other family before my niece and i take off so that will be fun. 

 will be back soon enough with tales of the sea...hoping for safe and drama free travels to and from my destinations.  hoping the pups do fine without me.  I'll sure miss them though.  :-( 

thankful for A opportunity to explore and spend time with family B having the dogs all set up... C adventures of all sorts