Tendering 10/1

Sunrise. 

We walked around Astoria for a few hours finding an organic vegetarian eatery and cafe. Caroline bought a pair of boys shorts. Apparently she wears boys clothes now because they fit her perfectly. They are not men's clothes. They are considerd youth size. Imagine getting older yet reverting to youth sizes. The one drawback of finishing the PCT then Immediately getting on a cruise ship is the clothing issue - FC and TC only had the clothes they had been wearing for six months which are inappropriate cruise wear. On their one day in Vancouver they shopped. TC was successful buying purple Sketchers, a pair of Roots jeans, and found 2 shirts at a thrift store. FC was not so lucky. In five hours she found one pair of jeans. She went to all the wrong places then she ended up at the Hudson's Bay company (the Canadian equivalent of Macy's). She went directly to the youth section and tried on every pair of jeans finding a perfect fit. What she really wanted was a pair of shorts but Vancouver is into winter sales now. The next town, Seattle, the Bub's went to the famous Pike's Market and when they got hungry, ate at a Thai restaurant. They met the "boys" again and were told to go to Storybook Cafe for the best coffee in town. FC and TC split up. TC returned to the boat and FC walked around downtown Seattle. She did not find any clothes or shoes but was only loosely looking. She saw things she didn't need, pretty, expensive sweaters. She tried on one top and realized this shopping was without a goal and she immediately headed to the boat. She hated mindless consumerism. The Norwegian Pearl had shops with 2 thousand potential shoppers. Everytime FC walked by the shops were busy. She just kept walking. In Astoria she finally found a pair of boys jean shorts and a pair of running shoes in JC Penneys. No sales person knew anything about the shoes so she is uncertain if the Nikes she bought are actually running shoes. She has only ever bought running shoes from a running store. The shorts were $4.00 dollars on sale. Better than a thrift store. 

 

Tender docking to cruiser. 

     Getting back on the boat took 2 hours. There were complications. Many passengers had opinions on how to fix this waiting dilemma. Their opinions were loud and certain. Everything was wrong and needed to be fixed. We never found out about the complications. We went to the spa and relaxed, shedding every complicated thing in the warmth and peace of thermal therapies.

 

Towel frog!

    This is our last day on the cruise. We dock in LA tomorrow. A lot has happened. FC went to a fitness seminar entitled "How to get a Flatter Stomach". She smiled inwardly as the instructor talked about lifestyle changes which included nutrition, exercise and detox programs. He didn't show one exercise to strengthen abdominal muscles. Brilliant maneuver to get a lot of people into one place, captive, listening to the poor failing state of the earth and where we fit in it. Processed food - bad; organic food good ( none on the ship). Air conditioning bad(all over the ship); big breakfast, small dinner good, most meals on ship big every meal. On and on, we are going to toxic land fast and furious. The bubbies had a test done to determine fluids and fat levels. The results were the best he had ever seen. Janet and Lory's were average. They need to detox but the Bubbies don't need to. Maybe, maybe not. "Good Feet" orthotics were purchased. I won't go into why but you should know FC is a push over when she fails a test. FC and TC waited in line for two hours to climb 2 climbs. If you like standing in line you should sign up for a Norwegian tour. The recreation crew were not into belaying. Our belayer left to go to the library. 

     Tonight we are in the Starligjt Theater for a musical review of Broadway shows. We think Janet and Lory are in the casino gambling.