alexandriacardinals

[A final group hug as we approached Vancouver – then we all went our separate ways.  Some stayed to visit Victoria, some flew home, and the supervisor and I repaired to the train station.]

[June 28, 2008.  Coming into Vancouver – which ranks up there with Kyoto as my favorite cities.]

[Are we still being tailed by that camouflaged  U.S. Navy vessel?]

[We somehow managed to have great weather the entire trip!  🙂 ]

[The U.S. border.  We actually took a bus from Vancouver to Seattle to catch the train.  However, there were about 10 tours buses in line to go through a customs check – which could take hours!  After some time, they pretty much waved us through as all coming off a cruise ship originating from the U.S.  Nevertheless, we would have missed our train connection in Seattle, so the bus dropped us at a station a couple stops up the line – Edmonds as I recall.]

[Mt. Rainier]

[We’re on the train now – heading home.  My best guesstimate is that is a snow-capped mountain out the roof of the observation car.]

[Libby, Montana – the three following photos are also of well-known Libbys.]

[Whitefish, Montana.  I don’t know any other Whitefishes.]

[A body of water – most likely a river.]

[If you have the time, beats the heck out of air travel.]

[As we head East, you will note the topography changes from erose to flat and to a little bump again around the Badlands/Black Hills.]

[“Mr. Railroad”]

June 30,2008:  We returned from Alaska to find that – horrors, summer had arrived in Minnesota!  We discovered in Fairbanks, which is only 160 miles from the Arctic Circle, that the ice went out there sooner than it did in Alexandria.  So, Ruthie would like to toast our 10 fellow travelers, and all others, by showing off her peonies!

And back to beautiful Lake Darling:

And then an almost immediate reunion of the local cruisers at Mary and Crazy Dave’s on the other side of Lake Darling:

Good night, and good luck.  Thank you for joining us on our adventure – we hope you enjoyed the journey.  Please police your immediate area before leaving the theater – and if you have more than a 5-minute drive, it’s probably a good idea to hit the restrooms on your way out.  Now blog management and staff have to think up new filler before the next local athletic event on Thursday.

June 27, 2008.  On to Vancouver.  But first, the March of the Chefs.

[Don and Rita are doing quick calorie counts in their heads – and not giving a darn!]

[Gilligan?  Skipper?  (What am I thinking?)  GINGER?]

[All relatively attractive natural scenery.  😉 ]

[A photo of a dead tree.]

[Trying to “take us” on the outside lane.]

[The dead tree, again.]

[It got us – but I think it’s a No Wake zone!]

[Oh, we were partying on Beryl and Don’s deck – now there’s a surprise.  Ray & Rita, Bill & Anne.]

[Don & Beryl, Dave & Mary.  Obviously, someone determined it was photo op time and a time to show everybody’s kids what we were all doing with their inheritance money!]

[Love a room with a view!]

[Cheesecake!]

[Don must have opened a 2nd bottle of wine?]

[Beefcake?]

[Where’s the beef?]

[Is that Kim Kardashian?]

[Really a shame it was such a crappy day.]

[Looking back and up from Beryl and Don’s porch.  I believe in naval parlance, that is called the bridge.]

[ORCA!]

[Whale watching.]

[They were performing for us – we knew it, they knew it!]

[We begged and begged Crazy not to go kayaking – but he would not be dissuaded!]

[Howie and Crazy, old Youngstown buds.  Crazy:  Did I tell you about the time I almost got swallowed by a whale?]

[Ruthie and friends.]

June 26, 2008.  Ketchikan.  We’re heading for our last day in Alaska.

[It must have been dress-up dinner night.  By now I had put on so much weight I had to wear sweat pants with my coat and tie.]

[Fancy-schmancy!]

[By now word had gotten out that several passengers were in the witness protection program and were threatening to blow the lid off the Braunschweiger scandal of 1948.  The U.S. Coast Guard came to investigate.]

[The Braunschweiger scandal was not something to be trifled with.  We had reason to believe a U.S. Navy nuclear destroyer, disguised as a cruise ship, was on our tail!

[Some sought asylum here, mistakenly believing Ketchikan was in Canada.]

[We went on a mini-cruise out of Ketchikan.]

[The world’s tallest totem pole!]

[Eagles, by the multitudes, fished from these trees.]

[They were waiting for the season opener.]

[As reported, July 13, 2008:  The area where “The Bridge to Nowhere” would have been built – from Ketchikan to Gravina Island (20 miles long, population about 50)!]

[Guard Island, which protects the Tongass Narrows (Ketchikan’s “main street”) – Ruthie and Rita joined its association, or whatever it was, as a preservation/conservation thing.  It wasn’t quite the same investment as a Facebook IPO purchase.]

[Have you noticed the waters here are never as rough as a normal day on Lake Darling?]

[The Biddies view from our tour boat.  Checking on their investment.]

[OMG, not another Kim Kardashian sighting?]

[Back to Ketchikan.  Next up – the long trip home.]

Before we go any further, I must report that Roger and Dusty sang the National Anthem last night, again.  I took a lot of cheap abuse for not reporting they had also done so the previous game.  But that game only yielded a 2 – 2 tie – if they want coverage, they have to win!  Roger has become the default singer of the anthem.  Dusty is off now for Florida for a brief respite from our harsh Minnesota winter, so Roger will either solo or be joined by Barb.

“The Voice” was there to cover the following boys’ game v. Apollo (a 2 – 2 tie, and no, Roger and Dusty did not sing the anthem for that game).  He warmed up by gargling honey and watching the girls rebound from their flat performance on Tuesday v. Pequot.  To color guy, Bob – your photo did not pan out.  I’m sure you’re greatly disappointed?

The girls played the St. Cloud Icebreakers last night – it was a battle for 2nd place in the conference, which the Cards have now secured.  As we’ve learned from our study groups, the Icebreakers are a composite of ALL the St. Cloud high schools – Tech, Apollo, and Cathedral – so they are obviously as class AA team (as is the 1st place conference team composed of Sartell and Sauk Rapids).  If there was any question previously, the team must have secured the No. 1 seed in our class A section last night.

[Shelby (38) and Heather (22) take on the Icebreakers.]

Our Cards are still playing without Kalley, Alia, and Britni, I believe 3 of our top 5 scorers.  But sometimes out of adversity . . . The team came out with great intensity and carried the play through the 1st two periods.  With new lines of Shelby, Becca, and Rachael; Melissa, Quinn, and Madi; and Danielle, Sara, and Kaila – all were playing well.  Danielle scored on a rebound in the 2nd period to give us a 1 – 0 lead.  Their goalie played very well and made several key stops.  In the 3rd period, as the Icebreakers pressured to catch up, we played two lines mostly trying to hold the lead.  In the last minute plus, they pulled their goalie trying to get the tying goal.  After what seemed like minutes, with the supervisor continually encouraging the Cards to “Get it out of there!,” Shelby, with Becca providing follow-up support, finally broke free for an empty-netter to make the final score 2 – 0.  Steph obviously played a great game in goal to get the shut out – good on her!

[Heather makes a dash for it.]

[Becca (37)]

[Thwarted?  (That’s actually kind of an odd word, isn’t it?  Sounds like a medical condition.)]

[Shanee’ (40) battles for the little black disc thing.]

[Sara (27), taking advantage of her varsity start, bores in on the opposition.]

[Shanee’ and Nicole (23), on the defense.]

[I believe this was at the start of the 2nd period where we had to begin by killing off the major part of a minor penalty.]

[Just how that was going to be accomplished was the subject of a major discussion among the penalty killers:  Shelby and Becca, the forwards, and Shanee’ and Heather on defense.]

[I believe these are two of our injured players, supporting the team from the bench.]

[Taylor (24), hoping for a breakout, or defending?]

[Brooke (21), Melissa (6), and Quinn (20).]

[Rachael, in search of some friends?]

[Shanee’ on the go!]

[Displaying a steady hand, I was able to capture high school classmate, John Herdan, visiting with Mr. Harris.  John is still the head band guy at Cathedral and one of the Icebreakers is a student of his.]

[Brooke and Shelby]

[Displaying a hand-eye coordination rare for someone of my advanced age, I was able to capture the face-off in mid-drop as Sara prepares to flail away at it.]

[Melissa (6)]

[Steph says, “No puck shall pass!”]

[I scrambled to get this shot as a blurry Shelby scored into the empty net with Becca providing back-up.]

[Celebrating the goal.]

[Celebrating the win.]

It’s hard to believe there is only one game left in the regular season.  Where did it go?  Next Thursday, we host Moorhead and hope to be at full strength then – and as we head into section play.  So, once again we get ready to say good-bye to another senior class.  It all passes so fast.  Most of the seniors are coming upon the last competitive hockey game they will ever play.  I hope they have enjoyed it as much as we have enjoyed watching them play.