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WheresCherie.COM Quote
"It's a good idea to obey all the rules when you're young just so you'll have the strength to break them when you're old." -- Mark Twain

Alaska

141--Alaska: A Whale of a Time
@ CherieSpotting Jul 29 2003 - 15:11 PST

One of the approximately 1000 humpback whales that swim along Alaska's coast in the summer. *Photo by Rick

cherie writes: As we sailed from cove to cove, I would sit on the bow and listen to Isabelle’s mesmerizing tales about circumnavigating the globe alone. Isabelle and I were watching a humpback whale swirl around a shoal of herring which creates a “net of bubbles” that trap the fish. Then the whale splashes out of the water, its twelve foot jaws agape and gulps down his mid-day snack. While the whale “bubble fed,” Isabelle made a confession.

“I hit a whale when I was sailing alone once.”
“You hit a whale once, or you sailed around the world alone once?” I asked.
“I sailed around the world four times, I hit a whale once.” Isabelle clarified. “I worried I hurt the whale because all of a sudden the ocean became discolored.”
“What did you do?” I asked astonished.
“I looked closer and realized it wasn’t blood. She broke my rudder, but she was okay.”
“Isabelle, are you telling me you scared the shit out of a whale?”
“You could say it that way,” she said.
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140--Alaska: Good as Gold
@ CherieSpotting Jul 28 2003 - 15:49 PST

Greg, upset that he only has a few more months to become a millionare before he turns 30 years old, seeks his fortune in gold!

cherie writes: In all the hiking we did, none of us ever saw another soul on a trail. We were truly one (or six?) with the wilderness. On one hike, Greg noticed a stream laden in gold! “Eureka!” He bellowed. “I’m going to make my first million dollars finding gold.”

“I thought you were going to make your first million writing computer soft ware?” I reminded Greg.

“Not any more,” Greg replied. “Writing software to make your millions is so 90s.”
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139--Alaska: What's a P-bar?
@ CherieSpotting Jul 27 2003 - 15:02 PST

You know you're in Alaska when there's a moose-head in the terminal.

cherie writes: What’s a P-bar?

Alaska’s Final Frontier was beckoning me, so I called Rick, the owner of Sound Sailing and made a reservation. The next thing I knew, Greg and I booked our tickets and flew into Sitka for our nine-day tour of Southeast Alaska’s Inside Passage on S/V Bob (a Catalina 50.)

I waved goodbye to the congestion of cars and concrete and a few hours later we were flying over the magical abyss of the green and blue North. Hopping off the plane, I stepped into a new world. In a few hours we went from Bay Watch to Bear Watch. The first difference I noticed was the way the people in the airport were dressed. There must have been a flannel-shirt and rubber-boot expo in Sitka that week (while they should have been holding a dentist convention.)
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138--Alaska: A Cool Vacation
@ CherieSpotting Jul 24 2003 - 14:18 PST

This one is going for Rick's jugular.

cherie writes: “Do you want to go to Alaska?” I asked my boyfriend.

Greg didn’t even think before he replied. “No. It’s cold there. If I’m going on vacation, I want it to be warm.”

“We’ve done ‘paradise vacations.’ We’ve cruised through Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama and the Caribbean. I want something different, something adventurous…something raw.

“If you want something raw, eat a carrot.” Greg snapped. “You know I don’t like cold weather.”
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137--Alaska: Suicidal Salmon
@ CherieSpotting Jul 20 2003 - 12:15 PST

Cherie and Greg with their King Salmon. *Photo by Rick

cherie writes: Isabelle, Dave, Sue, Rick, Greg and I were fishing buddies for 9-day sailing charter in Alaska on S/V Bob. I didn’t think I was going to fish in Alaska, I thought I was going to sail. The fishing was a last minute bonus—an unexpected surprise.

“There is one last thing you need to decide before we set sail tomorrow.” Rick announced to all of us. “Who wants to fish?”
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136--Alaska: Feeling Crabby
@ CherieSpotting Jul 16 2003 - 12:32 PST

Alaska's version of the whoopi-cushion.

cherie writes: Rick yelled from the helm: “Cherie, do you feel like crab?”

“My skin’s a little dry, but I wouldn’t go that far.”

With that, Greg and I set out in the dinghy to set the crab pots. Isabelle baited the pots with the salmon carcasses, and Rick started making fresh sour dough bread.
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133--Alaska: The Tip of the Ice-Berg
@ Where`s Cherie? Jun 25 2003 - 13:21 PST

Greg and Cherie star in Titanic II, filmed in Alaska on S/V Bob.

cherie writes: How many people can say they spent their 32nd birthday on an ice-berg? Besides me.

An ice-berg is simply the most awesome form that water can take. Only the passing of millenniums can create the magical shimmer of glacial ice.

It was my birthday, June 20, 2003 and six of us (Rick, Isabelle, Dave, Sue, Greg and I) were on a sailing cruise through Southeast Alaska on S/V Bob (50 ft Catalina.)

The glacial mist was eerie as it curled around the surrounding chocolate mountains of Le Conte Bay. Then we heard the cracking sound of pure destruction. The crash of the calving glacier was almost deafening. Active glaciers sometimes move more than a hundred feet per day. As the glacier crawled into the sea, fingers of ice released themselves and collapsed into the water below. The violent break-up of ice echoed off the ice-bergs and created a wild cacophony of sound. To the trained ear, the glacier was singing me Happy Birthday.
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