Month: June 2018

We’re both home from Alaska. I want to go back. If you haven’t been to Alaska, it’s breathtakingly beautiful there no matter where you go. The scenery was amazing and so was all of the music. We attended concerts with Ellis Paul and got to hear Alice’s Champagne Palace IN Alice’s Champagne Palace. It was quite the experience. Ellis had a few friends along with him, who joined him in the concerts. They were Laurie MacAllister, Radoslav Lorkovic, Darryl Purpose, and Dan Navarro.  I didn’t know it going in, but Dan Navarro co-wrote one of my favorite songs: Pat Benatar’s “We Belong”.  Yes, I was fangirling a bit. Dan’s a great guy and has wonderful stories to tell.

It was a great trip and I’m already looking forward to the next one.

While on the cruise we had plenty of time to write and plot. I finished outlining two novels and managed to get some words out. Dani worked on our next novel, trying to get it all finished up.

We both came home with colds and are in the process of getting better.   – Sydney

It’s time to head home after a wonderful cruise and trip to Alaska.  The cruise left Vancouver, British Coulmbia and made stops in Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, and Icy Straight Point Alaska, with a trip to see the Hubbard Glacier, and ended up in Seward, AK.  From Seward, we hopped on two charter buses and drove four hours to Homer, AK.  Homer is the place where Alice’s Champagne Palace is.  A trip to Alice’s is sort of a pilgrimage for the both of us since Ellis Paul, one of our favorite singers, has a song called “Alice’s Champagne Palace”. It was a great show and the crowd was really wild, totally befitting a bar.  Yes, I lifted a glass and sat at the window seat right at the bar. (If you’ve never heard of the song, go search for it on YouTube) The next evening we had another Ellis Paul show at the Anchorage Botanical Gardens and it was such a drastic shift in the atmosphere, but the concert was great. It was hard saying goodbye to friends that we spent the trip with and shared a lot of laughs with. There was great music and tons of laughter each day. The scenery was breathtaking and Alaska is by far the prettiest place I’ve been.  Seeing mountains kissing the sky with their snow covered peaks no matter where we went was amazing. Homer, AK, where the mountains rise from ocean to sky was particularly breathtaking and I understand why people go there and never leave. I wanted to stay myself! Dani and I did get writing done and I completed two outlines for two novels.  The trip re-energized me and allowed the creative juices to start flowing again. As the song goes, “sometimes you have to go to the ends of the earth, just to turn yourself around” I’m hoping that it will continue when I get home and novels will get completed.  Is to soon to want to go back to the boat? – Sydney