Benjamin and Sherry's West Coast Odyssey Diary: Part 1

Okay.. I admit it... so I didn't write this diary while I was on my trip like I wanted to, but here it is now while it's still fresh in my mind.

Day 1- Whale-Watching in the San Juan Islands (Tuesday, June 13th)

So, remember when I was all worried that something would go wrong on the trip? Well, this was the day that something seriously went wrong. I printed off directions to everything from Yahoo! maps because we got lost a lot on our last trip to Toronto because of the lack of directions :). I also created a binder with all of the reservation information in it. Well-prepared for this vacation, right?

On Tuesday morning, Ben and I followed the directions carefully to the pier from which our whale-watching vessel would sail to the San Juan Islands in Bellingham, WA. When we got to the "welcoming building" at the port, our Great Orca Adventures company was nowhere to be found. I referred to my black binder, only to notice that our whale-watching vessel was not sailing from Bellingham, WA, but from Anacortes, WA (an hour south of where we were standing). You know that sick feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you know that you've made a huge unfixable mistake... yeah, I got that right at that moment.

Lucky for Ben and I, there was a great whale-watching tour ready to depart in 45 minutes from when I realized we were not going to make it to the other tour. I called the tour that we were going to miss, only to get their answering machine. I left an apologetic message, and we promptly bought tickets to the whale-watching tour sailing from Bellingham. I continued to feel really, really, REALLY bad about the Anacortes tour and called them back to talk to an actual person. Needless to say, the man was kind of pissed off at me. "Just so you know, anyone else on the PLANET would not hesitate to charge you the full price of your tickets. But, I'm a nice guy, and I want you to enjoy your vacation and see some whales. Have a nice day!" He wasn't self-rejoicing or anything.. what a butthole. Anyway, Ben and I had a great time, and we saw lots of orcas.




This was our whale-watching vessel, the "Island Commuter". (on the left) This is Ruffles. (on the right) He's a "grandfather" whale and usually travels on his own. His dorsal fin is about six feel tall and is ruffled, hence the name.

More orcas!

After the whole orca adventure/fiasco, Ben and I drove down to Seattle. Since we took a longer whale-watching tour than previously planned, we didn't have time to see the Space Needle that night. We did some exploring while looking for Kurt Cobain's houses. The roads in residential Seattle are CRAZY! They quite literally contain sixty-degree inclines and declines (their roads are very steep). Not only did we drive almost straight up towards the sky or straight down towards the ground, the roads are also very narrow and contain very, very impossibly sharp turns. It looks like people just built houses very close together in random spots on these huge hills, then someone had to connect all of them with roads. After giving up finding Kurt's old house, we found the house at which the murder (yes, murder) took place.

Right next to his house is "Kurt's Park". Just a grassy space in between the so-close-together houses right next to his old house. Both of the benches were covered in messages left by his fans. Too bad Ben didn't have a pen (he'll get a chance to leave Kurt a message later in the trip at Aberdeen, WA). When driving up and down the street looking for his house, we saw a red SUV turning into the driveway. Could it have been Courtney Love?

Next up: Benjamin and Sherry's West Coast Odyssey Diary: Part 2. I promise that I won't drag this out for two weeks. Part 1 just happened to have a lengthy story behind it.

I'm Back/Psychologist Visit

Hey everyone! I'm back from vacation...yada, yada, yada. I'll post some vacation diary stuff and photos soon.

I received mental health counseling today for the first time (the blog wasn't enough)! And, while most people consider this very personal, I don't really mind yapping about it to anyone who will listen. For anyone who knows me as an aquaintance, it may come as a shock that I am not a very happy person.

I chose Marilyn from a website given to me by my crappy insurance. I thought that she looked a lot like my mom and was around the same age, and for some reason, I thought it would be easier to talk to her because of this.

After printing off directions to the clinic from Yahoo!, I stubbled into a commercial building complex with stairs going up and stairs going down. I heard birds in the upstairs part of the building, so I opted to go downstairs, thinking that the upstairs was some sort of petstore. Well, the downstairs ended up leading to nowhere, so I headed up to the "petstore". The "petstore" ended up being the therapy center! The doctor that Marilyn shares the office with owns a couple dogs, a ton of little stupid songbirds, a couple cockatiels, a macaw named "Edna", and another parrot named "Goby". Oh my, they were cute, but very loud. It was a little unsettling when I was filling out paperwork, and I heard someone say "Hello!" really loud- you probably guessed...it was the huge frickin' macaw.



Anyway, Marilyn (pictured above) and I talked for about an hour about all of my problems, and oh my, it was a huge sobfest. Crying in front of a total stranger, especially when I started crying within the first minute of talking to her, is a little embarrassing. But I got used to it because I cried the entire hour. But, I do feel reassured and more confident in myself even after the first session because my depression is not my fault- it's my parents'. And no, I'm not just an angry young adult whose lashing out and blaming them; my psychologist plainly said that they are both self-centered and not very good parents. She also mentioned that I have probably been depressed since I was about eight years old (I used to sit up at night and listen to my parents fight through the air vent in my floor and worry about our financial situation). Messed up, huh? But the good news is that I get happy pills to help me start to emotionally heal.

There are so many details I will not go into because I'm starting to blab. But I think that the moral of my story (and my life) here is that one should not wait so long to get therapy! She was angry at my parents for not caring to actually ask how I feel and seek emotional help for me. So, kids, go to the psychologist, sob, and get happy pills!

Tribute to Zoe and Franklin

I got to thinking how much I am going to miss my babies while I am on vacation. We are sending my cat and white-faced cockatiel to my husband's parents' house for the 13 days we will be gone. We didn't want them to think we had abandoned them or anything, so this way they'll get some love and attention while we are gone.

Zoe

I love my precious little princess! For those of you who have never had a cockatiel, they are the most lovey birds one could ever own. Ben and I bought Zoe from PetCo in late December 2005, not knowing her age or gender. She was gentle and loving right from the start and could even "Step Up", or step up onto our fingers at the petstore. We brought her home and in the middle of her very first night with us, she had a night terror. Most cockatiels have night terrors and flop around their cages and squawk loudly when waking in the middle of the night, only to get more frightened when you come runnning into the room to see what's going on. I was scared because Zoe had lost a few feathers and blamed Franklin for what had happened.

It wasn't until a month ago, when I brought Zoe to the vet for the first time, that I realized she was scared of the dark and needed a nightlight. I brought her to the vet because she had broken another blood feather (newly growing feathers that carry blood supply), and I was worried that we'd have another incident if I didn't get it pulled (we had to run Zoe to the emergency room, and she almost bled to death). The vet was very gentle and understanding because she had cockatiels too. That's when we found out that Zoe actually was a girl and was only about eight months old. That means she was only three months old when we got her from PetCo!

Zoe loves to love. She rubs her head lovingly on my face when I lean in to give her sweet kisses. When sitting on my finger, she puts her head down so I can rub her neck and ears (I know it sounds weird). She answers me with a non-musical whistle when I say Zoe! from across the room. I'll stop before all of you projectile vomit on your computer screens.

Franklin

Now, unto my second child. I got Franklin from a friend whose cat had had eight other kittens. He was the runt of the litter, and I had the opportunity to bottle-feed him when he was just a few days old. I got to take him home when he was three months old, on October 24, 2000.

Franklin loves to lounge under Ben's easel in the computer room, by the patio door (waiting for someone to open the door so that he can slip out), and in the cardboard box our TV came in that we have yet to toss in the recycling dumpster. He greets me when I come home and follows me around until I sit down, so that he can lay on my stomach and stare up at me with his beautiful green or amber eyes- his eye color changes. He loves to play with his dragonfly-on-a-wire toy, laser pointer, stuffed mice, and stuffed cat. He also gets really crazy and runs and jumps up doorways.

One more thing... I feel bad for not mentioning her. We also have a Golden Greek tortoise named Socrates. She's not very interesting, but she's pretty darn cute.

So, that's my tribute to my babies that I will miss and worry about the whole time that I am trying to enjoy myself on the west coast. Next up- why I made an appointment with the psychologist.

Benjamin and Sherry's West Coast Odyssey 2006

So, just ten more days to go until vacation! Since I am pooping my pants with excitement, I wanted all of you to know what I am so excited about. We will be gone for 13 whole days on a tour of the west coast!

Day 1- Traveling to Seattle, WA.
Yes, we are flying to Seattle. This is a huge deal for me since I haven't flown since eighth grade (over eight years ago). Since Lost has been on, my plane-flying phobia has tripled in intensity.

Day 2-
A four-hour whale whatching tour at 9:00am! After the Great Orca Adventures tour, Ben and I will head back to Seattle to visit the home of Kurt Cobain (C'mon, it's the one suggestion Ben made for the whole fricken trip). Then, it's off to the Space Needle for a spectacular view of the night sky in Seattle.


Day 3-
Discover Mount Rainier and Mt. St. Helens National Parks!

I just hope that we can hike around these beautiful mountains without running into a mountain lion. This is why I recently purchased the Worst Case Scenario books (Travel, the original, and the extreme editions).

Day 4- Explore Oregon!

Day 5- Explore Nothern California!

Day 6- San Francisco Day1
We already purchased our CityPasses, which include a MUNI bus line pass (includes the trolleys) and are ready for a day of museums! We get to take a tour to Alcatraz at night!

Day 7- San Francisco Day2
Another whale-watching tour on Monterey Bay. After that, we visit the aquarium to conclude a fish-filled day!

Day 8- Napa and Sonoma Valley!!!
This will probably be Ben's least favorite day, but the scenery is fantastic! I picked several wineries based on their orchard's beauty.

Day 9- Redwood National park!

Day 10- The Oregon Coast!

Day 11- Olympic National Park in WA. With a stop of course to Aberdeen on the way (where Kurt Cobain grew up)

Day 12-
We get to see the rest of Olympic National park (it's huge) and stop at the Seattle aquarium. We conclude our vacation with a dinner cruise (yes, they have vegetarian choices).

Day 13- Back home to good ole Wisconsin.

So, you're asking yourself- Why are you going from Seattle to San Francisco to Seattle? Well, since we are flying out to Seattle, we need a car. When renting a car, one cannot simply drive it from Seattle to San Francisco without being charged a drop fee. You ask- How much can that really be you cheap-ass? First of all, I am not a cheap-ass! Where do you get off calling me that? I tip very well when I go out! And, I am wiling to pay the extra fifty-cents for name brand products when I know that they are a better quality! So there. Anyway, the drop charge is $500 (I called quite a few customer service representatives to try and get this taken off- it didn't work). Hence, the driving back to Seattle. It's not so bad- we get to see the beautiful mountainous interior of Washington, Oregon, and Northern California, as well as the coastal regions of all three states! You can still call me crazy if you like!

I would just like to add that my little white-faced cockatiel Zoe (or Zo bird) sat quietly on my shoulder the whole time I was typing this post, rubbing on my ears and neck! What a cutie! More on the most awesome bird in the world next time, on a co-post with her best friend Franklin (the most superior cat in the world- sorry Tinker and Gabe).

Here we go...

Here' s my very first post! I have no idea what I'm doing. I hope all of this looks okay so far. I have a few posts planned for the next few days:

1. My upcoming vacation to the West Coast!
2. Tribute to Zoe and Franklin!
3. Top Ten of My Reasons to Make an Appointment with a Psychologist! (Yeah, I am probably slightly insane.)

I think that this site is going to be very therapeutic for me. It'll be a nice stress reliever at the end of my irritating work day.