TUESDAY AND IT IS BACK TO THE REAL WORLD

Home again, home again jigity jog...(from my childhood). Back to reality. It feels weird to type my blog without the sense of urgency of each minute costing me bucks and the minutes flying by so fast.

My trip was so wonderful I can barely take it in. I will go again if I can ever save up the money...lol! I was right Alaska is the most beautiful state in the union. There is still so much I want to tell y'all about and things I want to show you. I guess I should start at the beginning and go through the whole trip with pics and more detail...

Day one in Seattle was amazing. After checking into the hotel Angela called. She said Matt and herself would pick us up at the hotel and we would go to lunch. I loved meeting them. Angela is beautiful inside and out. Matt has a gruff, fisherman exterior with a heart of gold. They are both funny, warm and down to earth people. My two friends have never even seen one episode of DC, but can not wait to see it now and are already fans. They had the time of their lives and we all said we could have gone home at that point happy. After picking us up Matt drove through some sights in Seattle. I told him that my daughter had two children and couldn't come and was dying back home in Texas because I was there (not literally dying). He said, well get her on he phone! I called and handed him the ringing phone. When Stephanie (or Dutch as they call here on the Northwestern Forum) answered Matt said, Your mom just paid me $5 to say I was Matt Bradly from Deadliest Catch...what is deadliest catch anyway? She was stumbling because she totally recognized his voice. He died laughing. Then I heard him say something like your mom and these gals don't know where I am taking them, but...and I saw the Northwestern right in front of me!! I kinda squealed...Steph said she heard me through the phone. OMG! It was amazing. Angela and Matt were laughing. My friends were kinda in the dark, but they appreciate the boat now and would know it anywhere.

We drove on and went to the Lockspot for the most delicious Cod I have ever eaten. We took pics, Matt graciously signed autographs for other people in the bar and I was just in a dream state...like pinch me, I can't believe this is really happening. We had a wonderful lunch. I enjoyed visiting with Angela so much. She showed us pics of their beautiful children. She is just the sweetest person you would ever hope to meet. And her and Matt are so much in love. I am so happy to call them my friends. After we left there Matt drove us back to the Northwestern and we went out on the pier and took photos and talked about his home away from home. Needless to say I was in hog heaven. We talked about the senior Mr. Hansen and what wonderful influence he was in Matt's life. It was really touching. I know that Matt loves the Hansen's just like his own family...in a way they are family.
At this point I had gotten so much more than I had ever hoped for and thought they were taking us back to the hotel, but they had other ideas. Matt drove to the Sea Star docked at Fisherman's Terminal. They had been at a Make A Wish function before they picked us up and we didn't want to impose on their time. We said you have been so sweet, please don't feel like you need to do more. They said, we are not shy and would take you back to the hotel if we weren't enjoying ourselves. We were like OK. WooHoo! We visited the Sea Star and saw the Fisherman's Memorial. It was a beautiful sculpture.

After this Matt drove us to Pike's Market (where we wanted to shop a little) to say our goodbyes. There were hugs all around and promises to keep in touch, thank yous, etc. Someone recognized Matt and said I am going to act like a big dork and ask for a pic with you. Matt said, no you are not a dork and I'd be happy to take a pic with you...so sweet. I said, Oh Matt I forgot to ask for a pic of your tatt from LA Ink. Ewe, he was happy to show us his tatt. I got some cool pics. We once again said good bye. We had such a blast that we hated to leave them. Am I the luckiest Northwestern Fan in the world or what??

Day two tomorrow. Sindee