Alaska, land of ...well, never mind.

Somewhere in our 4th year of marriage, Mr. Kat Lady and I got a wild hair up our butts about seeing the world, and working in new places. Starting over, really. Well, yeah, not so much, as you will soon see...

It was on the plane ride from Seattle to Anchorage that I began to have my doubts. I was scared out of my mind. How were we, two podunk midwesterners going to survive Alaska...IN THE WINTER!  Needless to say, that thought was too little too late. We landed in Alaska and the scariest and most messed up adventure of our lives began.

It was around 8 pm local time, and the airport was crowded with vacationers returning home and workers flying out to the crab, lobster, and salmon boats. We stuck out like sore thumbs. Luckily, we were rescued by a taxi driver. We instructed him to the hotel we were set to manage, and a short time later arrived at a three story, tow up from the flow up, massive motel.  The name alone gives me pause these days...The Big Timber.

What our new boss had neglected to tell us before we left the land of Oz was that he was adding a strip club to the back of the motel. Oh, and have I mentioned the mirrors? EVERYWHERE. It was my job to scrub them down every day and make sure all the rooms were comfortable for the "clients."

It wasn't long and our ethics cost us the job. We were now homeless in Alaska, as we had been staying in the motel until we found a place. Luckily we had made a few friends who helped us find a hotel room for a couple nights so we could call home and ask to be rescued. Another friend found out we were missing from the motel and spent two days going all over Anchorage looking for us. He drove us to the airport and made sure we got home safely. (Thanks Guardian Angel John! You made some awesome crab salad!)

We had lasted all of a month in Alaska.  When we got home we made a pact to always stay where we were doing well, and travel for vacations only. So why do you all care about this story? Well the moral of the story is: When trapped in foreign lands, follow the yellow brick road home. Someday I'll tell you all about the porn superstore that was a block from The Big Timber.

To taking CALCULATED risks, and sometimes failing,

Love and Laughter,
-Kat Lady

The Nori Incedent. (FBI Follies with Kat Lady)

So you're probably wondering how I'm posting this when I don't have a laptop and I am out and about in that city, doing that thing. Well, I won't even try to hide it...I actually wrote this post on Thursday night. Also tomorrow's and Shirley Sunday.

I hope you don't feel cheated, but I really didn't want y'all to have to go without me for a whole 3 DAYS!  So yeah, I have spent the greater part of Thursday and today packing for our trip. I discovered Mr. Kat Lady and I have obviously different packing styles.

Mr. Kat Lady likes to shove it all in the bag haphazardly and hope for the best. Having learned my lesson while packing for a month in Korea, I tend toward the roll it or fold it method.That's how I packed 31 days of clothing, toiletries and shoes into the 2 bags that came with me to Korea. It's also how I have managed to get all of our clothes into one large bag and 2 back packs.

You know, thinking of Korea and packing, I have a funny story...

My host mother was nothing if not efficient. She carefully took note of those things she cooked that I liked, and those I did not. I may have been a little overzealous about my love for her homemade nori. (the seaweed wrap around sushi) She also was not shy. She had no problem going through my things while I was off teaching or sight seeing. I imagine it was a curiousity of America or some such thing. I had nothing to hide. The night before we left, the American teachers went out for one last night on the town. I had packed before leaving the house, so when I got home, I laid down and rested until it was time to go. I really REALLY should have looked in my bags, because there was a slight problem. (On a side note, I had been treated for thyroid problems with Radioactive Iodine just 2 weeks before we left, and had been stopped by the FBI in Minneapolis on the way there because I set off their detectors. I got to go on only when I showed the doctor's note and they called him.) When we got to Minneapolis on the way back, I was once again accosted by the men in suits and sunglasses and taken aside. "You are setting off our radioactivity meters, and we need to find out why." I told them about the treatment, and being stopped on the way to Korea also. Once again they called my doctor and got the okay.  Right as they were moving me on, they decided to search my bag.  Suddenly there was a commotion. They pulled two freezer bags of an unknown leafy green substance from my luggage. I knew right away what had happened, and hurried over to explain myself. It seems my host mother had seen how much I loved here nori, and wanted me to have some to take home with me.  Because it was in my checked luggage until Minneapolis it had taken a beating, reducing it to green shreds. Very Mary Jane looking green shreds. They confiscated it, and I was not allowed to move on until it had been tested. I ended up barely making the next flight, and could not get out of there fast enough. I'm probably on a no fly list somewhere...

To checking your luggage before you check your luggage,

Love and Laughter,
-Kat Lady