Work, work, work... haha!! 5.16.09

This was our 'transition week' - from no work to moderate work and next week we will be super busy. This week we worked 3 days again. I had my first two tours that were about as opposite as possible. The first tour were folks who appeared not to enjoy much about all I was showing them, were not interractive, & it was difficult for me to talk for 4 straight hours! Haha... I know, I've been known to talk incessantly but 4 hours straight is tough, even for me. :-) The next tour, however, was absolutely wonderful, everything I could ask for. The couple was nice, pleasant to be around, and enjoyed everything we saw & experienced. It was such a difference, I'm still a bit spellbound. I'm hoping the rest of the tours will fall in the middle - leaning towards the fun 2nd tour of mine. haha... It is cool though and we're still learning lots by the questions that are asked! Michael had two tours as well and his have been mostly in the middle. We both worked the docks one day this week, selling our tours without success. Next time!

We had a true 'you know you live in a small town' experience this week, more than usual. We went to the Post Office as we had purchased books that needed our signature and we had to pick them up there. We went up to the desk where Alice helped us, finding our package in the back room & selling us Post Card stamps. While she tallied our bill, Michael put the postage on and sent the Post Cards. It wasn't until later that evening that we realized that we forgot to address one of the postcards, and another post card was being sent to Mexico and it surely didn't have the right amount of postage. It was after 5pm when we realized it so we figured they were gonners - bummer, we would have to buy them again and get more stamps. But oh well, it was our fault! Well....the next day in our mail at the Hummer Office (where we get our mail sent to) there was an envelope with our name on it and inside were our two postcards! WOW!!! We were baffled at how she could figure our who we were! On the postcards, it only said 'Love Michael & Rene'....how did she find our last name or address?! She remembered where the package was sent to and then asked around! haha!! Yep, you truly live in a small town when you've only been in town 4 weeks and you get your post cards back. We went in and thanked her up one side and down the other but I don't think she will think twice about it. How lucky we are!

We took advantage of our day off and placed our first geocache in the area. It is a simple 'Park & Grab' in the parking lot of the Safeway but it was already found by 2 people two days later....both from a cruise ship! I will be placing more in the area while we're here - a Travel Bug hotel, a Multi or puzzle cache, etc.

On Friday, our friends Archie & Beverly from S/V Sea-tacean visited us from a Cruise ship. We know Archie & Bev from Mexico where we met them and spent some time cruising with them (Beverly showed me how to bead bracelets and was incredibly patient with all of my blunders!) and they are also from Ventura! I had to work that day but Michael got to spend a couple hours with them after they finished their tours and I met them for lunch before racing them back to the Cruise ship! It was great to see them and I can't wait to get back to Mexico for next season.

It's been a rainy week, it has rained about 4 days. Light showers two of those days, but it's been a constant rain for the past 2 days. Rain rain, go away! haha...

Tonight we attended a local production called the 'Monthly Grind', an evening of local performers and a desert social. You buy tickets for $5 each and if you bring a desert, you get a refund. It was located inside the Saxman Tribal house and there were probably 200 people there! There were about 8 performances, ranging from funny, tearjerking, amazing, tone deaf, & just plain fun. The local high school performers did a 'Men in tights' skit that was really funny,



there were performers off of the paddlewheel boat that were singing dixie songs that was absolutely spectacular, and the 'St-ART-led-Hole-in-the-wall-Salmonella' house band performed some sing-alongs that were fun as well. The coolest part of the evening though was the fact that when each act was completed, there was about 2-3 minutes of applause no matter how good or bad the performance was. The desert social was cool also - there were probably 75 different deserts to choose from and they were judged to determine the top 3 deserts, who each received a potted flower. It was a stormy evening, rain was pouring all around us but the hall was filled with conversation, laughter, & music! It is just another cool example about the area.

This week starts the busy cruise season. There will be 20 ships in this week, and the average is 25-30 until mid-September. Wanna see? Check out the 2009 Cruise Ship Schedule here...

Have a WONDERFUL week! And hope for the rain to slow down here... :-)
More to follow...
Rene & Michael