re: #324 bratwurst

Been back from my Alaska cruise for about 48 hours now. Still getting used to new look here (I succeeded in staying mostly off the internets for over a week!). I miss the top/bottom 10 lists and hope they come back…or someone can direct me where to find them.

Cruise was good, only made it to the southeast (aka Alaska panhandle) but some ridiculously awesome scenery up there. The weather is dicey any time up there, we did see the sun a bit. The worst part is that each port is surrounded by two blocks of jewelry and souvenir stores that are wholly or partially owned by the cruise lines. They are truly an eyesore that don’t even provide much in the way of local jobs…a lot of the people working there run similar shops around the Caribbean all winter.

Glad to report that my health held up and I am only slightly worse for the wear since coming home.

I identify with the jewelry / souvenir stores. It’s like they are all buying from the same big catalog entitled “High Markup Crap to Sell to Tourists Who You’ll Never See Again Trading Post”