Travels Through the Yukon Territory

I crossed into the Yukon Territory today and started driving on the Alaska Highway. The name alone gave me a tiny ray of optimism that I am getting closer to my destination. Not too long after turning onto the highway, I saw an enormous bald eagle flying overhead. 

The Alaska Highway is a huge improvement from the trails I was driving on in northern British Columbia. There is actually paint on the roads and the speed limit has slightly improved. Gas stations have not been hard to come by-- I was told horror stories of trying to find gas in Canada. You just have to read the signs and be willing to get gas in places that look haunted.

I've been stopping every 2 hours or so to let the dogs out and take short walks. There was one rest stop that I swore I could hear the ocean. So we broke some brush and come out onto the beach of a gigantic beautiful lake:

My hotel was cozy. I didn't have neighbors on either side of me so the dogs weren't barking at every little noise. That was relaxing for me. The frenchies think they are guard dogs. This was also the first night Gertie didn't have any accidents. She is a dog who needs a routine and we have not had any kind of routine since the middle of July when my furniture was packed to be shipped to Alaska. There was a bar attached to my hotel, so that was convenient. I had poutine and a couple Canadian beers. I was really impressed with the Thirty Beaver beer. I don't judge the name, Canadians can't help themselves. 

I have a few more hours to drive through the Yukon tomorrow until I reach the Alaskan border. I can' wait! Canada is great, but it doesn't have shit on the US. 

Happiness Is....

Throughout my travels in Canada, I've noticed maybe two chain restaurants. Not fast food chains, but actual sit down restaurants. One is called Boston Pizza and I've made fun of the name every time I've seen it because Boston is not traditionally known for their pizza. Silly Canadians. But tonight I find myself dining in this establishment. The food is meh. But I'm going to eat it like there is a gun to my head because that's what Americans do.

Meh pasta. Good beer. 

Speaking of guns.

I'm sitting here, enjoying a beer, minding my own business and I accidentally made eye contact with a strange older gentleman across the dining area. When I accidentally made eye contact twice, I realised he was staring at me. He got up and came towards my table. I cursed Boston Pizza for being cheap and not having free wifi which forced me to glance around at other people. 

He says to me, "I was trying to read your shirt from across the bar. It says, 'Happiness is...'."

My shirt says 'happiness is a warm gun'. 1) because of the Beatles song that I love and 2) what read blooded American can't appreciate a recently used weapon!?

I didn't explain the shirt. I just read it to him. He then tells me he doesn't get it. He walked away; I breathed a sigh of relief but he turned around and came right back. "Oh, I get it, like a gun," he says to me and then made finger pistols at me.

No Sir, I really dont think you do get it. Please leave me alone.

I desperately need the internet to dine alone. 

This just doesn't add up. WTF, Canada. 

And before you ask me why the hell I was eating in a chain restaurant while traveling through a foreign country, it was the only restaurant within walking distance of my hotel that sold beer. 

Cinco de Mayo

I can get behind any holiday that supports binge eating Mexican food. 

I love Cinco de Mayo. Since it landed on a Thursday, I'm going at it light. I am way too old to gorge myself on tacos and drink roughly 64oz of Dos Equis Amber on a work night. I toned it down. To one plate of delicious Mexican food at my favorite restaurant and one 24oz beer. 

I carb splurged. I really had no choice. It was a holiday. Everyone over eats on a holiday... and I'm American. So duh, I over ate.

I have no self control, someone please save me from myself. 

Rock And Roll Night

The bar we are allowed to drink beer in on Tuesday night Pizza Night held a Rock and Roll Night this evening. Except, today is Thursday, so we were not allowed to drink. Boo.

 

We went anyway. It was pretty cute. They had a band and a DJ that strictly played 1950's rock and roll. And there was trivia to accompany it. All the waiters had 1950's waiter outfits on complete with little paper boat hats. The menu was basically the same, but everything had new 1950's names. Like the Mr Sandman Ribeye Steak and the Johnny B Goode bacon cheese burger. I had the Red River Rock Chicken Strips and onion rings. It was tasty.

 

I think any other red blooded American and Soldier would agree, this whole Rock and Roll night would have been way more awesome if we were allowed to have 3 beers. But we can't be going crazy getting beer more than once a week.... 

 

 

Our waiter was Australian and he made fun of us for not being allowed to drink.

 

Those few of us Americans that attended made the best of the situation and enjoyed ourselves. Who can pass up good food, friends and a chance to wear a skirt?

SSG DeGraf

Yesterday was Tuesday, which means it was Pizza Night in the MFO, which means it was beer night for the Americans. Every Tuesday we are allowed to have 3 beers. It might not sound like much, but we are taking baby steps to being treated like grown adults. If we can handle our beer on Pizza Night, maybe we can handle our beer on OTHER nights!

So I was out enjoying beer last night. We are only allowed to drink between the hours of 1800 and 2100. So after 2100, I didn't have any reason to be at the bar anymore. Time to go home! I walked back to my hooch, and back to wifi Internet. My phone picked up a message from James almost immediately:

 

HOLY SHIT! I am on the by name list of Soldiers being promoted to Staff Sergeant on April 1st!!

I have been stalking the HRC website for years the last week of every month waiting for promotion points to post. This is the one month I wasn't obsessively refreshing the page and it's the one month I actually made points. Beer distracted me!! I couldn't be happier that I found out the good news from my husband, though, since he won't be able to be at the promotion ceremony.

I can't believe I got picked up for Staff Sergeant before attending ALC (Advanced Leaders Course). For Medics, it's SO rare for that to happen. But I'll gladly take it, and on April 1st I'll get promoted to a rank I didn't think I'd see in 2014.

 

 

After I read the text from James, I ran down the hallway of my barracks to tell my battle buddy, Tracy. I gave her a near crazed hug and a few minutes later a whole group of NCOs were at my door hooting and hollering about my promotion.

So by having beer and pizza just before I found out, I suppose I was celebrating without even knowing it.

Cheers to FINALLY being SSG DeGraf! (That sounds so SEXY!)

Oktoberfest 2013

James and I went to Oktoberfest with a few friends on Friday night. This year it was held at the Clarksville Speedway which is just up the road from our house. We rode with some friends to the Speedway and intended to walk back so we could enjoy ourselves the way you're supposed to at Oktoberfest. I even wore my PT belt around my waist so I wouldn't get ran over on the way home. But, luckily, one of the girls we were with was 19 (is that really that lucky though?) so we had a sober ride home and didn't have to walk.

 

Oktoberfest in Clarksville, Tennessee is probably the lamest Oktoberfest in the world. Especially since there are so many Soldiers in the area who've been stationed in Germany and know what a real Oktoberfest is like. We went to get out of the house, drink big plastic steins of beer and to eat delicious bratwursts.

 

Yummy! Brats on hamburger buns!

James brought his own BIGGER plastic mug from home.

 

It was an unseasonably warm Oktoberfest this year. We probably would have stayed longer if it hadn't been so warm in the tents. I'm sure we'll go again next year if I'm already home from Egypt; those brats were super yummy and I'm not the kind of girl who turns down cold beer served in plastic.

 

 

 

Bonfire

We had some folks over to the house tonight. So we decided to build a fire in our little metal fire pit so everyone could be outside. We've had some bad experiences in the past when we party indoors with people spilling drinks all over the carpet and vomiting all over the couch (when do we get grown up friends??)... so, I have a strict rule of keeping guests outdoors if at all possible.

Tonight is a beautiful night. It's in the low seventies in Clarksville. It's cooler than it has been in weeks (unless you count the nights it storms). It's a great night to have friends over.

 

I'm also just a huge fan of having a bonfire. I think I get that from my mother. Through out my entire childhood, she was always a fire builder. I associate warm good nights with bonfires because of her. I will always appreciate that. Thanks, Mommer-- you rock!

I wish I had s'mores to make this night even better. Instead I will settle for my beer and call it good. Happy Summer!

Monday Night Dinner

For dinner this evening I made half a stick of Velveeta cheese with salsa in the crock pot. I also got a 6 pack of Killian's. Delicious. About half way through my pot of cheese and half way through my 6 pack, I started to feel sick with myself and my dinner choice. So I laid on the couch for a while and decided I needed to put some real food in me. Maybe that would make me feel better?

So, since James left for Afghanistan, I have been eating differently. I basically have been living off microwave dinners. They're not all gross actually. I've narrowed them down to a few pretty delicious ones, actually. This last time I went food shopping, I went to a different store than usual. So there were different frozen dinner varieties for me to choose from. Ooh variety!

 

I chose poorly.

 

 

Notice the fish fillet is the same shape as the dish it came in. This tipped me off immediately to not get my hopes up too high for this meal. It had a lot of dark meat in it, which I absolutely refuse to eat. Picasso enjoyed those parts, however. And the fish fillet as a whole was greasy for microwave prepared food. The mac and cheese was probably good, but I had just eaten a half log of Velveeta, so I was all cheesed out!! I give it a thumbs down and will not be buying it again.

 

In total, I've eaten cheese and beer in abundance and a few pieces of gross fish. I need to lay down again.

 

St. Louis-- Day #2

The Budweiser Brewery was on our list of things to do while we were visiting St. Louis. So we went ahead and knocked that out first. Unfortunately, getting to the brewery turned out to be quite the challenge, since unbeknown to us, St. Louis throws the 2nd biggest Mardi Gras in the country every year. Second only to the OG Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Duh.

Drunk people were everywhere, and it seemed like all roads leading to the brewery were closed. We snaked our way through downtown, with eyes on the brewery, just barely out of reach, for over 20 minutes.

The Budweiser tour was pretty cool. I remember going on it when I was a kid with my parents. And I actually remembered it quite vividly, amazingly enough. I think it was because of the horses. Or maybe it was a premonition for my love of beer as an adult.

At the end of the tour you get 2 free beers. Bonus!

And in case you were wondering, we didn't go party at the huge Mardi Gras festival. We had intentions to, but we heard from some folks that all the bars were closing around 9pm because there were too many wasted people on the streets. I bet the real Mardi Gras doesn't do that. Way to stay #2, St. Louis.

Chubby Soldier

So I don't know what the Hell happened, but I just recently noticed that I've gotten chubby. It was a sudden onset-- I never saw it coming! I'm all about having a little "junk in the trunk", but it seems I've got a U-Haul behind me nowadays.

I think the downfall to my decent figure was moving in with James. You know what happens when you're in a happy relationship: you eat together. And you stop trying to impress other members of the opposite sex so you "let it go". And by that I mean, you get drunk and eat Wendy's at 2am with your boyfriend every weekend.

It's time to start dieting.

But I can't let go of beer! I love beer! The Soldier in me is screaming, "YOU CAN'T GIVE UP BEER!" So this is what I've resorted to:

It tastes like pee and water. Why am I still drinking this?

By the way, please excuse the band aid on my thumb. I cut myself while I was chopping green onions to put in super yummy red skin mashed potatoes. Oh. Maybe I should attack my fatty cooking style before I attack my beer.

Tomorrow starts the diet. Yuck. But there is no room for a chubby girl in ACU's. I won't let that be me!