Some just talk about living life to the fullest. But you, my friend, LIVE it! What a great story. And happy birthday to your SD.
Happy Birthday pops you got a lot to be proud of.
JennyM...I think Tom Waits would have been cooler though.
How Cool! Jimmy Buffett! Happy Birthday SD!
What a great story, what a great step Dad (Happy Birthday SD), and what a lucky girl you are.
I felt the same way about my Step Mom when she joined our family. What a tough gig being a step parent. BTW love your blog just started reading.
That is one of the nicest thinks you could have said about him.
And thanks for describing Alaska, as I want to go there next summer, maybe it will come true!
Awww and a lovely tribute to your SD (which is not your SD card, lovely though that may be).
Great story and Happy Birthday to your SD. I would love to visit Alaska someday...it just looks so beautiful!
What a cool story. I actually grew up north of Seattle in Snohomish county, and my cousins grew up in Alaska. My grandpa used to spend summers on the fishing boats out there. That picture is truly amazing. Happy birthday to your step dad!
Oh, happy birthday to your step-dad! What a gorgeous town and how very chic and grown up of your 18 year old self to order a White Russian.
Jimmy Buffet and I are from the same home town technically. He was not born there, but grew up there. I was born there, but did not grow up there. My parents both live there now and most of the rest of my family. Once when we visited when I was a teenager, I was down on the beach with some cousins and there on the beach, with a campfire and a guitar was Jimmy Buffet. WHAT? He was there with some friends who lived on the water front (but thankfully did not have a private beach) and was incredibly gracious. We were invited to sit around the fire and join in on the singing. I've seen him in concert a few times, but it was never as awesome as sitting on the beach.
That is an awesome story! We were thinking of renting a house for 2 weeks in Alaska next summer with the kids.
A. Thats so sweet! I never liked my step dad, and this makes me a little jealous!
B. I ♥ Jimmy. Parrothead fo life!
C. Happy birthday to your awesome dad!
Cool story you got here. I'd like to read a bit more about this theme. Thanks for sharing this information.
So glad you had this chance to experience this. I have lived remotely before too--it really does teach you to look at the world a bit differently. Happy bday SD!
And MAJORLY SWEET that you experienced that!!
loved this post - thank you !
A lovely tribute and story and how awesome to have seen JB in an intimate setting. Those moment are what life is all about.
Happy birthday to your SD! What an amazing post - I have seen JB front row at Nissan Pavillion, but something tells me that this Alaskan bar trumps that by 1,000,000. Great story - sweet post.
Great story and happy birthday to your SD!
Sounds pretty amazing! Happy Birthday to your SD!
Jimmy Buffett is the best! I am so jealous! Happy Birthday SD!
What a great story and great bonding moment. There's is nothing like JB to bring people together!
Okay, that was super cool.
My step-daughter said when she was about 8, "Divorce is great. You get more people to love you. More grandpa's and grandma's and just more."
It is true if you let it be so.
You have a great SD. Happy Birthday to him!!!
Alaska is definitely on my list of places to go ASAP!
What a very cool story and wonderful tribute to your stepdad.
That's an AWESOME story!! especially the part where you ask for a White Russian and get a Bud. Gold.
Great Story, especially going from "I-Know-better" to "Don't-go-to-far-Daddy" I'm the same with my SD, and tipping a few with him is a favorite memory!
What a wonderful way to celebrate your Dad's birthday.
Happy birthday to your SD.
Jimmy Buffet? I am so jealous. Nice that you have a great relationship with your SD.
What a great experience. Reminds me of the time I didn't meet the Rolling Stones.
fun times!! i love that you're so close with SD...i'm the same with mine!!
What a cool experience. Happy birthday, SD!
Nice story...very sweet at the end too. It looks like a beautiful place.
Awww Happy Birthday to your SD!! I would love love to spend some time in Alaska. And to see Jimmy Buffett!!! Sounds just amazing.
I have a sister in Alaska, and I have never been there! I need to use her as an excuse and get my behind up there. It does look quite beautiful.
Love this J Mac! When you talk about those college years I'm right there at WSU with you ...my pals & I went through a massive White Russian phase my sophomore year and all gained 20 pounds! I've never forgiven WR's since--never gone near another!
Happy Birthday SD!!! I can only imagine what an experience that was for you at 18 - how cool!!
Great story! I've always wanted to go to Alaska and now one of my closest friends is moving there in a few months. I hear men outnumber women like 50 to 1 there. Amazing.
happy birthday to SD. He sounds very cool.
What a fabulous story! I cannot believe that quaint looking little blue barn is a crazy bar!
What a sweet tribute to SD! I too have a SD like this! I love it when I hear others have the same great experience as I have had. Anyone who ever says that someone can't love you as much just because it isn't biological certainly has not had this great gift!
Personally not a Jimmy Buffet fan, but I am a fan of great memories.
And the fact that you get along so well with SD - that says alot in my book.
I didn't know this cute story was going to make me teary at the end!! Love it. happy Birthday SD!
What a great birthday card for your SD! I love the story, I love Jimmy Buffett!
Stopped by from SITS. have a great day!
How awesome is THIS story? The Elbow Room? The Aleutians? Jimmy Buffett from 3 feet away? Wow! I'm impressed, and that's getting harder and harder to do after reading your blog.
Not only am I spiritually satiated with yet another humdinger of an anecdote, now all the sudden I have a line on a rather good beer joint in Alaska. Awesome. Thanks a million.
That is awesome. Some of the best times I ever had were at Buffett concerts. That had to have been a once in a life time experience. And that bar totally reminds me of the FloraBama...ever been there?
Fantastic story! I'm glad you shared it, because it made me smile.
Awwww, dangit, JennyMac :). These posts always choke me up a little! I hope your Dad has a wonderful b-day!
Also, when you say like Roadhouse but less tame, do you mean that *two* dudes had their throats ripped out? Cause holy crap, that's pretty rowdy!
That is so sweet! The part about how you feel about your SD I mean. What a gift to have someone in your life who obviously must have relished his role.
Great story! I've always wanted to go to Alaska.
what a cool tribute and birthday present! happy birthday to the SD! i always wanted to visit alaska...and jimmy rocks!
OMG, what a really fantastic memory, how cool are you??!!
What a lovely thing to say about your SD...beautiful.
Not everyone has a good relationship with stepparents, but I am so glad to hear that you're recounting such wonderful tales of the time you spent together. I wish I had positive things to say about the people my parents have chosen since they divorced. Happy Birthday, SD!
What a great post. I can only imagine how thrilling it was to be there that night.
And happy birthday to your SD. He sounds like a great guy.
Awesome story! I love the White Russian you got! Happy Birthday to your SD!!!
What a wonderful tribute to a terrific stepdad...without being all syrupy and gooey. This is also a great post about Alaska. Are your parents still there?
Wow, THAT'S the infamous Elbow room?!?! It's kinda cute in a barnish kinda way. And the hillside makes it look all peaceful. Anyway, great story and Happy B-day Daddymac!
This looks like Jimmy Buffet's kind of place! Seeing him is on my "bucket list". I am sure your good attitude, has a lot to do with having a great step dad--it takes two :) !!
How awesome is it that you have such a great relationship with your SD?!
We went to Alaska a couple years ago....mesmerizing!
I cannot begin to adequately express my jealousy at you getting to see Jimmy that close!
That is so sweet that you had such a great SD! Very rare, as I'm sure you know!
happy bday to your SD!
what an amazing and crazy experience. was the rest of the summer equally unpredictable? Happy bd to SD!
Aw! This was such a cute story! Your SD sounds awesome, and Alaska is a place I'd LOVE to go to!
Everything about that story makes me envious. The isolation, The scenery, the age, everything. To me that sounded like a Cheeseburger in Paradise!
By the way! Happy Birthday to your Step Dad. I have a stepdad who is very special also.
What a nice little twist at the end! And here I thought this was just another one of your hilarious (and extremely well-written) stories.
What an amazing story! I love Jimmy Buffet and have always wanted to visit Alaska. The best of both! Happy Birthday SD.
When I am exhausted at the end of my day and I am in need of a good read I know I can come to your blog and be entertained. I love this story! Happy Bday to your SD!
You got to see the Dude.
I really, really loved this post. The story itself was really cool, and when you wished your SD a happy birthday, it brought a tear to my eye. Nicely done.
Jimmy Buffett! Wasting away again in Margaritaville is one of my favourite classics. How cool!
I love your story about a favourite memory with your Dad. Very entertaining.
While Jimmy Buffett makes me cringe and shake, I am a sucker for father/daughter moments. Sweet.
Hysterical post and then you whollop me with the tear-jerker ending! ;-) Happy b-day to SD...you are so lucky to have each other!
Here I am, all ready to snark on your cocktail du jour, and you go and make me all misty.
Damn you, JennyMac. Damn you.
p.s. At 18, I thought Brandy Alexanders were tres chic. *sigh* Now they've gone from sophistication to stripper name.
Awe! I have a second dad too! My first one was....not so great. Second dads rock! Happy Birthday! and I love your pics of Alaska! You should post more of these. I've always wanted to travel there!
Oh how fun that must have been. I saw Jimmy Buffet at MSG, last and highest row in the place and it was still a blast.
I thought your parents lived in Seattle. Do they have 2 homes? I ask because you mention you were there for your high school reunion.
Now I really want to go to Alaska.
Gorgeous pictures. An before you said "not a priss" I was totally picturing Sandra Bullock in that movie where she goes to Alaska w/ her 'admin' (the hotness that is Ryan Reynolds)...I've always wanted to go to Alaska. Sigh.
Happy Belated to your dad.
You have me beat. All I saw was Deep Blue Something in a bar in Texas in 1999, after they started to wane. It wasn't spectacular; they didn't even play "Breakfast at Tiffany's."
Love the story. In military circles I associated with, the cold cold of the Aleutian Islands can be similar to being banished to Siberia.
I hope this series continues so we can learn more about your summer up there--like with the grizzly bear wrestling and related.
I loved this post. I'm from the Seattle area, too, and know quite a few people from Alaska. When I had a chance to visit, I was struck by its beauty. This is a lovely tribute to your SD.
Oh, Happy Birthday, SD! You've obviously endeared yourself to JennyMac in so very many ways... but I'm imagining the under-age drinking probably pushed you into the zone...taking her to hear Jimmy Buffett in a run-down blue shack that looks like it should be part of some long-ago-abandoned turkey farm in NowhereVille was just pure genius. What an excellent memory!
great toast to your SD....I would love to go to a bar in Alaska, the closest I've gotten is the Adirondack's, where my in laws live...and they've got some interesting shacks, I mean bars as well!
I enabled my email for you!
Awesome story. My husband loves Buffet, but I don't really like him. Parrotheads are HUGE in Cincinnati. I recently tried the beer he markets, Landshark I think. It was watery and not good.
Today is my dad's 70th birthday!
I can't believe you got to listen to JB only three feet away.
I was born in Alaska...I'd like to go back and see it one day, since my family left when I was two.
Oh, that is such a cool story, JennyMac!
JM you sure have had some cool times girl, and your SD sounds great!
All fixed at my place, thanks for reminding me, I meant to link it a while back.
Beautiful story dear and Happy Birthday to SD. He is a cool guy!
You do some awesome birthday posts.
I swear you can have more fun in places that are less than tame. It's great to take a walk on the wild side even if it's for the sake to later recall the adventure.
He sounds like a very koool (step)dad.
whoa what a very nice tribute to your SD.
And, I"m so jealous. Jimmy Buffet from 3 feet away? You were close enough to see his wrinkles and liver spots close up! Just kidding.
Great story. I love Buffet! And, of all random coincidences, my parents lived in Kodiak, Alaska for their first 2 years of marriage. I could have been an Eskimo baby!
My distaste for Mr. Buffett is well documented, but even I loved this one.
Happy belated SD! I love this story.
Have you seen The Proposal? They go to remote Alaska... it's so beautiful! How cool that your rents live there!
What an awesome story! No wonder you love your dad! Happy Birthday to him!
What a wonderful memory. I hope you shared this blog with your SD... but I am guessing he already knows.
Awe! What a great story! Happy birthday to your SD!
this is an old post but so good! one of my dear friends grew up in Juneau and she never attended a live performance of anybody famous until she left AK for college. So JB in the Islands? so amazing. And you SD? very cool but fatherly and protective. gotta love him.