As in, Diane Guerrazzi from KTVU's 10 O'Clock News. This is a photo of the back of her head, in line just ahead of me to enter the dining room on the Dawn Princess. The Dawn Princess is where I just spent 10 days on a cruise to Alaska.
Never been on a cruise before and didn't know what to expect, other than the part about living in a tiny cabin. Thankfully I had no seasickness to deal with, but there were a couple of nights I didn't sleep well thinking, Is it happening now? Are we listing? Have we just hit an iceberg?
Then there was the show the first night after dinner. Sitting in the dark theater with singers and dancers frolicking all over the stage, the same thought - This is when it happens... when we're all trapped in this dark theater, distracted by the show - this is when the hull rips open and we flip over and Shelly Winters flies through the stained glass ceiling...
Of course that didn't happen, but it could have. Anything can happen. I like to be prepared for all possibilities. But what I wasn't prepared for was seeing Diane Guerrazzi at a shop in Ketchikan.
I turned around to leave the store and almost plowed her over. In that split second she seemed to recognize the look on my face that said Heeeyyyy... I know you... you're that reporter. She looked back at me with an expression that said Uh, yeah, it's me and I take vacations just like everyone else.
But it had all happened so fast, I wasn't sure if it was really her. When I got back on the boat I told everyone in my family I was sure I'd spotted her, but couldn't know if she was on our boat. There was another large cruise ship in town. As luck would have it, we saw her queue up to get back onto our boat.
The best way to find out if it's really the person you spotted is to have a family member yell her last name from the veranda then quickly duck away while you watch through your camera's zoom lens. She didn't look up, but her husband/traveling companion/personal man servant whipped his head up towards our veranda. We all ducked, giggling and feeling very proud of our detective skills.
The rest of the trip became all about tracking Diane. Is she grazing the Lido Deck buffet? Relaxing in a hot tub? Throwing craps in the casino? Walking briskly on the Promenade Deck? Doing shots at one of the many bars? Cutting a rug in the disco? So many possibilities.