Re: Where\'s Doug Been?
We went on a 7-day cruise on Holland America.
Flew SWA from PHX to SEA, rented a car, drove to YVR and hopped on the "Ryndam"
First night was at sea. (eat, drink, eat eat eat)
Second night was through the inside passage of British Columbia (eat, drink, eat eat eat). We hung out with a group of Australian 20-somethings, discovered that you don't want to drink anything in the ship's bar called "Wang Wang" because you'll have a monstorous hangover -- and you cure that hangover by "...hey mate, get some toast, spread vegamite, butt-tah, vegamite and eat it quick" (eat, drink, eat eat eat, drink)
Third day we docked in Ketchikan, AK. We took a flightseeing tour of Misty Fjords which was absolutely KILLER. Our floatplane pilot was a UPS 747 SO/ex-National on "extended leave". (eat, drink, eat eat eat, drink)
Fourth day we docked in Sitka, AK. We went on a semi-submersible boat with a glass bottom and checked out all of the sea life. Holy crap there's a lot of stuff down there!
Also, toured a tidal pool and saw lots of starfish, sea cucumbers and crabs almighty. (eat, drink, eat eat eat, drink)
Fifth day we docked in Juneau, AK. Went on a excursion and saw lots of whales, sea lions fighting over a buoy and enough bald eagles that I'm more than convinced that you could swing a bat anywhere in AK and hit about fifty per swing. There are probably more bald eagle in AK than there are pigeons in NYC. (eat, drink, eat eat eat, drink)
Sixth day we docked in Haines, AK. It was a cool, almost New England-style village and I guess we were one of the first cruise ships that docked there. Very cool. (eat, drink, eat eat eat, drink)
Seventh day we stopped about a half mile from Hubbard Glacier. Apparently, it's one of the most active glaciers in the world and the sound of the 'calving', the sight of large chunks breaking off every minute and the humongous SPLASH with the resulting waves rocking the ship was fantastic. 400 feet tall peaks on the glacier, WOW!
Eigth we disembarked in Seward, AK, had a three hour bus tour enroute to Anchorage. Didn't really have any big plans (or ideas) how to get back to PHX. We didn't want to wait around ANC until midnight for the Delta flight so I bought Kristie an "ID-90" on Alaska Airlines ANC-SEA and a "ID-90" on SWA SEA-PHX and got home before the Delta flight even left! Woo! I just did the jumpseat thing but got to sit with her.
I HIGHLY suggest going to Alaska before you're an old fart.
Heck, if I were looking at building flight time, I'd head up and fly float planes! That floatplane pilot has the coolest job on earth and I got to see more real "flying" in 1 1/2 hours than I've seen my last 7 years of being an airline pilot. It's a big reminder that I'm more of a systems engineer than a pilot -- that turbine Beaver is slicker than anything. I even got to sit in the cockpit during the trip, what a treat!