Month: June 2025

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Rivers of Ice

While cruising in Alaskan waters, I discovered rivers of solid ice, sometimes thousands of feet thick! I call them “glaciers” and arranged for a helicopter ride at once for a closer examination.

I really should have been an arctic explorer. I think I rather look the part.
My mighty steed ready to carry me to the river of ice.
Glacial overboots. Very fashion-forward, everyone is wearing on the glacier.
The soles of the boots with the little metal studs that bite into the ice.
Glacial run-off. The intensity of the blue ice is incredible. It really is that bright blue, no photoshopping or anything!
The Heart of Alaska.
The river of ice meets the sea.
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Seattle

I made a quick inspection trip to Seattle, on my way to intercept the Queen Elizabeth, a Cunard liner. Seattle is very nice…a sort of clean and non-hostile San Francisco.

I visited the iconic Space Needle. Am amazed they could build it in less than a year. One wonders what corners were cut to achieve that!
Pie in the sky? They called it pie, but, as you can see, it is not a wedge. Pie is served in wedges. Tasty, though, despite their misnomering.
This is Dale Chihuly, manager of a glass factory. There is an exhibit of his products at Seattle Center, near the Space Needle.
At Chihuly’s factory, they make many bowls like these. Pretty, I suppose, from a certain perspective. Lacking in utility and not dishwasher safe.
Luckily, Chihuly manufactures decorative forest adornments, compensating for Nature’s lack of beauty.
I discovered a transit vehicle—a sort of train—called a “monorail.” Weirdly, it has only a single track, like a unicycle train! Engineers are still trying to work out how it maintains its balance. Most trains require two, sometimes three, tracks.
Seattletonians specialize in odd structures like this one. The inexplicable lack of straight walls and right angles leads to an inefficient use of interior volume. Wasteful!