You are currently browsing the Peter Miller’s Blog weblog archives for August, 2007.
- ABC Wednesday (1)
- Day To Day (43)
- The Boss I Mean LynM (1)
- 15/09/2007: This Blog Has Moved To Blogger
- 13/09/2007: The Time Has Come To Move To Blogger
- 11/09/2007: ABC Wednesday. H Is For Heverything I Could Put A Twist On
- 06/09/2007: Been Having A Think
- 06/09/2007: Blogroll Update
- 05/09/2007: ABC - Wednesday, "G" Is For Glacier
- 31/08/2007: Drawing To A Close
- 29/08/2007: Update 28.08.07
- 26/08/2007: On Board
- 24/08/2007: Wow Factor
Archive for August 2007
Drawing To A Close
31/08/2007 by Peter Miller.
Three or is it four days left, I can’t remember. Yesterday was Skagway, one of the far out posts in Alaska and the place where the Klondyke gold rush started in 1898. This place has to be seen, it is like stepping back to that very time. The original houses still exist and the atmosphere is spoilt only by automobiles and modern clothes. We went to a wild west show about a guy called Soapy Smith (look him up on Wiki). He was the number one gangster Mafia type of his time.
The Klondyke and Yukon are approx 500 miles away from Skagway and the intrepid gold hunters had to endure a mighty struggle to reach the gold in Dawson City. Of the 100,000 potential gold diggers only about 30 of these managed to keep their loot and make a comfortable life, most of them never made it to their destination having to cross glaciers and snow filled mountains, with the snow sometimes reaching a depth of 100 feet.
There are no doctors in Skagway, if you are ill, tough sh**. There is only one major food store and the place is cut off for some months during the winter.
At the moment we are somewhere in the north pacific having recently visited Glacier Bay, an awe inspriring landscape if ever you saw one and we were also duly entertained by a couple of Orcas (not the beasties from Lord Of the Rings), killer whales as you may know them.
Just finished one of my JD and cokes and potentially going for another. The cruise part ends on Saturday, we will be travelling up Prince William Sound and College Fjord tomorrow. Saturday we will disembark in Whittier and after some sight seeing move on for an overnight stop in Anchorage. A flight to Vancouver and then back home to good Old Blighty. Then a little later a beer or two down one of the locals, probably yours Mike to spin a few yarns and spit into the spitoon.
After that, I, we have to sift through many photos and about 3 hours of film to condense and put together my DVD epic and to upload the photos to Flickr.
TTFN
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Update 28.08.07
29/08/2007 by Peter Miller.
We have been on the ship now for 3 days and of course we have got off a coupl or three times.
First stop was Ketchikan, here we visited a first nations village called Saxman, there are approx 400 natives living here some work at the village which is not technically a reserve. The natives were moved to here from their place of origin, the name of which escapes me at the moment.
We then walked up Creek Street which was originally the red light district of Ketchikan, the original houses still exist and are built on stilts into the creek. Here you are able to smell the stench of the rotting salmon which have died after spawning and breeding, pleasant! Besides that it was possible to view thousands of potential breeding salmon tryinjg to swim upstream.
Of course, one has to sample the local brew and this occured at a place called Mike’s Elbow Room, here one could sample the flavour of the beer as well as the flavour of the Alaskan atmosphere. The brew that was sampled was Alaskan Amber Ale and Alaskan Summer Ale. Both of these are 5% in volume and blow the socks off some of the UK slop. Mike S don’t tell Mick Broadway!
Obviously we did a few more things at Ketchikan, next stop was Juneau (today). The first stop was Macauley salmon Hatchery (sounds boring but was in fact quite interesting). Next was the Mendenhall Glacier, a superb example of one of Alaska’s finest tourist attractions and natural beauty spot. Got some great photos and even managed to snap a couple of brown bears, albeit from a fair distance but with the old zoom lens I managed to capture something that looks like a bear.
Next we went to Green Angel Gardens in the Tongass National Forest for a spot of native plant spotting and lunch which consisted of a cinnamon muffin and herbal tea. Then we went to the Alaskan State Museum for an hour of cultural activity. Of course one, once again, had to sample another couple of beers in the infamous Original Red Dog Saloon (now in its original 3rd location). Prior to the beer stop we visited the Taku, Juneau Harley Davidson store to top up on some biker clothing (ok ok I know I don’t have a Harley but the clothes are better than the bikes).
Within the next hour we are off to do some whale spotting (primarily humpback and killer whales). One hopes, one will manage to get some decent photographs.
Next stop tomorrow is Skagway, I will update on this within the next couple of days. Before I say adieu I would just like to mention the weather (as we are British). It has been superb with blue skies and abnormal temperatures for this time of year.
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On Board
26/08/2007 by Peter Miller.
Finally, we are on the ship, though we did not wish to rush the land part of the tour.
It has so far all been very wonderful with unbelievable scenery and some quick glimpses of the various wildlife that abounds here.
On board we spotted some whales this morning, not sure what they were, killer I think.
First and second day on board will be time to relax before the various excursions we have booked. First stop tomorrow is ketchikan, can’t remeber what we are doing but will post later.
The weather is good, the food is excellent and most of the people we have met are ok. Although, some people seem a little wary, specially when I am wearing my bandana and shorts. That is up to them. Ok, so I look like a columbian cocaine magnate.
Tata for now.
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Wow Factor
24/08/2007 by Peter Miller.
Just a few words here, I will update from the ship.
What can I say, it’s all fantastic, the scenery is beyond belief. Banff, Lake Louise, chairlift, Glaciers, animals, bears, eagles, Jasper, Kamloops, all this and more, friendly faces, friendly people, great food, good beer, fairly cheep and the weather is currently 90 degrees. Oh yes rafting too, down the Athabasca River. Also a snow coach ride and a walk on the Athabasca Glacier.
Just got off the Rocky Mountaineer train and currently enjoying a few beers. At the end of the day you have to experience it to appreciate it. We are in cowboy country and the music is good too, plenty rock and country rock.
Catch up soon
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Calgary And Banff
21/08/2007 by Peter Miller.
Arrived Calgary 10.30 your time (UK). Calgary is 8 hours behind. All the baggage arrived as well which was a bit of a bonus. Stayed at the Westin Hotel 4th Avenue, quite a nice hotel with the biggest bed you have ever seen, it comes with a map. Took a few photographs, had a walk around, went up the Calgary Tower which is 525 metres high. Some great views and it has a glass floor which we managed to teeter onto, very unnerving when you are looking down.
Today 20th August we went to Banff. This is now starting to look like the Canada that is in the picture postcards, very beautiful, weather has been ok mainly, just a few spots of rain. I have manged to upload one photo to Flickr of the Bow River, the computer I am using or the internet service failed to upload any more, i.e. it could not cope. The link for the photo is http://www.flickr.com/photos/petermiller/1187487253/
The hotel we are staying in in Banff is the Banff Caribou Lodge, this hotel is very very nice and we have a balcony. We have used the gym, spa and steam room , therefore we are making the most out of the money we have spent.
Ok, now it is time to hit the bar and get some food, I already managed a Wild Boar Burgere so the next meal will have to be light, got to keep some soace for the ale.
Kokanee and Molson Canadian beers are the flavour of the moment, 5 percent and better tasting that the usual UK slop.
One thing I feel I have to mention is that Canadian people are very friendly and will go out of their way to please you with nothing being too much trouble.
See you soon, watch this space.
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Heathrow and waiting
19/08/2007 by Peter Miller.
I thought it best to get here early, so we have arrived 4 hours before take off. Due to the eco warriors there is a heavy police presence so really it was a good idea.
The place is packed and it’s not really worth terminal hopping because as usual it is pouring down with rain.
So far everything is running like clockwork and fingers and toes are crossed. It is going to be a long 9 hours. We will leave at 12.30, arrive 9.30 pm our time which I think is around 2 pm Canada time. Therefore we will have to live some of the day again, does that mean we live longer?
Message coming over the tannoy. Can the person who has left an unattended brown suitcase by the Turkish check in please collect their luggage otherwise it will be destroyed. One born every minute.
These internet cafes are great, one can while away sometime. For some reason though certain sites are restricted. I was looking for a “pawn” shop in case we run out of money and this message came up “Access Denied”, I wonder why.
Whoever left his suitcase has not yet collected it and the tannoy lady is sounding more and more frantic.
Oh well! Time to go, will hopefully catch up in Canada. TTFN
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Just enjoying a few beers
18/08/2007 by Peter Miller.
It’s raining, it’s pouring, and so am I, that is some guiness down my neck.
Sitting in the Master Robert Best Westen in Hounslow. This place is on the direct flight route of Heathrow. How do I know? You can almost touch the planes going over, one at least every 30 seconds, pretty impressive really.
Well, this is only a brief note because I am going back to the bar.
Tomorrow is the big day, should be taking off about 12.30 as long as the eco boys and girls don’t do anything stupid. Catch you soon
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Nearly The Big Day
16/08/2007 by Peter Miller.
Well the time is almost upon Lyn and myself to depart this cold island and head for a 2 week Canadian and Alaskan adventure. We sure are looking forward to it. Been waiting for this weekend for some time and at the same time not wishing our lives away.
I will hopefully at some stage while we are over there be able to upload some photos and try to update this blog. The ship has a rather large internet suite that we can hopefully utilise.
I have now almost completed organising and archiving my family photographs, now running into the thousands (scanned, cropped and cleaned). Tedious is not the word but in my opinion worth the time I have spent.
Just have a bag load of other photos to archive now. While going through my collection I came upon some photographs I have taken at various battle re-enactments over the past few years. I have uploaded to Flickr the ones I believe are the best of the bunch.
Please take a look: Battle re-enactments
It may be best to view it as a slide show.
I have uploaded the originals and then uploaded originals with a little bit of sepia toning to try and make them look like they were taken years ago.
Here is an example, I really like this shot, it has atmosphere and looks like it could be directly from WWII. Take a look at the commanding officer, don’t you think there is a little Mel Gibson about him.
Ok, time to be off now but before I go, for anyone that wants to try this trick using photoshop, here are the simplest instructions I could find:
Here’s How:
- Open the image in Photoshop.
- If the image is in color, go to Image > Adjust > Desaturate and skip to step 4.
- If the image is in grayscale go to Image > Mode > RGB Color.
- Go to Image > Adjust > Variations.
- Move the Fine<-->Coarse slider down one notch less than the middle.
- Click on More Yellow once.
- Click on More Red once.
- Click OK.
Tips:
- Use the Save… button in the Variations dialog to save the sepia tone settings. The next time you want to use it, just load the saved settings.
- Use Desaturate and experiment with Variations to apply other color tints to your photos.
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In addition to last post
13/08/2007 by Peter Miller.
If anyone is interested I have added some photos to Flickr of recent trips to the Lake District.
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Eco Freaks On The Loose
13/08/2007 by Peter Miller.
One more week or less now to go before we get on the big bird and head for the polar bears. Bet this week goes slow, still plenty to do though, like start packing.
We are stayng in Hounslow on Saturday and make our way to Heathrow on Sunday for an afternoon flight.
Due to a minority (around 2,000 protesters) of eco freaks we will have to get to the airport much earlier than necessary. I hope that there are not any real problems. (See the news story below)
Click here for story
So, there you have it eco freaks on the loose. Obviously these people have no jobs as they are able to spend so much time protesting, probably can’t afford to go on holiday on a plane so they will try to mess it up for everyone else. I just hope it is all low key.
On a positive note I think there is someone out there who wishes to employ me in a full time job. WATCH THIS SPACE
Below is just a bit of info with regards to the plane we are flying out on, newest one in the fleet.
| Current Air Canada Fleet |
| Boeing 777-300ER (77W) |
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Interior Specifications:
Special Features for Accessibility:
Technical Characteristics:
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