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I have booked my Houston to Seattle Amtrak cruise for the end of May, so I can hop on a cruise boat to Alaska and back. We managed to get to 40,000 points and have room C to LA and room D to Seattle. Is it May, yet???
Mike Smith Member # 447
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I'm trying to get my cruise broker to arrange for Todd and Sarah Palin to show us around Juneau when we dock there.
smitty195 Member # 5102
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Not sure if you're serious or kidding, but that would be so incredible if you were able to meet Todd and/or Sarah. They seem like such genuinely good people, and from what I've seen on their short-lived "reality" show, they really love Alaska and are very into the outdoors scene.
Henry Kisor Member # 4776
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I believe the Palins live in Wasilla outside Anchorage, hundreds of miles from Juneau. Don't think Sarah can see Juneau from there.
Mike Smith Member # 447
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I asked.... The odds are definitely NOT in my favor.
But who knows. Maybe they will have business in Juneau on June 5.
Gilbert B Norman Member # 1541
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Mr. Smith, maybe this should be taken over to Open Discussion Forum, at which both of us participate. But I ask, how well would you sleep if that woman were President of the United States?
She was "something" to round out a McCain ticket during '08, but be it assured had McCain won (I voted for him; I'm a Viet-Nam veteran and he was called upon to endure much more in the service of our country than I ever was), he would have locked her up and let her out only for the likes of the funeral for Supreme Generalissimo Patrice Lumumba from Darkest Africa, who once said "he loves America" (even if he had his meat-hook out to the Commies for his cap pistols).
smitty195 Member # 5102
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This Smith would sleep very soundly if she were the prez. And I wouldn't have had to start taking "the purple pill" from being so incredibly frustrated and upset at what the current occupant at 1600 Penn is doing.
Mike Smith Member # 447
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Mr Norman, we desperately need someone to do to DC what Sarah Palin did to Alaska in 2.5 short years! She's BTDT.
That said, she and her husband would be a hoot to meet!
Mike Smith Member # 447
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{Tap... tap... tap... tap...}
Is it Memorial Day, yet?????
{Tap... tap... tap... tap...}
sbalax Member # 2801
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Soon, Mike, soon. Our next cruise (Miami to Rome) sails on 20 April so we don't have QUITE as long to wait. We won't be taking the train to MIA, though. We got a great positive space fare on Smitty's favorite airline, Virgin America. The flight is to FLL but cruise friends will pick us up there.
Frank in "Chamber of Commerce Gorgeous" SBA.
BTW, we will have 22 visits by cruise ships to SBA this year including the first by Celebrity Cruises.
smitty195 Member # 5102
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You guys are taking ANOTHER cruise? Well, good for you---that's neat that you can go so often. And I'm very happy to see that you'll be flying on Virgin America!!! Love, love, love that airline.
Frank: Do you watch the TV show called, "Psych"? I'm only asking because it is set in SBA (filmed in Canada, but the B roll is Santa Barbara).
sbalax Member # 2801
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Smitty--
We are but beginners in the cruising world. Friends are on their 250th Royal Caribbean cruise right now. Most have been at least seven days with quite a few longer ones so you can do the math.
I've never watched "Psych" but there is quite a bit of filming done here for TV, movies and ads. And if you read the Sue Grafton books her "Santa Teresita" is a thinly disguised Santa Barbara.
Frank in overcast and cool SBA
Gilbert B Norman Member # 1541
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quote:Originally posted by sbalax: Soon, Mike, soon. Our next cruise (Miami to Rome) sails on 20 April so we don't have QUITE as long to wait. We won't be taking the train to MIA, though. We got a great positive space fare on Smitty's favorite airline, Virgin America. The flight is to FLL but cruise friends will pick us up there.
Well I could dig deeper for a "speaking of planes" topic, but this one is handy.
Some here have spoken highly of Alaska Airlines (wasn't somebody here with them?); looks like The Times agrees with this report in last week Sunday Business section:
FLYING over Alaska in the wintertime is a spectacular experience. At 35,000 feet, the state’s rugged beauty unfolds, a succession of white mountain peaks against steel-blue skies, icy lakes and frozen rivers that snake as far as the eye can see. It’s an awesome sight, wild and pristine, that glows in a thousand hues of red, orange and pink when the sun sets against the horizon.
But then, you have to land.
Juneau’s airport is surrounded by mountains, the approach often buffeted by treacherous wind shear. Sitka’s one small runway is on a narrow strip of land surrounded by water. And in Kodiak, the landing strip ends abruptly at a mountainside. The airport approach is so tricky that first officers are not allowed to land there; only captains are trusted to do so
Oh and finally, while being careful (I hope) not to be a "spoiler", I did rent the movie "Flight". The plot-line is an airline captain (Denzel Washington) pulls off an exceptional feat of airmanship and saves all but six aboard a mechanically deficient aircraft - but was "drunk as a skunk and high as a kite" while doing so. Funny how the mechanical fault was borrowed from an actual Alaska Airlines incident in which unfortunately the results were 100% fatal.
addendum: IMDB's article recognizes this as well:
The crash was inspired by a real life disaster, the crash of Alaska Airlines 261. The plane suffered a catastrophic failure with its horizontal stabilizer eventually causing it to dive "nose-down" at a rate exceeding 13,300 feet per minute. The pilots, like in the film, rolled the airplane to an inverted position to try and stabilize it. Unlike the film, however, this unfortunately didn't assist them in recovering the aircraft
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