Two Boeing 747s land in Whitehorse!

The arrival of the Boeing 747 that I reported on in my last post caused quite a stir among the many airplane fans in Whitehorse, and I expect that most of us thought that would be the last one we’d see for many years. Imagine our surprise when that...
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The first Boeing 747 into Whitehorse since 2013

For the many people in Whitehorse who are interested in aircraft, having a Boeing 747 land here is a big deal. Prior to the one I’m going to tell you about, there had only been three – two from Korean Air were forced to land here on September 11,...
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Flying from Vancouver back to Whitehorse

The process of disembarkation from the Koningsdam at Canada Place, getting a taxi, and getting to our flight home, had stressed me out but with Cathy’s help as well as good organization by the cruiseline and dock workers, and probably some luck, it was quick and simple. By 09:40...
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Sailing from Hawaii to Vancouver on the Koningsdam

We sailed from Honolulu the evening of October 18th, and arrived in Vancouver early the morning of October 24th. Those 5½ days were similar to the ones on the Astoria-Kauai crossing, but this post will show you events and places I didn’t cover in the one about the westbound...
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Two very quiet days in Honolulu

Spending 2 nights in Honolulu (October 17th and 18th) was a last-minute change to our itinerary that was necessitated by the tragic fires in August that completely destroyed Maui’s cruise port, Lahaina. Our only plan was dinner at a place that’s very special to us, and that’s really all...
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A brief look at Kailua-Kona

On October 16th we were docked at Kailua-Kona (usually just called Kona) from 8:00am until 6:00 pm. Unlike our busy 2014 visit when we rented a car and went to Kona Joe Coffee and Pu’uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park (see “Exploring Kona, Hawaii“), we had no plans and...
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A drive from Hilo to the summit of Maunakea

For pretty much forever, I had 3 bucket-list things to do in Hawaii. The first, and perhaps the prompt for the other 2, was to watch the sun rise from the summit of Haleakala. That was accomplished in May 1972, a few days after getting married in the old...
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A bucket-list helicopter tour of Kauai

This was the first visit to Kauai for both Cathy and I, and since we booked the cruise I’d been dreaming of doing a bucket-list flight along the Na Pali coast. Cathy booked us with Ali’i Air Tours, in a Robinson R44 with the doors off. She was only...
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To Hawaii on the Koningsdam – 5½ days at sea

Imagine living in a small community – 3,600 or so residents – which has great music venues, bars, and restaurants, a spa and many other facilities. Now imagine that in that community, you’re one of the 2,600 people that are retired, and the other 1,000 residents do all the...
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A cruise detour – to Astoria, Oregon

I don’t know why it’s done, but as with our Hawaii cruise in 2013, we made a detour to spend a day in Astoria, Oregon. This post isn’t going to tell you much about Astoria, but on the 2013 visit I spent a very busy day exploring – see...
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