Posts By Author
Along with Greenland, Iceland also has been high on our list of places to visit for its spectacular natural beauty. We expected to spend several weeks touring the country when we eventually brought Dirona back to the US via the “Viking Route”, from the Faroe Islands to Newfoundland via Iceland and Greenland. In the end,…
Ponant Cruise Lines strives to offer a premium service with formal dinners and an on-board dress-code. That’s just not our style, but the once-in-a-lifetime experience of being able to stand at the North Pole, convinced us we could put up with the rest, and we were excited to book a trip on Le Commandant Charcot….
Greenland has long been high on our list of places to visit. We love high latitudes and wild, untamed places. Our initial plan for eventually returning to North America from Europe on Dirona was to travel the “Viking Route” from the Faroe Islands to Newfoundland via Iceland and Greenland. We didn’t have a firm timeframe…
August brought more warm and sunny weather to Seattle, and the return of NFL season. We attended two Seattle Seahawks preseason NFL games, and a couple of Seattle Mariners baseball games, all in T-shirt weather. And we had fabulous weather for a hiking trip to Washington’s North Cascades National Park, known as the American Alps…
We got our first taste of Svalbard back in 2018 when Dirona was in Tromso, Norway and we flew to Longyearbyen for three nights. We really enjoyed the raw beauty of Svalbard, and wanted to see more. Our North Pole itinerary aboard Le Commandant Charcot didn’t include spending time in Svalbard, however, as we’d be…
Despite dozens of attempts, the first undisputed expedition to reach the North Pole was Roald Amundsen’s team in 1926, flying over in the airship Norge. Thirty years later, the submarine USS Nautilus became the first vessel to cross the pole, by travelling entirely under the ice. A year later the submarine USS Skate broke through…
Le Commandat Charcot, owned by French cruise ship operator Ponant, is the most capable non-nuclear icebreaker in the world. While the term icebreaker typically connotes a military or research vessel, long on capability, but short on comfort, the Le Commandant Charcot has plenty of both. Launched in 2021, the 492 ft (150 m) LNG-powered ship…
After many months of anticipation, the departure date for our trip to the North Pole aboard Le Commandant Charcot finally had arrived. We would be flying from Seattle to Paris, spending a day there, then taking a charter flight the following morning to Svalbard, where we would board the ship. Packing for the trip was…
Yesterday we gave a presentation at the Seattle Yacht Club on our trip around the world. We had a great evening, chatting with old friends and new. It’s a wonderful organization. In the talk, we described some of the techniques we used to make the trip more safe and comfortable for longer passages and at…
The Chinook salmon, commonly known as “Kings” or “Tyee” (Chinook jargon for chief), is the largest of the salmon and the iconic species of the Salish Sea. They typically grow to 3 feet (0.9 m) long with a weight of 30 lbs (13.6 kg), but can reach 4.9 ft (1.5 m) and 129 lbs (58.5…
July in the Pacific Northwest typically is wonderfully warm and sunny, and this year was no exception. We took advantage of the excellent weather with several outdoor activities, starting with a weekend of hiking in Whistler, Canada, and later a local hike and an overnight camping trip. At restaurants, we dined al fresco whenever possible….
North Cascades National Park is known as the American Alps for its dramatic mountain scenery, with jagged snow-covered peaks, alpine lakes, hundreds of the waterfalls that give the Cascade Range its name, and over three hundred glaciers. The 1,068-square-mile (2,768 sq km) park encompasses the Cascade Range from Washington’s Lake Chelan to the Canadian border….
Dirty Harry’s Balcony offers great views of the western Cascade Mountains on a relatively short hike that is closer to Seattle than most. The 4.2-mile (6.8 km) return trail ascends 1,354 ft (412 m) through healthy, second-growth forest from a trailhead that is only a 45-minute drive from our apartment. The trail is named not…
We’ve always favored full-bodied reds, such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel, over lighter choices such as Merlot and Pinot Noir. But after attending a couple of Winemaker’s Dinners at the Butcher’s Table restaurant, arranged by Merlot-enthusiast Jason Sanneman, we began to appreciate that varietal more. We’d also become interested in visiting Walla Walla in eastern…
The Whistler Blackcomb ski resort, about a two-hour drive north of Vancouver, Canada, is frequently ranked as one of the best ski resorts in North America. It also is one of the largest and busiest in North America, has the greatest uplift capacity, of 65,500 skiers per hour, and annually draws more than two million…
After unseasonably warm and sunny May weather in Seattle, June was much cooler. But we got plenty of sunshine and high temperatures with a trip to Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix at the beginning of the month, and inland to Hood River, Oregon near the end of June. In between, we made a weekend…
With five breweries and a population of only 8,341, Hood River, Oregon has more breweries per capita than any other city in the US, and possibly the world. All have tasting rooms and, combined with the city’s many pubs and bars, beer lovers will never go thirsty here. And the city has numerous excellent restaurants…
Mukilteo, a small Snohomish County city about a 45-minute drive north of Seattle, was a native-American settlement for centuries before the arrival of Europeans. Captain George Vancouver was among the first to visit, when he landed there in 1792. In the mid-1800s, the land was ceded to the Washington Territorial government and European settlement began….
Along with Greenland, Iceland also has been high on our list of places to visit for its spectacular natural beauty. We expected to spend several weeks touring the country when we eventually brought Dirona back to the US via the “Viking Route”, from the Faroe Islands to Newfoundland via Iceland and Greenland. In the end,…
Ponant Cruise Lines strives to offer a premium service with formal dinners and an on-board dress-code. That’s just not our style, but the once-in-a-lifetime experience of being able to stand at the North Pole, convinced us we could put up with the rest, and we were excited to book a trip on Le Commandant Charcot….
Greenland has long been high on our list of places to visit. We love high latitudes and wild, untamed places. Our initial plan for eventually returning to North America from Europe on Dirona was to travel the “Viking Route” from the Faroe Islands to Newfoundland via Iceland and Greenland. We didn’t have a firm timeframe…
August brought more warm and sunny weather to Seattle, and the return of NFL season. We attended two Seattle Seahawks preseason NFL games, and a couple of Seattle Mariners baseball games, all in T-shirt weather. And we had fabulous weather for a hiking trip to Washington’s North Cascades National Park, known as the American Alps…
We got our first taste of Svalbard back in 2018 when Dirona was in Tromso, Norway and we flew to Longyearbyen for three nights. We really enjoyed the raw beauty of Svalbard, and wanted to see more. Our North Pole itinerary aboard Le Commandant Charcot didn’t include spending time in Svalbard, however, as we’d be…
Despite dozens of attempts, the first undisputed expedition to reach the North Pole was Roald Amundsen’s team in 1926, flying over in the airship Norge. Thirty years later, the submarine USS Nautilus became the first vessel to cross the pole, by travelling entirely under the ice. A year later the submarine USS Skate broke through…
Le Commandat Charcot, owned by French cruise ship operator Ponant, is the most capable non-nuclear icebreaker in the world. While the term icebreaker typically connotes a military or research vessel, long on capability, but short on comfort, the Le Commandant Charcot has plenty of both. Launched in 2021, the 492 ft (150 m) LNG-powered ship…
After many months of anticipation, the departure date for our trip to the North Pole aboard Le Commandant Charcot finally had arrived. We would be flying from Seattle to Paris, spending a day there, then taking a charter flight the following morning to Svalbard, where we would board the ship. Packing for the trip was…
Yesterday we gave a presentation at the Seattle Yacht Club on our trip around the world. We had a great evening, chatting with old friends and new. It’s a wonderful organization. In the talk, we described some of the techniques we used to make the trip more safe and comfortable for longer passages and at…
The Chinook salmon, commonly known as “Kings” or “Tyee” (Chinook jargon for chief), is the largest of the salmon and the iconic species of the Salish Sea. They typically grow to 3 feet (0.9 m) long with a weight of 30 lbs (13.6 kg), but can reach 4.9 ft (1.5 m) and 129 lbs (58.5…
July in the Pacific Northwest typically is wonderfully warm and sunny, and this year was no exception. We took advantage of the excellent weather with several outdoor activities, starting with a weekend of hiking in Whistler, Canada, and later a local hike and an overnight camping trip. At restaurants, we dined al fresco whenever possible….
North Cascades National Park is known as the American Alps for its dramatic mountain scenery, with jagged snow-covered peaks, alpine lakes, hundreds of the waterfalls that give the Cascade Range its name, and over three hundred glaciers. The 1,068-square-mile (2,768 sq km) park encompasses the Cascade Range from Washington’s Lake Chelan to the Canadian border….
Dirty Harry’s Balcony offers great views of the western Cascade Mountains on a relatively short hike that is closer to Seattle than most. The 4.2-mile (6.8 km) return trail ascends 1,354 ft (412 m) through healthy, second-growth forest from a trailhead that is only a 45-minute drive from our apartment. The trail is named not…
We’ve always favored full-bodied reds, such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel, over lighter choices such as Merlot and Pinot Noir. But after attending a couple of Winemaker’s Dinners at the Butcher’s Table restaurant, arranged by Merlot-enthusiast Jason Sanneman, we began to appreciate that varietal more. We’d also become interested in visiting Walla Walla in eastern…
The Whistler Blackcomb ski resort, about a two-hour drive north of Vancouver, Canada, is frequently ranked as one of the best ski resorts in North America. It also is one of the largest and busiest in North America, has the greatest uplift capacity, of 65,500 skiers per hour, and annually draws more than two million…
After unseasonably warm and sunny May weather in Seattle, June was much cooler. But we got plenty of sunshine and high temperatures with a trip to Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix at the beginning of the month, and inland to Hood River, Oregon near the end of June. In between, we made a weekend…
With five breweries and a population of only 8,341, Hood River, Oregon has more breweries per capita than any other city in the US, and possibly the world. All have tasting rooms and, combined with the city’s many pubs and bars, beer lovers will never go thirsty here. And the city has numerous excellent restaurants…
Mukilteo, a small Snohomish County city about a 45-minute drive north of Seattle, was a native-American settlement for centuries before the arrival of Europeans. Captain George Vancouver was among the first to visit, when he landed there in 1792. In the mid-1800s, the land was ceded to the Washington Territorial government and European settlement began….