The Inside Passage

Just came back from a remarkable vacation, the last with my daughter. It was a splurge we wont see the likes of for many years, if ever again. We took a cruise to Alaska. I am so glad I got to share this adventure with my best friend.

This trip should be on your list. And be sure to take a helicopter to a glacier field. I cannot even come up with the words to describe this experience. I had never been in a helicopter so that alone in and of itself was an adrenaline rush. Your visual area is open from peripheral edge to edge with windows and the pilot maneuvers in the air so that you can come very close to your scenic target. I kept leaning forward to get closer. This felt like flying. It felt like a bee must feel as he hovers over those landscape details, moving in and out in graceful drives until he lightly rests on the perch of choice.

The topography is flat to mountain to smooth and crevasse peaked to green to black to blue to white. There is so much to see from up there; you cant take it all in on one flight. And I kept saying I wished I had a video camera in my head recording what I saw. None of the photos came close to capturing the color or awesomeness of the scenery.

How fitting that we would mark the nearing of my teen's departure to college with a memorable adventure. The implied incentive, you see, is for her to relish future trips- only to be taken via the salary of success. Study well, focus on a plan, and then put the diploma to task and your earnings will give you lift again.

Taku Ice Fields- Juneau Alaska