Alaskan Cruise Day 3

Allie, her parents and myself arrived in Juneau, AK on board the Norwegian Pearl. There wasn't much to see within walking distance of the pier; just some tourist shops. I'm glad we planned ahead for a whale watching cruise.

After a lengthy ride on a bus (with a driver that was more than happy to tell her personal story of how she and her husband ended up in Alaska), our tour group arrived at a small dock in Auke Bay. The tour boat had a heated cabin. We took off from dock and headed out of the bay.


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At first, there were no whales in sight. As we headed north, we began to see spouts of water off in the far distance. The crew finally got us near some humpbacks. Over the next couple of hours, the boat went from one area to another trying to give us a glimpse of the whales. As the day progressed, we had better sightings.


Near the end of the tour, we watched excitedly as a whale lunged out of the water to fill its mouth full of fish. That was an impressive sight!

As we headed back to dock, I asked Allie's mom how many whales she spotted. She excitedly held up her hand showing all her fingers and said, "FIVE!" with as big of a smile as I've ever seen gleam. Everyone had a lot of fun on this excursion.

Navigation: See all Alaskan Cruise articles here

Links to Alaskan Cruise articles

Alaskan Cruise pre-day
Alaskan Cruise Day 1 and 2
Alaskan Cruise Day 3
Video of Whale Watching cruise
Alaska Cruise Day 4: Skagway and the Safari
Alaska Cruise Day 5: Glacier Bay!
Alaska Cruise Day 6: Ziplining
Alaska Cruise Day 7: Not Alaska (B.C.)

Nice to have authentic burrito

One thing I miss from Salinas Valley is regular access to authentic home cooked Mexican food. There's plenty of good Mexican places in Silicon Valley, but there's something just a little bit better when eating Mexican food closer to the source. Finding places like that require a keen eye and a good memory. Since I'm not likely to get Mexican home cooking these days, I have to be mindful of where to go to find good authentic food. One place I found is Chavez Supermarket on Fair Oaks in Sunnyvale. It is not an actual supermarket. It's a small Mexican grocery store. Go in and walk to the back of the store. Order tacos, burritos or whatever. Then, enjoy.

Tuesday Two: Loonie fingers

Tuesday Two

NASA and Goodyear teamed up to develop a "spring tire" that can bare 800 lbs without air. It is designed for Lunar and Martian exploration. The tire is more energy efficient and won't blow-out (which sucks on Earth, but would really suck on the Moon.)

CEMS Systems now has a portable fingerprint reader, useful for roaming and ad-hoc security checks, such as construction sites or bus boarding.

Epoch-Fail

Remember those obnoxious jerks that used to walk around city streets supporting a loud boom-box on their shoulder? Well, there back! Here's an invention that tells the world that you just don't care about other people around you. It's the Stereo Neckphones!

Tuesday Two: Shingles Thermometer

Tuesday Two

Dow will soon make a roof shingle that generates solar power. It's called DOW POWERHOUSE Solar Shingle. Home and business owners will soon have more options to help power their homes, businesses and occasional gazebo. Viva Sol!

CorTemp Ingestible Core Body Thermometer Pill isn't just a mouthful of words, it's actually a thermometer that you swallow! Once the pill is ingested, a quartz crystal sensor vibrates at a frequency that is relative to the body's temperature. This creates a low-level signal that can be detected outside of the body.

SolidWorks Blogger and Press Event 2010

 

August 30, 2010 with Richard Hall, Jeff Mirisola, Matthew West, Jason Raak and Ricky Jordan visited SolidWorks HQ and Concord, Massachusetts. (Original post/backup link)