R. Doug Wicker's Blog, page 62

If Edgar Allan Poe Had Written A Christmas Carol (Humor)

Now time for a repeat of a little Christmas humor (tune in tomorrow for the sequel on the subsequent murder investigation, written in the style of Mickey Spillane):

A Poe Christmas

Once upon a snowstorm dreary, through which I trudged all weak and weary,
Past many a quaint and curious number of advertisement lore
I saw the ad, above some wrapping; on the door I started tapping
At first it was a gentle tapping, tapping at the storefront door
I must gain entry to this store, as there was nothing t...

Fun Photo Friday — Off-Season Endicott Arm 2

Today’s Fun Photo Friday is Part 2 of my three-part series of Endicott Arm/Dawes Glacier favorite. Next week I’ll be rerunning some Christmas articles, and the following week we’ll finish up with Endicott, Dawes, and indeed this entire look at cruising in Alaska during the off-season.

Cruising Alaska Off-Season — Where Dawes Meets Endicott Arm

Up until now the views I’ve presented of Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier were taken on Cruise 1 on 29 September of this year. That was our misty, cloudy visit. We returned on Cruise 2 exactly seven days later, and the weather could not have been more cooperative. For instance, the photograph above was taken on Ovation of the Seas’ transit of Endicott at 8:26 a.m. on 6 October. Misty pictures can be fun, but sunny days present my preferred canvas. So, let’s compare and contrast, beginning with...

Cruising Alaska Off-Season — Dawes Glacier

At the end of our sojourn into Endicott Arm lay Dawes Glacier. The photo above is the end of the fiord, with Dawes in the lower left portion of the screen and some impressive mountains hovering above the glacier. While it may appear that we got close to the glacier, do not be deceived. I was using my trusty DMC-FZ1000 zoomed all the way in to 400 mm (expressed in the 35 mm equivalent). To see how close we actually got, this is a better depiction:

Dawes Glacier at the end of Endicott Arm...

Fun Photo Friday — Off-Season Endicott Arm 1

Today’s Fun Photo Friday is the first of three featuring favorite images from Endicott Arm. Here is today’s photo gallery/slide show:

Cruising Alaska Off-Season — Bundled Up for Dawes Glacier

Ovation of the Seas entered Endicott Arm very early in the morning, even before sunrise. But we traveled east towards Dawes Glacier at a very leisurely pace, necessitated by the narrow fiord. We also had icebergs to dodge, so there’s that as well. But we enjoyed the view along the way, as there was much to see and photograph. For Cruise 1 you may recall we were in a virtual balcony cabin, so our views this day were from the decks. Thus, we had to bundle up a bit:

Ursula keeping warm in En...

Cruising Alaska Off-Season — Misty Endicott Arm

As with most of the stops we made on these off-season back-to-back cruises aboard Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas, we visited Endicott Arm twice. And at the end of Endicott arm lies a glacier we had not visited on previous Alaska Cruises — Dawes Glacier. On Cruise 1 our transit of Endicott Arm was cool, damp, and misty, and that’s what you’ll see this week and into next. Starting the middle of next week, the series will show you Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier as they appeared in the su...

Fun Photo Friday — Off-Season Ketchikan 2

Abstract photo manipulation

I admit it. I went a little wild for today’s Fun Photo Friday. Okay, make that hog wild. I went crazy. I had fun with everything from boosting colors to color filtering for conversion to black & white. I even have in today’s collection a B&W image into which I inserted “film grain” to give it a classic old-timer look. I hope you enjoy me playing around a bit today:

Creek Street without the Color is still pretty “Colorful” Oversaturating Creek Street also give...

Cruising Alaska Off-Season — Cruising out of Ketchikan

It’s now four in the afternoon. Everyone is back aboard (I hope). The Ovation of the Seas is pulling away from the dock. Ketchikan is enveloped in a light drizzle that threatens to become a steady rain. Time to move on to our next destination. But don’t miss this sail away. Too much awaits you as the ship travels northwest through the narrow channel heading back into the Inside Passage. We’ll begin with this little photo gallery/slide show of Ketchikan receding into the rainy mist:

Bu...

Cruising Alaska Off-Season — Ketchikan’s Infamous Creek Street

I mentioned earlier in this series of articles that Ketchikan is one of our favorite Alaska destinations. Sure, it’s tourist-kitschy and all that, but it has much to offer the shutterbug. And, as you’ll see on this week’s Fun Photo Friday, it also offers up great subjects for over-the-top photo manipulation (Yep… went hog wild for this Friday, so stay tuned). And my favorite Ketchikan seems to heavily concentrate in one area — Ketchikan’s infamous former red-light district along Creek Stree...