Travel Tuesday - Another Random Change of Plans

This was taken in early September of 2008, in Jeuno Alaska. Another random spin through the unsorted photo archive.

We had not planned a float plane tour. We had planned, actually booked seats on a helicopter tour that flew out and landed on a glacier, were we would get out and walk around on the glacier. I had dreams about the helicopter tour. It was one of two must do items on the cruise to Alaska. And it didn't happen. The fog was too thick, the winds too fast, the helicopter's weren't flying.

The float planes were. So change of plans, we were seated in a van down to the end of the harbour. I love to fly, I grew up in and around little airplanes. The pilot looked over his motley crew of passengers, and said to me, I could use about 250 pounds in the front seat, do you mind riding up front? Mind! I would have paid extra! He must have filed an instrument flight plan, we were deep in the clouds for ten minutes, I could see on the radar the mountains on both sides taller than the we were high as he flew down the inlet. We made a gentle turn to the left, then we cleared out of the clouds and there on the left was a massive glacier. The plane had recently been rebuilt, upgraded to a turboprop power plant (a jet engine with a propeller on the front.) It had less than 100 hours on the Hobbs meter.

Looking at this brings all of that back in vivid detail.

I still owe sweetie bear a helicopter ride.

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