A Moody Day in Glacier Bay

From 2014 07 04 Glacier Bay

We had the worst weather of our vacation on the day we cruised Alaska's Glacier Bay. Cold, rain, clouds and fog. Big disappointment, right? I'd be lying if I didn't say yes, but it turned out OK. Being on a cruise ship all day, we were largely protected from the rain. We took a lot of moody photos. And our views of the glaciers weren't spoiled at all. In fact, our National Park tour guide said that rain actually increases calving activity of glaciers. The rain water seeps into cracks in the glaciers, then freezes, expanding and cracking the glacier. We floated in front of Margerie Glacier for over a half hour. It must have calved six or eight times. All in all, a very satisfying day.

More photos after the jump.

Skagway, Gateway to the Gold Rush

From 2014 07 03 Skagway

It was a hard day's run, up the Canon, through Sheep Camp, past the Scales and the timber line, across glaciers and snowdrifts hundreds of feet deep, and over the great Chilcoot Divide, which stands between the salt water and the fresh and guards forbiddingly the sad and lonely North. They made good time down the chain of lakes which fills the craters of extinct volcanoes, and late that night pulled into the huge camp at the head of Lake Bennett, where thousands of goldseekers were building boats against the break-up of the ice in the spring. Buck made his hole in the snow and slept the sleep of the exhausted just, but all too early was routed out in the cold darkness and harnessed with his mates to the sled.

Source: Call of the Wild, by Jack London.

After the jump, more about Skagway and the White Pass and Yukon Route. And photos. Lots of photos.

We're Number 37!

D Magazine published its ranking of 63 Dallas suburbs. Richardson came in 37th. Meh.

Is Richardson really the 37th best suburb? Who knows? I don't. And D Magazine doesn't either. The magazine's methodology looks at safety, education, housing, and something called ambience. After the jump, why I don't ascribe too much importance to D Magazine's scores.

Juneau, A Small City in a Big State

From 2014 07 02 Juneau

Tour guides in Alaska ask if there are any Texans in the tour group before telling the group that Alaska is so big that if you cut the state in two and make each half its own state, Texas would be the third largest state in the Union. (They sometimes describe squirrels as "Texas Grizzlies," too, but less often.) Those tour guides don't brag about the population of the state, which could fit comfortably in, say, the City of Dallas, or the population of the capital city, Juneau, which could fit in the City of Richardson with room left over for... two more Juneaus.

More about Juneau after the jump.

My Nominations for Charter Review Commission

The City of Richardson is finally making good on a long-overdue need to review its creaky city charter. This doesn't erase the charge of reneging on a campaign promise, but better late than never.

I learned some things the last time Richardson's city charter was debated. And when I say "debated," I'm actually understating how it went down. In the end in that case, Richardson voters did approve a charter change calling for direct election of the mayor, but that change created a dozen or so ambiguities in the charter that make a charter review even more necessary after that change than before. And there were plenty of things needing review before (hat tip to Bill McCalpin).

Anyway, we're now, finally, at long last, getting that long overdue charter review commission. After the jump, my nominees for who should serve on that commission.