Friday, February 12, 2010

But can you see Russia from the ship?

Dr. Grumpy: "Where are you guys going?"

Mrs. Geography: "We're taking a cruise out of New York. We fly to Niagara Falls, and board the ship. From there it goes up to Alaska, and we spend a few days there, and after a week we're back in New York. I'm looking forward to it, because I've never been to Alaska before."

25 comments:

  1. Well, I suppose that could be an indication for why she's in your office.

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  2. They must have found that Northwest passage after all...

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  3. ...Huh? I'm so confused.

    I'm picturing them accidentally boarding the Maid of the Mist.

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  4. It is the Concord of Cruise Ships. The fastest thing on the high seas! AND it has Wheels for land travel. Of course it's only for the very rich....

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  5. Maybe they finally discovered the Northwest Passage? The descendants of the Franklin Expedition families will be proud.

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  6. Gang, the Northwest Passage was discovered in 1906. It just isn't commercially viable to use- yet.

    And it still takes more then a week.

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  7. Yeah, but you need an icebreaker so it doesn't count.

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  8. And yet again, I have no words. How do you respond to something like that?

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  9. It took my 14 yo a few minutes to figure out why this is funny. He just sat there trying to figure out how she was going to get to Alaska from Niagra Falls.

    That was funny, too.

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  10. There's an Alaska, Wisconsin, close to Lake Michigan and therefore reachable by ship from Niagara Falls (or nearby) via the St. Lawrence Seaway. Maybe that's what she meant.

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  11. I didn't know you had Sarah Palin as a patient. LOL

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  12. A friend of mine, who is a librarian, tells me stories of some of the patrons he gets to deal with.

    My favorite story is about the two women who came in asking for a map. He tried to get more detail: local map, regional map, state map, country map, world map, something else?

    It took a while and many questions until he was able to figure out what they wanted and just what they were trying to do.

    It seems that these women met some men online and they were invited to go meet them in person. The thing is, these gentlemen lived in Egypt. Now, airfare to Egypt is quite expensive and they couldn't afford it. So they decided to drive.

    You know how there are ferries that could take you from land or island to island in various places? They figured they could drive down the Florida Keys, take a ferry to, say, Cuba, drive across, take a ferry to another island, and so on, and so forth, across the Atlantic Ocean.

    It's not just you, doc.

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  13. I have always wanted to go to Niagra Falls, my husband has never wanted to see the site. He says he doesn't want to travel clear across the country. I'll just tell my husband we can go via Alaska.

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  14. must be some cruise ship...Sounds like an Oblah blah speech.........hehehe

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  15. Perhaps this is a cruise that goes through the polar sea when there's no ice cap? You know, what they were talking about last summer?

    Then again, maybe not...

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  16. niagara. wisconsin upriver. st lawrence down. it is not easy folks.

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  17. Seriously, I think this is why some people think that tearing up the Arctic Wildlife Refuge is no big deal. (Just grow another one up there somewhere.)

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  18. Anonymous: The St. Lawrence Seaway is more than the St. Lawrence River. It's an entire infrastructure that allows ships to go all the way from the Atlantic Ocean to Duluth (at the far west end of Lake Superior). It includes, for instance, the Welland Canal, which connects Lake Ontario and Lake Erie while bypassing Niagara Falls.

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  19. I'm with Helen. I was totally picturing them on the Maid of the Mist too.

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  20. Her claim seemed so bizarre, that I had to look up what in the world she could have meant. It seems that there are "cruises" that go start at Niagra Falls and go to Alaska:

    http://www.affordabletours.com/search/tours/24781/#itindata

    And, it does include a ride on the Maid of the Mist.

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  21. Interesting, but she never mentioned a train/bus. And it doesn't look like this one has you back in New York after 1 week.

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So wadda you think?