[img nocaption float=”right” width=”319″ height=”480″ render=”<%photoRenderType%>”]8870[/img] Ketchikan
ANOTHER DAY, another interesting port of call. We docked in Ketchikan early this morning and while it’s the smallest Alaskan town we’ve visited this week, it’s also the most charming. Ketchikan still has the feel of a frontier town, the first gateway before entering the great wild. One headline from page 1 of today’s edition of the Ketchikan Daily News: “Bear dies from tranquilizer shot.” Elsewhere the paper notes that today is the longest day of the year, with Ketchikan set for more than 17 hours of light.
Anyway, most of us spent the day exploring town and the surrounding rainforest either on foot or by plane, ducking the occasional misty shower, which seemed to alternate with brief bursts of sun. By lunchtime, it was back aboard the Oosterdam for an afternoon of the serious stuff.
First, Terry Eastland spoke at length with Michael Gerson about his forthcoming book, Heroic Conservatism: Why Republicans Need to Embrace America’s Ideals (And Why They Deserve to Fail if They Don’t) and President Bush’s role in shaping contemporary conservative politics and thought. Afterwards, Phil Terzian moderated a panel on the political future of conservatism, which featured Bill Kristol, Fred Barnes, and Eastland and Gerson–four guys who ought to know. Finally, we held a seminar on how THE WEEKLY STANDARD is made, sort of a Behind the Music for the magazine. Can’t share any of those trade secrets here, so if you’re interested you’ll have to join us next year.
Last night we began a new cruise tradition: Our first formal cigar and cognac night. the entire staff, all of the gentlemen cruisers, and a surprising number of the ladies gathered in the open air on the pool deck and enjoyed excellent stogies from H. Upmann. The festivities carried on until late into the night. It was my favorite event of the entire cruise.
That’s all for the third annual cruise diary. We’ll be in Victoria, British Columbia tomorrow, then returning to Seattle on Saturday, and then back to the real world on Monday. As I’ve been reminding people all week, we sold out the cruise this year, so if you’re interested in joining us on next year’s voyage around the Caribbean–we set sail on March 24, 2008–drop us an email right away. We’ll then send you all the info about it as soon as we have it so that you’ll have first crack at the best cabins. (And of course, we won’t use your email for anything other than this cruise update, so no spam.) That address again is [email protected].
Hope I’ll see you there next year.
–Jonathan V. Last
