Thanks for strolling around Seattle with us, gang, we really enjoyed seeing the EMP, the Chihuly exhibit and visiting with our folks. Obviously, this is a great place for sight-seeing and we've got a lot more to see!!! But - I promised to take a look back at some of the steps in the development of the Northern Leader so that's what we're gonna do. But - let me give you a preview. We will be visiting (as promised) the "L. C. Smith Tower" and the Olympic Sculpture Park. We will also take a look at some other sights not far from where the Northern Leader is docked including the venerable "Fisherman's Pier." So, plan to join us for those excursions.
Folks, we have been incredibly blessed to be able to get to know some of the finest people in the whole world over the years - both within and outside our families.. Our travels have exposed us to spectacularly talented, generous and compassionate people from every segment of mankind and for that we are forever thankful. We will take time to get to
know some of them as time goes on but for now, we're gonna focus on something else. It's kinda funny how things go together in our experiences. A while back we got to visit with our beautiful niece in Kodiak, Alaska and her
dynamic, talented husband. The company he heads up is one that has stretched out to the far edges of computer technology to create world-class, super-efficient seafood processing techniques. Hopefully, we'll get to take you there some day. At the same time, visiting the folks back in Washington we saw similar creativity being utilized in the development of new and innovative shipbuilding methods.
We didn't know, at the time, that we would see these two remarkable fields of engineering come together in one place. We got our first glimpses back
in Dauphin Island, Alabama a few years back when the "Bristol Leader" was being built. (By the way, for those of you who were with us during our visits to the "Shell Rings" along the South Carolina coast - Dauphin Island has a great example of "mound builder" culture!!!) Anyway, although the Bristol Leader was "state-of-the-art" we
could see that the Alaskan Leader crowd was just itching to go farther. So it was exciting to learn that their energy would be put into development of a brand new ship in Tacoma. I think Nick Delany and the entire gang d
own at ALF are about as talented and energetic as they come in the business world. They and the Bristol Bay Development folks make a very good team and when they and the folks down at Martinac and Jensen came together it was clearly something out of X-Men. But, to me, the
critical element was a guy with the vision, courage and drive to keep things moving in the right direction, at the right pace and Shaun played that role to perfection. (By the way, that's his "home-away-from-home" above and to the left.)
Yeah, I know, he'll probably throw me overboard for even saying that much but, I just had to. Now don't get me wrong, there were scores and scores of people who were crucial to the success of this venture and I don't want to minimize their
contributions. But - if I even attempted to start naming them I would be hopelessly lost almost immediately so I'm not going to try. If you really want to know who they all are, ask Nick, Robin or Shaun - they know
them all better than even their own families probably do. But, team effort it was. The work that went on down in Tacoma was also a tribute to all of the shipyard workers who put the ship together. We only got a brief opportunity to see them at
work but there was obviously a lot of pride that went into each bolt, rivet, machine and wire they installed. It is great to know that our country still has the most amazing workers around!! As you can see from the photos beginning at the top (Fall of 2012) and
proceeding to preparations for launching in January, things looked quite a bit different than they did last week during the open-house. But it was already quite apparent that this was going to be a remarkable vessel. Just
as a 'side-note', I was absolutely fascinated when the Martinac folks, working with Shaun, put together a complete mock-up of the bridge so that they could actually see in "real time" how it would be moving about the nerve center of the ship. So - although the bridge wasn't along for the first ride down the
launching ramp (see above) it finally did get to take its rightful place atop the new ship and things really began coming
together. For those of you who were there on that cold January morning when the hull went into the water you knew you were part of something special. But I think I can detect the tiniest beginnings of a smile on the skipper's face as he begins to realize that things are nearing completion. This was a project that everyone in Washington and Alaska should be collectively proud of - in fact, our whole country - and Canada - should. So, to close things out I thought I'd try to put together a tribute to the folks who worked so hard together. Turn up the sound, take a look and see what you think. We'll be back soon with more from Seattle but, for now ... See ya.
know some of them as time goes on but for now, we're gonna focus on something else. It's kinda funny how things go together in our experiences. A while back we got to visit with our beautiful niece in Kodiak, Alaska and her 
dynamic, talented husband. The company he heads up is one that has stretched out to the far edges of computer technology to create world-class, super-efficient seafood processing techniques. Hopefully, we'll get to take you there some day. At the same time, visiting the folks back in Washington we saw similar creativity being utilized in the development of new and innovative shipbuilding methods. 
We didn't know, at the time, that we would see these two remarkable fields of engineering come together in one place. We got our first glimpses back 
in Dauphin Island, Alabama a few years back when the "Bristol Leader" was being built. (By the way, for those of you who were with us during our visits to the "Shell Rings" along the South Carolina coast - Dauphin Island has a great example of "mound builder" culture!!!) Anyway, although the Bristol Leader was "state-of-the-art" we 
could see that the Alaskan Leader crowd was just itching to go farther. So it was exciting to learn that their energy would be put into development of a brand new ship in Tacoma. I think Nick Delany and the entire gang d
own at ALF are about as talented and energetic as they come in the business world. They and the Bristol Bay Development folks make a very good team and when they and the folks down at Martinac and Jensen came together it was clearly something out of X-Men. But, to me, the 
critical element was a guy with the vision, courage and drive to keep things moving in the right direction, at the right pace and Shaun played that role to perfection. (By the way, that's his "home-away-from-home" above and to the left.) 
Yeah, I know, he'll probably throw me overboard for even saying that much but, I just had to. Now don't get me wrong, there were scores and scores of people who were crucial to the success of this venture and I don't want to minimize their 
contributions. But - if I even attempted to start naming them I would be hopelessly lost almost immediately so I'm not going to try. If you really want to know who they all are, ask Nick, Robin or Shaun - they know 
them all better than even their own families probably do. But, team effort it was. The work that went on down in Tacoma was also a tribute to all of the shipyard workers who put the ship together. We only got a brief opportunity to see them at
work but there was obviously a lot of pride that went into each bolt, rivet, machine and wire they installed. It is great to know that our country still has the most amazing workers around!! As you can see from the photos beginning at the top (Fall of 2012) and 
proceeding to preparations for launching in January, things looked quite a bit different than they did last week during the open-house. But it was already quite apparent that this was going to be a remarkable vessel. Just as a 'side-note', I was absolutely fascinated when the Martinac folks, working with Shaun, put together a complete mock-up of the bridge so that they could actually see in "real time" how it would be moving about the nerve center of the ship. So - although the bridge wasn't along for the first ride down the launching ramp (see above) it finally did get to take its rightful place atop the new ship and things really began coming 
together. For those of you who were there on that cold January morning when the hull went into the water you knew you were part of something special. But I think I can detect the tiniest beginnings of a smile on the skipper's face as he begins to realize that things are nearing completion. This was a project that everyone in Washington and Alaska should be collectively proud of - in fact, our whole country - and Canada - should. So, to close things out I thought I'd try to put together a tribute to the folks who worked so hard together. Turn up the sound, take a look and see what you think. We'll be back soon with more from Seattle but, for now ... See ya.
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