I just told a friend that when they were traveling to Alberta in Canada one place that they should think about stopping is the small town of Drumheller in the bad lands area in the middle of farm country. Besides hoodoos the badlands of Alberta also has provided one of the richest areas in the world for finding dinosaur bones in the world. So in the little town of Drumheller is one of the finest museums of paleontology you are likely to find - the Royal Tyrrell Museum. In addition to guided hikes to look for bones you can watch scientists piece back together their finds or just marvel at the skeletons they have assembled. They have the obligatory T-Rex (ok really an Albertasaurus) but this velociraptor skeleton was one of my favorites. Tell me that after watching Jurassic Park you don’t have a soft spot in your heart for this killing machine.

And if just looking at dinosaur bones is not enough for you, the town also has a large dinosaur (T Rex) that you can climb up and view out of the mouth.

Reminiscent of the man without out a country is this cruise ship without ports of call because of fears over swine flu.

Australia orders ’swine flu ship’ to remain at sea as more cases confirmed

Concern over an outbreak of swine flu on a cruise ship off the coast of Australia has prompted authorities to order the vessel to remain at sea through at least Saturday.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports P&O Cruises’ Pacific Dawn, which left Sydney Monday on a 10-night voyage, has been told not to dock in Port Douglas or Cairns over the next two days as scheduled because of worries passengers and crew could spread the illness into the local population. The “swine flu ship,” as some Australia media outlets are calling it, already has been steered away from one other port this week and has yet to touch land since leaving Sydney.

And the worst idea of the week award goes to…

Bird magnet? Trash depot near LaGuardia called bad idea

About 700 yards from the end of a runway at LaGuardia Airport, where thousands of planes take off and land, New York City officials want to build what could be the equivalent of a bird magnet: a very large garbage transfer station.

This just four months after a run-in with birds sent a jetliner full of people into the Hudson River separating New York and New Jersey.

Having trouble with the high cost of air travel? How do $9 tickets (plus fees) sound to you?

New low-cost airline targets smaller markets

Clearwater, Fla.-based JetAmerica said 34 nonstop passenger flights a week will start July 13 at Toledo, Ohio; South Bend, Ind.; Melbourne, Fla.; Newark, N.J.; Minneapolis and Lansing, Mich. Twenty-eight flights start or end at Newark Liberty International Airport. The carrier will add six more flights — from Toledo to Minneapolis — starting Aug. 14.

Prices will start at $9 a seat and top out at $199. The $9 price will apply to the first nine to 19 seats on each plane. Passengers will pay $15 to check a bag. Food, drinks and in-flight TV will also come at a cost.

Talk about taking your work with you on vacation…

Two vacationing San Jose cops subdue violent airline passenger

At 40,000 feet over the Pacific, the only thing vacationing San Jose police officers Luan Nguyen and Manny Vasquez wanted was to catch some Z’s, maybe see an action movie and finally hear the announcement: “Welcome to San Francisco International Airport.”

What they heard instead was the captain: “I have a situation on board. If there are any law enforcement officers on board, please identify yourselves to a flight attendant.”

The unarmed officers were soon battling a violent and possibly mentally ill man and holding him down for hours using seat belts, coffee cart straps and Vasquez’s black cowhide belt he got for a birthday.

Other articles that caught my eye:

• So Long, Coach: Get an Upgrade at the Airport
• Virtual Pilot - Lufthansa Destination Game
• Flying in comfort — or not

If you enjoyed the Southwest Flight Attendant Rap Video then you will enjoy this video from the recently held Southwest Airlines annual meeting. Public companies have to read some frankly boring text at annual meetings about “GAP accounting” and “forward looking statements”. Southwest decided to do this in a fun way consistent with their style. Well done!

We rented a house on the North Shore just outside Hauula which would sleep 9 people. It was said to be “27 girly steps” from the beach. It seemed to me to be further than that, but it was still very well located. This was the part of the trip for relaxation. The days were mostly composed of going to the beach, napping, eating and cruising the web on the fast internet connection at the house.

The beach was a good swimming beach this time of year. In the winter the north shore sees big waves and surfers but this time of year we did not really see enough waves to bodysurf at any of the beaches we stopped at.

Thursday we drove around the north shore. We stopped at some food spots like Giovanni’s shrimp truck. Giovanni’s is an institution that had a big crowd each time we passed. They have tables and awnings setup and were parked with a shave ice truck as well. The whole area is thick with the aroma of garlic. Our group had mixed reviews of the shrimp. Some really enjoyed it but Joan thought they were way too tough and chewy. Giovanni’s truck has been signed by the various customers. Look for “Christensen, San Jose 09″ near the passenger’s side window.

We stopped briefly at the Turtle Bay resort. It is a lovely resort built much closer to the ocean than is currently allowed. Although, what stood out for us was the color of the stop signs.

We stopped at Waimea beach which would be filled with surfers surfing the big waves during the winter but had a calm surf this time of year. Waimea also has a particularly strange form of tree called a shoe tree which holds footwear that apparently was left at the beach.

We ate in Haleiwa with half the group at Kua ‘Aina Sandwich Shop and half at Pizza Bob’s‎. We enjoyed both of them. Kua ‘Aina Sandwich Shop is a chain with two shops in Hawaii and the rest in Japan. Dave also just managed to duck into Matsumoto’s for shave ice before they closed the door. The rest of us had to “settle” for ice cream at Scoop of Paradise‎.

Friday we visited the Pu’u O Mahuka Heiau state monument.

Pu’u o Mahuka Heiau is the largest heiau (religious site or temple) on O’ahu, covering almost 2 acres. The name is translated as “hill of escape”.

The road to the heiau is potholed and narrow with bone crunching speed bumps.

We also made a quick visit to Waimea Arboretum Botanical Garden‎ where we took pictures of the peacocks but opted not to spend $10 each to see the whole garden. After all, as one of my traveling companions pointed out, any place you put a fence around in Hawaii could be a botanical garden.

Liz headed off to do her last class to be scuba certified. Joan went alone to snorkel from the boat and take some video of her diving using our underwater video camera.

Checking out of the Ohana Waikiki West was an inconsistent experience for various members of the party. Dave had to turn in his key, Mike was offered to keep his key so he could ride the shuttle for free. Dave and I were told we could not check in our baggage for storage with the bell captain unless we had all the luggage from the room. Joy and Melody were told they could check in their luggage separately since they were leaving in different cars at different times. Dave was told he had to turn in his beach towels, Susan and Kevin were told that it would not be a problem to turn in the towels later in the day. Detect a trend here?

Dave wanted to learn the Hawaiian sport of stand up paddleboarding. He and I went to the lagoon near the Hilton Hawaiian village where you could rent a paddle board, get a quick lesson and then paddle around the calm lagoon. He enjoyed the experience but it was less satisfying for me as the official photographer because he did not fall in.

We then met some of the rest of the gang and went to the Iolani Palace. We had to use on the street parking as the parking near the palace was full (there is not much). Parking at and near the palace is metered which made the tour a bit rushed (1 hour limit). The tour is $12 plus another $1 for an audio guide. You have to put booties on to protect the floor. You are not allowed to take pictures in the palace.

The palace was the home for the last few Hawaiian monarchs and eventually where the last Hawaiian queen, Liliuokalani, was imprisoned for a while after the country was taken over by a minority of rich (mostly American) business people. The only American who came off in a positive light was Grover Cleveland who told the provisional government to return power to the constitutional monarch but was ignored. The tour emphasizes how talented and well-read Liliuokalani and her brother and predecessor King Kalakaua were. The palace had electric lighting and a telephone before the White House and Buckingham Palace. King Kalakaua wrote what is now the state anthem but was originally the national anthem.

We ate lunch at the food court at the International Market where we waited for Liz and Joan to return from their trip and for Liz’s certificate to be printed out. But eventually, despite printer technology, Liz was certified.

We then joined the rest of the group at the North shore at a rental house not far from the Polynesian cultural center. We picked up pizza for dinner. We were surprised that we could not pick up beer or wine in Laie because it is a dry town. We suspect this is because of the significant Mormon influence (the Polynesian Cultural center, a Mormon temple and an extension of BYU). Stores also close on Sunday.