Giving Tourism a Boost with Port of Seattle Tourism Director

Ron Peck, the Port of Seattle Tourism Director, has a long history in travel and tourism.  With a background in sales and marketing, he has worked with several well-known travel brands leading them through growth and recovery. Find out more about what the Port of Seattle plans to do to boost tourism, what areas we can all support for the return of travel, travel diversity, and plenty of travel stories from an adventurer who has made a career out of exploring new places. And getting others excited to explore too. 

A few of Ron's best travel memories include: 

• Alaska's Northern Lights 
• Glacier Bay in a small day excursion boat
• Humpback Whale performances……in S.E. and Southcentral
• Hotel Halsingland & bar in Haines
• Kenai Backcountry Lodge Kayaking on Skilak Lake and Kenai Fjords Lodge in Kenai Fjords NPS
• Experiencing Japanese professional baseball
• Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park Awesome Sunsets  
• Ireland - Guinness, Music and the People
• Disneyland with kids
• Experiencing Perestroika during the “opening up of the Soviet Union”

Get inspired.

Find more at Port of Seattle.org
Contact Tourism Director Ron Peck at peck.r@portseattle.org
Get details on the cities grants and economic initiatives: https://www.portseattle.org/business/economic-development
Follow Port of Seattle and their initiatives on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/portofseattle/

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Transcript

0:03

Hey adventures. Welcome to the no ordinary adventurer podcast, a place we call home for adventure and the conversations you want to have. We bring you inspiration stories from the field and talk with adventure travelers and industry experts from around the world. This is a place to fill your heart and head with travel knowledge. Now, your host Dan Blanchard, a lifelong Mariner traveler and CEO of UnCruise Adventures, a small boat adventure company defining the UN in UnCruise. Let's get started. Well, everyone, I'd like to welcome you to Captain Dan's no ordinary adventure. And today I have an old friend, a work partner, and a guy who I think I've crossed paths with paths with a lot earlier in our careers, and probably either of us know. Ron Peck, what's that? Right? We don't want to admit. Well, Ron, I was looking at some of your stories that you had on your on your bio, and I'm going oh, you know, a couple of those given when you and I both entered the industry, I'm guessing that we probably traveled were at the same places at the same time occasionally. But, Ron, you have had an amazing career. I mean, I I first officially met you in the 90s, as I recall prot just prior to when you came on to a TIA. And today you're down at the Port of Seattle and carrying on tell us tell us a little bit about Ron how in the heck. There's a guy who started out as the desk and Alaska Airlines in 1977. in Juneau, go to these great places and be in these great positions like the ATA, and with the Port of Seattle. How did this all happen? You know, it's a funny story. I was in school, college thinking I wanted to be a teacher and a coach. And the more I thought about it, I, I thought I wanted to coach but I really my heart wasn't in teaching. So long story short, my family was raised in the state of Washington, but my family had my mother and father had moved to Alaska. And sometimes I get a little emotional because I just say Alaska State has been just with my whole family. We've just been blessed. My dad ended up living in Juneau and moved the business agent. My mom worked for the state for 13 years. So long story short, I'm looking for work. And I think I want to get in trouble. And my mom says, You know what, this is the tail end of the pipeline. Right? She said they're hiring at Alaska Airlines. So I bought a ticket flew up there applied. And literally, about three weeks later, I get hired. As a security agent. This is pre TSA, I so I'm literally running an x ray machine looking for bad guys in Juneau, Alaska. And I just, you know, I, the travel bug kind of hit me. And I just again, I just say I feel very, very blessed. I have lived my life in the two coolest states in the United States, Alaska and Washington. And I say that all the time, for sometimes similar reasons in some time different and it's allowed me to have some great professional travel experiences, but just as importantly, personal experiences as well. And so from there, you know, Alaska Airlines for a period of time, Princess tours asked me to come to work for them. A very short stint of Alyeska ski resort, which was fun. And then, again, just very fortunate last 10 and a half years that Alaska and Alaska Travel Industry Association. There's some good times and some bad times you and I both know that man. It's kind of similar and state of Washington. You know, some sometimes folks even though we know that tourism, whether it's in Alaska or Washington, Washington says tourism is the fourth largest industry second for the state. But yet for seven years, we did not have a statewide tourism. And we went through some of those same challenges with ATI and thankful I'm glad sir Leonard's doing a great job and trying to keep that organization going with him. She's doing a great job from from an overall travel trade standpoint, but you know, a marketing efforts can be a little complex. So anyway, I ended up back in Washington state after Senate at Alaska Travel Industry Association in eastern Washington, Executive Director for a small destination marketing organization visit Walla Walla but I'll tell you what a great community just a great place to be. Yeah. And we had so much fun when you we found out that you were in Walla Walla and we were running wine country trips. Remember that we kind of reconnected after the days of ATI, a. And then all of a sudden you're in our own ship. You're you're you're technically our landlord, you know that not. And I'm glad that Captain Dan and I are just talking about tourism marketing, I don't have to get into that. I'm not a landlord. I'm not a nice guy, but you know, darn well that you're at the fisherman's terminal, which is a cool, you know, the home port for so many of the Alaska cruise, fishing commercial fishing vessels. But been with the Port of Seattle now for about four and a half, almost five years. And my focus is literally to grow inbound air traffic international and domestic and, and to promote what I call cruise, and we call cruise and stay, we want people to think about staying in Washington for a while before they go to work to Alaska and take a cruise with you, or with one of the big cruise lines. And it's been a great experience. Well, and I just have to say, and I'll I'll plug fishermen's terminal and Port of Seattle here. Because, you know, we've been here at fisherman's terminal, which is a historic area in Seattle, and is owned by the poor Seattle. We've been here for 17 years. And I have to say the Port of Seattle has been a terrific landlord. And not only are we the largest up lenders earner here, but we're also the largest as far as the number of feet of mortgage that we we consume annually. So we're really thankful. And I'm glad you're with the port. And I was really excited when you know, you came on to the port, because you have you brought a private industry perspective on the visitor industry. And I think, you know, that, in my mind allows for more innovation and what traditionally is a little bit more stagnant environment. So I mean, what are some of the innovations you're working on now at the at the port? You know, and I, I say it this way, and I'm very, very excited that I have a great boss, Dave McFadden, who oversees all of economic development division. And he's been very, very supportive of tourism as well. And you know, Dan, I think you and I completely agree. The best way to market a community, a destination, a region or state, whether it's Washington or Alaska, is to have a really strong solid, private public partnership. And ATI still subscribes to that, as does Washington Tourism Alliance. So one of the cool things that we've been working on. And just a little bit of background, I think one of the things that I'm very proud of is, as I've mentioned it earlier for a period of time, seven years because of, you know, the the downturn in the economy in the Oh 809. There was from about 2011 on there was no statewide tourism effort. By the State of Washington's right, we worked very hard to bring that back at a minimum level. We get about 1.5 million a year, which is a drop in the bucket compared to a state like California that gets 100 million Hawaii gets at Oregon gets pushing 30. At any rate million really. Yeah. Wow. To Todd Davidson's credit, I you know, I think that's what I'm amazed. Yeah, yeah. Happy. Happy amazed that very, but so anyway, this year, one of the coolest things is this quarter, Seattle commission believes in tourism. And they and I say it this way, they don't just talk the talk of some politician. But they walk that. And they've committed to what I call a tourism industry recovery effort in concert with our friends at Washington, tourism loans, to the tune of$1.5 million, which is going to help the state whether you're in Pullmantur, Prosser, walla walla or wash truck, we're want to promote all of the great state of Washington and bring additional visitors here. And of course, some of those visitors, we want to focus on getting them to take a cruise to Alaska, but one of WETA is overall what platforms is that they want that same public and private partnerships. And we're working very hard to do that. So again, I think one of the coolest things that this Court has done is again, made that commitment for moving forward as and we all know. And you know, this just as well as anybody, then this these next couple of years are going to be not just interesting, but challenging, because we want to bring the industry back and whether it's Alaska or Washington, tourism is an important segment for both of our economies. Now, let you know first of all, I can't agree with you more it only if more government entities had a dedication towards in our industry, the visitor industry. Just a nudge in the right direction makes a huge difference in the poor Seattle's obviously committing to more than a nudge But you know, it's weird. We're talking about the Port of Seattle. For people who don't know, Seattle and Alaska are hooked at the hip. I mean, Seattle is the gateway for Alaska for cruise for most aircraft, the private yachts that go to Alaska, even folks are just going to go up camping on their own or hiking or whatever. So, in this time at COVID, heal, we were talking earlier how you you have only seen your office three or four times. That's what March? That's a huge change for you personally, for the poor to Seattle. But how does that change? And what what's happening that's going to translate into bringing back the travel industry? to Seattle, specifically, Seattle is a big cruiseport. What how is that going to work with COVID? I mean, what what programs are underway to enhance things to allow ships to run out of Seattle? Well, a couple of things, I think, first of all, you and I think are going to completely agree. And I just say it this way, whether you're a small ship and offering some wonderful adventure experiences that you do, or a ship of 3000, we all need to collectively work together to create what I call a different dynamic. You have done a great job with UnCruise of talking about those experiencial opportunities that your passengers your guests get, and we want to continue to do that. And I don't care whether you're UnCruise. Princess, the Western hotel, what you need to do is talk about how that guest is going to be healthy. And the the mitigation, the risk factor is dropped dramatically. And I just simply say it this way, safety is going to sell. So whether I'm a state of Washington, whether I'm visit Seattle, visit Juno or UnCruise, what I need to be talking about it, my marketing task has expanded to include the protocols and what we as individuals collectively as organizations are doing right now and will do, I believe we'll see cruising in this year, back to Alaska, but we need to demonstrate in so many ways. From a from the time you get on that airport until you get on a one to one one cruises, great vessels, how safe you're going to be in why and what those protocols are. That that's that's the imperative to me. That's the dynamic that really has changed, this challenge has become an opportunity for us. And in a way I think we can turn some lemons into lemonade. And that is we know tourism is you and I could stand up and we could whether we're talking to halen Murkowski done Levy, or Inslee, we would say exactly the same thing. Tourism is hugely important, it brings in additional dollars. And by golly, you need to be supportive of us. And I think the COVID Challenge has presented an opportunity for us to even call us more, our resources are just as limited, or maybe more. And I don't care who you're let's and I say I've said it this way, for a long time. Let's worry about getting somebody to come to Alaska, collectively before we worry about whether they go to Juneau or Fairbanks, before they we worry about whether they take UnCruise or Holland America, before they worry about taking Alaska wildland adventures, or some other land based company, let's get them to come here. Think about it. And then we can do the battle internally. But I think what we you'll see us do in a better because we have to we got to leverage our resources, which are even more. Yeah, you know, Ron, I so agree. I mean, when I do a lot of talks with the travel industry, of course, travel agents and wholesalers, you know, all this kind of thing. And the the message I am continually giving him what we're seeing is we're seeing an increase in travel industry bookings, which is no surprise to me, because exactly what you're saying we excuse me, but we can't be half assed about this, this COVID policy and, and I think that, you know, maybe very early on, there was a little bit of sugarcoating going on on you know, how a company might handle COVID And this kind of thing, but that has changed. And and today we're seeing this I think very, very deep honest look at you know, how can we create bubbles? What can our guests do before they come to Seattle before they come to Alaska? And these are all things so I've telling travel advisors all the time, I'm saying, Hey, gang, the best thing you can do is get knowledgeable on COVID and safety. And because people don't like you say, the idea of Alaska or Pacific Northwest, you know, we are on trips out of Seattle through the San Juan's and that kind of thing. People know the destination. The destination is valid, but right now They want to know how they can get there safely. And I have to say, having traveled a few times on airlines over the the last, I guess, seven months, that what's happening with at least Alaska Airlines and what's happening with the port Seattle SeaTac has been pretty tremendous. I mean, I've been really happy to see the positive COVID safety measures taken. You're right. And I think just recently, Harvard public health, DOD, they've all published reports and research that says, your risk of getting COVID on aircraft is absolutely minimum, very low, very, very low. What we need to do is continue to deliver that message and every single marketing effort that we work on whether we're whether we're a port, whether we're an airport, or whether we're a lodging company, an airline or cruise company. And just as importantly, I think what you said just a few minutes ago down about a bubble. And you know, again, I applaud sir Leonard in ATA, they've established the bill peddler as chair of a working advisory group to bring cruising back to Alaska. And the discussion was because as you know, Alaska cruising isn't just cruising, it's land tour opportunities, and it's from Fairbanks to catch again, to look at that in an aggregate and a bubble for Alaska. We need to convince folks that I don't care where you're going, whether it's Pruett obey the Dalton road, or whether it's Glacier Bay, there are safety protocols system wide throughout the state. And that's not saying it's easy, but we absolutely have to work to do that. Amen. Brother. Are you preaching the gospel of the visitor industry right now? I mean, you are you are you should be up up at a podium. Yeah. Well, you know, and I mean, it when I say this, and sometimes I get a little bit emotional, I Alaska is just, it's a wonderful, wonderful place for a variety of reasons. I mean, you know, where else can you go? Think about it in these terms, the state of Alaska, reaches from Florida to California, and Minnesota, it's I love telling Texans you know, what, we cut Alaska and had a north and a south Alaska, you'd be the third largest state. And, you know, but yet, the population of the greater Seattle area is 750,000, the population of the state of Washington, the smallest state west of the Mississippi is 7 million. The population of the whole state of Alaska, is what 735,000? Yeah, both of them live within 60 miles of downtown. That's right. There's so much I mean, gosh, and I didn't put that on my list of things. But I, you know, we used to just when we lived on the hillside, go hiking up in the Chugach. And there's just so many wonderful, unbelievably cool opportunities to see and do. I am preaching. And you and I have a similar vein in that respect, for sure. You know, I think about connection between Alaska and Washington State and how strong that is. But you know, it's kind of more specifically, you know, about Seattle, in the poor to Seattle. I mean, what, what have you personally seen change that would, would make even Seattle as a as a good stopping point on the way to Alaska? What are the things that you really enjoy about the Seattle area? Well, maybe a couple things. I just want to say about that. And thank you for that. I'll call it a softball question, Captain Dan. First of all, I think of it in these terms as a gateway, a gateway for Alaska to get folks to Alaska through Seattle. Important, so the major gateway, but in 1999, I think there were less than 6000 people that had an experience that included in Alaska cruise the night in 2019, before COVID, there were 650,000 people who got on a cruise, and 650,000, who've gone on. So that's 1.3 million, what I call visitor engagement. As much as I love Alaska, I love to say that we are this little small state west of the Rockies. But yet you can have every kind of a tourism and travel experience in the state of Washington, except for two things. You can have an awesome the fat, the fourth fastest flowing river in the United States, three national parks, a rainforest, you know, temperate rainforest in the lower 48 glaciers for mountain ranges, a great urban city of Seattle, and I say you know those, there's only those two things that you can't do here. Everything else you can and if you want swamps and Mickey Mouse go to Florida. So I would just simply say as we've grown as a port opportunity to get to Alaska, we focus on all those other wonderful opportunities for somebody whether they're from Atlanta or Amazon Damn, to see and experience a unique part of the Pacific. Yeah, I'll tell you, you know, I, of course I was I was born and raised in Makayla to north of Seattle here and found Alaska when I was in my late teens. And, of course, I've been on an intravenous line to Alaska ever since it's I can't live without her. But I agree, you know, having been back down in Washington these months of COVID. And our main office kind of keeping things is best to control as we can. I've gotten back out into the state of my youth and the Seattle area actually has so many cool things. There's, there's certain items like growing up north of town, I was never a Mount Rainier guy. But I have become a Mount Rainier guy. I mean, so close, you have this massive volcano next to Seattle. I love the Flight Museum, the Boeing tour. I mean, there are certain things when I have family or friends come and visit. Oh, these are the five things you must do when you're in Seattle. And I never have to search for what that means. I we used to we call it the big three. And you know, your big three is probably not my mic, or your Big Five is maybe different than my ShoreTel Pike Place Market. Snoqualmie Falls and a hidden gem that I absolutely think is so cool. And a lot of now it's a national interpretive center. Is this Johnstone Center at St. Helens. Oh my gosh. Yeah, you know, I think as I told him, you know, Olympic National Park for me has a very heartfelt experience I'll never forget going up to Olympic up to hurricane Ridge at Night the Lights I was just, you know, there's a ton of unique different experiences even though we are this geographically small state. Some very, very cool, awkward. Go to Alaska have a wonderful experience in the largest state in the union and glaciers, mountains wildlife, but think about Stan spending some of your time when you get back there before you get on. Oh, yeah. You know, I when I was growing up in Mike or Michael to we call it Mike, of course, luckily. But when I was growing up in Mk I used to tell my parents and that I was fortunate enough they they could afford to let me learn how to ski when I was about eight. And at about it was a breakfast morning one time and I was probably 10 and it skied for a couple years and and I said my dad asked me how ski was going. I said Dad, the sunrises over Stevens Pass and sets over her Cambridge. Well, you know what I just bought? I just bought my annual pass for blue ID so we'll have to connect. Yes, I am kind of along the same lines. We've been talking about Washington tell me that on some of your Alaska stories, right. I think we came close close to colliding. You had written about a glacier bay small boat experience and some humpbacks and such. Tell me about that. Okay, so Well, first of all, and no, I don't I don't have to plug your company. But I'm just gonna say it. Pre what we would call these small cruise ships that are more frequent in southeast. One of my most treasured moments was I had just become a sales rep for Alaska Airlines. You know, Cobra, couple years of promotion. And my boss that time his name is Gary over. We had a regional meeting at Glacier Bay National. Right. And I'll never forget. And you might have been captaining that, Dan, I don't know. But an experience on a small vessel. Like what you operate throughout southeast Alaska and South Central. I'll never forget that opportunity to get up in front of some of those glaciers in Glacier Bay. It's a different experience because you're just like, gosh, it's just they're just immense. That's what I'm referring to. Then the humpback whales, believe it or not two different experiences and I'll just say it this way south central going to one of the you know, Kurt, Kurt very well, Alaska wildland adventures, we're going out to Kenai Fjords National Monument right to state his resort with my wife and my daughter was working over a couple of weeks. Literally, I would say no more than 15 feet in front of us. A humpback just comes up and scares though. You know what I mean? But what an awesome experience. This thing just pops up and bam. Then I'm fishing with two of my my wife and I are fishing it. I don't care. I can say what I want waterfall resort one of the best if you want what I call Gucci and Louis Vuitton fishing, that's the place to go. We're fishing there. And we're heading out to do some lingcod rockfish Rock, rock fishing or rock cod fishing behind us and I'm not exaggerating for 15 minutes, nothing but a single whale dancing for us. It's all the way I can describe it. And you know it's one of those things that you will never forget. And it was just like the five of us, the skipper the four of us in Oh, stop fishing, watching this whale perform. Unbelievable, then you've had a ton more than I have. But those are the some of the wonderful experiences and we could go on about what it is, you know, in Alaska, whether you're fishing on the Kenai and seeing brown bear or wonderful opportunity. Yeah, that's so true. And, you know, the experiences are, are so authentic. I think back to your comments about going into Glacier Bay. And you know, I, I obviously know the name and know, Gary. And the, I'm thinking that must have been in the 80s, early 80s Or so it was honestly, it was either 79 or 80. Yeah, yeah. So you may have been on board the Thunder Bay, which was my first job, full time job in Alaska was running the boat out of Glacier Bay Lodge. So who knows, you could have been sailing with me on that boat, or in the spirit of Glacier Bay, one of those two. We probably were shoulder to shoulder or just shoulder to shoulder with our mouth dropping Looking at a glacier or whales or something, seeing the seals on on the ice and pups and, you know, whales, it just, it's, it's unbelievable. Well, I've appreciated the comments on that. And, you know, particularly going back to the poor to Seattle. And even though I didn't ask you to share your crystal ball, you've shared that, you know, you're hopeful for for Cruces and coming up. But what have you when you're looking at it kind of new and, and what I would say the fun part of the job for you at the Port of Seattle. But what are some of the fun projects you're working on that you can share with us? Perhaps? You know, I guess I would say one of the real fun and challenging product right now is is this, the Port of Seattle making an effort to revitalize all of tourism and the fact that they've relied on us to in the EDD department to make a contribution and work in a collaborative fashion with WTA. And really allow that opportunity to occur. And we're literally working on what that looks like and how we reach not just consumers. But you know, I think the exciting part for me, Dan, is what you mentioned a few minutes ago, I absolutely believe the travel trade tour operators, retailers, travel agents, are and will help us come out of this. And I think it whether it's a slow view or a more like a straight up V is because of them, we need them to tell their clients that it's okay to get on a cruise ship. We need them to tell them we need them to say it's okay to get on an airplane and those people, those retailers, our partners can be a huge help to us. So I'm looking very forward to to striking that marketing relationship and coming up with what the plan is. I would say the other thing that I'm pretty excited about right now before is, you know, we are all talking about what does it mean when we say EDI, equality, diversity inclusion for all, I think one of the things that we should be looking at as well, not just incorporating and working with minority businesses, but how do we impact blacks, indigenous people of color in terms of marketing to them? I think that's, that's something that we need to look at whether you're UnCruise, let's just say there are there are higher level socio economic folks in those of color that may or may not be marketed to correctly and I think that's one of the challenges, not not just in the next six months, it's your turn, but in the long term. How do we adjust that to make sure that they feel welcomed? That is such a big thing of our time. And unfortunately, it has been too long and coming. You know, the the diversity we all want, whether it's by race, religion, sex, and it's, uh, I am looking forward to this new day, Ron, you know, I, I think that, you know, unfortunately, COVID has kind of caused us all to slow things down a little bit. But at the same time, it's given us time to reflect and I think the diversity you're talking about, we're certainly recognizing that on our own part, the things that were good about UnCruise away that way, the things that were not good and, and I think that's the first step to change, right is is taking a look inside, you know, opening up the heart and seeing what's really going on at the end of the day, then we don't need to get into political discussions. And I but I will say this, I think we all need to I as a person need to make my individual visual decisions about who who I am and how I'm relating to others is more important than the institutional piece if we want to be anti racist, all people of color and sex and gender etc. We need to have that heart change. Yeah, I need to be I need to be making those assessments. And right Ed. And then the last couple months, I've had some pretty candid discussions with folks. And I think that's, that's important for me to understand where they're coming from. Because I think I'm, I'll say, Well, I'm I'm not blatantly racist. But you I understand what, what they've gone through. Yeah, I would say I haven't always, I'm glad that we ended up closing out with our similar desires on on diversity and workforce and opportunity for. For folks, it's a very heartfelt thing for me, and I know for you to run well, and I'll just say, I'll just because you asked me about what we're doing, we have we have awarded tours and grants for for five years, we're gonna have a focus, an even stronger focus on on diversity and inclusion of some of these, what I would call folks like when Luke or the Pacific Northwest black museum, we want to we want to engage some of those some of our indigenous and tribal units. And we also do an advertising complimentary advertising opportunity at the airport, we want to work to be more inclusive with them as well go Port of Seattle, I am with you on all this stuff. And, and it's, it's it's so nice, Ron, to know that you're there that that and I know all the people you work with, and I know that their 10 is super good to make these good changes. So we didn't really hit on the travel stories. Because I over the years. Remember a couple of these, but there's most of them. I don't ever think I've heard from you. So it'll be good. I'll maybe to a serious one and a funny one. Okay. One of the most wonderful experiences for me, both personally and professionally was, and Daniel and I are similar in age, right? So I grew up under President Reagan and the Soviet Union was literally the evil empire, they were Darth Vader. And sometimes I get a little bit emotional talking about this. But at the end of the day, because Alaska Airlines took a stab at flying to the Russian Far East, and I was responsible breeding product there. We did pretty good. The first couple years, by the way, I had the opportunity to sit down with folks, and we would go over there for extended stays. And I very, very quickly realized, when we're setting down over dinner and a meal, you find out Yeah, the Soviet Union was even on fire. But the Russian people are absolutely have the same aspirations the same desires. Like Ron, how come your salmon is so much better than mine? Well, you overbake the daylights out of it. That's why my child wants to just, I just want the best for my young son, I want him to have a good education. And this is the emotion no different than what I would say about my daughter. Or, you know, we talked about double oh seven in the Korean Air flight and that hole, and he and so we I'd say you know, we don't believe what our government told us back in DC. And he said, We don't believe what they tell us in Moscow. So the point is, we're just humanity, we're the same. We're not much different in terms of wanting the best for our children in terms of relating. So now I do have one kind of a goofy funny Disney story because I do love Disneyland and I love going to Disneyland with my child. So my daughter's like three or four. We got there at Oh, dark 30 like you wouldn't believe so we're in line. And I think if you go to Disneyland early, you can go and they'll let you shop on Main Street, but you can't get to the parts. Right, right. Okay, so we're in line. This Italian good looking slender guy and he's got a Model S girl within dark hair. They're both gorgeous people. They go Excuse Excuse, excuse it. They barge in front of everybody and a mind you behind me are a bunch of Aussies and Kiwis. And they've been lined very patient. So he pulls out of his bag. He goes and he's got a camera, right? And he's wanting to get a good picture of the castle. So he does, okay, fine. Go ahead and take your picture, right? So he does and then he proceeds to set his ass right in front of me and thinks he's gonna get him flying ahead of us. Right. So and then you know me well enough. I'm very subtle and I would never say anything like this not I said, okay, dude, you've taken your picture. Now get behind where you came from. And he ignored me. Well, I looked down at his bag and he's it's he's an air Italia. He's an air Italia flight attendant. I looked at him and by this time, the Kiwis in the Aussies behind. You're going Yeah, you tell him make get him out of here. I said, Look, dude, at the end of the day. I know you understand my English, and they all started screaming. So the funny part is we got the guy in his his, his model girlfriend was embarrassed. So that's my Disneyland story. And finally, my daughter was very happy because she was going to be first in line again. I'm gonna share just a quick story about that a line at Disneyland as well that you are going to love because it's similar I in in must have been in 94 we took off sailing for two years with the idea we're going to sail around the world. And of course, we had to stop my Disney lamp. And kids were eight and 10 and perfect. So we're we're in line to go on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and, and in the line Ron is probably three 400 people deep. And and so he had pulled in made about 200 copies of the yo yo ho, a pirate's life for me. Because I knew the kids were going to be just devastated to stand on line that well. We got probably 300 people singing that song in the line at Disneyland it was you would have loved it man. I wish I could have taped it. You know love going to Disneyland. I mean, when I was at Alaska Airlines, I took the Disney product from 2000 to 20,000 people, not just with I mean I love going with my daughter when she was young. But two years ago we went with three other couples. Guess what we did? Why we're in line to go to Pirates of Caribbean No, we literally learn the song. Oh my god. Pellet we fumbled literally we pillage Republic we rifle we loot rank up Brd yo home. Yeah, it's not PC. Exactly. It's not PC. Oh my gosh, we're twin sons of different mothers now. I am glad that you know you're not here in Seattle right now. I know you're at your home. But I'm looking forward to the day when you're back at the office in Seattle. And I'm back and we can touch base in person. That'll be a great day. I agree with you, number one. Number two, we just have to find someone we can. I don't know if you're boarding or skiing these days, but love to connect and do that. Anyway, we'll have to get it together sometimes when it goes skiing. And then you know beyond that, let's let's be positive. And Stan crew said as you know what ATI said hope is not a strategy. Let's plan to have a beer together at ATI in Anchorage next year for virtual Alright everyone, Ron Peck Port of Seattle amongst just being a great guy. Ron, is there any contact if somebody wanted to get in touch with the Port of Seattle on visitor activities or what's the best way to get in touch? They're welcome to come you know, contact me my email. I'll be happy to provide that email to tech dot r at Port seattle.org. But just as importantly, if you go to the port of Seattle's website and go to economic development, and there's a tourism section talks about our grants and some of the activities and things we're picking. Alright Ron, well until we see next see you next it'll be copy over zoom but look forward to the time we get together. Thank you my friend. Thanks for listening to no ordinary adventurer sharing locally harvested stories about adventure Be sure to subscribe leave a review tell a friend and help spread the word we are a community of nature lovers, intrepid travelers and outdoor adventurers mostly from the comfort of a small boat and we want to spread our love of this fascinating planet. That's it for this episode. Now get inside