Your Bio

Welcome to Smugmug and to my photo galleries!

I have lived in Las Vegas, since retiring from the US Air Force. I was a pilot for several years, then went to law school and became a JAG. Post-Air Force, I was an attorney here in Las Vegas, and I ceased active practice of law in 2007.

My dear wife and I enjoy traveling and ballroom dancing. I also enjoy riding my 400cc motor scooter (except during the hot Las Vegas summer months) and ham radio activities.

Photography-wise, my photos prior to 2006 were with Olympus and Nikon Coolpix "point and shoot" digital cameras. In 2006, I upgraded to a Nikon D50. I also use Nikon Coolpix and Samsung L730 "point and shoot" cameras as back-ups/rainy-day cameras.

Feel free to leave any comments using the "Add Comment" button in each gallery. I hope you enjoy my photos and thanks for stopping by!

Bill

NOTE: Copyright Reserved on all photos, Bill Smith, 2008.

Galleries

Holland America Line's Eurodam Dedication : On July 1, 2008, we attended the dedication ceremony for Holland America Line's newest ship, the M.S. Eurodam. The "godmother" for the Eurodam was her majesty, Queen Beatrix, of the Netherlands. The ceremony took place in Rotterdam, in the shadow of HAL's original HQ, now the New York Hotel, on a gloriously beautiful day. The ceremony included entertainment by a wonderful Dutch orchestra with a great female vocalist, the highly talented British groups, "Cantabile" and "The Opera Babes." A couple from Holland who were are loyal HAL Mariners "blessed" the Eurodam's bell along with the Eurodam's first Captain, Joroen von Donselaar by pouring champagne-flled glasses over the bell. Queen Beatrix followed by dedicating the ship with a blessing and the traditional breaking of a bottle of champagne against the ship's hull. HAL's CEO, Stein Kruse, also made a short speech, as did the CEO of Fincanteri, the company which constructed the Eurodam in short span of 16 months. After the ceremony, we, along with a small contingent of Cruise Critic members found our way over to the Euromast restaurant across the river for a post-Dedication dinner, where we could also view that evening's spectacular fireworks celebration in honor of the Eurodam.

Holland America Line's Eurodam Dedication

On July 1, 2008, we attended the dedication ceremony for Holland Ameri ...

Updated: Aug 14, 2008 5:35am GMT

Eurodam Prelude & Inaugural Cruises : Beginning on July 2 and ending on July 15, 2008, we were fortunate to be on the 3-day Prelude and and the 10-day Inaugural cruises of Holland America Line's new ship, the M.S. Eurodam. We embarked in Rotterdam, The Netherlands for the Prelude cruise, which took us to Hamburg, Germany and to Copenhagen,Denmark. The itinerary for the Inaugural segment was Copenhagen; Oslo, Norway; Alesund, Norway; Vik & Flam, Norway; Stavanger, Norway; Newcastle-on-Tyne, Great Britain; Edinburgh, Scotland; Invergorden, Scotland; and, Copenhagen. We stayed on the ship at Vik to enjoy the trip up a beautiful fjord to Flam. From Flam, we took round-trip railway excursion into the beautiful mountains. At Invergorden, we hired a driver to take us to Loch Ness and Glen Affric, a forest preserve. At Loch Ness, we took a short boat ride to Urquhart Castle. This was a great cruise on a beautiful, brand new cruise ship, now HAL's largest ship and the first of their Signature Class vessels.

Eurodam Prelude & Inaugural Cruises

Beginning on July 2 and ending on July 15, 2008, we were fortunate to ...

Updated: Aug 20, 2008 6:07pm GMT

Eurodam Photographs: Interior & Exterior :

Eurodam Photographs: Interior & Exterior

Updated: Aug 23, 2008 10:34pm GMT

Alaska 2007 : In May, 2007, we flew to Vancouver a day prior to a cruise on Holland America Line's MS Zaandam. The cruise took us to Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay, Ketchikan and back to Vancouver. While we did not see many whales, we did see a lot snow, which was great!

Alaska 2007

In May, 2007, we flew to Vancouver a day prior to a cruise on Holland ...

Updated: Aug 21, 2008 1:28am GMT

Columbia River & Oregon Coast : In July, 2007, we escaped the summer desert heat by driving up I-5 to Portland. We first drove east up the Columbia River and then back to Portland and over to the Pacific coast. We were greeted by the rain, fog and wind from a typhoon that had moved east from Japan, but had stalled off the Oregon coast. Nevertheless, the Oregon coast was still impressive! We also were able to see and photograph 7 of the 9 Oregon lighthouses.

Columbia River & Oregon Coast

In July, 2007, we escaped the summer desert heat by driving up I-5 to ...

Updated: Aug 27, 2008 5:23am GMT

Tulips & Windmills River Cruise : In April 2006 we went on a Tulips & Windmills cruise on the Viking Sky. We travelled with 10 friends and we all had a great time. We flew to Amsterdam to arrive on the day prior to embarking on the ship. We stayed at the very comfortable and convenient Banks Mansion. That enabled us to recover from jet lag and to enjoy dinner with our group and a wonderful friend from Amsterdam at the Restaurant Indrapura on the Rembrandtplein. On the following morning, after dropping our luggage off at the ship, we took the train to Delft for a day trip. Once the cruised commenced, we visited Hoorn, Volendam, Antwerp, Brussels, Camelot-like Bruges (one of our all-time favorite places), Arnhem, Nijmegan, the Palei Het Loo (the summer palace for royal family), Dordrecht, the Kinderdijk windmills, Middleburg, the Delta Works and the fabulous Keukenhof Gardens. We visited the Palei Het Loo on Easter Sunday, the one day each year that visitors are permitted to access the roof of the Palace! Although it was raining, it was still a treat to view the Palace grounds from the Palace roof. The Viking Sky is a very nice ship, the crew was great and the food was very good.

Tulips & Windmills River Cruise

In April 2006 we went on a Tulips & Windmills cruise on the Viking Sky ...

Updated: Jun 24, 2007 8:43pm GMT

Baltic Cruise on the MS Prinsendam : In the summer of 2005, we flew to Amsterdam a few days prior to emarking on Holland America Line's MS Prinsendam for a Baltic Sea cruise. From the Amsterdam's Schipol airport, we took a train to Bruges for two nights. Bruges is wonderful, with a carillon tower that dominates the old city, canals, cobblestone streets, chocolatiers and lace shops. It is one of our favorite places. After we returned to Amsterdam, we embarked on the Prinsendam, the smallest ship in the HAL fleet. Our cruise took us through the Kiel Canal, to Bornholm, Visby, Tallinn, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm, Oslo, Warnemunde (where we took a train to Berlin), Copenhagen and back to Amsterdam. We had a great cruise and the Prinsendam became our favorite HAL ship!

Baltic Cruise on the MS Prinsendam

In the summer of 2005, we flew to Amsterdam a few days prior to emarki ...

Updated: Aug 24, 2008 4:55am GMT

Antarctica cruise : In December 2003-January 2004, we took a South America/Antarctica cruise on Holland America Line's M.S. Amsterdam, from Valparaiso, Chile to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, including a 3-day transit of Antarctica waters and a stop in the Falkland Islands. While the overall cruise was excellent, the highlight was our time in Antarctica. As the photos indicate, we were blessed with outstanding weather, sea and ice conditions (at least until the last evening when we became encircled in ice floes). We also crossed the Antarctic Circle, the first for any Holland America Line ship. Antarctica is spectacular and pristine. It is a treasure of nature which needs to be protected and preserved. This was our "cruise of a lifetime".

Antarctica cruise

In December 2003-January 2004, we took a South America/Antarctica crui ...

Updated: Jun 23, 2007 6:05pm GMT

Suzuki Burgman 400 : The are photos taken on October 28, 2006, the day I took delivery of my 2007 Suzuki Burgman 400 motor scooter. It has a 400cc engine, so it can cruise easily at 70mph all day long on the interstates and tops out at about 95mph! There wasn't a "motorscooter" category available, so since this is a two-wheeler, "motorcycles" was the closest category for this gallery.

Suzuki Burgman 400

The are photos taken on October 28, 2006, the day I took delivery of m ...

Updated: Jun 05, 2007 10:09pm GMT

Installing a Suzuki Luggage Rack on a 2007 400 : This installation was a breeze due to the instructions that came with the Suzuki rack, the "crosshairs" on the inside of the back cover, and the use of a Unibit for drilling the holes in the back cover.

Installing a Suzuki Luggage Rack on a 2007 400

This installation was a breeze due to the instructions that came with ...

Updated: Jun 13, 2007 4:21am GMT

My Smug Mug :

My Smug Mug

Updated: Aug 24, 2008 9:23pm GMT