During the night we steamed towards Juneau where we docked early in the morning. It was cold but the temperature improved as the day continued. Founded in 1881 and incorporated in 1890 Juneau became the capital of Alaska in 1906 after the Americans decided to move the capital from Sitka which had been the Russian capital. Located in the Gastineau Channel, the town is named after a gold prospector Joe Juneau. The Gastineau Channel was a favourite fishing spot for the local Tlingit Indians before Alaska was purchased by the Americans from the Russians in 1880. Well enough of the history [View Full Entry]

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Leaving Ketchikan we headed for Yakutat Bay and the Hubbard Glacier where the ice at its foot is about 400 years old. It is the longest tidewater glacier in Alasaka and a great sight to see. Ships must keep their distance because icebergs the height of a ten-story building calve off and routinely shoot up quite dramatically. So we were more than happy to leave it to the captain to decide how close to take us!! And as you can see it was cold!! It was rather misty when we first got there although it did clear up a little before [View Full Entry]

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Spent the first day getting to know the ship, meeting new people and trying not to overeat - I soon gave up on the latter and Kev never even tried!! The Travel Calm ginger tablets are working too so all's looking good. Despite the fact that it rained for some of our time in Ketchikan we enjoyed the experience, that is once we got away from all the jewellery shops which line the dock. Martha discovered, while talking to a local, that most of those particular shops are owned by the cruise companies - a good reason to give them a [View Full Entry]

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"We're going north; the rush is on!" - but before that happened we had time to explore a little of what Vancouver had to offer. After breakfast and stashing the bags we walked around some more of the city, admiring some interesting architecture before catching a bus to Stanley Park for a little walk around. At the entrance to the park we chatted to a couple who took our photo and were surprised to learn from them that in all probability Vancouver is in for an earthquake - expected to be about 9 on the Reitcher scale. Apparently Vancouver is on [View Full Entry]

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Another pack up and go day, this time by bus from Seattle to Vancouver with a bus full of fellow passengers. As we hadn't pre-booked our tickets we weren't actually sure that we'd get on but luck was with us. It was an uneventful journey until we reached the American/Canadian border when a woman and man behind us seemed to be talking in very load voices. The woman went down the front to see the driver in the hope of getting off the bus first but no such luck - he told her to get back to her seat! Then we [View Full Entry]

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Early start - we had the car packed and were off by 6am for the drive to Seattle, arriving an hour before we needed to drop off the hire car, around 9.30am. With such formalities over we walked down to the waterfront for breakfast and from there on to the Pike Street Markets which were a sight for sore eyes!! Many stallholders selling everything you could wish for including fruit, veggies, seafood, meat, jams, nuts & flowers - great atmosphere and hard not to load ourselves up with whatever our heart desired! From there it was a walk to the Sky [View Full Entry]

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It's always great to wake up at a friends place, especially one you haven't seen for a while and that's how it was for us at Martha's. Breakfast was a long drawn out affair because it became a talkfest but we managed to stir ourselves to get ready to catch the bus downtown - eventually. With a bus stop almost outside the front door it was all very convenient, and, for us it was interesting to check out the environment along the way. Once off the bus we headed towards the Willamette River and wandered along the riverside park with other [View Full Entry]

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It turned out that the Ravenwood Motel at Klamath, which looked so ordinary from the highway, was a little gem - and the price was not expensive either which was an added bonus. One of our hosts, who greeted us when we arrived last night, was on Opera fan - not really sure how we got into that subject so early in our short relationship but there you go! Breakfast was included in the tariff and luckily it also included fruit as well as all those sickly sweet pastries Americans eat in the morning. We would both recommend the Ravenwood Motel [View Full Entry]

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Well that was the plan but due to a comedy of errors - which was not very funny at the time - we never actually got there!! But first things first - we left San Francisco after queueing up with many others to collect our hire car, then it was off to battle the traffic all driving on the wrong side of the road which added to the stress. It was that which played its part in missing Muir Woods which only means we have to return!! When the driver (Kev) finally calmed down we got onto the coast road and [View Full Entry]

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Well I got a little ahead of myself because we didn't actually walk the Golden Gate Bridge until Monday travelling to the area by bus. Public transport in San Francisco is brilliant, easy to get used to and with (mostly) friendly helpful drivers. So we caught a bus to Presidio Park, walked around until we found a cafe where I at last got a decent cup of tea. It was also where I found out something about the area known as the Presidio of San Francisco - originally belonging to the native Americans the area was first colonised by the Spanish, [View Full Entry]

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