First of all i have to say HOORAY!!!!! we have got the charger for the netbook back! It was left in Seattle so all my blogging had to be handwritten and this is why i havent posted anything for a couple of weeks and it will probably take me at least another week to catch up. 25th-26th July '12 Vancouver to Seattle, Washington U.S.A. We left Vancouver by Greyhound Bus 20 minutes later than scheduled due to the bus driver performing all his vehicle checks at least twice! – but at least we knew everything worked! It was only about 30 minutes to the border and as you couldn’t take any food across we scoffed our sandwich down. After the last Canada/USA border crossing last year I was taking no chances! This time however it was ... read more

20th July ’12 Ketchikan A grey, rainy, blustery day and we have arrived in Ketchikan - The Salmon Capital of the World. We are moored up right along the Front Street in the old historic town, which is…. yes you guessed it, lined with jewellery stores and souvenir shops! Again we got off and ran the gauntlet of stalls and people holding signs offering tours at lower prices than the ship. We started the hunt for the coins and charms and found the stores had given up completely on trying to get you to try on or buy their wares, which was a godsend. In one shop they were selling lots of Sarah Palin election promotion items like fridge magnets and postcards saying things like Run Sarah Run! 2012 election and Sarah says I can see ... read more

17th July ’12 Cruising Glacier Bay We knew from the programme (that is delivered to your cabin each night) that we would be in the National Park from 10am to 7pm and so intended to spend most of our time out on the deck – apart from cigarette breaks which would have to be in the casino bar as it was the only place you could smoke during these times. So when I went in for a fag I said to the other people there well I’m sure we will all see a lot of each other today (ha ha) and was met by stony faces and silence, well at least I tried! I did on another visit meet up with one of our friends from Illinois, she was sat at the bar drinking and chatting ... read more

12th-15th July ’12 The Kenai Peninsula We spent the previous night in the Artic Adventures Hostel, which was owned and ran by an American lad who had come to Alaska backpacking 7 years ago, saw the place up for sale at a bargain price, bought it and had been here ever since - he had now put it back up for sale as he couldn’t face another winter! He tried several times to convince we I would really like to buy it!! The hostel was fine, apart from the 1 bathroom to 5 rooms which meant if you needed to use it, you had to leave your door open so you could dash in as soon as someone came out. As the rooms were half the price of staying anywhere else in Anchorage and we were ... read more

8th July ’12 Fairbanks to North Pole to Tok Before leaving this morning I had a fascinating chat with the lady (age 70) who owns the Motel we have been staying in and her friend who was just visiting from Eagle – a small village right up near the Yukon River. They were saying ‘y’all should come back visit us in the winter and see how we really live’ which led me to ask them what it was really like and how did they manage. Turns out they do still get some daylight in Fairbanks in winter and the average temperature is -40 degrees, they then showed me the little lines dangling down from a wire across the length of the motel and told me that’s so people staying can plug their cars in so the ... read more