Colorado

We arrived at the Greyhound station in Glenwood Springs at 7pm last Monday (after being delayed for 4 hours but that's another story!) It turned out to be a small petrol station just outside the town which also served as the bus station when the Greyhound came into town! The lady we were renting our apartment from had sent us lots of concerned emails (from her holiday in Estonia!) as she was worried about how we would get there due to us not having a car. She gave us the phone number of the local pastor's wife who she said would be very happy to come and pick us up! There was a free bus service around town but, due to our late arrival, it had stopped running so we took the pastor's wife up on her offer and she cheerfully came and collected us! Glenwood Springs is just like an Alpine village - very charming and surrounded by beautiful mountains in every direction. On the photos you can see the view from the front of our apartment and CK standing on the bridge over Roaring Fork river which we walked over most days to get the free bus into town. What you can't see on the photo is her new trainers that she bought while here (her third pair!) so here is a close up view of them!! I am on my second pair and will be needing a third pair myself soon (especially if it rains!) We did a few hikes in the nearby area, visiting the burial site of the famous gambler and gunslinger Doc Holliday on one of them! Nobody was sure of the exact site of his grave but people had left cigars, little bottles of Jack Daniels and false moustaches by the memorial stone anyway! The highlight of our visit to Colorado was a trip to Aspen which was only an hour and a half trip on the bus. The 'beautiful people' who flock there in the ski season were nowhere to be found but what we DID find was a bit of drama in the town centre. A small section of the town had been taped off and the reason for this was that a black bear had wandered into town around 5am and climbed up a tree on one of the streets! As the town came to life in the morning he was too fearful to climb down again so just stayed up there. He was still there when we left later in the afternoon and I read on the news the next day that he hadn't climbed down again until midnight! Poor bear! Although we were very excited to see him at close quarters after only being able to view the grizzlies at a distance in Alaska! This next section of our Colorado blog is dedicated to CK's Mum, Mary Buckley (a John Denver fan!) - as when we went for a walk down to the river we came across a memorial park to the man himself! It was beautifully done with many of his songs carved out on the rocks and as you can see CK could not help but break into song when she saw 'Sunshine on my Shoulders'! 'Rocky Mountain High' was also there in its entirety so feel free to sing along Mary! We took a gondola ride up to the top of one of the mountains and were blown away by the absolutely awesome views from the top! We sat there at the top of the mountain and tried to take it all in. I don't think I have enough adjectives to describe it really - majestic, magnificent would be a couple - it totally took your breath away! We will be sad to leave Colorado as we have had a lovely cosy little apartment (which we don't get all that often!), great outside space (lawn and patio with lovely mountain views!) and such lovely hosts who have been so very kind to us. But move on we must - tomorrow morning in fact at 4am(!) - and take the now infamous Greyhound bus on to Lincoln, Nebraska for a couple of nights. It's an 11 hour bus trip so we have packed up a bag full of sandwiches and are getting ready for an early night in preparation for the day ahead - wish us luck - with the Greyhound bus we will probably need it!

Salt Lake City (Seriously Lacking Character)

After returning our hire car and spending the evening in the Anchorage Airport departure lounge (our flight to Salt Lake City - via Phoenix - departed at 01.45am so we decided we could save on a night's accommodation!) Not sure why we went via Phoenix as we passed Salt Lake on the way but short of parachuting out of the plane with our luggage in tow we had to go with the flow! We had booked a cheap flight with US airways which involved a connection in Phoenix to board a plane for Salt Lake City. Unfortunately our flight from Alaska arrived late and we missed our connection by seconds (the plane was still on the tarmac but they refused to let us board!) so we had to wait a couple of hours for the next flight. This was overbooked which is apparently normal but they asked for volunteers to give up their seats and take another flight several hours later in return for a $250 voucher towards future flights with US airways. Surprisingly to us they got plenty of volunteers and we got to board the next plane! We were very relieved to finally arrive at our accommodation - the Carlton Hotel - after such a long day! We only had 2 full days in the city so set out the next day (after our included free full cooked breakfast!) to see the sights. What hit us first was that, despite being a Saturday in the middle of August, the city was quiet and seemed almost deserted. So deserted in fact that a couple of guys about 10 floors up in an apartment block waved to us from their balcony and there was no confusion about who they were waving at as there was nobody else on the street! They must have thought "hey look - there ARE other people here - let's make contact!!" It was a very clean and tidy city and the people we did meet were very friendly and helpful but it definitely seemed to be lacking in character and personality somewhat. We did the rounds of the tourist sights on the first day, visiting the Utah state capital building and the Mormon temple. When we arrived at the temple we saw that a wedding was taking place ... then we saw another bride ... and another! All in all we counted 9 brides in total all getting married at the same time on the same day! Later we wandered down to an outdoor shopping mall at the other end of town which had a bit more life about it and, needing to escape from the intense 104 degree heat at this point, went to see "the time travellers wife" in the air conditioned movie theatre. The next day (after another full cooked breakfast!) we set off to walk the nearby City Creek Canyon trail, thinking it would be just a short relaxing hike. It turned out to be 8 miles long and all uphill(!) but we persevered (well we did have that breakfast to work off!) and looked forward to the 8 mile return trip which was all downhill! On our third morning we had to miss our lovely breakfast (we were gutted!) due to having to get a 6.35am Greyhound bus to Glenwood Springs, Colorado which was to be our home for the next week (and where we are at the moment). Sleepily we watched the Utah landscape pass by and looked forward to seeing the lush green slopes of Colorado!

Alaska - Mount McKinley & Talkeetna

Apart from the wildlife, the scenery in Alaska is just amazing! It reminds us a lot of New Zealand with its mountains, lakes and forests. On a totally different scale of course but it has a similar feel about it. We loved New Zealand probably more than anywhere else we have been and we love Alaska too! It's just so wild and remote and totally captivating. Admittedly it may not be so attractive in the depths of Winter when there is a ton of snow everywhere and only about 5 hours of daylight though(!) We went back to Denali on our last day and followed some hiking trails in the area where we spotted lots of the smaller wildlife mentioned in our last blog. I was kind of hoping we might catch a closer sight of another Grizzly, although being as we were on foot this time not in a bus, maybe that wouldn't have been such a good idea! Soon it was time to get back in our trusty Chevy and take the long road back to Anchorage. It was my first time driving on the other side of the road on this trip but, being as once out of town it was just one straight road for over 200 miles there and back, it wasn't too much trouble! We passed beautiful lakes and forests and about halfway home we got a good view of Mount McKinley, North America's highest mountain. It's covered with clouds a lot of the time but on the day we were driving back to Anchorage the sky was a cloudless blue which was perfect! We also stopped off at the little town of Talkeetna, the place on which the TV Series 'Northern Exposure' was based on. Its a cute little town with most of the buildings, shops, cafes etc being individual log cabins. You can see myself and CK standing in the middle of the downtown area by the general store and by the town sign! Alaska made a big impression on us and we didn't feel like we were in the US at all but some other country! One thing we didn't get to see though, mainly because it was the wrong time of year, was the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) that you can see in a lot of northern skies in different parts of the world but which are particularly spectacular in parts of Alaska. The photo is courtesy of the website destination360.com and that is exactly what I would like to come back and see one day! So I guess that's a good enough excuse to put Alaska back on my travel list again in the not too distant future! Alaska is truely awesome!

Alaska - Denali National Park

After a week in Anchorage we took off on a three day trip up to Denali National Park, about 250 miles further north. We hired a car for three days and drove up to our hostel just a few miles outside the park. As you can see from the road, there wasn't a lot of traffic about when we got up there and the road just stretched on for miles! We had a cute little log cabin called 'Splatter Rock' with its own deck. It was our first time in a hostel so we had to get used to shared bathroom facilities for 3 days! Inside our cabin you can see CK posing on her lower bunk! Mine was the top one and we had a little electric fire to keep us warm (believe me it gets very cold at night here! The last morning there was even frost on our deck!) Across the road was the very fast flowing Carlo Creek and next to that the Creekside Cafe where we had good homecooked food every night - lots of local salmon on the menu and fabulous cakes to drool over! While driving to the park one day we saw our first Moose! Just standing by the side of the road nonchalantly eating the grass. It was very exciting! A Moose on the road! She was quite happy too - just munching on the grass - until a great big truck came by and scared her away! At Denali you're only allowed to drive the first few miles into the park and then you have to take a shuttle bus to go further in. We were lucky enough to see several Grizzly Bears with their cubs, although they weren't as near to the road as we had hoped but were grazing further up the slopes. It was amazing to see them in their natural habitat - just wish I could have got a closer up photo! Never mind - it gives me a reason to go back to Alaska sometime to see them again! With a long lens next time! We also saw lots of smaller animals, like the Alaskan Marmot - a beaver-like rodent. And the little Pika - a mouse like creature otherwise known as 'Rocky Rabbit' - probably because he is usually found amongst the rocks! (He is sitting on the big rock on the left with some grass in his mouth for his nest - just in case you can't spot him!) We saw lots of other animals too such as prairie dogs, ground squirrels, foxes and ptarmigans which are a bit like a pheasant, Caribou and Dall sheep (which we didn't find all that interesting! Well it's just a sheep when all's said and done isn't it?!!!) The best bit was definitely seeing the Grizzlies though and the Moose! It made our day!

Alaska - Anchorage & the Sled Dogs

Alaska! I still find it hard to believe that we have actually been there as it has been somewhere I have always wanted to visit. It is an amazing place to see and we only scratched the surface of it really. We spent our first day walking a 14 mile coastal trail that ran from near to where we were staying right into downtown Anchorage. We were told that there were often Moose on the trail and so we looked out excitedly along the way but we didn't even spot one that day! I had the impression that there would be lots of Moose everywhere - you know - just kind of walking down the road(!) but it seemed they were going to be a little bit harder to find than that! We got a good view of the Anchorage skyline along the trail. OK, not the most spectacular skyline we have ever seen but perfectly fitting for its place in this isolated part of the USA. The walk finished at Westcheser lagoon in the heart of downtown - a tranquil place abundant with fish and bird life. A highlight of our stay in Anchorage was visiting a Sled Dog Show, run by some of the actual mushers and their dogs who take part in the famous annual Iditerod Sled Dog Race. It was great fun to watch and we learnt quite a lot about the Iditerod at the same time. It's not an easy sport that's for sure as they have to handle a team of 16 dogs who run about 150 miles a day for around 10 days. And every night they have to rub down the dogs and cook them a hot meal before even thinking about getting what usually amounts to a couple of hours sleep a night themselves! They said the dogs lose about 14,000 calories every day so imagine how much food they eat! The photo of the guy pulling the sled and the huge Husky dog holding the handles is not usually the way it is done of course! They had a litter of 7 week old Alaskan Husky puppies for us to admire and as you can see CK was in her element with a very lively one! They also had a brand new litter of puppies which were only 10 days old and we got to cuddle them before and after the show. I am usually not too keen on dogs but even I couldn't resist those tiny little bundles! And just look at the cute little thing fast asleep on CK's fleece! There was also a beautiful blue eyed Siberian Husky taking part who sidled up to CK for his photo! We also learnt the local Alaskan saying that the guys have up here - "Alaska - where men are still men!" We rather liked that! Then we heard the saying that the girls have which we much preferred - "Alaska - where men are still men - but women win the Iditerod!" Well they have won it about 5 times I think, although not for awhile! So come on girls - we will be rooting for you to win this Winter!

Over the border to Vancouver - and back again!

Having got as far as Seattle and realising that Vancouver BC was only a few miles away (ok - quite a few!) up the road, we decided that it would be rude not to pay a visit while we were so close so we booked our first trip on a Greyhound Bus and headed off to Canada. Our home for the week was Mount Pleasant, just outside downtown Vancouver, in a little urban cabin. We took a trip over to Granville Island one day and got the tiny bus boat back to downtown afterwards. Another day we went to Stanley Park - a huge parkland right by the sea with a coastal walkway and lots of trails and forests further inland. It gave us an idea of what the area must have been like years ago before the city of Vancouver was "carved out of the forest" so to speak. It was also the place that we saw our first racoon ... and then our second ... and third ... and fourth! The first three were amongst the rocks by a lagoon and the fourth one was actually on one of the beaches digging in the sand! We also saw a skunk (from a distance!) but didn't get close enough to get a photo unfortunately. Or maybe it was fortunate really as we avoided the possibility of getting sprayed with that foul smelling stuff that they deliver if anyone gets too close. Yuk! The coastal walkway was a great walk passing by several beaches, the marina and Lions Gate Bridge where we saw a local fisherman patiently waiting for a catch. We visited Vancouver Island another day which was a bit of a mammoth day trip. The ferries went from way out of town and involved catching three different buses to get there, but once we had worked out the logistics and purchased a cheap day bus pass we were on our way! Victoria, the capital of British Columbia (although I confess I hadn't realised that!) has lots of beautiful heritage buildings and a decidedly British feel about it with several red double decker buses! We went for a walk around the harbour and made sure we had time for a nice cup of tea and a slice of New York cheesecake to fortify us for the return trip back to Vancouver. We spent another day in Mount Pleasant and visited Queen Elizabeth Park with its gardens, fountains and waterfalls. It was also a great spot for viewing the Vancouver skyline. On our last day we had a last wander downtown and saw the famous Steam Clock in Gastown and stopped by Canada Place to have a look at the cruise ships. Then it was back on the Greyhound Bus to Seattle, a night in a motel near the airport (where I'm writing this blog!) and then off to catch a flight up to Alaska for the next leg of our trip. See you there!