Alaska

Alaska has been on my bucket list for-evah!  And the trip was so worth it.  I loved loved loved Alaska.

 

Here are some photo's...

 

we ate Dungeness Crab

did I tell you - I met a guy... 

 we did the world's longest zipline in Icy Straits Point (oh my gosh!!)

 

the retailers encourage the wives to shop and the husbands to sit

we did a helicopter trip out of Skagway to walk on Meade Glacier

The cruise up to Hubbard Glacier was breathtaking - the blue ice is beautiful

we spent a lot of time reading and occasionally staring out to sea 

 we did an 8 hour bus trip in to Denali National Park

 That's Mount McKinley (also known as Mt Denali) in the background, one of the world's 7 summits and the highest peak in North America

  

 

we saw this mama grizzly with her 3 cubs as we were leaving Denali

we visited Jeff King's Husky Homestead in Denali

the real 'downward dog'

the Alaskan huskies are lean, strong and very fast runners, unlike the huskies that we have in South Africa 

we met Jeff King, the Iditarod champion

 

 after meeting Jeff, Leonie thought that some of his mushing skills would rub off on her and she could handle a team of huskies

 we did a wonderful 4 hour journey from Denali to Fairbanks in the glass topped train

we panned for gold and did a river boat cruise in Fairbanks

After 18 glorious days, we finally headed home back to South Africa 

 

 

What's next on the bucket list you ask...Machu Picchu in Peru, Lapland, a pilgrimage to the Holy Land...and lots more

 

Seattle and Vancouver

Hello, I'm back from an awesome, incredible and amazing holiday.  Here is a roundup of the first week in Seattle and Vancouver...

We stayed at the Edgewater Hotel, apparently the only hotel on the shore front in Seattle.  It was good

We visited the Space Needle in Seattle

and marveled at the glass creations in Chihuly Garden and Glass

We also spent time at the Pike Place Market

 

and had coffee at the first Starbucks store

 

We had breakfast at Biscuit Bitch, really interesting.  We ordered biscuits and gravy with scrambled eggs and cheese, and garlic grits on the side.  The food looked awful (like a sloppy mess) but tasted great.  It was a good experience, and lots of fun

We had just 1 night in Vancouver, and stayed at the Sheraton Wall Street - scary!  Our room was on the 23rd floor.  Fortunately we were very tired and slept well.

Between Leonie and I, we took over 2 600 photos, most of which are excellent.  I'm having a very hard time deciding which photos to scrap!  I'll share some photo's from Alaska in my next post.