Goodbye America.

California. We had made it back to where we had started some three years ago. We were camped on the banks of the Sacramento River in Redding near the border with Oregon. Over the river there is a lovely glass bridge supported by a pillar that also acts as  sundial. Naturally it is called Sundial Bridge.

Redding is near the start of the Cascade Range, whose course we had been following since Canada. The first major mountain  in Mt Lassen and we headed out there for a very long walk into the most beautiful countryside you could imagine. Lovely lakes mirror the majestic peaks and at this time of the year with Autumn already here in the mountains it was an ideal temperature.

Mt Lassen at 10,500 ft odd is not high but again like most of the Cascade peaks is quite active having erupted only a hundred years ago.

A long hike took us to Bumpass Hell, an active thermal area with the usual bubbling hot springs, mud pools and sulphur smell. The distance from the car park meant that few visitors attempted the walk so we had the place to ourselves.

Then we headed further South into the foothills of the Sierras.  Gold Country. We camped in Coloma an old gold town on the banks of the American River. A lovely wooded spot with virtually no-one there as the season was over.

Nearby Placerville had a lovely Gold Mine and was a quaint town to park in to watch the America's Cup Racing on our iPad.

We also visited Grass Valley to see what is probably the best preserved gold mine in the area - Empire Gold Mine, now a state park. It has lovely grassed grounds with handsome Ponderosa Pine growing there.

We had planned on visiting more towns in the area but unfortunately I became badly sick and needed a town with medical facilities so we headed for Lodi in the heart of the Central Valley where I made a slow recovery back to health. We are now in San Diego, a few metres away from San Diego Bay awaiting the arrival of my sister Sally and her husband Richard who will be taking over our fifth wheel and truck  and starting their own adventure around North America, 

We meanwhile will board the Celebrity Solstice next week and set sail for Hawaii, Tahiti and the Bay of Islands, NZ (our home) where we will disembark.

It has been a grand adventure touring North America. A land of many contrasts, magnificent scenery and very friendly people. We will miss you.

Nest year we return to Europe to board our new barge being built shortly, and looking like this...

Join us next year for more adventures.

Having a Blast in Oregon

Oregon is a diverse state, with wild coasts, rolling wheat fields, snow capped volcanoes and high deserts all in a relatively compact area. We arrived in the Stub Stewart State Park about 30 miles NW from Portland and were amazed at seeing our first wheat fields in months. The countryside was pastoral and gentle.  Just like Portland, Oregon's main city which struck us as being a refined, inviting place unlike say Seattle or Vancouver which simple assert themselves as if they had nothing to prove. We met up with old friends from NZ who run a 'neighbourhood eatery' in the leafy suburbs serving boutique beer and gorgeous Oregon wines. Next stop was the Columbia Gorge. Here the mighty Columbia River crashes through the Cascade Mountains scurrying to the sea. In the process it has ground a huge chasm in the mountains through which the water, rail, roads and fibre cables run. Barges ply the waters rising hundreds of feet in huge locks along side salmon heading hundreds of miles upstream to spawn.

The Dalles at the eastern end is a major communications centre hosting Google's biggest data centre and centres nearby for Facebook and Microsoft. The cool dry weather, the plentiful electricity from the dams on the river and the great fibre pipes running past all combine to make this one of the most important centres on the Internet.  In the distance another active volcano makes it presence felt with glaciers covering the top of Mt Hood even in the hottest summers. We drove up there past lovely orchards and Alpaca farms.

Even at this time of the year, there were skiers on the slopes.  We moved on into the high desert on the eastern side of the Cascades and headed South to Bend. We had a lovely campground, probably the best we had ever stayed in. It was warm, sunny and dry unlike the more changeable weather on the coastal plains of Oregon. The area and in fact most of Oregon is very volcanic. Near to Bend is the Newberry Volcanic Field which covers hundreds of square miles and is the largest in the USA. We drove up a lava butte for amazing views over to the snow capped Cascades. We climbed down into the ground and traversed lava caves produced in the last major eruption only a few thousand years ago.

Then south again and into the heart of the Cascades and the remains of what was only 7000 years ago the tallest mountain in Oregon - Mt Mazama. It blew its top off and created one of the wonders of the world in the process, the beautiful Crater Lake. Words are difficult to describe it. Blue it is but it is also huge, 10 km in diameter and it sits at 7000 ft high enclosed in the remains of Mt Mazama. We drove around its rim admiring the view from many overlooks. A really special place on the beautiful day we chose to visit. In cloud and drizzle it would lose a lot.

We were camped in the valley of the Rogue River, a very pretty river formed on the slopes of Mt Mazama and flowing over boulders and through narrow gorges and past our campsite.

And now alas Oregon is but a memory as I sit on the banks of the Sacramento River in Redding in 98F heat. Heat that we had forgotten about in the past 10 weeks after we arrived in Yellowstone N.P in mid June. But its nice to sit outside in the warm evening with a cold beer watching the river flowing fast on its way to San Francisco Bay where I hope its waters will push along Team New Zealand as they battle  Oracle tomorrow. Good luck Team NZ. It will be great to have the Ole Mug back in NZ again.

This week and next we continue our slow way down through the Californian Gold Country to San Diego where we are meeting a Celebrity.

The only way to Paradise is through Faith

"The only way to Paradise is through Faith" read the sign on the church in the hamlet of Faith. We were passing through, climbing up the foothills of the Northern Cascade Mountains heading for Paradise. Already Autumn was making its presence felt with leaves starting to turn golden and the nights getting a little chillier.

We had arrived in Washington State a couple of weeks ago and have fallen in love with this beautiful area. With lovely Puget Sound on one side and glorious snow capped mountains on the other there is a bit of everything here.  Our first stop was in Anacortes on the coast not far from Vancouver. We were hoping to catch a ferry out to the San Juan islands that lie in the Strait of Georgia between Washington and Vancouver Island. On the day we drove down to catch the ferry there was sea fog everywhere. We wouldn't have seen a dickie bird if we had gone over so we flagged it away and drove around the area instead. It is on a very long peninsular (really an island but there is a bridge) connecting it to the largest island in the mainland USA called Whidbey Island. Over the narrow gap called Deception Pass, between the mainland and the island is a lovely old steel bridge. Down below the banks are lined with fishermen all eager for their harvest of salmon. And the Washington coast is all about salmon. Every creek, inlet is a breeding ground for the fish and there seems an inexhaustible supply.

After Anacortes we drove to Seattle to a quiet campground by a pleasant lake. The pickup truck was booked in for a regular service on one day and we also had an appointment to meet up with Sam and his flatmate Joey at a local restaurant called The Herb Farm. The theme of the meal was Basil and every dish had it in one form or another. Before the meal we were led around the garden and given many different types of basil to try. A remarkable meal was to follow.

One day we went out to Everett and the massive Boeing assembly plant (no photos allowed). The assembly building is the largest building on earth able to hold 76 football stadiums. We saw 747s, 777s and Dreamliners being assembled. It was really fascinating.  Unfortunately the service work on the truck took longer than expected due to a lack of parts and we had to leave it in over night meaning we couldn't visit Seattle the next day (but we caught up later). So we headed on to Aberdeen on the coast and then to Port Townsend at the western entrance to Puget Sound. A lovely old victorian town loving restored. We stayed in Fort Worden State park where huge gun batteries once guarded the approaches to Puget Sound.

One day while we were there we caught the ferry from Bainbridge Island an hours drive away across the sound to Seattle. Pike Market had the most beautiful fish on display that we had ever seen in the US.

And the view from the ferry as we left was fantastic also. The weather has been kind to us in Seattle and we saw very little rain in over two weeks.

We are now a few miles from Paradise! The Cascade mountains with their tall active volcanoes are a most beautiful sight in Washington. The most recent eruption just down the road was at Mt St Helens, but all of them have been active recently- ie the last couple of hundred years. Standing tall they can be seen for miles dominating the countryside. We are camped near the hamlet of Paradise on the slopes of Mt Rainier which at 14,500 ft is only a few feet shorter than Mt Whitney the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states. But it is a lot more accessible and a lot more impressive with more glaciers than any other non Alaska mountain. At Paradise, so called because the view reminded  the namer of Paradise (she was obviously well travelled!) we hiked for miles up lovely alpine meadows covered with summer flowers, with the looming mass of Mt Rainier always present.  We climbed up to about 7000 ft and overlooked one of the glaciers coming off the side of the mountain - Nisqually. It is a really special place and even with all of the tourists there, there was enough space to get away from it all.

Tomorrow we say goodbye to Washington State and cross the border into Oregon.

North to Alaska

We left our fifth wheel in an RV park near the US border and drove to Vancouver Airport where we left the pickup and got a bus to Vancouver Port where we boarded the Sapphire Princess. A large ship, we had a lovely cabin with two views to the stern and to the side as we were the last cabin on the starboard side. Our friends Sharon and David had the cabin next to us. 

We set sail and cruised up the Strait of Georgia between Vancouver Island and the mainland, heading for the Seymour Narrows where we had spend a couple of nights a week ago. The weather was perfect - Vancouver having had no rain for a month. We settled into cruising life and on the first night we had our first formal dining night dining. The other picture is from our second formal night with with Sharon and David.

The ship is very comfortable with lots of facilities but in the main we were too busy at ports to take much advantage of them. The Sapphire Princess is the biggest ship on the Alaska run. There are many many ships and many many passengers cruising to and from Alaska. It is big business and Princess alone has 7 ships in the season and has by far the best linked in cruise tours at the start or end of your trip owing their own buses, hotels, and even train. It makes for a seamless experience though not very personal.  This is our ship viewed from the air at our first port of call - Ketchikan, the Salmon Capital of the World. (and there are lots of salmon!)

At Ketchikan we took a float plane to the Misty Fjord and landed on a serene mountain lake. The views as you can imagine were fantastic. Most people went on Salmon Fishing and Whale watching trips but we were lucky to get the float planes as we had booked some months before.

Ketchikan has a nice feeling to the town (only accessible by water). The main street Creek Street has a salmon swimming up it to spawn!

We left Ketchikan and cruised overnight to Juneau the capital of Alaska. Again Juneau is only accessible by water or air. Our trip ashore was to paddle a native American canoe right up to the base of the tidewater Mendenhall Glacier which was amazing. Only two canoes are allowed at a time and only four per day and that is the ONLY way of getting up to the glacier other than helicopter. It was amazing to see the glacier from the sea and watching small bits of ice fall off into the sea.

After we left Juneau along narrow passages between islands we saw lots of whales, orcas and even sea otters and Stella's sealions. Whales everywhere snorting and showing off their lovely tails.

Our next port of call was Skagway which is one of the ports that miners flocked to in the 1890s to get to the Yukon Territory to dig for gold. A railway was built to take them part of the way over the difficult White Pass and we rode the train from Alaska to British Columbia and then into the Yukon Territory itself. Spectacular scenery.

From Skagway we cruised overnight to Glacier Bay, without a doubt the highlight of our cruise. Words can't do it justice. It was a perfect day and something we will both remember for all our lives. Huge glaciers tumble down from 15000 ft mountains into the sea, calving huge chunks of ice in the process.

The ship manoevres gently around the sounds turning to give everyone a great view. The glaciers are huge. They look small but they are 300 ft high and over a mile wide when they enter the sea. This picture was taken 150 ft up on the top deck of the ship and the glacier still towers over the ship. Whales cavort at the entrance to the bay and sealions show off. We were lucky with the weather as it is not always perfect as we experienced.

Then als itv was time to leave and two days cruising North West bought us to College Fjord late in the evening where we saw even more impressive glaciers churning their way down to the sea.  The weather had turned a bit for the worse but it was still a majestic sight sitting in the comfort of the bar drinking a martini and slowly, very slowly making our way up the fjord past the huge glaciers.

We arrived in Whittier, the port for Anchorage the next morning and left the ship and boarded a train just outside. It had started to rain, though that didn't last long.

The train took us north for 9 hours to the Princess Denali Lodge, by the Denali National Park, a huge 10,000 square mile wilderness jammed full of wildlife. On our excursion the next day we saw caribou.

We saw moose, and they are big, and we saw lots of grizzly bears.

We drove into the deepest parts of the park, on dirt roads on an old school bus which was a bit uncomfortable but we had a very knowledgeable driver who had been doing the run for 31 years and knew every place to spot animals.

After Denali we went down to the Mount McKinley National Park where we admired the tallest mountain in North America and the highest mountain from its base to its summit in the world. It rises 18000 feet from it base of 2300 ft more than Mt Everest which only rises 12000 from its base. There was a bit of cloud over the summit but it was very impressive.

I am writing this blog in Anchorage awaiting the shuttle to take us to the airport for our flight to Vancouver. Alaska is certainly a frontier state and an amazing place and definitely a MUST SEE for everyone. One of the great places of the world!

Tomorrow we are back in the USA in Washington State continuing our trip south to San Diego.

Beautiful British Columbia

We left Alberta and headed for the last time over the Continental Divide and the Rockies and arrived in British Columbia staying a few days at the town of Revelstoke on the Upper Columbia River.. It was Wendy's birthday so we celebrated in style (or at least as well as Revelstoke would allow)

The next day we climbed up Mount Revelstoke keeping  a wary lookout for bears to a very alpine vista of melting snow, wild flowers and lovely views over the western Rockies.

Then it was time to leave the Rockies and we headed south west to the area known as Okanagan. Waat a contrast. It was hot. It was dry and it was lovely. An area full of lakes with all manner of water craft on them including lots of houseboats. It is also the premier BC wine area and we took advantage with a visit to may wineries including Mission Hill Vineyard (below) who make some of the best wines we have ever tasted. We had a lovely lunch there overlooking Lake Okanagan. Our campsite was in Kelowna right in the middle of an orchard. Probably the best campsite we have ever had.

We drove until we hit the Pacific Ocean and then headed back inland a bit into the heart of the Coastal Mountain Range to the town of Whistler. A very busy leisure town, site of the 2010 Winter Olympics. It has the most comprehensive ski runs that we have ever seen. Over 20 different runs. We took a gondola half way up Whistler Mountain.

And then continued to the toil by chair lift for an amazing view over the snow capped Coastal Range. From the top of Whistler Mountain you can take the  Peak to Peak Gondola between two mountains over to Blackcomb Mountain where there are lots more ski lifts. Even on a hot July day there was lots of snow up the top and the skiers and snowboarders were everywhere. A really magically place with lots to see and do. On the way back down on an open chair lift we saw these black bears just below us.

On the way back down on an open chair lift we saw these black bears just below us.

From Whistler, we took the ferry with our fifth wheel to Vancouver Island and drove 150 miles north to Campbell River. At another beautiful vamping ground where we were backed right on the water at the narrowest point between Vancouver Island and the mainland - a place called Seymour Narrows where the cruise ships on their way up North to Alaska pass by a few hundred metres from the shire each night. This is the Celebrity Century heading North to Alaska at 11pm. It was a real spectacle every night.

This is Seymour Narrows during the day. The weather was glorious and hot and again another magical place to stay.

We next headed to south on Vancouver Island to the capital of BC - Victoria.  A charming city that we fell in love with. Like nothing else we have seen but with bits of all the best cities we have been to.  Right on the water but sheltered with lovely houses dotting the never ending bays and lovely old architecture befitting  a capital city like the Parliament Buildings below.

We visited the world famous Burchart Gardens converted from an old quarry to a riot of colour and in the evening had dinner in the gardens and then watched a concert by Jason Romero playing Canadian Folk music.

We are in Vancouver now just by the US border. Its 5am in the morning as that is the only time I can get a decent wifi signal.  Tomorrow we board the Sapphire Princess and sail to Alaska.

Wow - The Canadian Rockies!

It's been a while since the last post due to a relaxing time in Montana and not being able to get a Canadian Sim Card, so having to rely upon WiFi to post when and if we could get it.

We enjoyed our home State Montana. Not a lot to see but a very relaxing place to stay with great countryside and views. We stayed in Missoula for a day or two and then headed up to Flathead Lake where we stayed with wonderful views over the lake at a small town called Polson. Then we drove along the very large lake to one of the highlights of our trip at Glacier National Park. The main road which takes you over the Continental Divide had only just opened in late June. Unfortunately we struck bad weather but we drove the road called "going to the sun" anyway. There was snow everywhere up at the top of the pass. It takes 3 months every year to clear it for a few months before it is closed again.

 It is an engineering feat as the road is carved out from the steep mountain sides. So steep the water cascades down the walls all over the road. This section below is called the Weeping Wall. We enjoyed a taste of huckleberries in Montana. Very unique - a sort of cross between a blueberry and a redcurrant. They are sold everywhere around the park. As far as we know they only grow up here and have to be hand collected from high mountain meadows.

The weather cleared but alas our time in Montana had come to an end and we crossed into Canada and headed north to Edmonton, Alberta to visit old friends of Wendy's from Port Elizabeth.  Southern Alberta had just been deluged with 100 year rains and there was signs of flooding everywhere. Houses were still covered, cars were inundated and many roads impassable. But we got to Edmonton in time for the Canada Day weekend which was glorious hot and sunny. We had a great time with Leonora and Paul Macy who showed us a round their lovely city full of parks and one of the largest shopping malls in the world.

Edmonton was the furthest North we had or were to travel in North America and when we left we headed West to the Rockies and our first port of call Jasper National Park. We stayed in the Parks Canada campgrounds which were very good and a good base for visiting the Jasper Area. One day we took the gondola up to the top of Whistlers Mountain and surveyed the magnificent mountains still capped with snow.

We visited the Maligne Canyon and wandered along steep paths beside the tumbling waters.

We spotted loads of bears as we drove around. On one day 9 bears were feeding on the side of the road including this Black Bear Cub.

Maligne Lake was another highlight in the area.

After Jasper we headed south along what is probably the most scenic highway on Earth - The Icefields Parkway. The Athabasca River hurtles over a waterfall along the way

as it descends from its glacier just off the road.

We spotted a family of Grizzly Bears munching on something nice  alongside the road.

Banff is a very scenic spot and has been very popular for over a hundred years when the Trans Canada Railway was routed through it. The Banff Hotel lies on the Bow River and is the most upmarket accommodation in town. We stayed at Tunnel Mountain National Park Campground in a very scenic spot with views of the mountains all around.

We went up another gondola to the top of Sulphur Mountain again with panoramic views in all directions. It was a bit of a hike from the gondola station to the mountain top but we made it.

On one of the days we were in Banff we drove the 90 minutes to Calgary to see the annual Calgary Stampede. The recent floods had severely damaged it only two weeks prior to the opening. The stadium you see below was covered in 15ft of water. It rained heavily on the day we visited but the riders still managed to rope their steers,

and the cowboys to ride the broncos.  It was a long day but very different. A bit like the Auckland Easter Show with a western theme.

On our last day in Banff we drove over to the lovely Lake Louise nestling at the foot of the Victoria Glacier. It was very crowded with tour groups everywhere snapping right left and centre.

We crossed the Rockies today on a  long drive that has taken us to Revelstoke in British Columbia. We plan on tootling around southern BC for the next two weeks before we arrive in Vancouver to meet a Princess.