ALASKA

Well what a week we've had! Ships, trains, planes and coaches including a 1800 mile cruise to Alaska in the Zaandam - a floating 5 star hotel. Here we are later in the week enjoying a train journey through spectacular scenery after docking in Skagway

We were lucky in the weather ... dry and bright for most of the time. But we were reminded in Ketchikan that the winters require huge snow blowers to be fitted to the front of locomotives.

The artwork of the local Tlingit (pronounced Klinkit) tribe is focussed on making totem poles. These examples were in front of the Ketchikan museum devoted to saving and preserving original poles found in surrounding villages. The poles commemorate dead leaders, celebrate feasts and important events.

We spent a day in Juneau off the ship. This is the imposing Mendenhall glacier. The blue colouring of the face is caused by the ice and snow being so compacted that it absorbs all the colours of the spectrum except blue. The face of the Mendonhall glacier was one and a half miles wide until the hot summer of 2004 melted a mile of it! But, despite global warming, it is unlikely to disappear soon as it stretches back many miles into a huge ice field.

It was difficult to capture on film the 20 or so humpback whales we saw on a boat trip which included an excellent salmon bake. Here you can just see a mother and calf fishing for krill and other food. The sound of the water shooting out of the blow holes echoed around the bay - apparently the water can jet out at over 100 miles per hour!

Further north in Glacier Bay, giant glaciers showed the strata lines of many years of snowfall.

This glacier, in College Fjord (still further north) is fed from two sides. The ship made its way slowly through great ice floes caused by the numerous glaciers feeding into the fjord.

This glacier had what looked like a river running through it! We could not understand how the water rushing out of its base had not frozen.

On board, we were treated to excellent food, a wide variety of entertainment and many forms of artwork. We watched ice sculptures being created - here is one of the most elaborate.

... and another one surrounded by carved fruit

In our stateroom (cabin) we were greeted every night by strange creatures on our bed. All the Indonesian stewards are expert towel folders!

After landing in Port Seward, the train that took us to Anchorage passed through wonderful scenery. Here was one of the beautiful lakes...

... and, of course, more glaciers!

We flew back to Vancouver via Seattle and arrived late at night. So we rounded off our week with a ride into town in a limousine.

BACK TO VANCOUVER ISLAND

Sequim (pronounced squim) is an attractive peninsula in northern Washington State. It used to house 400 dairy farms but now only features one. It is now a popular tourist area. The deer there are very friendly. Port Angeles also features some friendly characters. We saw this racoon in a car park just before setting sail back to Vancouver Island.
Arriving in Victoria, we decided to visit the Butchard gardens. Once a gravel pit, this sunken garden was the highlight.

The grandson of the couple who created the garden added a fountain.

It was a glorious day which showed off the flowers to best effect.

With Robert and Rhoda we visited the Milner gardens where their daughter is due to be married next year.

We enjoyed an English tea on the covered deck before a leisurely stroll around the gardens. The screeching of numerous small birds made us suspect a cat was about. In the event we discovered a full grown owl - unfortunately the photo of the bird is not so clear.

Next day we were taken to Mount Washington which we ascended by chair lift... very scary as we've not done this before! The views from the top (over 5,000 feet) are the best on the Island. It was chilly at that height hence the warm clothing.
Back at Robert and Rhoda's house we witnessed a beautiful sunset yet again.
A walk by the harbour revealed perfectly formed ice plants (that's what we think they are)

GLASS

Seattle gave us our first experience of rain for two months. We drove through heavy traffic, road works and spray. When we got there, we found the famous space needle awaiting us. Taking the lift to the top would have given us a panaramic view of more fast-approaching thunder clouds. We decided to head back to Tacoma.

Tacoma is the home of the famous glassblower Dale Chihuly. We walked across the 'the glass bridge', so called because suspended over the walkway is a massive display of coloured glass made by Chihuly. Walking beneath it is like travelling under a coral reef.

At the end of the bridge was a huge display cabinet showing Chihuly's vivacious humour.

The bridge led to the Glass Museum where we spent 2 hours. We watched talented glass blowers of the American School creating a new work.

A number of American School artists had there work displayed in the museum. Many of them had been taught by the Venetian master, Lino Tagliapietra. Lino has a website where two dimensional images of his masterpieces can be viewed. We were not permited to photograph his work but the full impact of his incredible talent could not be captured in two dimension anyway. We were so amazed by the intricacy and brilliance of his work that we found it hard to leave the museum.

Next day we travel to Port Townsend. On the way we stopped at Poulsbo. Originally built by Norwegian settlers, this was a charming village where we could walk without recourse to the car.

The wooden houses were charming and the weather remained pleasant.

Poulsbo is on Puget Sound so attracts boat owners from Seattle and beyond. Looking out over the Sound we saw a Bald Eagle sitting on a rock enjoying the sunshine.

PORTLAND

We have stayed three nights in Portland, a truely trendy city of 2 million people. There's downtown with its free public transport system; the Bohemian Hawthorne district across the river; and the leafy western end of the city, Washington Park. We spent a tranquil two hours in the brilliantly designed Chinese Gardens constructed on one downtown block

Ray stands amongst the Bonsai Trees

Elegant Ming style furniture within the scholar's study

The ceremonial terrace before the room where important guests would be greeted

Carefully patterned windows which allowed the rooms' interiors to merge with nature outside

The clever design of each area of the garden ensured that you could partially observe other areas giving the impression of far greater space than the single block on which the garden had been built.

Washington Park contained the zoo, the rose garden, and the Japanese garden. Here are a few choice pictures of animals we saw in the zoo. A Malaysian black bear:

An Indian elephant about to go into the water but scratching his foot with his trunk first:

The family get-together:

A fruit bat:

A meerkatA giraffe with baby gazelles

A cerebus monkey:

Then there was the most spectacular rose garden with over 6,800 bushes:

A perfect specimen:

Some unusual hybrid colours:
Over the road was the Japanese gardens:

Pat enjoying the sunshine in the peaceful surroundings:

A very large koi carp

Statuesque imagery:

Colourful bushes:

Imagery on a conceptual level, a zen arrangement of stone and sand