Whale taken from the balcony outside our room in the ship.

Orca next to our ship

Paddling past an iceberg

At the Mendenhall Glacier

Cruising in Glacier Bay

The Marjorie Glacier

The Johns Hopkins Glacier

With a musher and his dogs

Black bear in the wild

Grizzly bear taken from our bus window

Wild black bear cubs

Bald eagles perched on a rooftop in Ketchikan

Whales and orcas and bears....oh my!

We have had the most amazing week in Alaska. From our cruise ship we have seen grey whales, humpback whales, orcas and dolphins. We have paddled past icebergs to the face of the mighty Mendenhall Glacier. We have taken a ride with a musher as he trained his sled dogs for winter racing and we have taken a boat up the Chilkut River in search of the elusive moose. We have cruised through the mist in Glacier Bay, watching the Marjorie Glacier as it calved great chunks of ice into the sea next to us. We have seen grizzly bears and black bears and their cubs in the wild. We have seen bald eagles and their amazing nests perched in trees and on rooftops. Tomorrow our adventure ends at the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park in near Vancouver, then we start our long journey home tomorrow night. 

On the observation deck of The Empire State Building

Three ladies and a baby.

Eating yummy ice creams just down from Wall Street

The 9/11 Memorial Fountain

A squirrel at Battery Park

The Big Apple

We had one very full day in New York City. We were travelling with Tanya and Nikau, my dad and my niece and her husband and their two children aged 7 months and 3 years. We had buggies and backpacks galore but that didn't deter us from seeing the sights. 

First stop was the Empire State Building where the security queues were horrendous!  Finally we reached the observation deck where we admired the 360 degree views of New York City. From there we braved the subway system to get downtown to the ferry out to Liberty Island. I think the New York subway system has to be one of the least user friendly subways in the world. We got on a train heading for our destination, then at one stop we had to get off the train with  babies, buggies and backpacks, race up to the first five carriages just to go one more stop! 

The security lines at the ferry were equally horrendous, but we finally made it over to Lady Liberty. It was very hot and sunny so we had a bit if a rest before catching the very back to Battery Park. From Battery Park we walked down to the Freedom Tower and the 9/11 Memorial Fountain. The fountain sits in the footprint of one of the twin Towers and the water, rather than going up like most fountains, runs down the walls, disappearing into a deep hole in the middle. On the barrier around the fountain all the names of those who died are written.

From there we got the subway up to Times Square, a crazy, colourful noisy sea of people, lights and cars! My dad was feeling the effects of our busy day in the sun so dad and I hopped in a yellow taxi back to the hotel.

Yesterday, after a very, very tearful farewell to Tanya and Nikau, Geoff and I flew over to Vancouver, and today we board our ship to start our cruise up to Alaska.

I'm not sure what the internet situation is on a cruise, so don't be surprised if the blog stops for a week or so!

The USA Adventure

I must apologise for the big gap between blogs, we have been very busy.

We had a long plane ride of 13 hours from Abu Dhabi to Boston. Nikau was amazing, he didn't cry at all, I think he's going to love travel just like his mummy and daddy (and his nana and grandad), Ali's mum picked us up at the airport and took us out to North Falmouth on Cape Cod where they live. It's a very beautiful area of America. It was lovely to be able to take Nikau outside for a walk in his buggy, (something you just can't do in Abu Dhabi because it's so hot)

We spent two nights at Ali's house then on Thursday we convoyed up to Vermont. We hired a very large 8 seater car which Tanya drove for us. On Friday we spent a bit of time visiting Dartmouth College where Ali and Craig met.

Saturday dawned a bit overcast and misty, but as the day wore on the clouds cleared and the sun came out. The wedding was perfect! Ali looked absolutely stunning and Craig made a very handsome groom. Fortunately I took a supply of tissues in my bag, because as I predicted, seeing Craig and Ali look so beautiful and happy together brought a rather large amount of tears to my eyes. The setting where they got married, in the grounds of the Quechee Inn, was picture perfect.

The reception was equally amazing and got me, very emotional. Ali had told me that Craig and I would have to dance together and she would dance with her dad. Needless to say Craig told me nothing! Ali and Craig had chosen a special song for their respective dances. I didn't realise that each couple would be doing a solo performance. Ali and her dad took the floor first. Ali chose a beautiful song about a dad watching his little girl grow up. Then it was our turn, and the DJ said someone better get a towel for Craig's mums tears, cos she's going to need it! He wasn't wrong!! Craig had chosen for our dance Elvis Presley's The Wonder of You, which was the song that Geoff and I chose for our first dance at our wedding 34 years ago! I was in floods of happy tears.

The party went on well into the night. One of the highlites of the night was Bex's boyfriend, Jesse's Michael Jackson dance. He was so good that some people asked if they had hired a professional dancer.

All good things must come to an end and we bid a tearful farewell to the new Mr and Mrs Henderson at the train station this morning.

At the moment we are on the train heading for New York City, a journey of about 7 hours.  Tomorrow we plan to go up the Empire State Building and out to the Statue of Liberty.

Four generations meet in America

The kiwi whanau

These 3 people are the reason for our great adventure!