Alaska Cruise day -2, coach to Denali NP

Coach transfer from Fairbanks to Denali Lodge near Denali National Park was some 3+ hours with views somewhat ruined by the damp windows – another disappointment was that the planned Denali Natural History Tour was completely cancelled due to excessive snow within the park, so we were left with an empty afternoon but a nice upgraded-by-us room to enjoy it in!

Evening dinner was a struggle, the lodge dining had long lines as did most other across-the-road alternatives, but we found one place offering crepes.

Alaska Cruise day -3, flying to Fairbanks

After visiting the three north west states that we’d never visited before, we flew to Fairbanks to both visit Alaska, and begin our Holland America cruise – which includes a land section … we flew over spectacular scenery of mountains, glaciers, snow, rivers …

In the evening we walked around Fairbanks, including a visitor center with a nearby arch sculpture …

PNW: Washington

After dealing with our first heavy traffic of the trip, and visiting the site of the infamous Tacoma Narrows Bridge, we returned our rental car and transferred to our hotel in Seattle city, with views of the skyline and Space Needle, and an easy walk to Olympic Sculpture Park.

Next dat we walked to the bottom of the Space Needle and visited the amazing Chihuly museum, I also went to the top of the Space Needle (scary high!):

We also slightly repeated ourselves, visiting another troll Frankie Feetsplinter, and the Ballard Locks with another fish ladder!