As we farewell US of A … 🚆 🛤️ 🛳️

Today being our last day in Bellingham, has been hazardous for our health!! The smoke from the fires is really quite unbelievable 🌫️

We had decided to do the coastal walk from Fairhaven to Bellingham (about 5km) and then the Whatcom Museum. The coastal walk was murky and the Museum was closed! Whoops … forgot we were in a small town!

We found all these ‘markers’ on our walk … these are the ones that we found the most interesting!

Colin reackons he is hen pecked … but that is a rooster!

After lunch we caught the bus to Whatcom Falls Park, which is very beautiful and walked through it from one side to the other. There is a small river [which runs from the lake to Bellingham Bay], a waterfall and a hatchery. Because it is summer the river / falls are quite low. There were a lot of people swimming today, as it has been 28 degrees today.

Bellingham / Fairhaven have been lovely, I am glad we have stayed here for a few days. The bus has been super easy to use and it is only $3 US a day. But I am super excited for the next part of our journey 😁

So, our communication may be a bit hit and miss for the next few weeks! In the morning we are catching the train (yaaaay!) from Bellingham to Vancouver. We are spending one night there, before boarding our Princess Line (Island Princess) cruise to Alaska (yes I know that be USA, but most people think of Alaska as a place of its own!!)

We arrive 7 nights later in Whittier and then transfer to Anchorage for a couple of nights. On the 31st we hop back onto a Royal Caribbean (Radiance of the Seas) cruise from Seward back to Vancouver!!! I know two cruises, but it was the cheapest way to travel [and someone cooks your food and makes your bed!]

Originally we had booked the second cruise when we were in Las Vegas, but as we explored options to get up to Alaska we found:

• To hire an RV one way for three weeks was going to be $7,000 US = $10,500 NZ!!!!!
• To fly was about $350 US each + we still needed accommodation etc
• There is a passenger/vehicle ferry that is hop on / hop off but that was $650 US each

• And then a special deal popped up with Royal Caribbean for $850 US each which worked in with our dates, hence we are doing two cruises.

From there we are going to be staying in Victoria on Vancouver Island for 5 nights before our next ‘Mr & Mrs Smith assignment’ commences in North Vancouver.

This was originally til the 28th September, but we were asked to extended til 9th October. We are looking after a German Short-haired Pointer (GSP) on the 20th floor of an apartment. ‘Skye’ needs to be walked five times a day. One small walk in the morning when the days begins, one long walk [90 mins] after breakfast, one small afternoon walk, one small walk after dinner and then one small walk before bed. If I don’t get skinny then, I never will.

So as you can see we are pretty organised now for the new several weeks (I love that that!). We will post whenever we can.