When we got back to Seattle, Anna flew up to Alaska as she had a 1 week business trip to her company's supplier factories and ships. I stayed in Seattle at Brads and explored Seattle a little more. I did not manage to get up the space needle which was a pity. I flew up to Anchorage - Alaska the end of the week. I arrived at the airport at 1am and decided to sleep on one of the benches. It was a bit of an uncomfortable sleep, but I survived. I had a train booked for 6:30 am although I thought I could take any train during the day. I eventually caught a cab from the airport to the train station and just made it onboard. What I had not realised was that the train only goes once a day at 6:30am. I would of been so pissed off if I had missed it having had the time available to catch it. I took the Alaska Coastal Classic train down to Seward which is a stunning trip. You pass, waterfalls, lakes, mountains & glaciers along the way. Anna joined me in Seward that evening. Anna had organised a 3 day kayak trip to the Kenai Fjords as a birthday present for me. We were joined by 2 other people. Molly and her step daughter Adriana. They were from New York. It turns out Molly is a well known American food writer. She used to write a column for the New York Times. She now works for herself. We took a 4 hour boat ride to the Kenai Fjords national park. Along the way we saw sea otters, bald eagles & puffins. We got dropped off at our campsite which were tents on a pebble beach. The view from the site was spectacular as we could look across to the Holgate Glacier. Our guide showed us around camp, made us lunch and then got us into the kayaks. He went through all the usual safety instructions and paddling techniques. Molly & Adrianna were first out on the water, but unfortunately their kayaks steering cable snapped. Our guide did not have a spare and so Anna & I said we would paddle the canoe without one as we felt more comfortable doing so than them. We were also very eager to get out there. That afternoon we paddled up to the Holgate Glacier. Its a carving glacier, meaning pieces of ice are continuously coming off it. As a result of this our guide did not want to get closer than 1km because a large block of ice falling into the water can create a big wave and knock you out your kayaks. Apparently a few weeks prior a very large piece of the glacier wall broke off causing a huge wave that toppled some private kayakers. Luckily there were boats close by to get them out the freezing. While we were sitting there, we were being surrounded by broken ice from the glacier. We had to then carefully & slowly make our way back through this maze of ice bergs. Its a little scary knowing that a thin bit of fiberglass stands between you and 8 degrees cold water. Dinner was good and tasted even better because we did not have to cook it ourselves. The next day our guide had fixed the steering and we headed out for our planned paddle to the Pedersen glacier. Within minutes our steering broke again. So we spent an hour or so getting it fixed. Ater one false start we headed off again. This time Molly managed to break the steering cable on the other kayak. We headed back to the beach and our guide got onto the radio to a boat doing a pickup of other kayakers that morning. He managed to arrange a new kayak. It was now lunch time and we decided to eat while waiting for the new kayak and having nothing else to do. It soon arrived and all was sorted. So second time lucky, we paddled up towards Pedersen glacier. It was a easy paddle as we had a breeze on our backs and virtually no swell. The sun was out and we could not have wished for more. Well maybe for Orcas. Both Anna and I have the dream of kayaking with Orca's. Unfortunately we did not manage to do this. We however spot a black bear along the way, which was my first. We got to the lagoon just at the right time as the tide was pushing in. We managed to paddle right up to the glacier. It was not a carving glacier so a lot safer. Getting out of the lagoon was hard work as we were fighting the tide, but we eventually managed. All credit to our guide who was towing the ladies. He earned his tip that day for sure. Luck was also on our side, the wind changed direction on the way back and yet again it was from behind. We eventually made it back by 10pm. Its so light in the summertime, it made no difference. Dinner was great that night. The next day was pretty much pack up and get ready for our pick-up. Our guide had been in contact with some of the early boats and they said the sea was getting big and hoped that we would be picked up. We did get picked up and the sea swell was about 4ft. Thats quite rough, but our captain did a good job of getting us back safely and good old sea sick tablets kept my breakfast down. We stayed that night in a lovely hotel in Seward and met Molly & Adrianna for dinner that night. The next day we went to the Aquarium in Seward. What facinated me the most in the aquarium was watching puffins dive for food. To be able to watch a bird swim under water was fantastic. We drove back to Anchorage later that day as Anna had a flight back to Seattle. I had one the next day, so Anna was going to drop me off at a hotel. Suddenly I thought why don't I just change my flight. Well I did and we flew back together. We stayed at Edi's and caught up with her and Brad the next evening.We hired a car in Seattle and drove up to Vancouver. Along the way we stopped at a RV dealership. We had seen so many of these huge mobile homes that we wanted to see them for ourselves. We had a young salesman take us through 6 different models. The biggest one is the size of a bus, but whats more the sides open up as well to provide even more space inside. Some people also tow a car behind it as well. The best part is that you do not need a different licence to drive one. Its not a commercial vehicle so only a car licence is required. So my advise is be careful around these RV's, the driver might be a newbee and not be spacely aware. I think its nuts!