Sunday - The weather breaks and it's a cool and rainy farewell to Seward (and to Bob and Diane - again!). We visit the Sealife Centre, board the cruise ship for lunch, then walk to the town a bit before we sail. The ship is opulent, the cabin (sorry - stateroom) spacious and the dinner, after a comically chaotic emergency drill, excellent. Monday - A lazy day follows at sea, still grey and cool. Lots of activities on offer and we do a few, but it's nice to slow...

Friday - We arrive at The Windsong Lodge in Seward around 5.30 pm and are really impressed. We have a beautiful riverside setting, with a sunset ( if it ever did!) over the mountains, and the accommodation in wooden lodges among the trees. We take the shuttle into town for dinner: parts are nice, good restaurants and shops, nice seafront, but in between a very large and scruffy campground, really busy, full of big camper-vans and looking more like a car park than...

Wednesday - So another sunny day dawns (technically true, though it never gets dark: official sunset time for the solstice was 12.36 am!) and we leave at 6 am to begin a memorable journey through Denali National Park. Led by Gita, our Danish guide who has lived in Alaska for 20 years, we look for wildlife - and find a moose beside the road within minutes. It's a fantastic and incredibly lucky day - amid magnificent mountain scenery (and at times precipitous mount...

Tuesday - Well, we made it! A lot of hassle (never explained!) with USA immigration but eventually they let us in. The flight to Anchorage was busy but uneventful, with some great views of glaciers (there are 10,000 in Alaska!) as we came in. Anchorage is warm and sunny, with a friendly feel. Nice hotel beside Ship Creek close by the train station. We ride a free tram car up to the city centre, do a bit of shopping and a lot of walking - parks and waterfront, w...