We’ve missed our Alaskan cruise & our Rocky Mountaineer train ride, both of which we were really looking forward to but we are so happy that I’ve been well enough to have a few days with Kay & Ben & to see a little part of Vancouver Island.

Ben has been preparing special meals for me to help me get my strength back & I’m feeling much stronger. David shared his head cold with me though & I could have done without that.

Kay & I have been sharing family stories. She says I really look like her twin aunts, my 1st cousins & I can see definite resemblance between my kids & the family here. There’s no doubt we are Alleys!

Yesterday Ben & Kay took us over the Malahat & into Chemainus, an historic mining town where the mill still employs 200 people. It reminded us of Sheffield in Tasmania as they have murals on the buildings telling the early history of the town. I seem to keep repeating myself about the beautiful mountains covered with conifers & the magnificent waterways but we drove through them again yesterday.

Each day I’m feeling better & stronger & yesterday Kay, Ben & Jane, Kay’s sister &, of course, my cousin too took us to Butchart Gardens.

And, yes, you all said I would love it & you were right. We loved the colours, the shapes, the fragrances & the various formations & sections. I think the pictures speak for themselves.

After the gardens we had lunch at a great little restaurant beside Brentwood Bay. It was called Blue’s Bayou which served Cajun/Creole Southern food. I tried Jambalaya with shrimps & loved it.

We’re getting on like a house on fire. There’s much chatter about our family history, looking at photos & we’ve found a shared love of the same books, movies & TV shows &, of course, Travel. We’re having a lovely time so I’m so pleased that we were still able to visit Kay & Ben. It has also allowed me to rest up before the flight home as the doctor recommended.

We were collected by our Uber at 6:20 to drive south for an hour though beautiful forested mountains interspersed with lovely waterways. Apparently the air here is some of the cleanest in the States & I can see why with the extensive areas of forest. I reckon it would be a very pleasant part of America to live.

At Anacortes we boarded our ferry for the almost three hour spectacular ride across to Sidney on Vancouver Island. Many mountains (maybe hills) poke their heads above the water & it really reminded me of Halong Bay in Vietnam. Same same but different as the Vietnamese people say!

The ferry was large with capacity for 1200 Walk-ons & 400 vehicles. As you traverse International waters, it even offers duty free shopping for about 20 minutes. The crossing cost only $9.65 each for us oldies so that was very reasonable.

We stopped on the way at Friday Harbour near the marina & many people disembarked with bicycles. On many of the islands cute log cabins nestled in amongst the forest on the water’s edge. I could picture us having a lovely family holiday there with all of our kids & grandkids, walking, canoeing…… it would be great. Perhaps Grandpa David wouldn’t enjoy it as much as the rest of us. He’d be ok though if he could download “The Australian” on his iPad & find a comfy quiet reading spot.

When we docked at Sidney I could see my cousin Kay & her husband Ben waiting for us & it was so exciting to finally meet. Going through border control as we entered Canada was very quick & easy. They brought us to their lovely home where we will stay until Sunday when we head home. Kay’s grandfather, Will Alley was my father Sid’s brother. We had a very pleasant afternoon sharing photos & telling stories of our families. Their daughter Laura & her two sons, Dallas & Archer, popped in too so my family keeps expanding. I love it! But more about that in my next post.

I’m not sure there’s ever been Aussie tourists here before but it is a lovely place & now that I’m out of hospital we are enjoying our brief stay here.

We’ve just had a lovely lunch, the first I’ve had in 5 days at a great restaurant, Keenan’s on the Pier, recommended by one of my nurses – local oysters, small but very sweet & a shrimp & raspberry salad. Delicious!

Bellingham has it all. It’s ringed by mountains covered with beautiful green conifers & other trees & it sits on a lovely big bay. The whole city seems to be green with flowers everywhere. The architecture is different again from San Fransisco but just as attractive.

It seems to me that there are quite a few differences between the way hospitals work here & at home. The best thing about St Joseph’s was the Room Service Menu. I didn’t get to enjoy it as I wasn’t eating but it’s just like a restaurant menu with great options, catering for all dietary needs.

There was a computer for every bed & everything went straight into it. There was no paper! Amazing! And I didn’t have to state my name & date of birth 30 times a day. They just waved the scanner over my wrist band. It was so easy.

I am very excited that tomorrow we resume a part of our planned holiday. We are going by ferry to Vancouver Island to meet & spend a few days with my birth cousin, Kay & her husband, Ben. I am so pleased that we are still able to do this.

Here we are in an air ambulance Lear Jet operated by Guardian Air in Alaska flying from Ketchikan, Alaska to Saint Joseph’s Hospital in Bellingham, Washington State.

I haven’t felt well since we boarded the Regatta which was a shame as I couldn’t really enjoy all the beautiful food & we didn’t even drink our free bottle of champagne. It came to a head on Friday night when I was admitted to the ship’s hospital. I was looked after so well by the doctor & nurse who monitored me all night. It was amazing. The doctor thought I might need a blood transfusion so he put a message over the public address asking for people to donate for me. David said the queue filled the surgery & went way down the corridor. I felt very lucky to have so many people prepared to give up their Friday night partying & their blood for me. It was very special! Fortunately I didn’t need the blood but I am currently having an iron infusion as I write as my haemoglobin level is very low.

When we docked in Ketchikan, our first port, the ambulance was waiting & I was whisked off to the small but well equiped local hospital where I was given a whole heap of tests. The doctor recommended that I be airlifted to a larger centre for further testing & treatment & they organised it all.

When we arrived in Bellingham the ambulance was waiting & I was brought straight to my room where I am again having excellent treatment & I’m hoping to be released tomorrow.

I cannot begin to tell you just how wonderful all of the people who have helped have been. All of the ambulance officers especially the flight nurses were so lovely & cheerful & great tour guides! Here, a fire engine always accompanies the ambulance. I’m not sure why. But I’m glad they do because when we arrived here the firemen carried all of our luggage up to my room. Thank God we have cover for unlimited medical as the flight alone was over $68000.

Ketchikan was very wet, windy & cold yesterday & I don’t know how much fun the shore excursions would have been but probably more fun than being trussed up like a turkey on a stretcher in an plane. Poor David coped exceedingly well with having to pack all of our luggage up ready to leave the ship. He managed to fit everything in the cases but now we don’t know what is where. Finding stuff is quite a puzzle.

The views of both Ketchikan & Billingham from the air were lovely as is the view from my hospital window. I wish we could have finished our cruise but I’m just thankful that we are safe & so grateful for the wonderful help we have received. We are not sure yet what happens next but hopefully we can sort it tomorrow.

This is my view:

Yesterday was one of those unpleasant days that happen when travelling. Nothing drastic happened it was just inconvenient. Our ship was delayed due to an outbreak of gastro in Mexico, rough seas & US Navy exercise so instead of arriving at 8am, it arrived at 5pm which was the amended time they told us to board after the initial delay. So people & bags were coming off at the same time we were arriving to board. Chaos reigned supreme for awhile but we boarded about 8pm & our cabin was ready & bags were here so it wasn’t too bad.

However, the result was we sailed this morning at 10:15 rather than 6pm yesterday but we did sail under the lovely red Golden Gate Bridge.

We’ve just had lunch & there some waves frolicking off the stern but we couldn’t see much detail.

To fill in time yesterday we went downtown to Market St & rode the lovely old trams on the F line which runs alongside all the wharves. They have imported old trams from around the world including Milan & Sydney.

We are having to sail right by Astoria, Oregon our scheduled port visit today to make up time. So I guess now it’s eating, relaxing, walking the deck, reading, playing bridge etc until Ketchikan on Friday.

Before we left home we found this excellent site: freetoursbyfoot.com which has walking tours of San Francisco $ includes one of Chinatown. We printed it out & today we caught the bus into Market Street & made our way to Dragon Gate to follow the instructions.

They were really easy to follow & provided a lot of information. It’s a very large Chinatown with the first Chinese immigrants arriving before the gold rush in 1849.

When you first enter in Grant Street there’s a lot of souvenir shops which aren’t very interesting but further in there seems to be more traditional areas. Stockton Street made me think I was in a market in China with tiny shops selling dried herbs, nuts, dried fish, Chinese greens & plenty of other fruit & veges.

In St Mary’s Square there were many Chinese people playing cards & gambling & some just lying back having a nap & soaking up the sun. The area was protected from the nasty winds we have been dealing with over the last few days. At the moment the temperature is 14* but with the find it feels like 12. Bit chilly for us Queenslanders!

We decided to have lunch at a dim sum restaurant & had to wait a few minutes for a table. It was a huge restaurant & was full. All over the area you could see families out for Sunday lunch. We missed having Sal & Shao Meng & the kids here to share with us & to help with the food choices. But, trust us, we managed very well! And we certainly weren’t hungry when we left. Not much dinner needed tonight.

This morning we wandered up the street after breakfast to refill the grocery cupboard & of course, we had to have a coffee. We found a place called The Mill & again there was a queue & a shortage of tables but we scored one. It also sold beautiful breads & served some as toasts with seasonal jams. So we had to try one of course. My choice was a molasses bread with raspberry jam. It was delicious. This city is all about baking & breads & goodies.

After stocking the fridge, we caught the bus to the Japanese garden & tea house. These beautiful gardens in Golden Gate Park were created for the 1894 exhibition in San Francisco so everything is very well established & so peaceful. It was so lovely to go there. Reminded me our vista Japan which I loved. We wandered the gardens for a while & then caught the bus to Ocean Beach. It’s a very wide beach & there were some people there but it was very windy & cold so we didn’t linger long. This afternoon has been one of napping & resting. We both needed it. Tomorrow to Chinatown.

Phew! We’ve walked our legs off but had a great couple of days. Yesterday morning we went to Alcatraz & we found the audio tour of the cell block very interesting & very well done. The view of San Francisco from the island was lovely. They said that they have 300 varieties of birds nesting there & many volunteers involved in their care but we saw just one crow & thousands of huge sea gulls.

In the afternoon we went on a tour of Muir Woods to see the giant redwoods- beautiful tall, straight trees and, of course, only three percent of the original forest remains today. It was so quiet & so beautiful in the forest.

We’ve read about the amazing bakeries in SF & of Tartine in particular. They say you have to be there early to try the ‘morning buns’. So this morning we headed off on foot via The Painted Ladies, five beautiful old homes which have been spruced up, to Tartine

The queue at Tartine was short luckily but we shared a table with a friendly business woman from New York who had also read about the morning buns. We couldn’t resist the breakfast brioche & butter pudding with fresh berries either & it was all amazing. The dietary restrictions went out the window. The coffee was the only disappointing part as it was almost cold.

Public transport here is excellent & we’re finding our way around well. We then headed off to Market Street in the city to ride the famous cable cars. Our guide fromMuir Woods suggested dodging the queue at the start of the track by getting on at the second stop & this worked well. The hills which the car climbs are very steep & views are great but the cars are so crowded that you wouldn’t really say it was enjoyable. We rode up to Fishermen’s Wharf & then caught the tram back to Market Street where I had fun buying some new clothes at Macy’s. Fun!

Then it was home to rest & do the washing. Our legs needed an early mark after doing over 14000 steps each day for three days on these hills.

I’m just so thankful that we are fit & healthy & can still manage to walk these lovely places the way we love to do.