You know you're in the largest state in the Union when you're

... anchored down in Anchorage! (and you need to give way to moose on the footpaths, even in the city!)

Well here we are. Where has over two months gone. Almost unbelievably we are in our fourth calendar month of being on the road - we left on 31 March and it is now early June. It was barely spring when we closed our front door for the last time and now summer is well established. Somewhat incredibly the forecast today is for a high of of 25ºC in Anchorage. So glad I brought that extra down jacket for the cold arctic!

The last couple of days have, as they often do at the end of trip, gone by in a blur. The final zodiac trip almost to the base of the Harvard Glacier was, as promised, spectacular and I will leave you with one final picture of towering ice, if only to show the scale compared to the zodiac in the foreground - it's over 100m high and roughly 2.4km wide (the glacier, not the boat). And I forget how deep and long - let’s just say massive!

So that just left one thing for Hurtigruten to balls up; the transfer from the ship to Anchorage. A five year old could have told them that if a) you leave the ship at 8.30am, b) you cannot get into the hotel until 3pm, and c) its a two and a half hour drive from Seward to Anchorage, then you have up to about 4 hours of slack time! They swallowed up all of an hour of that at a conservation centre where we finally saw a bear - but sadly a rescued bear! But it did look pretty happy (me being a bear expert) and its enclosure was huge. So overall, if the wild isn't an option, not a bad place to live.

Then by all means drop us in Anchorage to explore the town and deliver our bags later. But no, they had a better idea, appoint a complete idiot of a driver (actually about 10 of them I think), then take us for an utterly pointless drive around the feckin’ airport! Apparently the largest float plane lake in the world, but by then I didn't care. But what really made me realise that I am not cut out for this kind of group travel is that quite a lot of people on the bus actually enjoyed it!!

In the end I have enjoyed every aspect of this “expedition cruise” - the scenery, the boat, the food, the serving staff, the cabin, even the somewhat reluctant to show itself wildlife - but being herded around in a large travel group drives me insane. Hurtigruten in the USA is a somewhat different proposition to Hurtigruten in Norway. They still provide the excursions (at similar eye-watering cost) in Norway, the scenery is equally fabulous, and the ships are almost as good. But it is possible in Norway to travel entirely independently, get off in each and every port if you want to, wait a day and pick up the next boat. Don't get me wrong, I have had (yet another) holiday of lifetime, but if anyone asks me whether to go to Norway or Alaska with Hurtigruten I would say Norway actually shades it. And it's a damn sight cheaper. Not quite the wildlife probably, (although that might well depend on when exactly you go), and not the magnificent glaciers, but the fjords are probably even better and if it is your thing, you can do the whole thing without the “help” of the bloody Expedition Team.

But it is a minor gripe. We have had the most amazing trip. We have been in 12 different US states and 3 Canadian provinces. We've covered about 10,000km by road and about 4,000km by sea. We have seen canyons, fjords, mountains, deserts, sand dunes, amazing coasts (from the land and the sea), whales, porpoises, eagles, sea otters, seals, sea lions and even a bear (sort of). We have drunk in small local bars, eaten in high end and local restaurants. We’ve met artists, musicians, locals and fellow travellers, and some idiots we never want to see again - all part of the rich tapestry!

And when you put it like that, spending an unnecessary extra hour or so on a coach seems a small price to pay.

Finally we have had a day in Anchorage to enjoy. We have been told we have been ridiculously lucky with the weather. With the exception of a bit of drizzle in Misty Fjords about a year ago, the sun has shone constantly, and we were out and about today in t-shirts and shorts. In our typical fashion we started with a 10km route march along the coast, inland along Chester Creek Trail and then a meander through a couple of rather charming neighbourhoods before ending up back downtown. We even managed a to grab a glimpse of Mount Denali in the distance nearly 200km away but at 6000m high "clearly" visible 😉 (with the help of a magic black arrow in the sky).

We spent a good part of the afternoon at the absolutely brilliant Anchorage Museum where we brushed up on our history, culture and geology - amongst other things. And drank coffee!

We wistfully (and briefly) wondered if we should have extended our trip into the interior; rail to Fairbanks via Denali National Park now sounds like an interesting option. Or maybe that was just me! And they have dinosaurs in the sky. I'm sure its a sign, I'm just not sure what it is telling me.

But it is always good to leave something to come back for and it is time to go home. We have a new house on which to complete the purchase on Monday, and we move in on Wednesday next week.

Are we mad? Yes, quite possibly. But with madness comes some pretty remarkable and interesting experiences. It has been the holiday of a lifetime - again!

That’s me done for now. Tomorrow we head home, via Seattle. There will be another trip soon!