As we were departing our lovely railroad car at the Aurora Express B&B, Mark went in to see Mike and Sue to settle our account. Their house is a small A frame affair and the living area is like a taxidermists storage room, full of stuffed hunting trophies. What caught Mark’s attention most was a huge adult polar bear standing over 10 feet tall on it’s hind legs. At the base of the bear by its feet is a picture of Sue’s face, completly battered and bruised with the caption " I fought the bear and the bear lost!". Obviously curious ,Mark asked the meaning (he can be somewhat slow!). Sue had been working in a restaurant in Barrow, on the north coast of Alaska, and had gone out one morning to put some rubbish into a dumpster (or “skip” for those British people reading this!). Unfortunately her visit coincided with the visit of a hungry polar bear who probably decided she looked tastier than the scraps of food she was dumping and proceeded to attack her! Luckily for Sue a colleague was at hand, and even luckier he had a rifle and proceeded to kill the polar bear (this is the sad part of the story). The damage to Sue’s face and body were horrific -she still has a hole in her skull as a constant reminder of her near death experience, but she has more or less fully recovered and as a trophy of her great escape the remains of that same bear are now there for all to see in her living room. Great story ...and a reminder to be careful when throwing out the rubbish! Of course Mark had to share this story and ushered in Karen, Jack and Emily to see the bear and hear the tale. Sue was kind enough to oblige with an encore, and as an epilogue to her performance she rather grimly allowed Jack and Emily to push their fingers into the hole in her scalp.
From Fairbanks we had the long tedious ride back to Anchorage where we were catching our flights back to Seattle the next day. Mark had booked us in for one more night in Anchorage at the delightfully named Donna’s Bed & Breakfast. To date we had had wonderful experiences at the B&Bs we had stayed at across the country. All that was about to change! It did not look good from the start as we pulled up outside the modern, but looking like it needed a fix-up, house. We were greeted by our hostess Donna ;her acerbic monotones immediately causing us to picture the residence as some modern, suburban version of the Adams Family residence. The blurb on the website had warned those allergic to cats that there were some on the property but they were kept away from the guest rooms. What it didn’t say was that you entered the house through the living room where the cats happily lazed around on the furniture and that you had to pass these to take the stairs down to where the guest rooms were. Luckily none of us have issues with animal allergies but we felt sorry on the behalf of other unsuspecting visitors. As we were shown to our characterless room in the basement we were told to be quiet as her husband was asleep as he worked nights. We decided to stay despite many reservations but had to get out the place for the evening and return just to sleep. On the way out we were presented with a piece of paper with the details of the next mornings “luxury” continental breakfast – which basically comprised of two choices of cereal and French toast (and you had to say whether you wanted 1 or 2 slices). We had to make our selections before leaving for dinner.Karen was heard to mutter "The last time I had to fill one of these in I was in a NHS hospital!" Not surprisingly next morning we had exactly what we ordered – nothing more nothing less, but we did get to see the cats eating their breakfasts which looked more appetising than our offerings....served on top of the breakfast counter!
The flight back to the lower 48 was uneventful and after picking up our car and eating at our favourite Seattle restaurant Zoopas, we took a ferry across the Olympic peninsula and arrived late at our campsite in Port Angeles. We planned to camp here for a few days but because of our late arrive we slept in a sleeping cabin for the night.
We rose today with plans to explore the area. First of all we intended setting up our campsite. We had bought two tents, one for grown-ups and one for Jack and Emily. Unfortunately when we got the tents out is turned out that one set of poles was missing! This tent had been used by Jack and Emily when we stayed at the Gorge at George for the Rush concert and somehow between there and here had gone missing. As responsible, mature adults we try not to operate a blame culture in the Hobbs household but it was clearly Jack’s fault! Anyway rather than spending the morning exploring the fabulous Olympic mountains we explored for tents in Wal-Mart. Luckily we found an inexpensive and spacious tent, which turned out to be much better than the one we planned to stay in – so Jack was forgiven. The tent was nice and easy to put up so in no time at all we had set-up camp.
There was not much time left in the day so we thought we would take a drive up into the National Park, to a view point and visitors centre at Hurricane Ridge. Now we left the warm, calm surrounds of our campsite at the base of the mountains neighbouring the sea and climbed the several thousand feet to the top of the mountains. Arriving at Hurricane Ridge we discover how aptly it is named as the wind is blowing, if not a hurricane then certainly a gale. It is also very chilly. From the Park visitors centre there are spectacular views across green pastures to the snow tipped mountains beyond. We are joined by a number of very tame deer, who are more likely there for the lush grass than to enjoy the view. A short trip along a trail over the crest of a hill gives us a view across to Puget Sound and Vancouver, Canada in the distance. Up here are the remnants of the winter with several patches remaining deep into June. The cool wind soon blows us into the visitor centre to watch a short movie on the geology and ecology of the Olympic Mountain region, after which we make a dash for the car and make our way back down the calm and relatively balmy haven of our campsite.
Hello we are the Hoblets, an almost sane family of five Brits; Mark, Karen, Laura (19 years), Jack (10 years) and Emily (8 years). . The Hoblets have been living in the USA since 2003, four and half years in New York and two years in Ashland, Oregon. Laura now lives in Eastbourne in the UK. In 2007 we did a years tour of the USA, Canada and some of Latin America, before settling in Oregon. In June 2010 we decided to go travelling again, initially across the USA and then onto Europe.
The blog is intended to keep people in touch with where we are and what we are up to.
We are open to any ideas of places to visit - please let us know.
We rose today with plans to explore the area. First of all we intended setting up our campsite. We had bought two tents, one for grown-ups and one for Jack and Emily. Unfortunately when we got the tents out is turned out that one set of poles was missing! This tent had been used by Jack and Emily when we stayed at the Gorge at George for the Rush concert and somehow between there and here had gone missing. As responsible, mature adults we try not to operate a blame culture in the 
There was not much time left in the day so we thought we would take a drive up into the National Park, to a view point and visitors centre at Hurricane Ridge. Now we left the warm, calm surrounds of our campsite at the base of the mountains neighbouring the sea and climbed the several thousand feet to the top of the mountains. Arriving at Hurricane Ridge we discover how aptly it is named as the wind is blowing, if not a hurricane then certainly a gale. It is also very chilly. From the Park visitors centre there are spectacular views across green pastures to the snow tipped mountains beyond. We are joined by a number of very tame deer, who are more likely there for the lush grass than to enjoy the view. A short trip along a trail over the crest of a hill gives us a view across to Puget Sound and 
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