I have no idea why there are two
Tuesdays! Go figure-gotta love
technology! I know I only did it once as
I was lucky to be able to do that.
We rose early so we could see all the
ports the ferry was scheduled to pull into.
We would never have time to actually go into to some of these ports as
our stops were short. If the ferry was
“late” we had even less time! We were up
before five as we pulled into Petersburg.
We went up to the solarium deck, where everyone that was camping there
were still snuggled up in their sleeping bags, no faces visible. They looked just like colorful cocoons,
scattered on lounge chairs under the canopy.
Then it was announced that we had
officially arrived and people could disembark if they wanted but the boat would
be leaving shortly. It was funny to
watch all the dog owners, bleary-eyed due to the hour, taking their dogs on a
walk down the runway, across the walkway, and out to just beyond the ferry
terminal. The dogs were happy to be out
of their trappings on the car deck, even if just for a few minutes. We opted to just walk out and back to get a
walk in, even a small one.
Petersburg is interesting as it is a
fishing village so most of the buildings on the edge of town are built on
pillars, out over the water! It was
sleeping yet this morning though, as we didn’t see any lights on or activity
out. Of course, the boats could have
been up and about already and the town was just empty!
The sunrise was stunning-the reflection on
the water, the rays bursting through the clouds, slightly foggy, orange, gray,
white. It is really hard to do it
justice in words, and we are hoping that our pictures are even remotely
catching these beautiful places we have been.
A quick selfie with the “Welcome to
Petersburg” sign and back on the ferry. We
then wait for the next stop of Wrangell, another stop that wasn’t long enough
to actually explore the town but we got a walk in and a selfie next to the
“Wrangell Ferry Terminal” sign. We know
that these three of the stops weren’t going to give us actual town access but
this journey is amazing anyway.
Our final town was Ketchikan, a bigger
town and one we were scheduled to have two hours to explore. We were looking forward to this as it is touted
as the Totem Pole capital of the world!
The ferry was running behind so we actually only had maybe an 1 ½ hours
and we couldn’t see a totem anywhere!
The “main” “old” part of town was actually a few miles away and we could
take a taxi to the park which does have many poles but we opted to walk in the
area we landed. It was the “modern” part
so interesting but no unlike other small towns.
We finally spotted there lovely totems!
They were outside the Ketchikan Indian Community center, all different
totems, telling different stories. We
stopped for a quick bowl of soup (smoked salmon chowder-yummy) and back to the
boat. Interesting sign next to a creek: Salmon Spawning Stream, DO NOT LITTER. It was literally a little creek but I guess
salmon born there spawn there! Most
creeks here vary on size, some huge and river-like and some, like this one,
small and reminiscent of home ones.
Once back on the boat, we said farewell to
the lands of Alaska. We would be
traveling through Alaskan waters, and Canadian waters, to ultimately land in
Bellingham, Washington. We wouldn’t be
setting foot on Alaska again for a while.
But new adventures await our way home!
We also mentally prepared for 38 hours on the boat, some journeying
through narrow straights, and some with land on the left and open water on the
right! We saw some whales spouting near
the shore but couldn’t really see them, just their spouts. Lighthouses pop up here and there.
We decided to take advantage of the warmer
air and took our out Scrabble game again.
If you recall, I won yesterday so Andrew was ready for a rematch. We were set up and our neighbors on the deck
laughed as they saw us as they had exact same plans! Their travel Scrabble looked just like
ours!!! Andrew did have his day and his
score really swamped mine! But tomorrow
is another day. :)
We took more laps to gain some
mileage. Andrew’s goal is ten miles a
day, mine somewhere between 5-10. He/We
have now become famous as people will stop to ask how many laps we’ve done as they
can see him/us swinging by the dining room windows, the solarium deck, the
lower observation deck, etc. Smiles
abound as we pass the same people, waving as we go along, and now others are
walking too! Buck and his wife Jeryl are
from Los Angeles and are doing this trip completely on public transport, so
busses, trains, ferries and an occasional cab!
He said he never really thought about walking but what a great idea!
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