Wednesday, March 3, 2010

The Ferry

From Prince Rupert, BC we boarded the ferry that would take us to Juneau, my home for at least the next 2 months. The weather was still super rainy and overcast so we couldn’t see a lot of the anticipated views of the inside passage.

The view of the boat as we waited to drive the car on. Yuk!

The first day on the ferry was so quiet and the boat seemed really empty. That was definitely not the case once we stopped in Ketchikan, where 500 high school athletes boarded the ferry to travel to an upcoming sports event. I guess taking a ferry to compete against other schools would be commonplace when you live in such small towns on the coast where no roads connect one town to another. My first step in Alaska was here in Ketchikan, where we got off to take Copper, Craig’s dog, for a walk. Dogs have to stay in the car on the car deck at the bottom of the boat and you can only visit them or take them out when the ferry is at port. During the first night we also stopped in Wrangle and Petersburg but seeing as those stops were at 1 am and 5 am, we didn’t see much (or any) of those towns.


The second morning I jumped out of bed as quickly as I could, so anxious to see if the skies had cleared up. As I climbed the stairs to the deck, I was delighted to be able to see as far as the horizon would allow. A huge sky overlooking the vast ocean. Little tree covered islands here and there with enormous snow capped mountain ranges covering the islands further in the distance. Perfection.
A much better view on day 2!
At port in Kake, Alaska

So thankful for the beautiful weather, we spent all day on the decks. We even got to play music with two of the high school music teachers we found playing guitars on the top deck. We made stops in Kake and Sitka, and now, to Juneau!
Juneau in the rain! You can see the Mendenthal Glacier in the middle. The bottom left is where you can see city lights.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Holy cow, this is amazing! What a Dream Adventure you're on! You find the coolest jobs Claire, I gotta take some notes from you! I am so pumped to keep getting these updates. I send you and Craig LOVE!