Monday, June 30^th, 2008

 

Today we will board the ferry that will take us to Bellingham, Washington.  Being Kansans, this will be something very exciting for us.  We will be on board from a Monday afternoon thru a Friday morning.

 

We had a big breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and sausage.  Then we spent the rest of the morning packing for the ferry ride.  There is food service available on the ferry, but we have spent enough money on tires, so we will be creative.  The ferry has a microwave, so we have purchased meals that we can heat up on our own.

 

We got everything packed, broke down the camper, and spent some time walking around the town of Skagway.  It is a pretty cool town, really catering to travelers.  While we were sleeping last night, a couple of very large cruise ships docked just yards from our campground.

 

We found a great place to pick us some t-shirts and trinkets, had a pretty good pizza for lunch, and went to the Marine Highway office to straighten things out about our reservation.  We dealt with a really nice guy, but he was unable to do much for us, so we appealed to a supervisor who was able to go back over our reservation and discover we had talked to someone who was inexperienced and had not communicated well with us.  The end result was we had to pay the right amount for the vehicles, but they gave us a break on the cabin, so all was good.

 

We drove aboard the ship Columbia around 4:45 and finally found our cabin after trying to figure out the different levels of the ship.  Our room has two sets of bunk beds, so each night one of the kids has to sleep on the floor.  It is about 10 by 10, but it does have a bathroom with a shower.  They provide linens and towels.

 

We bought some motion sickness medicine, and Tim and Sarah took some before we left port, but it was unnecessary.  The ride is smooth since we are traveling the inner passage.

We had Ramen noodles for supper, microwave popcorn for a snack, and spent much of our evening looking out the windows, walking the decks, and checking out the ship.  It has an area where people can set up their tents, and two levels on the front of the ship that are enclosed and have comfortable chairs for viewing scenery.  It even has a large room that is used as a theater for showing videos occasionally, laundry, gift shop, cafeteria, and a dining room that serves steaks and seafood for the wealthy – we will be sticking to our “cheap” menu.

 

You see all types of travelers, from the wealthy who drive on their 35 foot RV’s to those on a tight budget who sleep in a sleeping bag on a plastic lounge chair on he deck.

 

We caught some glimpses of dolphins as well as some eagles, and even saw a whale spouting off in the distance.  Quite a treat for folks who live so far from the sea!

 

We went to bed late and slept right through a middle of the night docking at Juneau.  The boat stopped just long enough to let off and take on passengers.