Saturday September 2, Day 46

Starting trip meter: 9930
Starting time: 11:00ADT
Starting Location: Juneau, AK

Brrrrr……….although we were warm under the covers, it was cold in the van. We even warmed our coffee cups before pouring the coffee in them. The day however, promptly warmed up nicely with lots of brilliant sunshine. Drove through downtown Juneau on our way to Thane Ore House for lunch which turned out to be a great place to eat. We both had their fish and chips and the halibut was fabulous. The owner brought over samples of his smoked and grilled salmon both of which were delicious.

The rest of the afternoon was spent driving around the city and getting our bearings. We walked through some of the downtown shops, enjoyed the boardwalk along the channel, and the cruise ship that had just docked.

We needed several items to restock our camping supplies and delighted in the fact that we actually had a K-Mart, and several other comparable stores in which to do our shopping. The warm weather in the afternoon was such a pleasure and we noticed that most of the locals were in shorts and shirts. One lady was even seen standing in the shade while waiting for her bus, which amused us. It must have been all of 65°.

Juneau is quite a town, everywhere we looked there was so much activity, from seaplanes, to tugboats, to fishing vessels, sailboats, large marinas, cruise ships, trolley buses, glacier mountains, and of course, flowers, flowers, flowers. The Alaskans plant flowers everywhere and they love to mix all sorts of colors and varieties together. What a feast for the eyes.

In the evening we ate leftovers warmed in our microwave, (sorry Carl and Betty, we now refer to it as ours) and sat overlooking the forested area that we are camping in. We were warned on our arrival here that a black bear has been coming into the campground. Last night there was a visiting porcupine. After dinner we took showers, then went for a drive to find a good overlook and hope that we could see more northern lights, however, near midnight, after no luck, we decided we needed sleep more than anything. By the way, we now know why it is so cold at our campground. We have a major ice cube in our back yard and it is called the Mendenhall Glacier! It is only a couple of miles from where we are and it keeps the temperature down considerably!

While driving tonight we passed the 10,000 mile mark on our trip meter, can you believe that?!

Today’s weather: Low 60s/38
Miles driven today: 117

Today’s Pictures

Sunday September 3, Day 47

Starting trip meter: 10047
Starting time: 9:45ADT
Starting Location: Juneau, AK

WE HAD A BLOWOUT!!! No…..not on the van; our air mattress deflated during the night! We awoke to find ourselves very uncomfortable and laying mostly on the hard floor which was also COLD. Unless we can find and repair the leak, it looks like today we will spend some time shopping for a new mattress. This trip is beginning to take its toll on our camping gear and the van.

The morning was bright and sunny, and we anticipated another great day of weather. We attended Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, were greeted by many nice members of the congregation, took communion, and greatly enjoyed meeting Pastor Tom and hearing his message. By the time we left the church, the skies had become overcast and their was a mist in the air.

We returned to our campsite so that we could get the log updated while the office was open, then had lunch at the Little Hong Kong restaurant. We had been longing for some Chinese food. From there we drove to the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center. Unfortunately, by then it had started to rain, and although the viewing of the glacier was awesome, it was not the greatest day for picture taking. They showed a short film giving the history and the statistics of the glaciers, how they are formed and also how much they are retreating over the years. This specific glacier is larger than the state of Rhode Island, it is constantly moving, and we were told from the time that the ice formed at the top, with 2 feet of movement a day, it takes 80 years for it to calve off into the water at the end. Consequently, there were icebergs floating everywhere in Mendenhall Lake of every size and description. We left there feeling very inconsequential in the scheme of things. What a beauty!

Found a new air mattress on sale! The rain was coming down in buckets, so we drove around to view some sights that we could get to by staying in the van. The most impressive one to us was the Governor’s House, (they do not call it the Mansion). It is a palatial home with columns and a huge portico high up on Calhoun St., overlooking the waterfront and the downtown area below. It is almost 90 years old, has 12,900 sq. ft., 8 fireplaces, 6 bedrooms, and was built with an allocation of only $40,000. We loved the narrow, winding and tremendously steep streets and seeing how the people of Juneau live. Some folks refer to it as the Little San Francisco of the north. As tricky as it was for us to navigate around, we can only imagine what it must be like in the winter with the snow on the ground.

For dinner we were directed to maybe the only Italian restaurant in town, Jovany’s, and feasted on spaghetti and meatballs. Then back home to try out our old mattress one more time. We had only been in bed about a half an hour when we both bottomed out and we decided to get up and inflate the new one so that we could get some sleep. It was an adventure for two people to juggle themselves off of the old and figure out how to inflate the new by lantern and flashlight power, but eventually we got it to a point where we could sleep comfortably. Thank goodness we had decided to go ahead and buy it.

Today’s weather: Lots of rain, high 50s/low 40s.
Miles driven today: 61

Monday September 4, Day 48

Starting trip meter: 10108
Starting time: 11:00ADT
Starting Location: Juneau, AK

Spent the morning reading and working on our log. We were in no rush to get out and get going in the rain. The picnic table was in the middle of a pond, but we have not been cooking out anyway so it did not matter much.

Drove back to Thane Ore House for more of their delicious fish and chips for lunch, and stayed for several hours enjoying the warmth, the view and the atmosphere. Decided to brave the elements downtown in order to determine the value of an item that we had seen earlier and were interested in buying. We put on ponchos, and made mad dashes from one shop to another. Although we got a little wet in the process, it turned out to be quite fun, and we felt really good when we struck a deal with the shopkeeper. Can’t wait now to get home and see how it “fits” in the house. To celebrate our success, we stopped for a brew in the Alaskan Hotel established in 1913 and imagined how the place must have been in it’s heyday.

We then drove north literally all the way to “the end of the road.” The distance is only 40 miles from downtown. There were very few homes at the far end, and we only saw 4 cars total on the return trip back into town. We stopped a number of places and took pictures, however, we were still having showers from time to time, and the clouds obscured much of the scenery. One of the highlights of the trip was having an eagle fly directly over our heads. I was so stunned that I let it pass in order to watch it, and neglected to get a picture while you could still tell what it was. It looks like a mosquito in the picture that I finally got. Oh well!

Stopped for Mexican food, and were disappointed in our dinners. It just wasn’t Don Felipe’s in Fort Worth for sure! Neither of us were starved, and that probably played a part in it. Upon arriving back in the campground, we took our showers and readied for bed.

Today’s weather: Rain, driving rain, and even more rain. High upper 50s/Low 40s
Miles driven today: 103

Today’s Pictures

Tuesday September 5, Day 49

Starting trip meter: 10211
Starting time: 9:30ADT
Starting Location: Juneau, AK

After breakfast, the first order of business was going to the main office of the Alaska Marine Highway service to see about cabin availability and to get our adjustment credited to our account. No cabins yet, but the agent finally understood our billing problem. (It only took another hour to do it!)

At the main library, our e-mail and web sites were checked. Received a friendly warning from Sunny’s husband Dennis to watch for and enjoy the beautiful but dangerous Wrangell Narrows south of Petersburg, our first ferry stop.

We revisited the Mendenhall Glacier hoping to get a better picture than we had in the rain on Sunday. The blue color was much more vivid, and we were surprised at some of the changes in the icebergs in just two days. We attempted to walk to Nugget Falls, however, due to the amount of recent rains, some of the trail was flooded and the rocks were so slick, that we finally gave up. Actually, Barney took a major slide down the face of a rock and ended up on his butt and it covered with mud, and my tennis shoes were not offering enough grip to continue safely.

A drive up to Eagle Crest Ski Lodge on the Douglas side of the channel was worth the effort. We had been told by a park ranger that there are trees up in the mountains that are 300-600 years old. It was an isolated drive and very pretty.

Filled up the van with gas at $1.799, knowing that once we are back in Canada the prices will skyrocket even more. A visit to the Alaska State Museum filled some time since our ferry does not leave until 2AM, and of course we had to check out of our camp site in the morning.

We went exploring a few back streets, and came across a dead end road filled with cars. What we found was a wildlife refuge with walking paths through the wetlands, and many people and their dogs out for the exercise. What we loved about it was that the path was adjacent to the chain link fence marking the airport property and the end of the runway, and as the planes came in for a landing, it appeared that you could have reached up and touched them. If only we had been able to catch one of those pictures! The part that we did not like was the effort it took to avoid the land mines left by all of the dogs. There was a lot of air traffic while we were there, landing on both the paved runway and the water runway that ran parallel to it. Seaplanes comprised about one half of the traffic.

Since we had a lot of fajitas left from last night, we stopped and asked the Mexican restaurant if they would reheat them for us, and not only did they agree, but they invited us in to eat them. Of course, we ordered a beer and a margarita to go with them. While we were eating, we recognized the biker that we met in Tok, and also ran into again during a rest stop at Desperation Bay. He joined us, and we shared adventures with each other. His trip was concluded and he was flying home to San Francisco. Amazing to run into someone 3 different times and in such remote locations.

Ended up parked at the ferry terminal for hours, since there was not much else to do. Both of us napped a little and prepared the items that we would need to take with us during the time that we would be on the ferry. After checking in with the terminal agent, we still did not have a cabin which meant that we would have to make do with a chair that reclined about as much as on an airplane. They finally started boarding about 1AM, and we immediately got our name on the wait list with the purser. As luck would have it, just when we thought we would go nuts with the snoring man, and the group of kids next to us, they called our name and WE GOT A CABIN! It was a real room, with a door, a chair, bunk beds, and a private bathroom with shower. You would have thought it was Christmas! By the time we got settled in it was going on 3AM, but we were elated and got a good night’s rest.

Today’s weather: Showers in the morning, partial sun in the afternoon. Highs upper 50s/Low 40s
Miles driven today: 92

Today’s Pictures

Wednesday September 6, Day 50

Starting trip meter: 10303
Starting time: N/A
Starting Location: On the ferry to Prince Rupert

Steak and eggs was our choice for breakfast in the ship’s cafeteria. It was a good choice. For $5.75 you got a large piece of steak cooked to order, home fries, two eggs as you like them and toast. The cafeterias on these ferries serve very good food at reasonable prices. We heard no complaints from anyone who had eaten there. In addition to the great breakfast, we had the most brilliant rainbow appear off of the stern. It remained there for the longest time, until we ran for the camera back in our stateroom. Although, we got one picture, it does not do it justice.

Our day was spent sight seeing the beautiful scenery along the ferry’s route. There were only a few snow capped or glacier covered mountains today, but it was a feast for the eyes anyway. Several humpback and killer whales put on little shows for us. We also saw dolphins and seals. Only one bear was seen from the ferry, but neither of us saw it personally.

Our course today was generally through a fairly wide channel (The Inside Passage) but in two instances it became quite narrow and it amazed us and other regular passengers that the pilot even attempted one seldom used route called the “Narrows.” You could have thrown a rock and hit either shore line it seemed and the channel must have been extremely narrow based on the slow speed the captain was using. Even the crew members that were able to leave their jobs stood and watched silently as the captain navigated his way through some of the extremely sharp turns. We were on the backside of Wrangell Island, between it, and the mainland.

We found a purse that someone had inadvertently left in the observation lounge. Guess who we took it to? You guessed it; the ship’s Purser who is in charge of assuring that each lady has her own purse and no other purse. So now you know where the title, ‘Purser’ comes from. Yes, I (Barney), am ashamed of that one and I am usually shameless. My cousin Linda taught me these things.

The entire day was spent on the ferry, and we were both pleasantly surprised at how fast the day flew by. Stops were made in Petersburg, Wrangell and Ketchikan. The trip was pretty smooth during the day, but it had been a little rough during the night. There was not enough time to get off the boat in Petersburg or Wrangell partly due to the fact that about an hour had been lost during the night due to strong headwinds. There was time to get off the boat in Ketchikan but it was our bedtime and the ferry dock was too far from town to see much. It was a little after 9 PM as we docked in Ketchikan and the ferry left there at 11 PM. Our morning departure time was 5AM ADT so we were in bed by 10:30PM.

Today’s weather: Rain most of the day but a little sunshine. High in the low 60s and low about 50.
Miles driven today: None

Today’s Pictures

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