Riddles on the Road–Destination: Alaska


This is a great picture of “Sonny” resting in Palo Duro Canyon. This is our House on Wheels


OK, so NOW I’ll get you caught up with us.

The Alaska Marine Highway Systems Inner Passage Ferry from Bellingham, Washington to Haines, Alaska

SO after a red-eye departure from Crater Lake (5:30 a.m.) We bee-lined it to Bellingham, WA. We heard traffic can be “difficult” from Olympia, WA to past Seattle, but fortunately we beat the rush and did not encounter the I-5 parking lot until half an hour or so north of Seattle. The estimated 9 hour drive took 11 ½ hours going at a full clip. Fortunately, the kids were champs on the drive; they were so excited to get to the ferry, they chilled with toys and car games, read books, and watched a few movies while Shawna and I sweated the traffic. We arrived last in line at the ferry landing, but we made it.






Our itinerary was Bellingham to Ketchikan to Wrangell to Petersburg to Juneau to Haines–it took approximately 69 hours. AND, since we did not know what we were getting ourselves into, we scheduled our trip too late, was next to the last car included in the trip and had NO berth to sleep in. SO we had to get a tent (we had not planned on “roughing it”.):






What is interesting to note is that people slept EVERYWHERE on the boat. It is designed for comfort: snack bar, full service restaurant, cocktail lounge, 2 observation lounges, movie lounge, gift shop, showers, and laundry. We pitched our tent and camped (used the Gorilla Tape to “stake” the tent to the upper deck) along with about 2 dozen others, but people bivouaced it in spots on the 2 camping decks, slept in the various lounges, and copped a shut-eye about anywhere they could set themselves. Here are 2 vagabonds we captured:



However, the scenery was WELL-worth the trip. We saw countless glaciers, traveled through the Tongass National Forest (the largest national forest in America) and witnessed miraculous wildlife: Steller seals, humpback whales, dahl’s porpoises, sea otters, innumerous bald eagles, terns and seagulls. But the pinnacle of the trip was on the evening of the second day, about 10 p.m., after we had put the kids down for the night (hard to go to sleep when the sun never sets ), Shawna and I stood portside at the stern for a nightcap of nature watching when a HUGE swirl about 20 feet from the boat caught our attention. Suddenly a very large male orca surfaced (its dorsal was easily as tall as I am) alongside, made a turn and slowly made his way down the passage; we watched him for about ten minutes. This was quite amazing because seeing an orca this high into the passage is very rare this time of year; they are usually down coast feeding and birthing. The US Forest Service ranger said we got really lucky. And only half a dozen people saw it; everyone else was either asleep or warming up in the bar (it was VERY chilly at night ). And of course, we whipped out the camera to take a once in a lifetime photo, and the battery died; we quickly retrieved the other battery–dead. And our phones did not have the distance by that time. Damn.


Here is some of what we WERE able to capture:


Humpback flicking its tail















Humpback waving bon voyage


Bald eagles on the lightpost--we saw bald eagles EVERYWHERE along the passage!


Stellar Seals on the bottom of the buoy











And here is some scenery:


Glaciers













A Lighthouse outside of Haines, AK






Alaska at 11:30 pm



And here are some totem poles we found:


















Just to note, Ketchikan, BC and Haines, AK are quirky, interesting towns worth visiting some day.












ALASKA (As much as I can give you to this point)


(The Cow moose in front of Eielson AFB)

SO we arrived in Haines, AK, kicked around a couple of hours (it was GREAT to be off the boat), then began the final stretch to Fairbanks, camping for the night at Million Dollar Falls in the Yukon Territory. Did not have a chance to take photos–the mosquitos had drained us of so much blood we did not have the strength (nor did we have a battery charger, so the camera was out of commission until Fairbanks). We stayed the next night in a quaint state park outside of Tok, AK (pronounced “Toke”, as in “have another, brother ”). Along the way to Tok, we saw our first Moose (a big bull in a lake), a black bear pulling a Jesse Owens across the road, and an arctic fox that almost became intimate with the drivers’ side tire of Sonny. Outside of Fairbanks, in the middle of Eielson Airforce Base (pictures strictly prohibited...unless you are a tourist with Texas plates and it’s your first up close moose encounter) we shot out first quality picture of a cow moose, with the phone (I LOVE technology ). We have also seen caribou and muskoxen and shrews--untamed--(just to juxtaposition wildlife for you ). Lots of life and we are right in the middle of it.

Now we are enjoying time with friends, seeing wonderful sights, and enjoying the warmest weather we have had since leaving Lake Mead, NV two and a half weeks ago (low 80's), as well as doing a bit of repair to the van--the Al-Can Highway ate up the shocks, so I had to replace them.

My apologies for the windbaggedness of this letter, but there has been SO much to catch you up with. I hope the pictures are worth it. Next contact will probably be in Vancouver or so as we begin The Descent. Take care for now.