26 June 2007 – Ferry Day 1
The nice thing about the ferry is that someone else is in charge of getting you from point A to point B. I woke up at about 6 a.m. in accordance with my pesky internal clock, then promptly rolled over and went back to sleep. Because I could. After the last few weeks of moving preparation, packing and getting to Haines, it was nice to finally relax for a few days.
I got up at about 8 a.m. and I could tell without even opening the blinds on our window that the sun was shining. During our ferry trip to Alaska three years ago, it was cloudy and rainy for 4 days, so I was excited about the prospect of sun. It was my turn to jog the dog. We weren’t in port, but every 6-8 hours or so they have a car deck call when we could go down to the car to walk the dog around the car deck for about 15 minutes. So I made some coffee in the little 4-cup coffeepot we brought with us and Drew came with me to visit Malley.
Interesting to note: the car deck of the M/V Columbia smells like the pachyderm building in the Cleveland Zoo. For those readers who aren’t from Cleveland, the pachyderm building has a smell all its own. It is even different from the elephant buildings in all of the other zoos I’ve been to. I don’t know if the Alaska Marine Highway System has been transporting Midwestern elephants or what, but that is the smell.
So Malley bounded out of her box in the car, we gave her breakfast and some water. Since several cars had been offloaded in Juneau, there was essentially a jogging track around the car deck. Her ears went back and we were off. We did about 9 laps of the car deck, played for a few minutes and it was time to put her back. And yes, when the ship is under way, we ‘walk’ the dog on the car deck. And then we clean up. The ferry charges $25 from a canine passenger that rides in the car the entire time. We gain some satisfaction by using $25 worth of paper towels and latex gloves supplied by the ferry.
By the time we got back to the room, Nate was awake so we all headed to the back deck of the ship about 15 feet from our door. It was a beautiful morning.
Nate and I did yoga on the deck for about 25 minutes (OK, Nate only lasted about 5 until he was on to something else), then I grabbed a few granola bars and some juice from the room and we had dined al fresco so Steve could continue to sleep off his 3 a.m. dog jog. Drew and I worked on some of his Cub Scout Bear badge requirements and Nate grumped in the corner for some unknown reason. He must have put on his grumpy pants when he got dressed this morning.
So much time, so little to do. It was nice.
We spent the rest of the morning just hanging out in the observation lounge at the front of the ship and made sandwiches in the room for lunch. The ferry has an overpriced snack bar and a vastly over priced sit-down restaurant, so we packed food to eat in the room.
We arrived in Sitka at around 1 p.m. and we had about two hours to get off the ship. We walked about half a mile to the state park and hung out for a while. Malley really wanted to run, so Steve took her slaloming through the other tourists and we eventually caught up with them. I also took my first ‘money shot’ of the trip. This is Sitka:
Here’s a shot of our home for 4 days docked in Sitka. M/V Columbia, the flagship of the Alaska Marine Highway.
On the way back to the ship we also discovered a little known fact. Apparently Sitka moose are the most civic minded undulates in North America:
Actually, Sitka is one of the few places in Alaska without moose, but the sign made me laugh anyway. I’m assuming the sign meant Moose Lodge. I hope.
I've have to add this one too, just because:
Not much happened the rest of the day. We read books, worked on Cub Scout requirements, played cards and napped. It was nice, if not very exciting to write about.
Steve had the 0315 dog jog in Wrangell the next morning, so he went to bed early and I hung out at the bar, editing photos and drinking beer until the midnight dog jog in Petersburg. We can’t tell you much about either place since it was the middle of the night and we were off the ship for about 20 minutes each time.
All in all, not a bad day on the ferry.
The nice thing about the ferry is that someone else is in charge of getting you from point A to point B. I woke up at about 6 a.m. in accordance with my pesky internal clock, then promptly rolled over and went back to sleep. Because I could. After the last few weeks of moving preparation, packing and getting to Haines, it was nice to finally relax for a few days.
I got up at about 8 a.m. and I could tell without even opening the blinds on our window that the sun was shining. During our ferry trip to Alaska three years ago, it was cloudy and rainy for 4 days, so I was excited about the prospect of sun. It was my turn to jog the dog. We weren’t in port, but every 6-8 hours or so they have a car deck call when we could go down to the car to walk the dog around the car deck for about 15 minutes. So I made some coffee in the little 4-cup coffeepot we brought with us and Drew came with me to visit Malley.
Interesting to note: the car deck of the M/V Columbia smells like the pachyderm building in the Cleveland Zoo. For those readers who aren’t from Cleveland, the pachyderm building has a smell all its own. It is even different from the elephant buildings in all of the other zoos I’ve been to. I don’t know if the Alaska Marine Highway System has been transporting Midwestern elephants or what, but that is the smell.
So Malley bounded out of her box in the car, we gave her breakfast and some water. Since several cars had been offloaded in Juneau, there was essentially a jogging track around the car deck. Her ears went back and we were off. We did about 9 laps of the car deck, played for a few minutes and it was time to put her back. And yes, when the ship is under way, we ‘walk’ the dog on the car deck. And then we clean up. The ferry charges $25 from a canine passenger that rides in the car the entire time. We gain some satisfaction by using $25 worth of paper towels and latex gloves supplied by the ferry.
By the time we got back to the room, Nate was awake so we all headed to the back deck of the ship about 15 feet from our door. It was a beautiful morning.
Nate and I did yoga on the deck for about 25 minutes (OK, Nate only lasted about 5 until he was on to something else), then I grabbed a few granola bars and some juice from the room and we had dined al fresco so Steve could continue to sleep off his 3 a.m. dog jog. Drew and I worked on some of his Cub Scout Bear badge requirements and Nate grumped in the corner for some unknown reason. He must have put on his grumpy pants when he got dressed this morning.So much time, so little to do. It was nice.
We spent the rest of the morning just hanging out in the observation lounge at the front of the ship and made sandwiches in the room for lunch. The ferry has an overpriced snack bar and a vastly over priced sit-down restaurant, so we packed food to eat in the room.
We arrived in Sitka at around 1 p.m. and we had about two hours to get off the ship. We walked about half a mile to the state park and hung out for a while. Malley really wanted to run, so Steve took her slaloming through the other tourists and we eventually caught up with them. I also took my first ‘money shot’ of the trip. This is Sitka:
Here’s a shot of our home for 4 days docked in Sitka. M/V Columbia, the flagship of the Alaska Marine Highway.
On the way back to the ship we also discovered a little known fact. Apparently Sitka moose are the most civic minded undulates in North America:
Actually, Sitka is one of the few places in Alaska without moose, but the sign made me laugh anyway. I’m assuming the sign meant Moose Lodge. I hope.
I've have to add this one too, just because:
Not much happened the rest of the day. We read books, worked on Cub Scout requirements, played cards and napped. It was nice, if not very exciting to write about.
Steve had the 0315 dog jog in Wrangell the next morning, so he went to bed early and I hung out at the bar, editing photos and drinking beer until the midnight dog jog in Petersburg. We can’t tell you much about either place since it was the middle of the night and we were off the ship for about 20 minutes each time.
All in all, not a bad day on the ferry.
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