Family Travel

We wake up to rain hitting the roof, but by the time we leave for downtown Sitka the rain stops. Our first stop is the Sitka National Historic Park Visitors' Center. We look at their exhibits about the Tlingit native culture and watch their excellent movie about Sitka's history.

After the movie we take a hike around the totem pole trail next to the museum. There are about 20 different totem poles from the Tlinglit and Haidi tribes. The totem poles are interesting, but it's the nice relaxing walk in the woods that I really enjoy.

In the afternoon we walk around the downtown area (along with about 2000 cruise passengers), stopping first at the Russian Orthodox Church in the center of town, St Michael's Cathedral. We learn more about the Orthodox religion and enjoy the beauty of the building. No photos allowed of the inside of the church, but we take some pics of the outside of the church. Actually, I take A LOT of pictures of the outside of the church -- I really like the architecture of the Orthodox churches.

After spending time in the church we head over to the Bishop's House.

It is a refurbished house that once was the residence of the Russian Orthodox bishop and is one of the few remaining buildings from the Alaskan-Russian era. The Orthodox church could no longer afford the upkeep so they donated it to the U.S. Park Service, who fixed it up and now have it open for tours. We get an interesting tour of the residence by a ranger, including a tour of the Orthodox Chapel that is on the second floor.

We spend the rest of the afternoon walking around the town and harbor area.

Of course we're in southeast Alaska, so eventually we know it's going to rain, and the rain comes in mid-afternoon today. We drive down to the area where the original town of Sitka was founded, before being destroyed by the Tlingits. There's a small park there and it's a very picturesque area. The salmon are jumping in the area and there's a fishing boat in the bay, so we watch the salmon for awhile (in the rain). Alaskans do not use umbrellas so we have also stopped using umbrellas. After awhile you just start getting used to being damp :-)

We try to take a short hike in the rain in the national forest near our campground, but we don't get very far before we give up and get back in the dry truck. We drive around for a short while and then call it a day.

We have a long ferry ride to Sitka today, so we get up early to prepare for the day. We leave our campground at 8:45. Our ferry doesn't leave til 11:15am, but we need to check in two hours early.

Jere parks the rig at the side of the ferry's parking lot and I jump out to get our lane assignment. Then we pull into our assigned lane and wait.

Today the Taku has Juneau as a starting port and is already at the dock when we arrive. It's a nice morning, so everyone is standing outside their vehicles and enjoying the sunshine. Shortly after 10am they begin loading. They take the vehicles going to the farther ports first and then we are the first vehicle to load that is heading to Sitka. The attendant comes over to Jere and tells him that he is going to BACK IN the ferry! Jere and I look at each other and I say out loud "This should be interesting". The attendant smiles and says "not to worry...I'll guide you in". We get into position and start backing down the ramp.

This ramp is not near as steep as the ramp at Haines. The attendant walks beside Jere's window and tells him which way to turn the steering wheel as we back down the ramp.

Of course, as with the other ferry, we need to turn it when we get it into the ferry to park it.

There are about 5 guys watching to make sure we don't hit or break anything.

Again, the engineer and his assistants are great.

Jere is not near as nervous this time as the first time we were loaded onto the ferry (in Haines), but it still is stressful loading this big rig on the ferry. The best thing about backing into the ferry: We get to drive right off the ferry when we get to Sitka late tonight :-)

We grab our backpacks and head up to the deck to relax. Another successful ferry loading!!!

It's actually a beautiful morning -- blue skies and no rain. The Mendenhall Glacier looks great as we leave the port.

We remember from our ferry trip to Juneau that whales can be seen just north of the Auke Bay dock area, so we watch for them and are not disappointed. We see several, including a pod of orcas. They are all too far away and too fast to take pictures. I do get to watch a pod of whales for a long time while the crew practices their life boat drill.

They actually get into a lifeboat and practice rescuing a 'man overboard'.

The drill does not go well and takes about an hour to complete, so we get a little behind schedule.

Finally we get going and pass more pretty scenery, including a lighthouse.

When we boarded the ferry this morning, we found out that the ferry stops at Hoonah, Alaska for a brief stop. This is a small fishing community on one of the islands, mainly natives. I think they have around 800 residents. We're looking forward to seeing a small, picturesque fishing community. When we get close to Hoonah, Jere comes to find me and says "There's a cruise ship there!" I never even heard of Hoonah before this morning and they have a large cruise ship?

As we sail into the port, Jere and I are standing outside enjoying the scenery. A woman who lives in Hoonah starts up a conversation with me when she overhears us discussing the island. She shows us Elephant Mountain and Tunnel Rock.

We ask her about the cruise ship and she explains that they get 4-5 cruise ships/week. They got their first cruise ship a few years ago and they get more each year. The port where they dock is called Icy Straits and is about a few miles away from the town of Hoonah. When I ask her what the town thinks about it, she says "they hate it". There are some people who think the tourists are a good idea, but she said half the town hates the cruise ships.

We continue to talk as the ferry is docked. I ask her if she is traveling to visit relatives, and she explains that she needed to get away from her home for awhile. She has lost two children in the last two years from illness. She shares the details with me and it is heart-breaking. She waves at a boy on the dock and explains that there are about 50 people who have been helping her to get through everything, helping with cleaning, babysitting her daughter, etc. I wish her the best as she and her daughter leave the ferry, and feel incredibly lucky to have 4 healthy children.

As we leave Hoonah the skies continue to get grayer and grayer til it finally does start to rain. So we sit inside the ferry and try to enjoy the views. This ferry is filled with vehicles, but has very few passengers, so we can sit anywhere we want. They have a large theatre area, but do not show any movies. There is also no U.S. forestry ranger on the ferry as there was on the first ferry. So the ferry ride seems long in the evening between the rain and not a lot to do. We eat in the cafeteria -- the food is pretty bad, unlike the first ferry.

The ferry travels through some narrow parts as we get closer to Sitka. Too bad that it's getting dark and the weather is so bad.

We finally arrive in Sitka around 11:30 and we are one of the first ones off the ferry.

Since we backed in, it is an easy drive off the ferry. Our campground is right beside the ferry dock so we pull in, set up in the pouring rain and call it a day.

It finally stopped raining sometime overnight. Still cloudy, but we're hoping for some sun this afternoon. We do some chores in the morning, including a trip to the grocery store. After we leave Juneau tomorrow, we'll be in small towns along the inside passage for the next six nights, so we buy food for the next week.

We're sitting in the trailer having lunch when we see a small black bear in the campground a few campsites down from ours. I run for the camera and take a picture, but Jere insists that we go outside to take a picture. "It's a bear!" I'm not going outside to take a picture, so I give the camera to Jere and he goes after the bear to take a picture.

After lunch we drive to the Alaska Brewing Company to take their tour and sample their free beer. It actually turns out to be fun. Jere tries 3 different kinds of beer and I take a swig of each. I'm not a beer drinker, but much to his surprise I actually like the last one he gives me to try. It's a dark beer and he doesn't care for it. We find out during the tour that the beer that I like is brewed to have a smoked salmon taste to it -- I love salmon! In fact I keep telling Joe that 'you can't eat too much salmon or see too many bald eagles' :-)

We also meet a couple there who recognize us as "you're the ones with the large 5th wheel on the ferry from Haines!" We had many onlookers as we loaded our large rig onto the ferry at Haines -- these are two of them AND THEY RECOGNIZE US! Jere later asks me "How did they recognize us?" I think it's because everyone else was sitting in their cars reading or relaxing -- we were pacing in the parking lot wondering how we were going to get our rig down the ramp and into the ferry :-)

After the brewery we drive over to Douglas Island, across the water from downtown Juneau. It drizzles off and on, but we have a nice drive, making occasional stops to look at the scenery.

Then we drive over to a creek that empties into the water north of Juneau.

We have been driving by this area the last few days and there are always lots of bald eagles here. We park the car and walk over to the edge of the creek. The creek is full of salmon trying to swim upstream. The fish are about 18" long and they're trying to swim in water that is only a few inches deep at places. They are determined to get upstream. It just amazes me when I watch them. They swim in the ocean for several years and then return to the stream where they were born and do whatever they can to swim back upstream, where they will spawn and die.

So we watch the salmon for awhile, but we also are amazed by the 30 or so bald eagles here. Most of them sitting by the banks of the water.

We stay for about an hour or so watching the salmon and the eagles. I have to admit that I am just in awe of this scene. This is where I wanted to come yesterday for my birthday, but the weather did not cooperate. It's not a great day today, but definately better than yesterday weather-wise.

It's dinnertime, so we return to the trailer for dinner (in the crockpot) and then do some chores to get us ready for our ferry ride tomorrow. It may be awhile til the next blog entry. Not sure when we'll get wifi next. We take the ferry to Sitka tomorrow. After two days in Sitka, we get back on the ferry to Petersburg for 2 days, then on to Wrangell for 2 days, Ketchikan for 2 days and then finally get off the ferry at Prince Rupert, Canada.

Today is my birthday. I'm not thrilled about this one; I don't feel old enough to be 54....getting much too close to 55. When I'm 55, I'll be closer to 60 than 50. 60!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway, I intend to enjoy today despite the rain and the fact that I'm only one year away from 55.

Yes, it is raining again. It rains the entire day. Never stops even for a few minutes. Oh well. I'm in Juneau -- it rains 222 days/year here.

My first treat of the day is to take a nice long hot shower in the trailer--I've been allocated the entire tank of hot water for my shower and I can get out and take my time getting dressed with carpet under my feet instead of a cramped linoleum covered campground shower. This is a big deal for me and I enjoy it!

I'm sick of cooking and washing dishes so I've asked to eat out for my birthday. Lunch is at the Thone Ore House, south of Juneau. The campground manager recommended it and I really enjoy it. It's not touristy and has a lot of local flavor.

The food and service are great; prices are good (for Alaska). But the best part of the restaurant is the decor, including a bulletin board with lots of photos and memorabilia. They have photos of a bear that actually climbed across a heavy cord to their bird feeder to get food. And a photo of a black bear on the roof of the restaurant. Too funny!

After lunch it's still raining, so we head to the Macauley hatchery, north of Juneau, to look at their inside exhibits. They also give us a tour of the outside fish ladder and fish tanks. We stand under an awning for the tour/talk -- it rains alot here, so the awning is a good idea.

The fish tanks are really full of fish.

They harvest chum salmon here for their eggs. The eggs are then incubated and the baby salmon are released in the fall. They swim to the Pacific, as far as Hawaii and Japan, and then return here in 2-3 years to spawn. This process helps replenish the ocean salmon that the fishermen catch. Salmon farms are illegal in Alaska, so all salmon is ocean grown. Interesting place.

The rain continues to pour down, so we run a few errands and then go to a movie theatre to see Ratatouille. We eat way too much popcorn and end up skipping our planned pizza dinner at Bullwinkles. The rest of the evening is spent relaxing in the trailer.

I'm feeling out of sorts this morning (translation: I'm in a bad mood, but for no apparent reason) so we end up skipping church. I don't know where or when church services are in the area and I'm not in the mood to ask anybody. Yeah, I know -- not good. I later find out that there is a church within walking distance of the campground that we could have easily attended. I'm sure attending would have helped my moodiness. I'm homesick.

Anyway, Jere plans our day since I'm not in the mood to make any decisions. So after breakfast we head out to Mendenhall Glacier.

We look at the exhibits in the visitors center, watch their movie on the glacier, walk out to view the glacier,

and then hike the East Glacier Trail. The trail takes about 90 minutes and goes up behind the waterfall adjacent to the glacier. It's a nice hike, and the views are very pretty, but the view from the trail really isn't any better than the view from the visitors center viewpoint.

The one good thing about the hike: I'm feeling better after some fresh air and exercise.

It's supposed to rain tomorrow and be overcast on Tuesday, so we decide to ride the Mount Roberts Tramway in downtown Juneau. The campground manager said to only ride it if it wasn't cloudy. We find a parking spot close to the tramway. There are 4 large cruise ships in port, so lots of people in the area! The tram can take up to 50 people and runs every 6 minutes so we have a short wait to ride the tram.

The tram takes us up about 1600 feet (I think) above the city of Juneau. They have a few things to look at, but the purpose of the tramway is really the view.

The view from the tramway top is great, but we decide to keep hiking up the hill further and have a wonderful 2 hour hike, with lots of great scenery and wildflowers.

There's some patches of snow beside the trail so of course Joe makes some snowballs to throw at his Dad.

We hike back down to the tramway.

We're starving so we decide to eat at the restaurant at the top of tramway. The food's good, but it takes a long, long time to make.

We ride the tram back down, visit a few of the gift shops at the bottom and then decide to make another quick trip up the tram (our ticket gives us unlimited rides for the day) to buy an ornament at the gift shop at the top of the tram. The last tram leaves downtown at 9pm, so we get the last one up and then take the last tram down for the night.

On the way back to the trailer we stop at the fish hatchery to look at the salmon going up their ladder and the eagles in the area. Neat place, but too dark for pictures. There's a bald eagle on the shore eating a salmon. We'll return here tomorrow.