Alaska By Sea

Let me just start by saying, the next leg of our trip treated us to the most restful sleep we have had in years.  So if you're having trouble getting a good night's rest.....book a trip on the Alaska Marine Highway Ferry.

Ok, there's my bit of advice for the day. Do as you will with it.

I also need to say that this is going to be a very long post with lots of pictures.  Please try not to fall asleep.

As we waited to board the ferry, we decided we better get whatever we wanted to take on the ferry with us out of the trailer.  Our trailer has one of those ramp doors that comes all the way to the ground and we figured it was pretty likely the vehicle loaded behind ours would be too close to open our door.  So we piled a ton of crap on top of the boys in the back seat, on my lap, on the floor at our feet......basically every free space in the Jeep was filled in with luggage, pillows, snacks, blankets, etc.  And we sat there like that for about an hour.  It's times like these that I miss my Tahoe.

Finally it was time to board the ferry!  Here's the view driving onto the car deck.

And a little closer......

And a little closer.....

You almost felt like you were driving in there, didn't you?

And yes, we were right.  Vehicles were loaded bumper to bumper, so there was no way we were opening the trailer.  Middle row on the left was our spot.  This is where the cats would live for three days, and I would visit them every 6 hours or so, even in the middle of the night.  It  was like a brother/sisterhood of sorts.  The same dedicated group of us would meet at the stairwell, in pajamas, red eyed and barely awake, patiently waiting for the car deck to open.  For fifteen minutes we would feed and water our pets, some would take pent up large dogs for very lively walks around the deck, some like me waiting patiently hoping the dang cats would just use the litter box already!  The guy from Colorado would pass me as he walked his dog and ask..."Any luck yet?" as his dog pulled him down the row.  One of the boys would usually accompany me during the day, but I was on my own at night...so I made friends. Where was Joe, you ask?  Sleeping.  Surprisingly, the cats did really well. No accidents in their kennel, no freak outs, no escaping from the car and jumping overboard....all things I worried about. Kitty troopers.

Here's some pics of the car deck.

Once we got the cats settled, we grabbed our stuff and headed up to the cabin deck to check out our cabin.  It was pretty small, but had four bunks, a shower, toilet, sink, closet and one chair.  We had everything we needed.  I will say.....there's nothing like the family bonding that occurs when you share a space that small for three days. I'm actually being serious.

The hallway to our cabin

Our room

Jason demonstrating how low the ceiling is.

Justin...cozy with the new fuzzy travel blanket Grammie got him

None of us can explain exactly why, but all four us slept better those three nights/days than I think we possibly ever have.  I don't know if it was the comfy bunks, the hum of the boat engine, the slight swaying of the boat, or a combination of all three.  For Joe and I, it was also the first time since he got home that we really had a chance to relax and rest.  Whatever the reason, man.....sleep was good on the ferry!  And we did lots of it.

After we got settled in our room, we did some exploring of the ferry.  The ferry was still decked out for Christmas which made it very festive.

Merry Christmoose!

Really the only thing negative about the ferry was the Cafe; more specifically...the food. Yikes, the first night Joe and the boys had hamburgers that were unidentifiable as burgers.  All of the food was bad, like really bad. And expensive, which we expected and would not have minded had the food been edible.  So when the ferry docked in Ketchikan the third day, we went straight to the grocery store.

For those of you planning to book a trip on the ferry to get some good sleep....be sure to bring your own food.

Here is a picture of our itinerary and voyage details.  It goes from the bottom up....which I found weird.  Don't most people read from the top down?  We were sailing from Bellingham to Haines, the second to last stop (second from the top....again, weird).

Here's a map of our ferry sailing, for those of you who are more visual.  Keep in mind we only went as far as Haines.

When we weren't sleeping, we spent the majority of the trip watching the beautiful scenery go by. There was no wifi on board (something that made the kids gasp when they heard), and it was nice to be unplugged from the rest of the world.  It was smooth sailing most of the time, but on day two there were two open water crossings that were quite unsmooth.  Like.....we're on an episode of Deadliest Catch kind of unsmooth. Thankfully none of us got sick, but others did.  The cool thing about that day was there were patches of rain here and there, which resulted in the most beautiful rainbows and stormy skies. Here's a few pics.

Double rainbow.  Photo credit to Justin

Photo credit to Justin

One of our favorite photos...taken by Justin.

The forward observation lounge was our favorite spot to hang out and watch the scenery.  Views were best from there and the seats were comfy.  They had this monitor in there that showed our route and had a little green boat on it that showed the ferry's specific location. It was cool to watch the ferry's progression.

Here's some misc pics of the first couple of days of our ferry trip.

Joe and the boys checking out the monitor.

Hanging out in the observation lounge.

Waters are rough, but picture does not do it justice!

Joe and Justin in the Solarium.  It's a heated space on the top deck where a lot of people pitch tents and sleep during the summer.  Not heated enough during the winter though.  Cold and windy up there!

Jason.....ain't he handsome?

Justin kicking back in the Cafe.  Ain't he handsome too?

Joe and I enjoying an adult beverage in the Lounge.

Sunset.  Photo credit to Jason.

Joe and Justin hoping to see some marine life.  Earlier in the day they saw a whale and a couple of porpoises.

Joe and Justin

The first place the ferry stopped and the only one that it was light enough to see anything at was Ketchikan, Alaska.  It's a cute little town nestled along the coastline.  We got off the ferry and headed straight to the grocery store to stock up on food for the rest of the trip.  That's really all we had time for.  Here's some pics of Ketchikan.

Our ferry docked at Ketchikan.

Another ferry dry docked at Ketchikan.

After Ketchikan, the ferry stopped at Wrangell, Petersburg and Juneau.  It was too dark to see anything when we stopped at Wrangell and Petersburg and we were only docked for 45 minutes, so there wasn't time to get off the ferry anyway.  We docked at Juneau at 4 am and no one even got out of bed to see it, which was a bummer since it's the state's capital.  The passages between Wrangell and Petersburg are very narrow and they use a series of flashing lights to guide the ferry through them safely.  That was pretty cool to watch in the dark.

Wrangell

Wrangell

The scenery became increasingly beautiful as the trip progressed.  Eventually we were seeing the rugged snow capped mountains you expect to see in Alaska during the winter.  It was getting increasingly colder too, which made it more difficult to stand out on deck and take pictures.  We still managed to get some stunning photos though.

The wind did not do good things for my hair.  Just sayin'.

Unfortunately our relaxing ferry ride had to come to an end.  But we were all excited to start the last leg of our journey that would take us to our new home in North Pole, Alaska!