There was only one reason we found ourselves in Haines, it was a major port for the Alaskan Marine Highway. The Alaska Marine Highway is a series of ferries that connect several cities in Alaska and major ports in British Columbia. We had both decided that stopping in Juneau, Alaska’s capital city, was a necessary landmark on the trip. And there are only two ways to get to Juneau, plane and boat. No roads connect Juneau to the rest of Alaska. Given we were all about forward motion, we decided on the ferry, so we could bring our car with us and continue on. So we booked ourselves on the ferry that takes us from Haines to Juneau and then from Juneau to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, with a 30 hour layover in Juneau to explore. Other than gas, this is our other major expense. But labeled one of the few America’s Scenic Byways and regarded very highly from previous passengers, we decided it was worth the splurge.
Our ferry to Juneau departed at 9 am, but the office suggested arrival at the harbor between 2-3 hours before departure to check in and line up. So we got up, put everything back in the car, and headed to the marina. I caught up on the past few days of blogging while Lindsay slept. Then I dealt with a typical travel dilemma, conditioner spilling everywhere in my cosmetic bag. What’s a vacation if you don’t have a shampoo/conditioner mishap? So I unpacked the whole bag in the middle of the harbor parking lot. Classy. We were the last to board…and after we got the car in place in the lower level of the boat…and the spare gas can stored in the “paint room” we headed upstairs. Lindsay forgot her camera so ofcourse she sent me down to get it. A nice coast guard man held the elevator for me. We found the “Recliner Lounge”… and found some seats. Very comfortable. The boat also has a cafeteria, a movie theater, and a gift shop although we didn’t really explore. They offered a movie and some educational programming. The bathrooms have showers too. WOO. We could’ve gotten a cabin, but those are extra, and we are trying to be budget conscious. Although this leg of the trip was only 4 ½ hours. Lindsay slept some more and I kept reading my book. I brought along 5 books, and haven’t touched them except for the last 2 days when I’ve powered through 2. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to read for fun. Although my Financial Regulation Book is staring me in the face…a not so gentle reminder that I need to start studying for my 3rd CPA exam which I take in about 5 weeks.
I rather enjoyed our cruise…and felt really safe. Mostly because we were surrounded by at least 15 to 20 US Coast Guard men who were using the ferry to get to Juneau for I’m guessing their next assignment. They all lounged around us… so if anything would’ve happened to the boat, we would’ve been covered. We were, after all, entering ice berg country. Going down like the Titanic may have been noble in 1914, but in 2011, if we would’ve sank due to an ice berg… it would’ve just been embarrassing. Titanic was the biggest hit of the 90s, so we couldn’t have claimed ignorance. Anyway, we were just fine. No icebergs. Just snow capped mountains.
We arrived in Juneau, got back in the car, and drove off our ferry and headed for downtown Juneau. We had decided to find a campground ASAP (it was only like 2pm), and set up shop before we went exploring so we wouldn’t have to do it later. We found our way to Spruce Meadow RV park. Lindsay went in to check in, but I sat in the car…almost at the end of my book… and you can’t stop when you’re right in the middle of it. Lindsay was gone for a while, but I was pretty in my book so I didn’t mind. She came back and told me about Corrina, the host of the campground who had been more than helpful. We set up our camp…well Lindsay did, while I made sandwiches and finished my book. PB & J this time. Well PB for me… actually PB and Hershey’s Bars…. I do not like jelly…and plain PB is just boring… I’m living on sandwiches, what can I say?
We both had one request in Juneau…mine was to touch a glacier, Lindsay’s was to get some fresh crab. She had read about some “all you can eat” place in one of our 10384 brochures but couldn’t remember what town it was in or what it was called. Altogether helpful. So I googled crab in Juneau and found a place called Tracy’s King Crab Shack..which had a lot of really good reviews. Corrina had only confirmed what we had heard. We decided that we’d explore downtown and go to Tracy’s tonight and then get up and hike Mendenhall Glacier in the morning. So after the tent was up and the sandwiches consumed, we headed for downtown Juneau.
Juneau is a major cruise ship port and it pretty much has that feel. You know, lots of t-shirt and souvenirs shops and plenty of jewelry stores for all the lovebirds on their love boat. We, on the other hand were travelling by the poor man’s cruise ship, a ferry, so we couldn’t afford the jewelry stores. We wandered for a bit, getting a few knick knacks to remember our epic adventure and some sweatpants because we’d been wearing the same ones to bed for 14 days. Well I have. Lindsay packed at least double what I did. It figures. We found Tracy’s Shack… literally a shack. I was still full from my sandwich and not although a huge seafood fan, I ordered the crab bisque which had really high reviews. Lindsay got some crab cakes and snow crab legs and even an Alaskan Amber Beer..splurging. We made friendly conversation with the workers, who were rather intrigued by our adventure. We sat down in the tent…literally a tent, and had our dinner. We explored a little longer…but all the cruise ship passengers had returned back for their all you can eat buffets and fancy dinners, and all that was left were the locals, including the patrons of Juneau’s soup kitchen, which happened to be on the main road. Call it selfish or close minded, or all together spoiled, but I just didn’t understand why they would put the soup kitchen next to all the tourist things. Nothing says Welcome to Juneau like seeing all of the homeless people. But maybe it helps raise awareness…I just have a feeling that’s the last thing people want to be aware of when they are on vacation.
It was still really light out and sort of early, since Tracy’s closes at 7 pm, so we decided to go up to Gold Creek to see these waterfalls that Corinna had suggested. We found a hiking trail at the top of the road…the city of Juneau is very much like San Francisco… very steep hills and close together houses. We walked along the waterfall and explored for a while in the temperate rainforest. We were sort of out by ourselves, and we were a little afraid we might come across a bear or something so we decided we needed to make ourselves known. Most of the guidebooks suggest bells or singing. We didn’t have any bells, so we did our best to sing. Well, it’s hard to come up with a tune to sing on the spot so we ended up reverting to old classics like 100 beer bottles on the wall…or our personal favorite “John Jacob Jinglerhimer Schmidt…” So we sang as loud as we could.. screaming almost… and dancing around on this old train track that went through the forest. We scared away any bears that may have been around…and any people who were out for a hike. Two crazies on the loose. Escaped from some mental institution in Wisconsin. John Jacob got old after a while…so I decided to rap a little “Baby Got Back”. Also ridiculous. We got to the end of the road and decided to head back down…kind of weaving from the forest, to the neighborhoods, down some random stairs, and finding ourselves back at the parking lot.
* funny she makes a reference to the looney bin!!!LOL gotta laugh about it can’t do anything else and we were singing for safety to keep you moms less worried. Plus remember animals and I have an understanding…I love them they don’t eat me, after all we did see a spirit bear! Good sign. - Lindsay
Back in the car and back to the campground. Lindsay had thrown in some laundry so she switched that while I uploaded the old blog entries. After a bit, Lindsay went to bed, I got the laundry and went to bed myself.
No comments:
Post a Comment