From Sitka Spruce to Petersburg - Just for the Halibut

SITKA NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK & FERRY TO PETERSBURG:

On our last day in Sitka, we got up and went hiking over at the Sitka National Historical Park and walked amongst the gigantic Sitka Spruce trees and many totem poles. There was also a stream that was full of spawning Chum & Humpback salmon. We then boarded the ferry heading to Petersburg at 4pm, not to arrive in Petersburg until 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning. We ended up sleeping in a huge room, on the floor with our sleeping bags, with about 20 other people. The next ferry we'll be getting our own cabin...







PETERSBURG, ALASKA:

When we arrived in Petersburg it was still slightly dark (duh - it was 5:30 in the morning!) and we couldn't check into our room at the Tides Inn until noon, so we drove the entire 30 miles to the end of the road out to the Tongass National Forest. The bog/tundra out here is so wet that the trees look small and puny compared to those we saw in Sitka. We needed our XtraTuff rain boots that we had in Dutch Harbor (and are an Alaskan staple for clothing), but didn't have them so stayed on the dry land. We kept busy all morning until we got a hold of our friends Ken & Page (from Cordova) after eating some french toast at Northern Lights Restaurant.




Ken & Page have a veterinary clinic in Petersburg along with their troller boat the M/V Hallie. We played some nasty, competitive games of Scrabble (in which we all swear Ken cheated), went out halibut fishing (without even one bite, but we didn't know what we were doing and not sure what the "Butt Juice" pink liquid was but the fish are suppose to like it), and hiked around the island. We had 2 awesome days filled with sunshine, but the last day was pretty rainy - that's more like what we know of these coastal towns in Alaska!

THANKS KEN, PAGE & PUCK FOR A WONDERFUL WEEK!!! You rock!

Yesterday, we wandered around town, had some pizza for lunch and then drove onto the Tatu ferry for our departure of Alaska. We were smart and got a small 2-birth cabin equipped with a bathroom, and slept comfortably last night. We arrived in Prince Rupert, B.C. Canada just today at 5:00 p.m.

Here's our little cabin on the ferry. Better than sleeping on the floor!


This afternoon, we drove about 3 hours outside of Prince Rupert through the mountains. The Fall colors are not as vibrant yet down here as they have been up in Northern Alaska, so hopefully it will still be summer when we get down South. Our plan is to be in Wisconsin to pick up our trailer this coming Friday. Keep the sun shining a bit longer as we're on the way!

Sitka - Hiking & Whale Watching

Well, here we are on our last night in Sitka, Alaska. We head out tomorrow, September 23rd, on a long ferry down to Petersburg, Alaska.

It's been a fun 4 days here even though it's rained every day, we did get to see the sunshine at least for a few hours each afternoon. This town is situated on the Baranof Island and all around us are other smaller islands. Only way here is via plane or ferry so it's quite secluded.

Yesterday we hiked up to Thimbleberry Lake and Heart Lake on a wooded trail and then got some Subway sandwiches for dinner. The sun was shining and it felt good to hike. We even picked and ate wild blueberries along our journey - yummy!

Today, we got up early and went out on a whale-watching tour with Alaska Wildlife Tours and got some great pictures of humpback whales. We were surrounded by whales, but kept our distance as they were feeding on krill not far from our boat. They popped up and we got some awesome tail shots, but no breaching or fin-showing for us. It's hard to get the entire picture of them from above the water, but they are between 40-48 feet long and can weigh up to 40 tons!!! WOW! Here is more information on these awesome creatures: http://www.acsonline.org/factpack/humpback.htm.

We'll be sleeping again on the ferry (cuddle up and sleep on recliner chairs or on the floor in sleeping bags as we're too cheap to rent a cabin) and will wake up on Wednesday in Petersburg. There we will stay for 3 nights then get on another ferry down to Prince Rupert, B.C. Canada. We were going to head down to Oregon, but have decided to instead drive down through Montana and over to Wisconsin to pick up our trailer so we can drive back prior to the snow falling.

Future Plans Have Changed: Due to our house not selling (ugh!) we will not be going East on this trip, but will definitely plan something in the next year or two to spend a bunch of time over there. I know we have friends awaiting us and we haven't forgotten about you, however the trip will have to wait for another time. We're a bit bummed by the house not selling...nothing we can do about that so we're moving back in by the end of October and will find jobs to pay the bills in early November. More to come....

Haines - Definitely a Favorite

Howdy!

While I was in Palm Springs trying to escape the heat (111 degrees some days), Matt stayed back in Cordova and had to deal with sheets of rain every day. He didn't get any fishing in, but did go hiking a few times.

Thanks to the Figaro's gang for making my stay in Palm Springs a great one. It was great to see and talk to my pizza friends and I can't wait to see you "Salem gals" when I get down there next month. We'll plan something fun to do - and I'm sure margaritas will be involved, so be ready.

AFTER CORDOVA -

I arrived back in Cordova last Saturday and on Sunday early morning, Matt and I got up and hopped on the ferry to Valdez. The truck was right where we left it so we drove all day to Tok, Alaska and stayed the night there in a 'good-enough' motel. It was cheap anyway.

On Monday morning we rose to sunshine (in the Interior of Alaska it's always sunnier than the coast it seems) and drove through Alaska, into Yukon Territory in Canada, into British Columbia in Canada, and then back into Alaska after Haines Junction. I did get to see some moose off the road, but before I could get my close-up picture, the disappeared in the trees. Why all Alaskan's say they see moose running around here like crazy is beyond me. I'm having one heck of a time finding one...

HAINES, ALASKA -

We spent 5 days/4 nights in Haines, Alaska. The first night we got a room at the Captain's Choice Motel and the room was fantastic. We had an awesome view of the ocean! We got in late that night so we didn't get to see our friends, Owen & Jill until the next day.

After that first night in town, we drove out to Mosquito Lake (about 30 miles outside of Haines) where Owen & Jill, the couple we met while camping on Lake Powell in Utah months ago, bought a campground. It is an absolutely amazing piece of property and besides the little campground, they have fixed up a small cabin where they stay nice and cozy. They let us use their 21' trailer - similar to ours we left in Wisconsin - for those nights and it was great. We had a super fun time with them hiking around, eating & drinking, and chatting. They even took us around to some cabins/land that are currently for sale. We drove out to the Chilkat river and lake and enjoyed seeing lots of bald eagles.

Needless to say, Matt and I both really like Haines. The town is large enough (3,200 pop.) to support some small restaurants and businesses and land is still available at reasonable prices. I don't want too many people moving out there, so I won't brag about it too much, but we may think about it after we figure out how to BYOM (bring your own money) out there so we can live comfortably. NOTE: A local told us about the BYOM.

Right now, we're in Juneau on a ferry layover from Haines to Sitka. In a few hours we need to get back on another, bigger ferry and we'll wake up in Sitka tomorrow a.m. It's a 13 hour ferry ride. We'll be there for 3 nights, so that will be next on the blog.