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!