Saturday, May 23

The morning dawned bright and sunny. Both Sandy and I had seen the lights of a cruise ship during the night. Why that should be exciting I don’t know. I guess it is just seeing such a large boat along such as narrow channel.

Rather than have breakfast at the camp we followed the camp hostess’ suggestion that we go up to the Cable House for breakfast. It was nearly an hour down the road… both Sandy and I thought she said 15 minutes down the road but she must have said 50. In any case we were hungry enough to really enjoy the fresh eggs and savory bacon. Everything was made from scratch. The bread was great, and it had been recommended that we try the cinnamon rolls. Sandy got one for us to split and now I sure wish we had gotten two so that there would be left-over.

We looked at the Milepost and planned our stops in such a way to get Sandy to the Ferry at Port Hardy by 3:30. She is going on the ferry tonight while I am scheduled to take the morning ferry on Sunday.

After saying goodbye to Sandy I checked in to Sunny Sanctuary RV Park and was delighted to see another Roadtrek. Jim and Henry are from San Diego and have made some marvelous adaptations to their 2008 Roadtrek. I took pictures of some of the ways they have adapted the small spaces with very workable solutions. We will be rising early tomorrow. They are also going north to Prince Rupert on the new BC Ferry, Northern Expedition.
I cruised around Port Hardy for awhile. The internet café was already closed. The town really hasn’t wakened up for the summer yet. I did find a Japanese Restaurant and washed down the good dinner with some warm sake while reading a little of James Michener’s Alaska.

Sunday, May 24

NORTHERN EXPEDITION – Ferry to Prince Rupert

The alarm rang at 4:30. I heated some coffee and got on my way to the ferry and was in line right behind Jim and Henry. The Northern Expedition had its maiden voyage two weeks ago and is a wonderful way to travel. I opted to upgrade to the Aurora Lounge which is at the front of the ferry with an expansive view. It was a good purchase for $25. A card is used to gain access and I felt that my belongings were secure while I wandered around the boat.
Apparently, all ferry’s need a shake down cruise. There were a number on things on this boat that had shaken apart already. There are two doors into the Aurora Lounge and the crew was trying to fix one of them (the electronics for the card wouldn’t work) as we arrived at 7:00am. They tried intermittently to fix that door all day long. Henry reported that when he used a toilet the handle came off in his hand. I guess that maintenance on a vessel like this keeps a number of the crew busy especially on a new boat.
Every three hours we were allowed to go down to the car deck to feed pets, etc. It was good exercise going down the five flights and I usually could think of a map, book, or food that I needed from the Roadtrek.
On one of these journeys I overheard someone talking about the Seward Glacier tour and so I stopped by and met Gisela and Uli who are from Frankfort Germany but now live in Florida. They are planning to see the same areas that Sandy and I are visiting. Who knows, we may run into them again in Homer or Seward. They were talking to Bob and Pat from Wasilla who gave us both some good information and suggestions.
My seatmate was Frederick from Austria, south of Vienna. He is spending seven months traveling around the world. His first stop was South Africa. He then has traveled through Singapore, Malaysia, Australia (he took a camper down the beautiful east coast, out to Ayres Rock and then traveled on to Perth), then to New Zealand before heading for the west coast of the US and Canada.

My plan with Sandy was to meet her at 10:30 pm when our ferry reached Prince Rupert and stay near the departure point for 4:00 am queue for Juneau trip. Best laid plans! My ferry was 2 hours late and Sandy had learned that we couldn’t spend the night in the ferry parking area. She left me a message but I couldn’t pick it up. After driving around looking for her van I saw an RV park and sure enough there she was. Jim and Henry were parked right next to her and all was quiet since it was after midnight. THAT was a short night. Sandy banged on my door around 3:15 to get me started again.


Monday, May 25 – Memorial Day

MV KENNICOTT – Ferry from Prince Rupert to Juneau

This ferry was petite compared to the Northern Expedition. After getting settled in our room we went up and had a breakfast that was an unexpected pleasure. Everything was cooked to order. Eggs over easy were just that and the bacon was crisp. After breakfast I crashed for the rest of the morning.
Afternoon brought new surprises. Alaskan Ferry and the US Forest Service have arranged to have a Ranger on each ferry to give programs about the local flora and fauna as we chug up the coast. We had a special treat since our captain had decided to test his skill on a particularly challenging route through the Wrangell Narrows south of Petersburg. Our ranger described the plan and then those of us who chose to stay up were able to watch the skill required to maneuver through the Narrows. Though it was rainy and cold and the pictures are sort of dark it is a trip I will not forget.