I'm There!
Alrighty, a whole lot has happened since my last post, so this could get long. If I can remember half of it.
So, Friday morning I went to go get a couple of last-minute things that I would need on the ferry (like a towel I could actually fit into my carry-on, etc) and was confused by how busy everything was, until I remembered it was a holiday weekend, so people would actually be off work. Amazing how those holidays can sneak up on you when you're not looking.
After navigating a strange Wal-Mart, gassing up the truck, and giving it a brief bath (still tons of bugs stuck to the front), I headed to the port, got my ticket, and got my truck staged to get loaded onto the ferry. While sitting in line, it got sniffed by the dogs... why I had to pay an extra $5 when I checked in. "Security fee". Oi.
Once on board, I headed up into passenger territory - can't be on the car deck while vessel underway - and started poking around / staking my claim for a place to sleep. On this particular vessel, there were a couple forward observation decks, dining room, snack bar, several bathrooms, shower facilities, and (my place to sleep) the solarium. The solarium being a place on the rear of the vessel on the very top that has a windowed overhang, and is open on the rear. On the photo above it is where some people are standing, you can't really see the overhang part though. It is also one of the areas where people can pitch tents on the deck.
After playing the time honored game of hurry up and wait, we were finally underway.
As it was getting on to be evening by that point, nothing else significant happened. However, I was pleased to find out that the Solarium is equipped with heat lamps, making it much more comfortable when the wind was whipping around, as happened a lot that night. In fact, we woke up to a quite rainy morning. Which was bad for the people with the not-so-watertight tent.
Supposedly, the weather conditions were calmer than if it was sunny. I really couldn't tell you. At this point I need to point out the fact that most of the journey took place in what is called the Inside Passage, meaning that we were in between the mainland and some islands offshore. Those islands sheltered us from being beat up by the open ocean. Except for at a couple of places. I've never had issues with motion sickness, but I've also never been in anything much larger than a rowboat. Let's just say that the first (and longest) exposure to open water kicked my butt.
Anywho, after returning to the inside passage, the sun came back out. This was also a prime spot for whale watching. Unfortunately, because we couldn't really stop and putz around to watch the whales, it was hard to get decent pictures.
For example, here's a blow from a humpback:
And here's the whale itself:
Yes, exciting pictures, I know.
The next day, we saw lots of cool mountains, and even a couple of glaciers.
And then, yesterday morning, I unloaded in Haines, AK and started driving again. After not very long, I crossed into BC, Canada. Then a while after that, I hit the Yukon. The bit of Canada that I had to drive was AWESOME scenery. Especially with the leafy trees turning colors, and the needley ones staying green, there were so many different colors on the mountainsides and valleys, it was absolutely gorgeous. Every corner I went around I gasped, it was so gorgeous. Unfortunately there were so many corners I couldn't really take many pictures, and this one got a bit washed out.
The roads started off OK, then gradually started getting worse. Most of the heaves/potholes/other had been patched over, so there wasn't too much that was sharp that would bust a tire, but it still made for a quite interesting ride. Just as I thought I was getting the hang of those things, I made it back into Alaska, and the roads got better - just a couple rough patches here and there.
Despite the several signs proclaiming reindeer crossing, the only wildlife I encountered (other than birds and insects) was a fox.
If you really want to know what is going on, you're gonna have to ask. Odds are, you don't want to know.
It was a bit too much driving for one night, so I got a room, and took off again this morning. There was a little tiny patch of rain, and I even managed to see a rainbow.
I made it to post in the early afternoon, got signed in, got a room for the night, and got my schedule for tomorrow.
Since I had a bit of time before the room was ready, I killed time by poking my head in with my new unit. Met a couple of people, including the First Sergeant. Turns out I worked with him in Korea. *sings* "Its a small Army after all...."
I think that about covers it.
-Amanda
Amanda on 09.08.09 @ 10:22 PM AKDT [link]
