Day 57, Mon, Jul 30, 2007, Anchorage, AK

Today was a day of errands. We woke up to a light rain. It finally quit raining, but was a very cloudy day.

We went to the post office to pick up mail, stopped by a place called Apria and ordered Jerry a new piece for his CPAP machine (for sleep apnea), and went to Sams club and the Exchange and Commissary. We’re stocking up for our trip north. We really like having use of a Commissary and Exchange and will greatly miss it.

Temps: High 65, low 58.

Day 56, Sun, Jul 29, 2007, Anchorage, AK

Not much to report today. We slept in this morning, then our campground host suggested we change sites since we were having electrical problems at our site. And we spent the afternoon doing laundry. It was a sunny, warm day. We called it a day early.

Temps: High 75, low 57.

Day 55, Sat, Jul 28, 2007, Knik, AK

We went to another picnic at GB Jones’ kennel in Knik today. There was a good group of people and dogs there and I think everyone had a good time. One of the youngsters gave a dog some pink icing from a birthday cake and the dog had a very pink tongue and a huge smile on his face!

Before we drove up to Knik we stopped to empty the tanks and Barbara took the trash to the dumpster and took Blackie with her on the leash. Unfortunately, Blackie saw another dog being walked and decided they should become friends. It caught Barbara off guard and she ended up with a skinned knee—no big deal except her knees are already sore from knee surgery.

We ate dinner at the Iditarod Dining Hall on base again—two complete dinners for $8.50 including dessert.

Today was mostly sunny with a high temp of 74 and a low of 54 degrees.

Pictures: Click here

Day 54, Fri, Jul 27, 2007, Anchorage, AK

Shop, Shop, Shop! Barbara’s been wanting to hit the souvenir shops on 5th Avenue. She finally was able to do so, but the only thing she found was a front license plate for her car. Then we went to Sam’s Club and bought these doggie chicken strips that look like bacon but aren’t. Mary Dillingham had given Blackie a few and he loved them, so we bought him his own bag. Before we leave town we’ll stock up. Spoiled dog that he is!

We got a campsite with hookups but it’s a long haul to the bathhouse and laundry room. Oh well, guess we can’t have everything.

The sun is out! Temperature is 72 degrees.

Pictures: Click here

Day 53, Thu, Jul 26, 2007, Seward, AK to Anchorage, AK

This morning we checked out of the Seward Resort campground and went into town and went through the Seward Museum. From there we went to Mile 0 of the Iditarod start which used to be in Seward and then headed north back to Anchorage.

We stopped in Moose Pass for a short break at a beautiful Methodist Church and took some pictures and had a quick lunch. The rest of the trip to Anchorage was uneventful.

Upon arrival at the Black Spruce campground at Ft. Richardson, we found they were still full up and had to settle for a no hookup spot for the night with a promise that we could get an electric and water site tomorrow.

We left the campground and went to the carwash just off base and gave our really filthy RV a good cleaning. It looks and feels so much better when it’s clean.

We then went to the Iditarod Dining Hall on the base at Elmendorf and had a really nice meal. Barbara had stuffed pork chop, green beans and chocolate cake while I had stuffed pork chop, rice with gravy, corn and a coke. The total came to $7.70. What a deal!

Then we stopped by the commissary and replenished some supplies and headed back to the campsite for the night.

The lowest temp I saw was 54 and the highest I saw was 70 degrees today. We did wake up to light rain and had light rain most of the 135 mile trip back, but as we approached Anchorage we did see some sunlight peeking through at times.

Pictures: Click here

Day 52, Wed, Jul 25, 2007, Seward, AK

Today has been very cloudy, but no rain! The first thing we did today was go to Exit Glacier. There is a nice road that leads almost to the base of the glacier. Once you get to the parking lot, you can walk a trail that is about ½ mile long to get to the base of the glacier. We were afraid that would be too much walking, so we didn’t make the hike. It was neat to be that close to a glacier though.

From there we went back to town and saw that a cruise ship had arrived in town. Then we went to the Alaska SeaLife Center. The center provides a unique Alaskan ocean experience that allows visitors to get closer to Alaska’s marine species. It was a real neat experience. While there we also signed up for the Behind The Scenes tour that showed us a lot of the research and rehabilitation they are doing and taking us through the entire center. What an experience. We spent the entire afternoon and part of the evening there. As we came out of the center, we saw the cruise ship just leaving port. It was neat.

Afterwards we went uptown and found a nice Chinese Restaurant and had a good dinner. Then it was back to the campground to call it a day.

The lowest temperature I saw was 50 degrees and the highest I saw was 62 degrees today. We’re sure enjoying these temperatures.

Pictures: Click here

Day 51, Tue, Jul 24, 2007, Anchorage, AK to Seward, AK

This morning we woke up to rain again. We broke down camp and filled up with gasoline at $2.959/gallon on the base and headed south toward Seward.

We drove in light rain most of the day, but it was still a nice drive. We arrived in Seward around 4:00 PM and checked into our campsite at the Seward Resort – US Army Alaska at the north end of Seward.

We drove on down the road we came in on until we could go no further and ended up at Miller’s Landing. While there we ran into a friend of GB Jones (our musher friend) who has one of GB’s dogs, Ida. It was good to meet Jessie Jones (no relation) and to see Ida again. After a short visit we ended up in town, drove around a bit, and then found a nice restaurant with some of the best food we’ve had, but the worst service and the food was not at all hot. Then we headed back to camp and called it a day.

The low this morning in Anchorage was 52 and it was 52 degrees the rest of the day all the way to and including Seward.

Sunrise in Seward is 5:18 AM, sunset is 10:48 PM
Gas in Seward is $3.209/gallon.

Pictures: Click here

Day 50, Mon, Jul 23, 2007, Anchorage, AK

Better weather today—some sun, some clouds and a few rain drops, but not enough to slow us down. We finished our laundry so we can head to Seward tomorrow with everything clean. Then we opened the back of the RV and dug out some stuff we’d stored under the sofa.

This evening we went into town to the Sourdough Mining Company and saw a free show put on by Dusty Sourdough. It was a great hour long show and Barbara even won a beautiful polar bear pocket knife. She likes the container it came in better in the knife so I guess I get the knife and she’ll keep the container!

After the show we went inside and had a great halibut nugget dinner along with their famous korn fritters. Wow, are they ever good.

From there it was back to camp to get a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow we are heading down to Seward for a couple of days.

The high temp today was 65 and the low was 54 degrees.

Pictures: Click here

Day 49, Sun, Jul 22, 2007, Anchorage, AK

Today was a great day except that we woke up to rain, had rain all day, and went to bed with rain, but it was mostly a light rain all day, so not entirely bad.

The great part of the day was meeting up with our friend Rosemary at the Millennium Hotel (Iditarod’s race headquarters every March) and had a very nice lunch and catching up. Then Rosemary took us downtown and we went to a great place (only a couple years old) called Bear and Raven Adventure Theater. It started out with a very nice high definition movie about Alaska, complete with a snowstorm blown on the audience.

From there we were able to board a balloon with a screen in the bottom of it making it appear we were flying over different things, complete with the motion of the balloon. Then we went salmon fishing by sitting in the back of a boat with a fishing rod and line hooked to a TV screen showing the fish we were catching. The line reacted with the fish, making it seem so real. Then we were able to stand on a sled runner with a dog team projected on a big screen making it seem we were being pulled by the sled dog team, again complete with sled motion to feel so real. It was all really neat. We’ll have pictures of all this up soon.

Then Rosemary took us to Cold Stone Creamery for some really great ice cream, then a nice tour of Anchorage. A great afternoon we had.

Also today we finally saw moose in person. As we were leaving the base, we saw a moose really close to the road, and again when we came back onto the base, we saw another moose quite close to the road about a quarter mile from where we saw the other one earlier.

The high temp today was 64 and the low was 54 degrees.

Pictures: Click here

Day 48, Sat, Jul 21, 2007, Anchorage, AK

Today our mushing friend, G.B. Jones, had a “show and tell” at Cottonwood Park here at Fort Richardson. Families of spouses deployed to Iraq and injured soldiers recuperating from injuries were having a picnic and had invited G.B. to come and bring his dogs and equipment. G.B. invited us to join him, and the families having the picnic invited us to help ourselves to the food. It was delicious, the people very nice and we had a great time.

Also, our third seat had broken and the manager of the woodworking shop on base offered to cut a board to our specifications. He told us to come back in 2 hours, charged us $3.00 and our seat is better than new.

We woke up to blue skies but by 8:00 p.m. had a brief shower. High was 71, low was 48. Great sleeping weather!

Pictures: Click here

Day 47, Fri, Jul 20, 2007, Anchorage, AK

A relaxing day visiting with other campers. We got a latch fixed at A&M RV in town and a couple that are staying here were there also. Nice folks and we enjoyed our short visit. And Jerry, the service manager at A&M said he didn’t have a category for bending latches so that was free. We spent the rest of the day at the campground doing some laundry and visiting with people here—just generally enjoying ourselves. Still haven’t seen that moose or bear, but we’re looking!

Pictures: Click here

Day 46, Thu, Jul 19, 2007, Anchorage, AK

Today we went into town to an RV place and checked out whether we could get the awning replaced. Since there are no Roadtrek dealers around here that we can find, we didn’t hold out much hope. Plus we are having a problem with one of the latches. The place we stopped said to come back Monday and they would look at the latch and see if they could do anything about the awning, but they didn’t sound too promising. We’ll see, I guess.

We then went to the Ulu factory and bought another ulu bowl. We love that ulu knife and bowl. Barbara wanted a second bowl to use strictly for veggies.

The highlight of the afternoon was a stop at the Wildride Sled Dog Show next to the Ulu factory that was hosted by young Iditarod finisher Dallas Seavey. The Seavey’s (long time Iditarod mushing family) put on an hour long fun show that was well worth the $14.00 admission fee. They also have Flapjack in the show who was a star in the movie “8 below”. At the end of the show they let you roam around and pet the puppies and by luck, Dan Seavey, the grandfather who ran the very first Iditarod in 1973 was there and we got to chat with him for a good while. What a treat!

Today it was cloudy. The high was 72 degrees, the low 55 degrees.
Sunrise is 4:59 AM, sunset is 11:10 PM.

Pictures: Click here

Day 45, Wed, Jul 18, 2007, Anchorage, AK

Today I finally got through to Verizon and asked about the horrendous roaming fees. Turns out we were charged roaming fees for our usage in Canada. So now we at least know when we go back through Canada on our way home to limit our usage and try to find WIFI hotspots. Fortunately we don’t get charged roaming fees in Alaska, even though we are actually roaming and the throughput is not good, but at least here in the Anchorage area we do have a connection.

From there we went to Eagle River and went to Eric and Marti Rogers’ house and visited them and their kennel. Then Barbara found out Marti quilts and everything turned to quilting. So much so, Marti and Barbara went to town and did some quilt fabric shopping. Then we went to Johanns Restaurant in Eagle River and had a great dinner. From there it was back to the campground to call it a day.

It was great to get to know Eric and Marti a little and to visit with them. Of course visiting their kennel was a highlight as we got to meet each and every one of his great dogs.

It was quite cloudy all day today.
The high temp today was 68 degrees, the low was 58 degrees.

Pictures: Click here

Day 44, Tue, Jul 17, 2007, Anchorage, AK

The campground host stopped by first thing this morning and said they had a full hookup site for us, so we had breakfast and then moved to the new site. After checking it out, we went to the Commissary and Exchange and Barbara bought a couple of souvenirs.

The motorhome is so very filthy that we hated to get near it, so we found a car wash just off base and stopped by. We didn’t have enough quarters to give it a good bath, but we did get the heavy stuff off so we won’t get dirt all over us if we get near the vehicle.

The high today was 74 degrees, the low was 53 degrees.

Day 43, Mon, Jul 16, 2007 Wasilla to Anchorage, AK

Time to go back to Anchorage. We need to do more laundry and campground laundry fees were $2 per wash and $2 per dry; laundrymat fees in Wasilla itself were worse. On the Military Base they were $1 to wash and $1 to dry. So we left Wasilla and drove to Anchorage.

We went to Fort Richardson, the Army base in Anchorage and found a campsite. Even better, they have 5 washers and dryers and they are FREE! We got the only campsite they had and it had no hookups, so they strung an extension cord from the neighboring site so we could at least have some electricity. Good thing too, because it was quite warm, especially for Blackie and Little Bear in the motorhome, so we had to run the air conditioner during the afternoon. That was about as much electricity as we had without overloading the extension cord, but this evening is much nicer and we’re getting along with only the fantastic fan pulling some air through the open windows and keeping comfortable.

We had a hankering for Chinese food this evening, so we went into town and found a place that also had a Mongolian BBQ. The BBQ was good, but the Chinese food was only so-so. Oh well, we gave it a try.

We are on the waiting list at this campground for full hookups, so hopefully tomorrow we’ll have plenty of electricity and also water hookups so we don’t have to listen to this noisy on board water pump every time we use any water. We are hoping to stay here in Anchorage through the weekend.

We didn’t catch the low temp for the day, but this afternoon it got up to 72 degrees and was mostly sunny. A really nice day, but quite warm after all the cool weather we’ve been experiencing.

We gassed up on base for $2.969 today. Gas prices are about the same all over town. It was $2.999 most everywhere in Wasilla.

Barbara’s highlight of the day was when she went to the bath house to shower. There she saw a sign saying “Danger – Bears”. She was almost afraid to walk the short distance back to the camper after that what with the way they made it sound!

Day 42, Sun, Jul 15, 2007, Wasilla, AK

Today we took a down day. The highlight of today was that Mike and Mary Dillingham came by the campsite and took us out for brunch. They were gracious enough to pick us up so we didn’t have to unhook the motorhome. It was great to see them again. We spent the rest of the afternoon doing paperwork. Unfortunately, bills have to be paid even on vacation!

Pictures: Click here

Day 41, Sat, Jul 14, 2007 Anchorage to Wasilla, AK

We decided to surprise our friend G.B. Jones in Knik and join him at his picnic that we’d told him we wouldn’t be able to attend. As it turned out, we were an hour and a half late (normally no problem as they last all afternoon) but he was getting ready to leave for a friend’s funeral.

We found a campground in Wasilla and spent the afternoon cleaning house and doing laundry, some much needed chores. Also tried to upload pictures, but can’t get a fast enough internet connection and keep timing out. We also found out the hard way that we’re being charged roaming fees on our air data card. We got our monthly email notice for our Verizon air data card bill and instead of the normal $60, it was $297.00! Ouch! We were not aware they charged extra for roaming data, so every time we get on the internet it costs us big time since we are constantly roaming up here. That may have been only for the Canadian part, but we have to contact them and find out for sure. So our picture uploading will have to slow down until we can confirm they are not charging us extra.

Day 40, Fri Jul 13, 2007, Homer to Anchorage, AK

We’ve decided we want our cake and eat it too. We want all the tourists to go home, we want the nice campgrounds, but bigger sites at half the cost, and yes, we acknowledge that we are tourists, too! Since we’ve been here several times before though, we don’t feel like tourists, and we get just as annoyed with the other campers as Alaskans do. We’re Alaskans in our hearts. Also, we realize the tourist industry is important to Alaska and we’re doing our part to increase Alaska’s economy!

We arrived in Anchorage around 7:00 PM and went to Elmendorf Air Force Base and found the FamCamp and found one of only three sites left. We finally settled in around 8:15 PM.

Today we have sunshine with occasional periods of clouds and rain and a high of 58 (in Anchorage), low of 51 (in Homer).
Drove 272 miles.
Sunrise in Anchorage: 4:46 AM
Sunset in Anchorage: 11:22 PM
Gas prices in Anchorage: $2.969
Gas prices in Homer: $3.139

Pictures: Click here

Day 39, Thu Jul 12, 2007 arrive Whittier, AK, drive to Homer, AK with a stop at Hope, AK

What an interesting day! We stayed in Whittier an hour, making an attempt to see Iditarod musher Perry Solmonson. But he was out on a kayaking trip so we just left a message. From there we thought we were driving to Homer, but Barbara the Navigator, screwed up and directed Jerry to Hope. It turned out to be a beautiful drive along the Cook Inlet. However, we decided to turn around and head back to Homer, getting us there around 6:00 p.m.. The place was full of RV’ers and the little town was ready for them. We found a small campsite with no picnic table, but full hook-ups for $39 that crammed us in beside monster Class A’s. Normally Barbara would enjoy one or two tourist shops, but this was like the day after Thanksgiving! We did enjoy another halibut fish and chips dinner and went back to the campsite for a good night’s sleep.

Drove 257 miles.
Temp 49 at Whittier, 52 at Homer, occasional light rain.

Pictures: Click here

Day 38, Wed, Jul 11, 2007, on board M/V Kennicott with a stop at Yakutat, AK

Today we had a stop at Yakutat, Alaska at 8:00 AM. We were there for two hours. We took Blackie ashore to find some grass which of course he thoroughly loved. We got underway at 10:30 and spent the rest of the day in open ocean rocking and rolling. We also did a lot of rocking and rolling last night as we were mostly around 12 to 15 miles offshore. Today we are mostly about 30 miles offshore.

We watched a movie, “Happy Feet” on board this afternoon.

The pets seem to have gotten their “sea legs” and don’t seem to be bothered by all the rocking and rolling we’re doing out here. We’re real proud of them.

Jerry was lucky enough today to get a short glance of a whale about ½ mile from us. Barbara was talking to the Purser at the time and missed it. We’re told we will see many whales early tomorrow morning in the Prince William Sound, so we’re going to bed early and plan to get up around 4:00 AM to whale watch and prepare for a 7:30 AM docking at Whittier.

Pictures: Click here and Click here

Day 37, Tues, Jul 10, 2007, Juneau, AK

Today started off as a real bummer. Jerry had put the awning up last night to give us some area without rain. He’d done it correctly, with a slant for rain to drain off on one corner. Well, about 7:00 this morning he heard a loud noise—the awning was bent, torn and broken. We tried to roll it up but it wouldn’t fit into its bracket. A nice gentleman came along and helped us, but he couldn’t force it into the bracket either. We finally decided the best solution was to cut the awning off and take it to the city dump. The dump’s procedure was to weigh the motorhome first, then unload the awning, and weigh the motorhome again. Then we were to pay by the pound. They had a minimum weight. We were at such a low weight that Shannon, the lady who worked there, voided our ticket. Up until this time we were ready to take the first ferry home, (except there weren’t any!) and Shannon’s act of kindness made Barbara break down into tears (and then Shannon did too). All was well again and we made a quick trip to Mendenhall Glacier before boarding the ferry M/V Kennicott for Whittier at 5:00 PM.

Pictures: Cick here

Day 36, Mon, Jul 9, 2007, Petersburg, AK to Juneau, AK

Okay, we get it now. It rains in the rain forest. It makes the forest nice and green. And wet. And we’re tired of it.

Today we got off the ferry at 4:45 a.m. and, after searching for a restaurant that was open for breakfast (and finding none), gave up and came to the campground and went back to sleep. We spent the rest of the day driving around Juneau (in the rain all day), being amazed at the 4 large cruise ships in town and the souvenir shops that cater to them and the even larger number of people jamming the streets. We kept driving. This evening we had a delicious salmon and halibut dinner at the Thane Ore House Salmon Bake the campground host said the locals go to. It was delicious.

It rained all day, and the forecast is rain for the next three days and we leave here tomorrow. The highest we saw today was 55 degrees.

Pictures: Click here

Day 35, Sun, Jul 8, 2007 Wrangell, AK to Petersburg, AK

We had to get up early today to catch the ferry to Petersburg at 6:00 AM. The ride was 3 hours. Petersburg was sort of a disappointment. It is called “Little Norway” as it was founded by a Norwegian and has a lot or Norwegian heritage, but there just wasn’t anything there to do, especially on a Sunday afternoon. We basically just drove around looking for anything. We did find a little park that had a lot of eagles, so Barbara got a lot of pictures.

We then caught the ferry at 7:30 PM for the overnight ride to Juneau. We did see some sunshine, with a high temperature of 59 degrees, so that was nice.

Pictures: Click here

Day 34, Sat, Jul 7, 2007, In Wrangell, Alaska

Two interesting things happened today. We ate the best lunch ever at Zak’s Café; very fresh halibut sandwiches with excellent macaroni salad. In fact, Robyn, the owner, said she had to stop making potato salad because everyone liked her macaroni salad so much! We overhead her tell her husband they needed to send some soup to someone in town who was sick. Now, that doesn’t happen everywhere,

As we walked out of the café we saw a motorhome identical to ours—same color and all. We thought for an instant ours had been stolen! The driver said he was from Edmonton. We, of course, told him we were from TN, but had been in Edmonton and visited friends in Perryvale. Small world.

We have to hit the sack early tonight, as we have to be at the ferry landing by 6:30 AM for a 7:30 AM departure to Petersburg.

The low was again 50 degrees with a high of 72 degrees with some sun, but the day ended with light rain.

Pictures: Click here

Day 33, Fri, Jul 6, 2007, In Wrangell, Alaska

We must have been tired, as we slept about eleven hours. We woke up to a cloudy day. We have a neighbor here at the campground now. We talked to them a few minutes. They told us that Betty at the Episcopal Church was selling fried bread dough made on the spot. I haven’t had that in years. So we headed out to find it. That took a while, but we eventually found it and was it ever good. We even bought some more to take with us to have for breakfast tomorrow morning.

We drove around and got somewhat acquainted with Wrangell. We found the airport, went to the Petroglyph Beach State Historic Park, and saw a lot of eagles, ravens and crows.

We had bought a corned beef yesterday at the store and this morning we put it in the crock pot. This afternoon we boiled potatoes and cabbage and looked forward to a great dinner. But when we bit into the corned beef it just didn’t taste right, so we threw it all out and had peanut butter sandwiches! Oh well, can’t everything go right.

Temperature ranged from a low of 50 to a high of 61 today. It was somewhat sunny today.
Sunrise is at 4:10 AM and sunset is at 9:47 PM.

Pictures: Click here

Day 32, Thu, Jul 5, 2007, On board M/V Malaspina in Alaska, USA

Yea! We are now in Alaska. Sometime around 3:00 AM we crossed the line from Canada to Alaska on the Inside Passage. We got up around 5:00 AM to prepare for a stop in Ketchikan, AK at 6:30. While there we were able to take Blackie (our lab) ashore and make good use of some grass in that area (as did many other dogs)! He had only gone once in 35 hours, so he was ready to let it all out, and did he ever. He looked so relieved after that jaunt in Ketchikan.

What a place Ketchikan is. That is one busy port. We say two large cruise ships docked when we pulled in. When we were ready to get underway, we had to be delayed a few minutes while the Diamond Princess came down the passage. Then shortly after we got under way we met a Holland American cruise ship. Also the airport is just across the river from the city. While there we saw an Alaskan Airline 737 land and a corporate jet take off. Also on the river there were many float planes taking off and landing right beside us. How neat. We got underway from Ketchikan just after 8:30 AM and headed to Wrangell, AK.

We arrived in Wrangell at 2:30 PM where we got off for a three day visit in Wrangell due to our remaining ferry schedule.

We drove around Wrangell for a while and then came back to town and got a few groceries we needed. While there we met a man from Indiana that has been living here for 10 years. He even offered to take us halibut fishing with him when he gets off work tomorrow evening. We also talked to another man while in line that was from Illinois. Then we found a campground in town and decided to get something to eat instead of cooking as we were really worn out after that early wake up, even though we had a short nap after leaving Ketchikan.

The temperature seems to have been a pretty steady 52 degrees everywhere we’ve been today and it has been rainy off and on.

Day 31, Wed, Jul 4, 2007, On board M/V Malaspina in British Columbia, Canada

Happy 4th of July! Yesterday afternoon we boarded the Alaska Marine Highway System M/V Malaspina and got underway at 5:00 PM Alaska time. We saw a display area on one of the bulkheads explaining the ship, which was built in 1962. There was a menu there listing Alaskan King Crab for $3.75, steak meal for $5.00, alcoholic drinks ranging from 75 cents to $1.25. We were so excited and just couldn’t believe it. It took us a while to realize that menu was from 1962. Oh well, reality hit us when we finally got to the cafeteria and found a hamburger was $7.25, fish and ships $8.00, etc.

The M/V Malaspina is 408 feet long, 74 feet wide and has a draft of 15 feet. She has two 4061 HP turbo charged diesels and burns 320 gallons per hour. She also has three 800 HP Caterpillar generators that burn 42 gallons per hour. Her passenger capacity is 701, has 86 staterooms and can carry 120 vehicles.

Passengers with pets must leave them in their vehicles. They do allow you to go down to the car deck four times a day: 8:30 AM, 2:30 PM and 8:30 PM which are announced. Then at 12:30 AM they allow us to go down, but that one is unannounced. The dogs all think is it party time for them!

Early this morning (around 3:15 AM) we were awakened by the fog horn. It blows for 5 seconds every 2 minutes. And is it loud!. It lasted until about 7:00 AM this morning. Fortunately we got a chance to get a nap during the day.

It’s been a very very cloudy day with some showers. The high temperature was 55 degrees. I didn’t know they had a thermometer on board until this afternoon, so didn’t get a low temp.

Pictures: Click here

Days 25-30, Thu-Tue, Jun 28-Jul 3, Maple Falls, Washington (Barbara’s family reunion)

Days 25 through 30 we spent at a very nice cabin (actually two cabins) east of Maple Falls at the foot of Mount Baker with Barbara’s family. Her family is spread out from San Jose, CA to Lisbon, Portugal and they try to get together about every four years. For this reunion they wanted to go to the Northwest, so here we are. At one time there we 22 of us together. It was a great 5 days. The Alaska Marine Ferry left Bellingham on Tuesday, so we had to leave two days before the end of the reunion.

We had to check in at 2:00 PM and get in line to drive onto the ferry at 3:00 PM. We finally drove onboard around 4:30 and the ferry got underway at 5:05 PM. It is currently 6:04 PM (5:04 Alaska Time) as I upload this from the ship. How neat. As we boarded the ship they told us we were officially on Alaska Time, so now we are four hours ahead of my computer which is still on EST.

Pictures: Click here