The Journey to Juneau - Bellingham to Juneau
Day Five began with a nice hot meal at the hotel in Bellingham followed by checking out and doing a few errands in town (getting gas and visiting a local game store). Next, I was off to the Alaska Marine Highway ferry terminal to check in and get ready to board. I made sure to get there extra early, so I parked my car where instructed then went inside the terminal for a few hours. The appointed time rolled around for me to be back at my vehicle and ready for loading. There was talk around the terminal that they were running behind but they started loading at the appointed time. Once onboard, I was assigned my berth (room) and stowed my gear before taking some time to explore the ship. At the appointed time for departure, I made my way to the upper deck and watched as we began the journey to Juneau. The ending to Day Five was pretty uneventful, with the exception of going to the ship’s lounge area. I found the decoration and atmosphere of the lounge to be awesome!
Day Six was a mostly uneventful day in the sense that we sailed all day. We did see whales which was super awesome! Unfortunately I wasn’t ready with the camera to take a picture or two. After getting some food from the cafeteria, I spent time in the front observation room of the ship enjoying the scenery. The evening was spent in the lounge making some new friends and playing cards with the bartender.
Day Seven was the most eventful day of the ferry ride. We arrived in Ketchikan docking there for about 5 hours and were encouraged to spend time off the ferry. After talking to one of the crew acquiring some sightseeing advice, I decided to visit The Totem Bight park. The park was a very neat place with information about the history, the meaning, and the making process of totem poles. After spending time at the park, I enjoyed “picking the brain” of the local bus driver on the way back to the ferry. After getting back underway, I again spent time in the forward observation room to see what fun things could be seen. There was another announcement of whales; however, I didn’t see them surface. There were two more stops but were just long enough to load or unload, so I stayed on the ferry. This being the last evening, after enjoying time with my new friends and playing cards in the lounge, I turned in early to be well rested for our arrival in Juneau.
Day Eight began bright and early by getting my berth packed and heading to the front observation room to watch our arrival in Juneau. Once we were docked, I headed down, got in my vehicle, and departed the ferry for my new adventure in Juneau, Alaska!
Halloween has passed hoping it was a good one for all. There will be another post going up in a day or two about my first week in Juneau. The formatting will probably change from a day by day to just a summary format. The method to obtain my new address is to contact mother, and she will happily provide it to you. (Not posting on the site for security reasons.) I hope everyone had a great weekend and enjoyed the extra hour of sleep!
Ferry information: For those looking to take a ride on the Alaska Marine Highway, I highly recommend it! It may not be the fastest way to get around, but it was nice to take it slower and enjoy the trip. I would definitely make sure you have things to do while on the ferry. We had cell service for more of the trip than I thought we would, but there were large portions of the time where there was little to no cell service. A room is definitely not a requirement to riding the ferry if you don’t mind “roughing it” a little. There are plenty of places to sleep on the boat, and the Solarium (a portion of the ferry that is outside) was quite warm and would have been very comfortable to sleep on.