July 23, Sitka, AK

When we got up this morning there were two cruise ships in the harbor. We were glad they weren’t here on Saturday or Sunday. The downtown area, which isn’t too big, was full of people. The locals had a bunch of little stands set up along the sidewalk that weren’t there when we got to town. They must have heard we were coming, J Our ferry left the dock at 1:30 so we had to be in line by 11:30. The ride back to Juneau was uneventful except we did see a couple more whales but not close enough to get a good picture. It’s really neat when they dive and their tail sticks up out of the water but it happens too fast to get a good picture. We are trying to figure out what to do tomorrow in Juneau, which will be our last day in Alaska. Wednesday we board the ferry again for a 2 day cruise to Prince Rupert, British Columbia.

July 22, Sitka, AK

Started today at the Alaska Raptor Center, which nurses back to health injured or sick birds of prey, including bald eagles. They make every effort to return the birds to the wild but some are not capable so they end up in a zoo or stay at the Center for educational purposes. We then grabbed a picnic lunch at Subway and drove to the top of Harbor Mountain. The road is a very narrow, winding gravel road to the top of the mountain overlooking Sitka and the water. Sandi was a little worried about bears so she had her picnic in the Jeep. By the time we got down from the mountain it’s the middle of the afternoon and only one more thing in town that we can do---yep, a museum. So, we gave in and headed to the Sheldon Jackson Museum. Sheldon Jackson was a Presbyterian minister in Sitka in the late 1800’s and started collecting Indian artifacts. There is a college here of the same name. What we saw was a small part of his collection but it was a very nice museum with loads of interesting things. We were glad that we went.

July 21, Juneau to Sitka

5:00 a.m. is no time to be getting out of bed but we had to check in at the ferry dock at 6:00, 2 hours before departure. It was a beautiful 4 ½ hour cruise on the “fast ferry” to Sitka through lots of little islands. We did see a couple of humpback whales along the way. After we docked the first thing we looked for was the Healing Totem Pole that Wayne Price from Haines had carved. It was really neat but so tall that in order to get a picture you have to be so far away that you really can’t see it very well. We then found a nice little place for lunch before stopping at the Russian Bishop’s House built in 1842, the Russian Orthodox St. Michael’s Cathedral in the middle of the downtown street and a few shops. Later in the afternoon we checked into our Bed and Breakfast that was a wonderful place with a terrific view of the mountains and water. The owners, Connie and Gary McCarty, are very nice people and the accommodations were outstanding. After getting settled we went out for dinner and had fresh Halibut that was very good then went to bed early as it’s been a long time since we got up.

July 20, Juneau

We started out this morning at The Shrine of St. Therese; a beautiful little stone Church and Shrine right on the coast. It was built during the depression and is absolutely wonderful. From there we went to the Mendenhall Glacier National Park and were very surprised to run into Fran Brune and his wife from Lake Panorama. They are visiting their son in Anchorage and came over to Juneau to go fishing and see the sites. Sandi and I had lunch at a Mexican restaurant in the heart of historic downtown then went to the city museum. They had an interesting 30-minute film about the history of Juneau but the museum was a disappointment. The museum is probably just a good as some of the others we have seen but we have been to several and a lot of the information is the same. Think we will skip them for awhile. After visiting the museum we stopped at the famous Red Dog Saloon for a beer then went all the way---to the end of the road. The road north out of Juneau is 40 miles through the rain forest to the end so if you live in Juneau, and want to get away from it all, that’s as far as you can go by car. There were a lot of people out there camping, probably trying to get away from tourists. There were 2 cruise ships in town today and the downtown area was very busy with tourists. Juneau is a beautiful town in the heart of the rain forest so everything is so green and lush.

July 19, Haines to Juneau

The saga continues…will the mail be here or not??? Last trip to the Post Office this morning to see if our mail has arrived---no luck! They have been very helpful and are going to forward it, if it ever shows up, to either Richey’s in Tacoma or back to Iowa so it will be there when we get home. Might as well just left it there in the first place. Hope there isn’t anything important in there. The ferry was to leave Haines at 1:45 but was running 2 hours late because of a caravan of 5th wheels unloading in Skagway. We finally got loaded and underway at 4:00 p.m. What started out as a beautiful cloudless day turned into a rainy day by the time we were half way to Juneau. The ferry was very nice, like a cruise ship without the swimming pool (almost). There was lots of room to roam, nice roomy seating areas, a good bar and cafeteria, it was an enjoyable experience. We unhooked the Jeep from the MH to load and Sandi drove the Jeep in. She was the first one to load and I was the last and it was a piece of cake. Drove down the ramp, turned a little to the left, and shut it off. My worst fears were realized however when we got to Juneau. Instead to driving out I had to back out of the ferry and all the way up the mile long ramp. It wasn’t really a mile long, only about 200 feet, but it seemed like a mile when it’s narrow and the mirrors are covered with raindrops. I did a great job though and didn’t hit a thing. It was about 9:00 p.m. when we docked and we found a state park 10 miles north of town to park for the night, still raining of course. We thought we were in trouble when we got to the campground. Narrow tree-lined winding road with no place to turn around and we just kept getting deeper and deeper into the woods. Finally found a clearing and a place to park. I think it will be a good place to leave the MH for a couple of days while we go to Sitka. Nobody could find it here.