Day 2 (and 3)

Can you believe the ferry has free wireless?!?! AWE-SOME! However, it is not that fast and it is interrupted by their satellite. I say, who cares! I will still try and blog!

OK---well I have tried to post pictures and the signal is just not strong enough here. You know, in the middle of the ocean, in the middle of nowhere! Gosh. So stay tuned for pictures. I will try to get them added in Sitka this afternoon. Try.

Day 2: Tok, AK to Haines, AK
What a long, long drive. ‘bout 9 hours. Kids did great!! It was a nicer drive this time. I think last time we drove it we felt a bit overwhelmed with the remoteness. After spending three years in Alaska, we are quite comfortable with vast remote land. In fact, it is nice to have some space. Maybe not this much space, though. (future pictures)

We drove AK, then Canada, then AK again. Seems to us that AK has the better parts of the barren land. Very little civilization along the way. But beautiful pristine undeveloped land. Breathtaking views all around us. Towering mountains. Mountains everywhere. Massive crystal blue lakes fed by melting mountain snow. Gravel and paved roads. We were quite surprised to see how much snow was still covering the ground just before Haines. (pictures to follow)

Our wildlife count is up to one fox, which we saw in Tok and two brown bears. Should we even count the eagles we saw? Seems so usual now. Here's one of the little guys we spotted on our drive yesterday. He and his brother were crossing the road ahead of us. Then hung out a few minutes longer so we could snap a couple pictures. That was when we discovered that the "old" camera was starting to crap out on us, too. Lovely. (future picture)

We ate a great dinner last night at the Lighthouse Restaurant in Haines. It was right on the water down by the boat harbor and cruise ship dock. Then we drove down to the ferry terminal, got our tickets, and drove the Odyssey into its line. There is always some excitement when you get to drive your car onto a huge ship! Oh, and take the car elevator up to the second floor!! The room is great. We stood out on the deck as we left the port. Another bittersweet moment for me. Nick and Stella got hot showers and snacked and right to bed. They slept all night. This is the second night in a row that Stella has slept through the night. Thank goodness!!

Day 3: Ferry from Haines to ??
It is really interesting how un-crowded the ferry is. But seriously, who wants to LEAVE AK this time of the year! We have several stops on our way...we stopped somewhere last night, Sitka today, and several more. Looks like we might actually have some time to get off the boat in Ketchican. Yeah, totem poles. More about the boat: we have a four berth room. We have so much room for all our stuff. The kids have room to play, too. Right now we are in the Recliner lounge on the second floor. It is a big windowed room in the front of the boat. It has big reclining movie theater seats and booths and tables. The kids are in the tiny (and busy) play area. Plenty of little ones on the ship today. Other adults in the lounge are supervising their children, whale watching, and sleeping. Well, trying to sleep with the kid-noise. But this is where you might sleep if you didn’t have a room. The other place might be in a tent or lounge chair on the back deck. Kinda cold option I would imagine.

Too bad the pictures won’t load. There is so much amazing scenery to share. It is like nowhere else. What is amazing, too, is that thousands of tourists cruise up here to see the same sights and see the same cities for thou$and$ more. How luck we are.