the house

We were so excited to see the "real" Sitka when we got off the ferry, we spent the next hour or so just driving around and checking things out. We weren't without aim or purpose, though. One of our first stops was at the Post Office to make sure we had a working mailing address. (If you want the address, please email or call me.)

USPS Sitka, AK.

We went into the downtown area and saw all the shops and tourist attractions. We went across the bridge to see where Mt. Edgecumbe High School is and get a feel for how the campus is set up. We went up some streets and down others until we felt we had satisfied ourselves for the moment, before finally contacting our new landlords and heading home.

O'Connell Bridge, passage to/from Japonski Island.

Finally able to hang up our coats in our new home.

I guess the most difficult part of being here right now is that our house hasn't arrived with us. If you'll remember back before our road trip began, we had sent all of our belongings via Allied Alaska while we made our way across more than 5,500 miles of the U.S. and Canada. It turns out that it can take a really long time for everything to reach its destination that way, so we won't be seeing our furniture, clothes, or toys for about another 2 weeks. That's ok, though, because Sitka has a number of retailers who were happy to sell us air mattresses!

I imagine you want to know what accommodations we found for ourselves, sight unseen... Well, we weren't disappointed. We rented the lower lever of an up/down duplex. It has 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, and includes stove, fridge, microwave, washer, and dryer. It's not as much space as we're used to at Orme, but it's more than sufficient for our needs. Seren & Porter even have bigger bedrooms than they had in Arizona! (Sorry for the blurry pictures. I took them with my phone.)

Our new house.

Kitchen.

Living room.

Seren's room.

The kids' bathroom (washer & dryer are behind the towels).

Porter's room.

Master bathroom.

Master bedroom.

After we unloaded the car, we discovered we still needed a place to sit, so we bought a couch.

Couch.

So that's it, that's how we're living right now. We're not uncomfortable, but we're living slim. Since we've sorted out the living spaces, Stephen and I frequently talk about how we wish we'd gotten rid of more stuff before we left Arizona. To that, I say "We still can!"

...............................

As a side note, I want to address a concern we've heard from a few of you who are following along with our adventure. We are not giving up the blog just because we've arrived in Sitka. As far as we're concerned, the adventure has just begun and we are very happy that all of you are interested in what we are doing and staying connected with us in this way. We intend to keep the blog going as long as we feel we have interesting things to share with you, as long as it is entertaining for us as writers and for you as readers, and as long as it continues to have value as a historical account of this time in our lives. Thank you all for your love and support, but also for the little comments and stories you've shared with us along the way. Your active readership helps to make this blog worthwhile.

The ferry!

I've been informed that it is my duty to elaborate on our journey by ferry, so here goes.

It turns out, the Alaska Marine Highway System has been around about as long as the state, largely due to the fact that Alaskans are nothing if they're not practical about their situation. Faced with a state way bigger than Texas where only two of the four largest cities can be reached by road, it was decided that car-carrying ferries would have to do instead. The system has been expanded to the point where almost every port on the southern coast of the state is connected, from the western tip of the Aleutians to the southeastern port of Bellingham, in Washington state.

Our ferry was the M/V Columbia. She is currently the flagship of the fleet, making the run up and down the Inside Passage from Skagway to Bellingham. When we were waiting to board in Skagway, there were indeed brave individuals booking passage all the way. I believe that meant that they were in for 4 days' sailing. More importantly, that can't be cheap. For us to take a 4-berth cabin, two adults, and a car it cost just over $450 from Skagway to Sitka (three stops down the way). The people next to us were going to Bellingham with an RV and a Suzuki Samurai.

The Columbia is actually a pretty neat ship. She has two decks of vehicle storage, complete with a car elevator. In addition to two decks of cabins, she has several lounges with comfortable chairs and a few diner-style benches and tables. She also has a "movie theater" that is also referred to as a recliner lounge because of the nicer furniture in it. While we were onboard, they showed Alice in Wonderland (no, I don't know which version). She also has an area referred to as a "solarium" that is basically a covered outdoor deck with windscreens on the sides and heater lamps overhead. The solarium is also equipped with stacking lounge chairs so that people can sleep out in sleeping bags. Beneath the solarium is a deck reserved for people who want to sleep out in tents (experienced travelers were obvious for their use of duct tape for securing tent flies). Again, Alaskans are nothing if not practical about their situation. I could see similar ferries in the mainland US discouraging these people from sleeping in deck chairs and in tents, but the Alaskan ferries provide safe, out-of-the-way space for them. Over the 18 hours we spent on-board, it was common to see people sleeping anywhere that was comfortable or warm.

On top of all of the other amenities, the Columbia also features a cafeteria and a full-service restaurant. After looking at prices, we opted to pass on the restaurant.

While I was exploring the ship at night, I actually discovered an interesting citation that had been awarded to the captain and crew a few years earlier by the Coast Guard. Apparently, they were involved in a rescue effort for one of those ridiculously overpriced cruise ships full of tourists* (contemporary account to be found here) and were recognized for their efforts. I like knowing that the ship I sailed on saved the butts of a bunch of Floridians in silly sweatshirts.

*Important note: though we were taking in the sights as we traveled and made a side trip or two along the way, we were TRAVELERS, not TOURISTS. A traveler is looking for the good, interesting, and useful things along the way in an unobtrusive manner. A tourist is tacky, noisy, inconsiderate, in the way, generally only good for milking for money, and gloriously unaware of any of this.

Only about an hour after we boarded, our first stop was at Haines. I'm sure it's a nice enough place, but the ferry terminal was about five miles out of town and we were all too busy resting to care about checking the place out. Though the animals were in the car two decks below us, we figured Nika (our dog) would be fine until we got to Juneau in a few hours.

Juneau was an interesting stop. When I realized that we were drawing near, I went up to the boat deck to catch the views without disturbing sleepers. Aside from nearly freezing my ears off, I discovered that the skies are pretty light at 10pm, although none of my pictures turned out at all. Nika appreciated getting out and I didn't mind the walk either, but again, the ferry terminal was too far from town for me to introduce myself to Sean Parnell.

We all slept very well on the trip from Juneau to Sitka and woke up with plenty of time to catch a quick breakfast and pack up our things before they opened up the car deck. All in all, this was a very comfortable way to travel (and customizable by budget - with no kids, pets, car, or cabin, it would have been $76 per adult) and we've already started seriously considering taking a "cruise" on the AMHS to see the Inside Passage.

ON TO THE PICTURES

I probably could have watched them loading and unloading for hours.

The inside of our cabin. There were four of these berths, two on each side, and they were surprisingly comfortable.

A very economical bathroom in our cabin, but I liked that it was all one piece and that there were drains on both sides. I could see myself cleaning a bathroom like this with bleach and a hose. They requested that showers only be used while at sea because then "dispersal" wouldn't happen in port.

Man, these guys are dedicated.

The kids loved it, when they weren't too busy being passed out.

Alaskans like their flag.

Yeah... I don't think this conforms to the Flag Act, but it's pretty awesome (not sure why there are only 11 stripes...).

Spending the night the cheaper way!

Juneau at night. 10:00 at night.

a little bit of catching up

The last real update we gave you was from Watson Lake, YT, so I'm going to attempt to fill in the blanks between then and now.

Sign Post Forest in Watson Lake, YT.

More Sign Post Forest.

We made it to Skagway, AK pretty easily, taking in the scenery all along the Alaska Highway. I want to pause here for a moment and talk about plants. All through British Columbia and Yukon Territory we saw some of the most beautiful plants and trees. Shaggy White Spruce is most common along this route, but there are more than a few Birch trees as well. The sheer size of these trees took me completely by surprise. In some of the older parts of the forests, there were trees that easily reached 60-100ft into the air. It was sad to see large areas in between these ancient giants that were just starting to grow back after being clearcut for lumber. There were fields upon fields of plants with yellow blooms. We also saw a plant that showed off its purple blooms and wild roses. The roses were very tight bushes with far more thorns than what we are used to in commercial plants. The blooms were smaller and had fewer petals than any other rose I have ever seen, but the scent would make any flower shop variety envious. So strong was the odor that even just having rubbed one of the petals between my fingers caused my hand to smell sweet and rosy for the next few hours.

Pretty purple flowers.

Wild roses (we think).

White Spruce trees.

Pine cones.

Pretty much all of the Alaska Highway looks like this.

Or this.

We had planned plenty of time in our schedule, just in case we had any issue at US Customs, but there was no trouble at all and we were waved through in a matter of a few minutes once our passport cards were swiped into the computer.

Welcome to the U.S.A.

Porter's passport (info blurred for security).

Welcome to Alaska.

Port of entry.

Next stop was Skagway, AK. We arrived in Skagway on the evening of July 4th. It's a cute little town with its downtown built in the 1800s and wooden sidewalks. All of the townsfolk were gathered for a rubber ducky race at the river, so the narrow streets were very quiet and we were able to get a rare peek at the town without the bustle of cruise ship tourists. There are several restaurants and bars and five or six inns, but we couldn't believe how many diamond stores there were! Both sides of the main street (Broadway) were lined with jewelry store after jewelry store advertising diamonds and "Northern Lights" pendants. For dinner, we stopped at the Bonanza Bar & Grill, where we had elk burgers. I was later told that the elk used at the restaurants is not local, but farmed.

Elk burgers.

The next morning we packed up our car and headed to the ferry. Once we checked in, we had plenty of time to go back into town and scratch up some breakfast. To our dismay, two huge cruise ships had disembarked for the day and the streets were filled with every sort of tacky tourist, each clad in his or her own sweatshirt, jacket, or hat embroidered with ALASKA in large letters. Cars couldn't drive the streets for all the people with no regard for traffic laws. Sidewalks were overflowed with people stopped in crowds in front of stores and restaurants. Any stragglers from the groups seemed to be wandering with no apparent direction or purpose. There were three open-top carriages drawn by ponies in front of the Bonanza Bar & Grill that morning, their drivers taking advantage of the tourists. We ate breakfast at The Sweet Shop across the street and watched those poor ponies get poked and prodded, pet and photographed for over an hour before we left and headed back to the ferry.

The cruise ships.

Seren being cute while waiting for the ferry.

More cuteness.

Our ferry rolling in (small in comparison to those cruise ships!).

Our ferry, M/V Columbia, docked in Skagway, AK.

Seren said the ferry had a "big gray hat."

Once we were finally on the ferry, a calm came over us that we hadn't felt in quite some time: we were almost there. Seren and Porter slept most of the ride away. It was a big boat and there was little motion, but what motion there was in combination with the soft rumble of the engines lulled them right to sleep. I'll let Stephen post more about the ferry itself on his next post, as I'm sure he'll be able to give far better descriptions than I would on that subject. We had a 4-berth cabin that was simple, but didn't leave us wanting for anything. The views were spectacular and there was plenty of food and sights inside the boat if water and mountains aren't your thing.

Zonked.

At 8:30am, July 6th, we docked outside of Sitka and drove into town. We spent about an hour and a half just driving around and looking at our new home. We'll have to tell you all about Sitka, but I think I'll save that for another post. :)

we're in!

Hi, everyone!

First, we're really glad to hear from so many of you and to see so many visits from all over during this past week. We keep hearing the same thing: "When will you be posting more pictures/stories?" Well, the answer to that is: soon!

We've had a very busy week getting settled in. On Sunday, we drove into Skagway and have been without a normal internet connection since then. We've both been checking our emails on our phones, so we've been in the loop with the absolute basics but not much else. We got into Sitka on Tuesday and everyone is doing well. The past few days have been a combination of running around getting ourselves set up in town (utilities, etc.), exploring the place we now live, and getting me set up at work. Today, we finally got our internet turned on, but it still took a few hours before we were able to get the computer plugged in.

Expect us to post more this weekend with pictures and reflections. There's a lot to say, and the adventure is just beginning!

not-so-brief update with pictures

The last two days have been insanely long. The combined trips from Lloyminster, AB to Ft. St. John, BC (yesterday) to Watson Lake, YT (today) total 1,800 miles now behind us. The good news is that the kids are doing fine, the animals have been great, and we are now in the very last leg of our journey! We will have about 7 hours left in the car tomorrow before we reach Skagway, AK, where we will stay overnight and load up onto the ferry to Sitka Monday morning. I cannot begin to tell you just how exhausted we all are now, but the end is in sight and we are very excited and nervous about what the next few days will bring us. First things first: the only obstacle we anticipate before getting on the ferry is getting back through customs with 4 humans, 3 pets, and our poor over-burdened car.

I know all any of you want is to see pictures, so enjoy the ride:

Entering Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Stretching our legs at a park in Edmonton, Alberta.

A pretty wood strut bridge we passed under somewhere in Alberta.

Moose crossing.

Now entering the Alaska Highway.

At some point along the way, we spotted a sign that indicated a 10K detour along the Old Alaska Highway that would include a historic bridge. We took the detour since it wouldn't set us back too much from our schedule and what we found was pretty amazing. The bridge appears to be entirely made of wood and it is curved to join two roads that lie at odd angles from each other on each side of a large river:

Driving over the historic (1942) Kiskatinaw Bridge.

Side view of the Kiskatinaw Bridge.

British Columbia has some of the most spectacular views we have ever seen. We drove right through the Canadian Rockies and it was just beautiful. On previous road trips we have made the drive through Vale and Aspen in the Colorado Rockies, but none of that even holds a candle to what we saw while driving through B.C.:

Canadian Rocky Mountains along the Alaska Highway.

One of many lakes nestled in between the mountains.

View from a rest area off of the highway.

Same rest area.

There were signs warning of wildlife all along the highway and they weren't kidding! Just today we saw one rabbit, one red fox, herds of sheep, several moose (one infant), a herd of wild horses, too many deer to count, half a dozen or more wild bison, one grizzly bear, half a dozen or more other bears (3 cubs), and a whole slew of amazing birds including loons, eagles, hawks, geese, ducks, and more.

Deadly sheep.

A bison blocking an access road.

One of several black bears we saw.

As a final note for tonight, I want to shamelessly plug an amazing little cafe we encountered in Fort Nelson, B.C., Mama & Papa's Cafe. Everything they serve is homemade and preservative-free, and (most importantly) outstanding in every way. We each had Club sandwiches and clam & salmon chowder. The sandwiches were big enough to be served in any respectable Jewish deli and the chowder was so good, we promised to return whenever we found ourselves within 100 miles of Fort Nelson. Yes, it was that good. Beyond all of that, we found Mama & Papa (the cafe's namesake are the owners and only employees) to be charming people who love to chat up travelers and dote on children. So, if you're ever in British Columbia and find yourself on the Alaska Highway, be sure to stop off at Fort Nelson to fuel up the car and yourself.

VERY brief update

It looks like I lost the coin toss tonight and get to do the update, but it'll be VERY short. We're in Ft. Saint John, BC after a 12-hour day of driving from Lloydminster, AB. Everyone is pretty shot, but the time zones are working in our favor and July 2 is a 25 hour day. Tomorrow, we drive another 12ish hours to Watson Lake, Yukon.

Good news: we're on the Alaska Highway already, we've seen some amazing things that may make mediocre pictures when we get a chance to upload them, and Chinese delivery in Canada is 83% better than it is in the US because of monosodium glutamate. (I don't care what the chemists say, I still think the "M" in MSG stands for "MMMMMMMM").

...because I'm talkin' about The Road!

Long day today. We covered almost 900 km from Brandon MB to Lloydminster AB, completely crossing Saskatchewan and seeing its biggest cities (Regina and Saskatoon). We spent about three hours loving the CBC Radio 2 coverage of Canada Day, featuring a bunch of Canadian musicians.

We just set up our hotels in Fort St. John BC (about 11.5 hours away) and Watson Lake, YT (about 12 hours past that), so that we can be in Skagway on July 4, dashing my hopes of a Canadian Independence Day. JoElle has been busy on the phone while I've been using Google Maps on my computer and we've been busting our butts trying to reserve the few remaining hotel rooms that will allow our pets in these remote locations. Oddly enough, Skagway is proving to be our biggest challenge in this regard.

The next two days will hurt, but then we're only doing 7 hours to Alaska (plus whatever occurs at Customs) and we will be able to have a long night's rest before loading up for the ferry ride to Sitka.

The end is almost in sight, but I don't dare start thinking of it. There's work aplenty to be done when we get to our new home (utilities, moving in, setting up an entire music program from scratch), so there'll be no rest for the wicked.