United States Tours

Follow us on our other travels at the following link:
http://kimbasfam-roadtripamerica.blogspot.com/

FRIDAY July 27th, 2007
One final thought. We were blessed with AWESOME weather. You can see below, we had one of the three days a year that Seattle is virtually cloudless. Mt. Ranier was visible from the city -- an hour and a half away anyways. They were all remarking they (as locals) rarely get to see it. Additionally, we only had a day and a half of rain in 3.5 weeks of travel. I wore jeans 2 days -- it was just wonderful. Lucky or blessed!

M

FRIDAY, July 27th, 2007

Arrived Bellingham, WA on the M/V Columbia. Nice "vessel" and the trip was not long enough. We did have a day and a half (Wed - Thurs 7/25 & 26) navigating the inside passage through the Canadian islands south of Alaska. We had land very close on either side of the ship. There were several whale sitings, a large group of dolphins, and a few seals. The ship showed several movies including Groundhog day that Meghan and I enjoyed.

Today we drove to Seattle and toured the Space Needle and then did the "Duck" tour around the city. The "cheese" factor on this was VERY high, and I told the kids to check out all the drivers and their costumes as something not to aspire to. I also asked the girls to imagine introducing one of these fine citizens as their 'boyfriend'.?.?

There were also a few carnival rides under the space needle that are the type run by convicts and predators traveling from city to city one step ahead of the safety code people.

We'll be home tomorrow afternoon, God willing, and in our own beds. 24 days of exclusive family time. Priceless!

Hope you enjoyed the tale.

TUESDAY July 24th, 2007

We also visited the Saxman Totem Pole village - a local requirement and much touted site, but a bit overrated if you ask us.

TUESDAY July 24th, 2007

We arrived in Ketchikan today on the M/V Matanuska. This ferry was nicer than the Kennicot we traveled to Juneau on, but it seemed to vibrate enough to shake the walls continuously and make it a bit hard to sleep.

Ketchikan is a dump. Not sure the attraction for all the cruise ships. Misty Fjords NP is here, but that is not enough to attract them and there are not enough t-shirt shops for everyone here.

One local on the ferry did tell us where to do some bear watching and we did see several black bears try, unsuccessfully, to catch some salmon.

Tomorrow we board the ferry for Bellingham, WA scheduled to arrive Friday morning 7/27. We will not have Internet access between now and then.

SUNDAY July 22, 2007

Captain Kevin also took us to a place where the seals hang out so the kids could get a look at the crowded bouy. That it was. Perched at the top was an eagle keeping watch. We also caught him taking flight. Afterwards, we caught the taxi (again) back to the hotel. As bad as the car rental rates have been in Alaska, renting would have been worth it here. The taxis are egregious because they can be. And, if you get one, you keep it because once they get into the cruise ship crowd in town, they have no incentive to go out to get a fare and then have to return to town. We kept the name of our first driver and he has been 'johnny on the spot' when we call. It is obvious his employer does not offer dental coverage and I think if I tipped him in twinkies he would follow me on the ferry.

Eighteen days in the can and we are still talking to each other -- a very good sign. Tomorrow (Monday) we leave Juneau about 4pm on the M/V Matanuska headed to Ketchikan -- arrival mid-day Tuesday.

SUNDAY July 22, 2007

We got up very early for a 6am charter flight to Glacier Bay National Park and a catamaran ride up to the glaciers -- an all day affair. We never got there since Juneau and Gustavus (GBNP) were socked in with fog. We went back to the hotel and slept a while and woke to a spectacularly sunny day. We hired a cab for a couple hours and went to Mendenhall glacier right outside of town, but it is difficult to beat our glacier experience of walking on one (outside Jasper) and right up to one at Exit Glacier. Bald Eagles are gathering as the salmon start their run and we went to some low tide locations to catch them fishing. They are awesome to watch and they are plentiful. You can see that the lead eagle in this picture has a salmon tail in his talons that the second eagle wants. Both have left behind on the rock part of the body that the other two are going after.

Finally, we went on a salmon fishing charter for the afternoon with Matt landing a king salmon (but at only 26" it was 2 inches short of the requirement to keep and it was released) and then he pulled in two pink salmon. Mike pulled in a silver salmon. Maria and Meghan each also pulled in a pink salmon. Courtney heard about the fish getting a bonk on the head with a small bat and refused to participate. Matt called it barbaric and almost sent the captain over the side laughing. The salmon is being shipped home when we arrive. While we were all rookies, I think we were a fair amount of entertainment for them as well. Captain Kevin is the author of "Rip some Lips" (the title as near as I can remember) on Alaskan fishing.