Our Trip and Reunion - Part 1

My ferry to Ketckikan was the Matanuska:

http://www.alaskaferry.com/Ferries.shtml#matanuska

I left Juneau at 1:15am on Friday morning headed for Ketcikan.  Nervous, excited, full of anticipation about my first ferry trip, and about seeing a new town, and about finally finally finally seeing my Mountain Boy again.

When I loaded onto the ferry it was about 12:30pm, and I wandered around for a bit trying to find a place to "nest" for the night, knowing that it would be daylight before we arrived in Petersburg and a long night after having worked all day.  I was excited but also very tired.

I found a TV room a couple of decks up, stepped precariously over a large number of bodies that were sprawled out sleeping soundly all over the floor, found a space and was soon uncomfortably sound asleep on the floor.

The next morning I woke to beautiful sunshine yet again - sunshine in Alaska always always feels like a gift, and I was grateful to have warmth and sun and to be well on the way - one step closer to LC.

A walk on the deck amid the sun, wind and calm water.  I felt peaceful and happy and eagerly looking forward to my adventure.........

By the time we arrived in Petersburg the sky was cloudy.  But I loved arriving in port, and loved seeing all the boats at the harbor.  This small town is beautiful (at least from the harbor, which is all that I saw) and is one of those lovely small isolated fishing towns so common in Alaska.

Every year in May in Petersburg there is a celebration of Norwegian history called The Little Norway Festival.  I really want to visit Petersburg next May and experience this festival because I was born in Norway.

I am 50 years old and have only spent two years in Norway - the first year of my life, and the years I was 12 turning 13 when I spent that time getting to know my uncles, aunts, nieces and grandparents.

For the remainder of my life I have been a gypsey - living in various countries and never really being sure where to call home.

My father is Norwegian and my mother is English (actually truth be told we are all naturalized Australians now - another long story......), but the only thing my father ever transferred to me was a love for my homeland...

Norway is my home and Norwegians are my people, and as crazy as it sounds for a gypsey, I feel like maybe being around my own people in Petersburg would be a very good thing for me to do next May.........

Over the years when people have asked me where I am from I have gotten into the habit of telling them the last place I have moved from.  Right now I am "from" Tennessee.

But really I am from Norway.

I got off the ferry in Petersburg, but because we were running behind schedule we were told that the ferry would be leaving port as soon as possible, so to not leave the terminal.

I disembarked, and while standing beside the terminal talking to a nice older lady I had met on the ferry, saw an eagle fly by carrying a large piece of "something" (food) in his beak.

Almost immediately there were eagles that appeared from everywhere - sqwaking loudly, flying around with great intent.  I stopped counting these beautiful birds at 15 and I stood by the terminal enthralled by what was happening in front of me.

After a couple of minutes all of these eagles landed on the beach, and there was a flurry of angry activity as they all fought over food that was lying on the beach........

I walked across the parking lot to watch them more closely, and knowing the back story of the eagle with the large amount of food, enjoyed them so much because they were incredibly animated. 

I watched the strongest of the birds protecting their bounty, and watched the youngest and smallest trying valiantly to get close enough that maybe (maybe) they could get their beaks on a scrap without being scared away or injured by the stronger.  It was all very wonderful and very natural and very unexpected.

I loved this town - all that I saw of it.  The charm of a very small fishing village, surrounded by water and mountains, and with so many buildings close to the water sitting on stilts. 

We left Petersburg within the hour and continued our journey south.  Land was close on both sides of us for what seemed like a couple of hours before the channel opened up, and so did the skies.

I spent 18 hours off and on this ferry and I can say that now that I have experienced this mode of travel, I really think that it is a unique and wonderful way to travel. 

I left my laptop at home in Juneau.  And I left my work cellphone in Juneau.  And my personal cellphone worked only sporadically for a good part of the trip.  When I could get reception I called my son in Tennessee, and my son in New Jersey, and my Mountain Boy - to touch base with him as he waited to load onto the Columbia down in Bellingham. 

But when reception was down, I enjoyed having the opportunity to decompress from modern communication.  Being out of touch was good for my soul and I needed to decompress in so many ways.  That was only one of them.

Ferry travel slows your entire world down.  You have no choice in the matter, and once you DO slow down you start to do many things that you don't always have time for when you are back in the real world.  You can get back in touch with nature and all of your surroundings.  You can think.  You can feel.  You can talk to people that normally you would not only be too busy to talk to, but who you may just pass by under normal circumstances without even really seeing them. 

And you can stop and listen to them.  Not just wait for your turn to talk.

My Mountain Boy in his work as a cop learned the art of talking to anyone.  He has that ability to instantly find common ground with people, and that lets them open up to him in ways that I find enviable.

I am more of a cave dweller.  I can be "out there" with people, dealing well and efficiently with them when my job requires it, but in my own personal time and in my own personal space I need much alone time.  And I do not have that ability to just approach people and start up conversations.

But on this trip I made an effort to approach and listen to people.  The 82 year old lady, who has lived in Tee Harbor for the last 25 years.  She is a fiesty, independant lady who moved from California out to a house just a few miles from where I live now.  She recently sold her home and is moving to Seattle to live closer to her daughter.  She worries about how she will adjust living in the city again after all this time, but has a sturdy, strong, spunky side to her even at 82 that tells me she will make out just fine in her new life.  She and her daughter did a triathlon together last year........

And a couple from (of all places) Chattanooga Tennessee (just an hours' drive from where I used to live), who is taking a two month vacation to visit many places in Alaska and the western United States.  They were on their way back from the Arctic Circle.  I asked them what was at the Arctic Circle.  The old man laughed and said "Nothing.  But at least we can say that we saw it".

Or the aging hippy guy with the grey pony tail, who sat in the front row of the Observation Lounge with me for a while (both of us sitting with our feet propped up on stools while we enjoyed the view) who talked about his love for Led Zeppelin music.

Between these very nice conversations with fellow travellers, and the huge number of teenagers who were travelling as a group to Wrangell together, it was a very slow, relaxed and easy-going way to travel.

I did not get off the ferry in Wrangell.  We stayed in port for only a brief period, and the weather was continuing to get worse and worse.......

Once we left Wrangell I was shocked and surprised at how rough the water became.

I looked out as the winds built and the whitecaps grew, thinking "I can't believe that this is the middle of June". 

Down in Tennessee by this time of year, the heat and humidity is beginning to build, until it will become almost unbearable in another few weeks.

I was sitting looking out the window at the rocking and rolling ferry, the grey skies, the heavy rain, the strong winds, the white caps and strong waves and could not reconcile this kind of weather with this time of year.

Passing a cruiseship that was heading north.

These three boys had great fun walking around the deck in the pouring rain and very strong winds.  They would walk in circles around the deck and come in.  Then 10 minutes later do it again.  And then again.  Fun loving kids and a fun loving way to kill some time on the trip.

They happily posed for a picture for me - they outside, and me wam and dry inside.

With our ferry heading directly into the wind we docked in Ketchikan almost two hours late.  We had originally been scheduled to arrive around 8:30pm and finally docked close to 10:30pm.

When I got off the ferry it was very windy, and heavy rain was coming in sideways at me.  It was dark, cold and very wet and I was tired.

I grabbed a cab the 3 1/2 miles to downtown Ketchikan and arrived at the hostel.  I have never stayed at a hostel before and had no idea what to expect.  It was cheap - but I was also sincerely hoping that it was at least clean and safe. 

It was.  I surprisingly was the only person staying at the hostel on that Friday night.  I was in Ketchikan, tomorrow I would spend the entire day exploring this new city.  And my Mountain Boy was on the way.

This will turn into a multi-part story.  I had adventures.  He had adventures.  I'll post more of my pictures and many of LC's over the next few days.