Sitka - Part 1

I dropped Jamie off in the Valley at 6:30am yesterday morning, headed back out to Auke Bay and proceeded to park my car in a 15 minute parking spot after searching unsuccessfully to find one right out in front of the ferry terminal.

Terminal guy assured me that since there were no other spots available that my car would be fine where it was and I would not be towed.

Fingers crossed that by next Thursday when I get back into town that my old junker is still safely parked where I left it.............

For the first time I travelled yesterday on the Fairweather which is one of the fast ferries. 

My trip to Sitka would only be taking 4 1/2 hours, and while waiting for it to continue loading and then pull out of the harbor I called my son down in Tennessee to wish him a Happy Thanksgiving, then left another message for my son in New Brunswick (doesn't that boy ever answer his phone??), and then LC.

By that time I was very upset, and the increasing clouds and cold and rain in the sky reflected the mood I was in off and on throughout my ferry ride.

Pictures taken from the back of the ship just a few minutes after leaving Auke Bay.

It was barely daylight when we left..........

The Fairweather is both the fastest and the smallest ferry that I have been on to date.

It holds about 300 people in total, and on this Thanksgiving Day it was less than half full.

People travelling to a small SE Alaskan town to be with their people on Thanksgiving Day, and many were bringing food with them.

Pumpkin pies wrapped in clear plastic, coolers full of holiday treats............

The ferry was comfortable and roomy, and I was restless.  

I wandered outside and through the short hallways time and again for the first hour trying to wind myself down............

The small covered solarium at the back of the ship.

Unlike larger transport ferries such as the Columbia (that travels back and forth between Bellingham WA and points throughout SE Alaska) this solarium was not heated.

With the speed we were travelling, the time of year and the unheated outdoor enclosure, nobody stayed out on deck for very long yesterday............

I had not slept well the night before my trip.

By the time we were an hour into the ferry ride to Sitka the weather had completely closed in and there was very little to see outside.

Wtih the combination of lack of sleep, mental discourse, and lack of picture-taking-opportunities I spent the next couple of hours fitfully sleeping in one of the upright chairs.

The last hour of the trip however, the skies partially cleared and the landscape outside was filled with thousands of small islands and continuous rounded hills.

It looked similar to what I am used to seeing in Juneau but somehow also different in ways that are difficult to describe.

The hills were all completely filled with dense pine trees, and were rounded and smaller and never ending.

No Chilkats off in the distance.  No other snow covered mountains to be seen.

No small towns or communities along the way.

Waves crashing beautifully along every shore of every small island............

My first views of part of the town of Sitka and the mountains that surround this lovely little fishing town...........

Docking at Sitka Ferry Terminal...........

The Fairweather - smaller, faster, sleeker than most of the other ferries in the fleet......

Saw this on the wall inside the ferry terminal when I was inquiring about buses and taxis.

Very cute.........

It is about 6 miles from the terminal to downtown Sitka.

I had toyed with the idea of walking from the terminal when I arrived since I had (I can't believe I am writing this) all the time in the world to do whatever I want for the next week.

However, packing for a week long visit to an Alaskan town that can turn from cool and rainy to very cold and very snowy in a heartbeat meant that I had to bring a LOT of stuff.

And yes.........I also dragged along my lap top and all the attachments for it as well as attachments to keep my cell phone and camera recharged.

So even though I thought about walking I ditched that idea pretty quickly once I had everything up on my back and across my shoulder.

I waited and took a bus that was running direcly from the terminal to downtown on Thanksgiving Day.

I was the only person on the bus and asked the bus driver if there were any restaurants open in town and he said no.

Were there any grocery stores open?  No.

Oh hell.........I knew I was going to need to eat something at some point yesterday.

As we got into town the bus driver pointed out two places that were providing free Thanksgiving meals to anyone in the community who wanted a hot meal.

Not something I have ever done before but I thought "what the heck?"  I needed food.

And I was dressed in clothing that made me look exactly like what I was - a lone winter traveller in Alaska.

The bus driver dropped me off in town, gave me directions to the hostel that would be my home-away-from-home for the next week, and I walked into the Moose Lodge to ask if they were serving Thanksgiving Dinner.

They guy looked at me strangely and I told him that I was visiting here in Sitka, that no restaurants were open, that I needed food, and that I could pay.

He smiled at me and told me to come back at 3:30pm when they were serving dinner, and that it was free to anyone who wanted it.

Fair enough.

I dragged myself and my heavy pack and my computer bag  to the hostel.

I was to have the entire place to myself for the entire week, and would basically be able to come and go as I pleased, and that all worked very well for me.

$24 a night, which is less than one third of the price of any motel I called so I am pleased.

I got situated pretty quickly, and also pretty quickly walked back out the door and headed back to town unencumbered with a lot of gear.

I was surprised at how big the town looked and some of the interesting things I had seen as we passed by.

I was eager to explore.

And of course, inevitably, the first thing I came to was the marina............

This marina was absolutely packed with boats.

No fancy schmancy expensive pleasure boats - most of them hard working, rough around the edges, earn a living fishing boats.

As with all marinas it was a beautiful and quiet place.

I had been struggling (mostly unsucessfully) all day to quiet my head and my heart, but the walk at this marina finally calmed me more than anything else yesterday.

I was glad that I came across it so soon after arrving..............

As I was walking along the park sidewalk adjacent to the water I came across these three cute and fun statues.

I can imagine that little kids love to climb and play on them during the summer, and I could hear their laughter in my mind while I was walking...........

There are plans to build a bronze whale in downtown Juneau (one more interesting thing for the tourists to enjoy and take pictures of).

Many of the locals mock the project because it is hugely expensive. 

I have seen the drawn plans for the whale and frankly I mock the project because it is ugly.

It will be an ugly overpriced whale project.

How can you mess up an expensive project based on a very beautiful and wonderful creature?

I don't know but they did.

I thought about the bronze whale as I was walking by this statue.

It is not expensive (or ugly for that matter) - just a nice painted concrete statue in the grass along with other nice painted concrete statues in the grass.

I was a tourist and I took pictures of it.

And I know that my boys when they were little would have had hours of huge fun on these guys............

Looking at the mountains back the way I had come.

The hostel is located on a quiet side street just a few minutes walk from here............

I love this picture...............

More scenes of the harbor as I continued to walk towards town............

Still following the water line and still taking pictures, I looked around at one point and realized that I was standing behind Sitka's Centennial Hall.

It looks like a nice enough building but I simply took a picture of the sign behind the building for now.

In my travels yesterday I saw a poster for a Christmas crafts show at this place on Saturday.

I think I will go see what kinds of things the locals make as crafts............

I had to zoom in a long way to get this picture of a lighthouse.

The picture does not do it justice............

The marina with the snow-capped mountains in the background.

Yesterday was not cold at all.  Generally overcast and about 40.

A good day to walk and wander and explore.................

There is something wilder about the water here in Sitka than I have become used to seeing in Juneau.

And then of course I remembered that Sitka is on an outer island.

It is not a protected town on the Inside Passage.

Out there, directly out there, is the ocean............

I spent another couple of hours wandering around before it was time to eat some food.

I will have to post the remainder of this day in another blog post since this post is already turning long.

One final picture of a random house.  I took this picture because I liked the house, but also because I liked the fact that it is surrounded on three sides by waves crashing into the rocks.

I could see me living in such a place............