Ferry to Juneau

Robert, Saturday, June 21

Woke up to overcast skies and rain. By the time we had finished our showers the rain had stopped. We got things packed up and hooked up to the truck. The campground has water and electric at the sites but not sewer. The dump station was about 100 feet away from our site. After dumping we headed for the ferry terminal. It was all of 200 yards away. We got checked-in and parked in line to wait for the ferry. The last several places, we have run into another couple who are pretty much on the same route as we. We had put our laptops in the truck so that we had something to do while waiting for the ferry. Instead we talked to the other couple rather than playing computer games, As we waited for the ferry the sun even came out. Today the ferry was the Fairweather. The other ferries we have been on look like a ship with a normal hull. The maximum speed of those ferries is about 20 knots. The Fairweather is a catamaran. It is newer and more modern than the others. It also has a top speed of about 40 knots. I took my GPS onboard and saw speeds of almost 50 mph. When we started taking the ferries, we carried things like Cup of Noodles with us as we weren’t too sure about the food service. We stopped that as the food was good. Today was the first day we wished we had not stopped. While the food was OK, it was very limited. For hot food they had refrigerated hamburgers you could microwave, hot dogs, and soup. Cold food was all pre-made things like sandwiches and salads. I had a hot dog and Leslie had soup. The first part of the route was through the same narrow passage we came through on our way to Sitka. While it was pretty, it was nowhere as beautiful as it was in the twilight and full moon we had before. When we loaded in Sitka, it was in the starboard side and off loading in Juneau was out the stern–no backing! The campground in Juneau is about 6 miles from the ferry terminal. It is located in a National Forrest very close to the Mendenhall glacier. We haven’t been there yet but I think the glacier is about 2 miles away. As I have a Golden Age Passport issued by the National Park Service, we get half off in campgrounds owned by the federal government. Our camp site is $14 a night! It is as nice as any campground we have ever stayed in and we have paid as much as $45 a night for places that were downright dumpy. The sites are large with full hookups including 50 amp service. Out our back window is a pristine looking rain forest. The sites are spread out so we are not looking out our windows into our neighbor’s. The other thing about the Golden Age Passport is that it grants free admission to entrance fees at National Parks. The only downside to this campground we have discovered is the mosquitoes. They were thick when we got here around 6:30 p.m. When we go into town, we are going to look for a thing that looks like a small, plastic tennis racket. They are called something like “Bug Zapper.” We saw then in a store in Ketchikan and thought they looked like a toy. When we were on the boat rip on the Stikine river, someone had one. They take a 9-volt battery and when you swat a flying bug with it, they go zap and “fry” the bug. We have looked for one ever since but haven’t been successful. Until now, the mosquitoes haven’t been too bad. We were just using the screen door when we first got here and within minutes there were a dozen mosquitoes sitting on the outside waiting to come in and bite. I decided not to grill the fish outside as they were so thick. We did have the fish for dinner and it was as good as always.