Beautiful Mountains on the way to Haines, AK
The "Veendam" Holland America Ship in Haines
CruiseWest.com in Haines
A Small Cruise Ship/Very High End, we're told!
The Yukon Queen On the Way to Skagway
Farewell to Haines
The Alaska Ferry Heading South on the Inner Passage
August 9-11 Haines Junction, Yukon to Haines, AK
Upon leaving Haines Junction on Sat. morning we traveled south through a valley surrounded by numerous mountain ranges & with lakes & rivers seen all along the highway, until we reached Haines, AK which located by the Lynn Canal (It’s really the longest & deepest fjord in N.America!) & very near Glacier Bay. In my mind I was thinking that after all this travel around AK that surely we had seen it ALL & what could one more drive through the mountains do for us? Suddenly it was all there right in front of us & on all sides – THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SCENERY we’d seen anywhere! How can this be? I just don’t know, but truly I am a believer that Alaska is truly beautiful & even though I’ve always felt that the mainland US has some incredibly beautiful scenery & sights, there is probably nothing to compare to Alaska! We love it & we’re so happy to be here!
We drove into the small town of Haines, located at the north end of the Inner Passage, about mid afternoon & although I had a campground on the edge of town picked out for our Haines stay, we decided to drive into & around the town first to get the feel of the area. As we got down to the water’s edge we spotted a small camping area right on the Lynn Canal. (It’s really a bay, but was designated a canal by the early explorers.) so we pulled in to check it all out. They had 1 spot left so we grabbed it & called the next 3 days home – our vehicle facing right into the Bay with all the cruise ships & fishing vessels passing by & with mountain ranges rising up along the edges of the bay. Just one more spectacular sight!
Once we settled into our campsite I hooked onto the internet (I had to pay for a hotspot which is annoying, but at least it works!) & decided to do some research on Bennie’s episode with the foxtail. Even though he was not choking & hacking any longer, Bennie had been acting continually more lethargic as the day went on. Then we started to worry about the wild grass being poisonous so I thought I should seek information on the internet. Sure enough, there it was, listed with a few hundred other plants that are potentially toxic to animals! Now I’m freaked out! I asked the campground owners for help & they put me in touch with the local police department who put me in touch with Animal Emergency which is located in Anchorage! Even though they could not verify that foxtail is toxic, they told me that Bennie should be definitely seen by a vet and that the nearest vets are in Juneau or Whitehorse! Good grief! each of those cities is over 200 miles away! They also said to try to get him to eat & drink! No problem! He got lots of “people” food that evening! I did a little more web investigation & couldn’t find that foxtail was listed on other lists of poisonous plants so we decided to calm down & just let Bennie relax & recover at his own rate. By morning good ol’ Ben was himself again!
Yesterday, Sunday the 10th, we took the Fast Ferry from Haines to Skagway, a very popular port for cruise ships. We learned from the ferry captain that the Lynn Canal is over 2000 ft. deep! Incredible to think how deep that is! We saw a couple of humpback whales, an eagle & some seals as we took the 45 min. ride across the canal to Skagway. Skagway is an interesting AK tourist town because there are at least 4 cruise ships in port there everyday. The town is swarming with tourists from all the cruise liners; there are hundreds of tourists shops such as souvenir shops, jewelry stores, furriers, and on & on. It was fun to see, but much more fun to head back to quiet little Haines on the Fast Ferry about mid afternoon. The water had become a bit rougher compared to the calm seas we had in the morning but the Fast Ferry is a catamaran which made for a very stable ride. Our campground was sponsoring a Dungeness crab feast Sunday night so we arrived back in time to enjoy that Alaskan delicacy for dinner. It was fun, & of course, we talked to lots of new people & got their stories on how they happened to be in Haines. Monday morning a Holland America cruise ship & a small Cruise West ship were in the Haines harbor so this small town was busy with cruise passengers for most of the day, but it was nothing compared to the flurry we saw in Skagway!
Tomorrow, Tuesday the 12th, we will begin our big ferry trip down the Inner Passage. We will be cruising on the Alaska State Ferry which carries passengers & vehicles. We have a showtime at the marine terminal of 7:00 am. Our ferry leaves at 9:00 am & we will arrive in Juneau about 1:30 pm. I may have mentioned previously that Bennie will be staying inside the BF for the ferry journeys. We had thought that there were specific times that we can visit & walk our dog, but we have since learned that we can only do that when the boat is in port & most of those times will be when we disembark anyway. Our ferry jaunts are normally not too long so we are not concerned that it will be a problem for Bennie. He will probably be delighted to have the peace & quiet & hopefully smooth waters on which to cruise. A break from some rough highways will be a nice change for all of us. In addition to stopping in Juneau, our ferry route will take us to the ports of Sitka, St Petersburg, Ketchikan, & Prince Rupert in BC where we will disembark the ferry for the final time on Aug. 26th & drive to Seattle, WA. From Seattle we have decided to drive south along the coast, but not the coastal highway, to San Diego. Those little Lindbloms are “calling” us & they are asking to see the AnnMaMa & Poppa Steve’s Alaska mobile. They are also expecting us to have marshmallows with us! Guess we’ll have to have a campfire with somemores when we get there. We hope to get to San Diego as close to Labor Day a possible. We’re uncertain how long we’ll be staying there before making our final drive east. Will keep you informed. As you can see, we’re still Yondering…!
Arriving in Haines on the Fast Ferry from Skagway
