Nancy, Where Are You?

    Sunday morning at our B & B in Haines we met Larry from California. Larry had lived in this B & B when he was around 10 - 14 years old. His parents owned it at that time but of course it wasn't a B & B then. This was the first time he had been back since then so it was very special to him. He told us what the room were used for at that time (we were sleeping in the dining room.)
    The owners are trying to sell the place for $560,000. Bradley, the manager, says it only brings in about $1200 a month and it’s only open for 3 months out of the year. Good luck.
       We drove around to explore on our last day. Then we went downtown and tried to poke around in a couple of shops but there wasn’t much. It was so cold in the grocery store we didn’t stay long.
    We drove out and find out where to pick up the ferry and pick up our tickets. The guy giving me the tickets told me where to go to see bears and eagles. We drove out there and sure enough we saw an eagle up in a tree. We also saw a huge grizzly fishing, he almost came up on some unsuspecting fishermen. We yelled to them and they ran just in time to avoid disaster. The bear was back and forth under the bridge we were standing on. Then it came up on top and we (all the photographers) scattered. We ran to our cars.   We went back to the ferry and got in line to board the Columbia around 6 p.m. We actually drove on about 7:30. We drove our car onto a lift that took us to an upper floor.
    After finding our room, we went to explore. It was really quite nice, four bunk beds and a bathroom. It reminded me so much of the last time I was on a train with my travel partner, Barbara. Of course our experience wasn’t nearly as nice as the ferry. On the very top deck is the “solarium” where a lot of the backpackers were spending the night on chairs or the floor. There were heat lamps overhead so it really wasn’t as cold as we thought it would be, we were just glad we weren’t staying out there.   There was a movie theater where some of the backpackers were sacked out on the floor and they were also sacked out on the floor in the lounges.

We slept great as we were lulled by the motion of the ferry and the sound of the engine. It was a much better sleep than Barbara and I had on the train to Bulgaria.
    The scenery was beautiful, lots of islands and mountains plus we saw humpback whales which was a thrill.    We got off in Sitka for four hours paying a shuttle service $12 to take us into town. There wasn’t much to it, basically it’s a tourist stop. The one interesting thing is the high hill (there used to be a “castle” up there) where the sale of Alaska was made from Russia to the US.   There is still a lot of Russian influence in the town. It is also where the papers were signed and the ceremony took place when Alaska became a state.
    A girl from the ferry got off to run and was attacked by a bear. She ran right in on into her. She screamed, rolled down a hill and the bear came after her and bit her on the buttocks.   She did what few probably could have . . . she stood up and made herself "big" and the bear ran away. She was taken to the hospital, sewed her up and she’s back on the ferry.
    Dogs are allowed on the ferry but have to stay in their cars but a couple times a day. They poop on the deck and the owners have to clean it up. People are allowed to let them out at 8:15 a.m., 2:15 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. Basically they are locked up most of the day.
    We docked in Ketchikan at 2 p.m. catching the local bus into town for $1.00.   We saw the totem poles that Katchikan is famous for then we walked around town until it was time to catch the bus back to the ferry.
    They made an announcement that we would be entering rougher waters at 8 p.m. and that people that needed to should take their medicine. We never felt a thing in fact it is smooth as glass.

    We have left the Marine Highway and are now in Vancouver.