Ferry ride

Tyler is in heaven! He loves the ferry system in Alaska because they show movies every 3-4 hours, he has snack machines at his disposal and he can roam the ship to his heart’s content. Our 23 hour ferry ride was long, but uneventful. I managed to read a book, Chris and I played Scrabble and cards, and Phil even finished his book. We all liked the break from the rough and tumble van; in fact, we liked it so much that we checked into taking the ferry all the way to Bellingham, WA instead of backtracking our way through British Columbia. While there were berths available for the four of us, there was no room for the Van. It would have saved us a day in time and over 1000 miles… We’re sensing the end, and starting to feel the urge to go home.

7/17 We spent the night at Settler's Cove State Park just north of Ketchican. The park was really pretty, and had wild raspberry bushes growing all over the place. We had raspberry pancakes for breakfast. Our site overlooked the water, and we saw a couple of eagles this morning. The eagles are becoming so "common" that the kids don't even look up anymore when we spot them. We did a short hike today in another "hobbit-like" forest, with Sitka Spruce, hemlock and red cedar trees. Ketchikan is noted for it's totem poles, so we stoped at the Totel Bight totem park. Some are very interesting. I'll have to post those pictures in a couple of days.