Day 31 (July 21)--Haines, Alaska

Haines is beautiful! What an end to our land portion of Alaska! After Jeff did a bit of work, we headed out so he and Ry could fish a bit more (or at least attempt it).

We headed back to the Chilkoot State Recreation Site. You have to fish at least 300 feet away from the salmon counter and there was a bridge further that had some decent spots. Jeff and Ry suited up while Bennett and I went up the nearby path. 

Pre gear: Ry looking for the right spot to fish.Dang sideways pic. Oh well!

Thank goodness for this view on our last day.

Y'all! It was like walking into a fairy land! As we drove by this area yesterday evening it was super dark inside, but with the sun out, it was beautiful! The ground was fluffy and soft and made of this:

Every inch of this area was covered in this unless it was the path we took or near tree roots. Look at this! The picture doesn't do it justice--even the boys thought it looked like a magical place (even though they'll never admit it)!

Forced fishing 🎣 picture 

Working on casting.

See the people in the little cove? That's them!

Can you find our Sasquatch? Really frustrated with the sideways pics!

Bennett saw me coming and hid. Little does he know, I'm really good at hide and seek! 🤣

As Ry says, " Some people catch. Not us--we just fish." At least he's got a good attitude about not catching anything! Guess we need to get him out fishing more because he os really starting to like it. 

We then went back to the RV park to quickly get out and head to the ferry area. We had a long time to wait but we still needed to pack our bags and food for the ferry. Riley and I played some pickle ball, Jeff napped, Bennett relaxed in the Adirondack chairs outside the terminal. And then we waited. And waited some more.  For once, the Dickens were super early and the ferry was late. 

When we booked this ferry trip back in December we were told it would be slightly cheaper if we separated the truck from the coach. So I drove the truck on with our luggage and the boys so we could get on and into our room. Let me tell you--I am always nervous and Bennett is always waiting for a time to make fun of me. This was it! I drove on and turned where they told me. And THEN,  I noticed the car elevator coming down! OMG I was NOT expecting that! Picture a nervous mom being poked fun at by her 13 year old AND having to pay attention to the ferry guy tell me where to go. Super fun--but we made it!

Jeff got to watch us board.

We said goodbye for a few minutes:

We got into our room and went outside on deck to see if Jeff was making his way on yet. It took a while but we did get to watch him board. He was pretty nervous.  We were the largest rig coming on board and when you don't have friends the same size, you always tend to worry a bit!

Since the ferry was late, we ate dinner in the coach before it got there. That meant we could find dessert on board! We explored the ferry and tried to find where everything was. An ice machine was a must because we brought milk (for cereal), creamer (for coffee), and breakfast burritos on board!

The ferry was warm (our ferry is 51 years old) so we all needed to visit the decks to cool off before bed. We were shocked it was almost dark! Maybe because we were now going south on the Inside Passage? (I Did wake up around 2am and it was completely dark--our first in a while!!)

Pray for safe travel on the ferry. Having 2 vehicles on here is weird, but at least we don't have to worry about our dogs like some people do. They have to stay in your car and you get to let them out at ports or every 6-8 hours (and then, only on deck obviously).