Overview
Our 6-month adventure continues with our journey from Bellingham north to Juneau on the Alaska Ferry.
Part 1 – The trip to Key West is located here.
Part 2 – Cross Country to Bellingham Washington is located here.
The third part of our trip involves finally arriving in Alaska and a few days of exploring Juneau. When we leave Bellingham, we travel northward for about 38 hours between Victoria Island and Canada before reaching a short stop in Ketchikan. From there it’s another day before we reach our first true landing in Alaska in Juneau.
Catching the Ferry in Bellingham Washington (latter part of day 27 of the overall trip)
Loading at the Terminal
The Ferry out of Bellingham leaves for Alaska twice a month. Our ship, the “Kennicott”, can hold up to about 75 vehicles and 499 passengers. As we line up to board the ship we see a wide variety of modes of transportation going north. There are recreational vehicles, large boats, trailers with antique cars, motorcycles and even trucks loaded with families who are moving to Alaska. We arrive at 7pm since we’ve been told we must be there by 7:30pm and don’t set sail until 10:30pm.
Prom Girls
The ferry terminal is pretty nice and includes a popular restaurant. While Nancy goes inside to use the facilities, she meets up with a group of girls who are having dinner before heading off to the prom later that night. Note they are all wearing comfy matching Converse shoes.
Finally Loading
We have been waiting online to board the ferry for about 90 minutes when our turn comes. The loading process for the ferry is a fairly orchestrated one as they need to balance the weight and size of vehicles. They also have to manage placing vehicles so that those at the first stop in Ketchikan can depart without moving any cars, then those in Juneau later, then those on to Whittier and finally those going the full distance to Kodiak Island. Remember too that we can gain vehicles at each port as well. Several of the crew members are walking through the lines and we can hear them communicate over radios about what vehicle they want to board next. You are assigned lanes to line up in but in the end, this has no bearing on the load order and its basically just a way for them to know which line vehicles are located in.
A Quick Tour Around the Ship
The Kennicott will be making ports of call all along the Alaska coast all the way to Kodiak Island and will take over a week to complete. We are leaving on Saturday night and will arrive in Juneau on Tuesday morning. The ship has about 100 cabins and includes the facilities to service 499 passengers plus the crew. We learn there are just over 200 passengers on this trip. The facilities include a cafeteria, multiple viewing areas with tables and seats, a movie theater, and adult beverage lounge. As we board and get our cabin assignment, we walk the ship to get a feel where everything is on the 3 decks we are allowed on. The Brown Beast is located on “the car deck” and passengers are only allowed to go back and retrieve something at certain times of the day 15 minutes (about every 6 hours). We take most of what we want in the cabin before we leave port.
Cafeteria
The cafeteria menu is basic but we find that the food is good, prices reasonable and the portions are more than generous.
Forward Viewing Area
Although there are multiple viewing areas on the ship we find that the forward one on the middle deck to be our favorite. There are power outlets at some spots and Nancy spends some of here time making jewelry.
Our Cabin
Our cabin is basic but more than serves our needs. We chose a 4 berth room – because they are the only ones that have a private toilet and shower. We only use the lower two bunks and we learn a LOT of couples do the same. Two berth cabins do not have their own bathrooms so those folks share the one down the hall (it reminded me of my freshman and sophomore dorms).
Lounge
The ship has a small lounge where we meet and make new friends with a number of people including “Red” our bartender. Red is great to talk to and we learn among other things that the lounge is open for the first time in 5 years. They only serve beer and wine, but that suits us just fine.
Camping on the Ship
Not everyone gets a cabin on the ship and ‘camping’ on the deck is allowed. Some folks actually pitch their tents on the open deck and duct tape their tents to the decking so they wont blow away. This doesn’t always work as we heard an announcement at one point on the ships intercom about a tent about to blow away! There’s some covered indoor areas where folks pitch tents and hammocks too. Some just sleep on the floor in sleeping bags and some on chairs although this is only allowed in a few select areas.
Pulling out and Setting Sail
Finally, at 10:30 we pull out of the dock and head north. After watching the night skyline of Bellingham fade away, we head do to our cabin and fall fast asleep.
Day 1 – The Inner Passage Along Victoria Island (day 28 of the overall trip)
Passing Along Victoria Island
We wake up bright and early the next day and check the ships exact position on the live GPS map in the cafeteria as we get breakfast. The weather outside is on the grey side but as the day wears on, the sun finally appears, and we have a beautiful sunset. The ferry for the most part travels close to land and we get a pretty good feel for the mountains and other features of the waterway in this part of the world.
Sights along the Way
Along with the beauty of the terrain, we pass light houses, small villages and a wide assortment of other boats and barges. At one point we spot this large ‘hotel’ being towed north followed by another barge full of construction equipment. It appears that it was prebuilt and is being shipped north to be placed somewhere on land.
Making New Friends
On board the ship, we meet and get to know a number of our fellow travelers and learn their story.
Jim and Laurel from Huntsville, AL are traveling with their grandson Elias and are continuing a tradition the started where they take each grandchild on a special trip during the summer of their 13th year. Laurel’s brother Bob lives in Juneau and they will go stay with him.
Darcy is a travel photographer who blogs about her adventures on the road with her husband. They are going to Alaska for 3 months too – and we learn we will be on the same ferry as us when we go back to continental US in September.
Bruce and Diana are from Australia and are adventurous motorcycle riders. They shipped their bike to Bellingham about a month ago and are going to ride it all through Alaska before heading east to Nova Scotia where they will store the bike for the season and pick up the trip next year. Recently they had ridden all the way from Egypt to South Africa so they are quite the adventurers. They are going to Juneau for one night, then on to Haines to follow a similar route we will take.
Peter and Diana live in Bellingham and are headed north to visit family, taking the ferry all the way to Whittier.
As a group, the 6 of us (Bruce & Diana, Peter & Therese) hit it off and we spend hours talking about life and adventures on the road.
Day 2 – A Short Port Call in Ketchikan Alaska (day 29 of the overall trip)
The previous day the ship had to turn around and head back south for an hour in order to get a passenger who was having some sort of health issue picked up by the Canadians. We lost 2 hours of our port call in Ketchikan and end up only having about 90 minutes of shore time. It also happens to be pouring rain in Ketchikan, so we decide we’ll explore that town in September on the return trip.
Cruise Ships Galore
As we get into and pass-through Ketchikan on the way to the ferry dock, we get our first glance at world of cruise ship travel to Alaska. These ships tower over the buildings on the waterfront and we wonder how on earth all of those people on those ships fit into that small area.
Lunch at The Landing
The ferry terminal is north of town, and we would have to catch a cab to go down into Ketchikan. We only have 90 minutes so Nancy and I decide to just walk across the street to Jeremiah’s Pub at The Landing Hotel for lunch. As we are sitting there we watch one of the cruise ships pass us in the window and we wonder if we are going to be chasing cruise ships all the way up the coast.
Day 3 – Time to Dock and Get off the Ship for a Few Days in Juneau (day 30 of the overall trip)
Approaching and Docking in Juneau
The Alaska Marine Highway System ferry terminal in Juneau is about 12 miles north of the Juneau downtown area. We are scheduled to dock and depart at 8:00 am and Nancy and I are up and packed early and head to breakfast at 7:00am when the cafeteria opens. After a quick meal, we go up on the upper decks and watch the approach to Juneau and can see the Mendenhall Glacier off in the distance. We pull into the dock on time and are unloaded and off and running in just a few minutes.
A Map of Juneau
The only way you can get to Juneau is by boat or plane. From the ferry you can travel north for about 24 miles on the “Glacier Highway” or as the locals call it – the ‘”out road”. Downtown Juneau is 12 miles to the south of the Alaska Marine Highway System ferry dock. There is another short series of roads on Douglas Island and just to the south of Juneau. The third main area of Juneau is known as “the valley” which is where the Mendenhall Glacier is as well as Auke Bay.
We cannot check-in to our hotel until about 3:00 pm so we head south to get a feel for Juneau and after passing through town we drive all the way down to the end of the road on Thane Road before returning to Downtown Juneau and parking on Main Street.
Spending the Day Walking Around Downtown Juneau
Juneau only has about 30,000 residents and it’s a town that you can easily walk around in. We spot a couple of bald eagles sitting on a lamppost as we approach town. After parking we spend the next several hours walking and exploring the downtown area and walk up the waterfront park that has an amazing whale fountain. There we bump into Jim, Laurel & Elias who we meet on the ship along with her brother they are visiting in Juneau.
There are lots of tourist shops in the waterfront which we expected given all the cruise ships that make this a part of call. Locals tell us that up to 8 ships at a time can be docked. However, we never expected that a fair number of these stores would sell only high-end jewelry and that oddly enough this would be true in Skagway was well. The locals tell us the cruise ships own most of those stores in Juneau and bring people in to run the stores and house them in the upstairs areas of the stores. We are also told that “those people” rarely leave that area and most of the locals don’t really go down that area of town.
At Stop at the Triangle Club
After hours of walking around Juneau we are hungry and look for a place to grab something to eat and settle on the Triangle Club as a starting point. We meet Amy and Karina who fill us in on a number of things from cruise ships to living in Alaska. Karina is a native Alaskan and cheerfully, graciously answers a barrage of questions we have and gives us advice on things we really should see. The Triangle Club itself doesn’t server food but Karina recommends the Halibut Fish and Chips from Deckhand Dave’s across the street that we can bring back and eat. Nancy gets us an order and we end up having a decent lunch and chat for a bit with WIlliam and Mary who are on vacation.
Grandma’s Feather Bed
Best Western Grandma’s Feather Bed turns out to be the smallest Best Western Hotel in the entire chain. It’s basically a former B&B they acquired a few years ago. Our room is nice, the location is in the valley” 12 miles north of Junea and well out of the touristy cruise ship area. After getting checked in and settled we head out for dinner at McGivney’s.
Dinner at McGivney’s Sports Bar & Grill
McGivney’s Sports Bar & Grill is not far from where are staying and turns out to a fairly decent restaurant that is mostly a local’s place given its distance from Juneau. From the parking lot we can see snow covered mountains that are near Mendenhall Glacier.
Day 4 – Exploring the “Out Road” (day 31 of the overall trip)
Mendenhall Glacier
After Breakfast at Grandma’s Feather Bed, we head out Mendenhall Glacier where we spend the morning hiking the trails around the glacier and waterfall areas.
The Out Road
From Mendenhall Glacier, we hear north on the 24 mile “out road / Glacier Highway”. It turns overcast in the afternoon after being bright and sunny when we were at the glacier. There is still a lot of beauty to be seen from the road as we travel. The last few miles of this road turn to dirt before it ends with a pile of dirt across the road.
Jenson-Olsen Arboretum
On the way back, we stop at the first of two destinations recommended by Katrina at the Triangle Bar. The arboretum was established when Caroline Jensen donated her gardens to Juneau. These gardens are known for their extensive collection of primroses. While touring the gardens we meet Becky who is a volunteer and we chat a bit about the history and challenges of gardening in this area of the world.
Although the gardens were not at full bloom there is still more in bloom than we expect. Becky reminds us that since we are so far north that the days are much longer and the flowers benefit from all the additional sunshine. We found this to be delightful stop and recommend this if you are visiting this area.
The Church
Just down the road from the arboretum is the Shrine or St Therese where you will find a beautiful stone church built along the water.
Squirez
Its dinner time and we decide to check out a local’s place called “Squirez” which is located right in the water in Auke Bay Harbor. Here we meet Allan, Mike, Dan and McCall.
Along with a couple hours of entertaining conversation, we get a great recommendation on visiting Douglas Island and Island Pub Pizza.
Day 5 – Douglas Island (day 32 of the overall trip)
Today marks the official start of Month 2 on the road and we take a slow morning at our room catching up on paying bills, organizing photography we have taken so far and working a bit on the blog site.
The Island Pub on Douglas Island
Around lunch time we head out to Douglas Island and head to The Island Pub where we discover they have wonderful gourmet pizzas along with a variety of other items. The restaurant has a view of the water across to Downtown Juneau and at one point we watch a cruise ship leave Juneau as we eat lunch.
Treadwell Mine Hike
After lunch we head down to the waterfront to explore a bit of Douglas Island. We pass Douglas Island Harbor and get a couple of pictures looking south towards downtown Juneau on the opposite shore. We spot this unusual tall building on the beach and wonder what it is. After walking for bit along the sandy coast we spot a bench and Nancy wants to set for spell before we head back. Just as we approach the bench we meet Dale Hansen and his dog “Brody”. We chat with Dale for a while and learn he is prospector who has lived in this area almost all of his 79 years of life. We ask him about the tall building and learn it’s from the Treadwell Gold Mine and that we are actually walking in the ruins of that once very large operation. Even better, it turns out that behind the bench is a walking trail that leads you though some of the old ruins.
The tall building was one the pump house for some of the water needs of the mine.
It turns out there are numerous placards and displays along the trail showing pictures of what the mine looked like in its heyday.
This was once a huge facility, and the company provided a slew of recreational activities with gyms, heated pools, baseball fields and other infrastructure items.
This isn’t a place where a lot of tourists go but we would recommend this if you are in the Juneau area.
On to the next stop
One more stop at a small bar named Louie’s then we leave Douglas Island and head back to the room for an early night. We have to be at the ferry at 5:00 am to catch the next ferry north to Haines Alaska. We end up just eating the left over pizza from lunch and after a little bit of Netflix we drift off to sleep for a early 4:15 alarm so we can get to the dock on time.
Summary
The Alaska Marine Highway System gets a major THUMBS UP from us – we really enjoyed this experience both in terms of the simpleness of the ship (it’s NOT a cruise ship experience) and the fact that it is smaller than a cruise ship so it can travel in narrower channels for great shoreline sight-seeing.
Juneau – not amazing or anything. You are only getting there by boat or plane – and most visitors go there via a cruise ship. If you are going to the inside passage area of Alaska, then yes, stop and see. If you aren’t going to the inside passage area, don’t feel like you really missed out on the Alaska experience.
Up Next
We continue in Part 4 exploring the Inside Passage area of Alaska by heading to Skagway and Haines – Ferries, Waterfalls, Trains and Gold
The blog is great! I love to hear about your interactions with the locals and the history they give you. Stay safe and keep enjoying your adventures.
Thanks PJ
What an amazing experience. Your photos and stories are fantastic.
Thanks Denise
The pictures are beautiful ! Looks like you guys are having a blast. Stay safe, see you when you get back.
Jim, Krysti and the kids
Thanks Jim… Miss seeing you guys
Wow the photos do not disappoint!! Beautiful Country !!!
Thanks Corlis!
Once again, enjoying the blog and your adventures!
Thanks Tamara!