Hazelton to Prince Rupert to the Alaska Marine Highway

The Usk Ferry

      Today, Friday, we traveled to Prince Rupert to meet our Alaska Ferry for a one day and 8 hour trip to Juneau via Ketchikan, Wrangle and Petersburg. We are told we can leave the ship at each stop, if they are on schedule. We shall see.

The last 200 miles to P. Rupert surprised us. We anticipated snowy mountain ranges and winding roads but instead followed the Skeena River as it wound its way to the sea. On the way we passed by the Usk Ferry, a little one car engineless ferry that is fastened to a cable and uses the current to cross the Skeena to a small village on the other side. While not a novel idea—there used to be many such ferries on the Columbia River, for example—few remain.

We reached rainy P. Rupert at noon with a ferry check in set for 5:00 P.M. We found a great seafood restaurant, “Smiles Seafood Cafe” on the shores of “Cow Bay” in an area undergoing redevelopment. We never learned the background for the bays name but suspect a cow was involved. P. Rupert, a fishing and shipping hub, offered little for us in the rain so, after a Tim Horton’s stop, we headed for the ferry and were delighted that we could join the queue on the ferry landing. We popped open the Chalet, turned on the heat and settled in to await the Matanuska, our ferry north.

Waiting for the Matanuska

Vehicle loading was a choreographed affair; big trucks, Rv’s, trailers, cars of all types were sorted by destination—Ketchikan, Wrangell, Juneau—so they could unload in the right order at the correct port. On schedule, 8:00 P.M., we cast off and headed north. More on ship life later.



Thoughtlets on Coffee Shops: We have not seen an espresso shop since we entered Canada! While shops line the streets in Washington State towns, big and small, we have entered a Canadian coffee vacuum in Central B. C. How do these people live?

It’s not that they don’t drink coffee. Every Tim Horton’s is jammed with sippers of basic coffee. No steamed milk for this lot. The best designer drink they offer comes from a machine where they press a button and the drink comes out. Perhaps in this country of miners, loggers, farmers and truckers, designer drinks are for sissies.

We are not worried. In one day and eight hours we will be deposited back into the U.S.A. where they know the meaning of single tall skinny decaf vanilla latte, extra hot, no foam. 

Sightings: In Canada, their one dollar coin is adorned with a Loon and affectionately called a “Loonie.” In the U.S. there is a chain of stores called “Dollar Stores.” In Prince Rupert we spotted a similar store called “The Loonie Bin.” Clever?

The Matanuska in Winter

Going to Alaska: The Plan and the Reason

Kathy and Steve are off to Alaska by boat and car. We are going on a trip where the "getting there" is more important than the "being there."

We've been to Alaska eight times, always by air. So we've dropped in, sampled Alaska and then literally flew home. It was a wonderful way to cover lots of ground on a tight schedule. This trip we plan to ease into the state and savor the "getting there" part of the experience. It takes longer but should be worth the effort.

The good news--there is a road all the way, the Alaska Highway, through British Columbia and the Yukon to our 49th state. In fact, the road's celebrating its 70th birthday this year, having been constructed in a rush during World War II. More on that later. At 2200 miles from Seattle to Fairbanks it's a long stretch of road.

The Mantanuska will be our home for two nights.

The original plan was to drive both ways. Then, looking for variety, we decided to take the Alaska Ferry from Bellingham to Haines, bypassing some of the road heading north but giving us a water view part way up placing us in some new areas once we landed. Then, since there was no room on the Bellingham boat, we cut the boat ride in half, and plan to board a ferry further north in the Canadian town of Prince Rupert. We will get off the boat in Juneau, wait overnight, and grab another boat for the short run on to Haines.

We are sixteen days from departure and are starting to gather all the stuff we think we will need knowing that we will take twice as much as we actually need. But that's part of the adventure. Another part will be getting our travel trailer ready for the trip. That process begins tomorrow as well. More on that later.