After our ferry ride to Ketchikan, we spent one day getting our camper out of storage, last minute shopping and waiting for the next ferry. We got to Prince Rupert British Columbia about 2:00 in the morning and found a pull off on the road out of town to finish our nights sleep. The following night in Prince George and then last night just before we stopped we came upon this herd of Rocky Mountain Sheep right beside the road in a provincial park just south of Banff National Park. Today we're back in "the good old US of A" in Walmart in Helana Montana. Montana has got to be one of the prettiest states in the union.

Put Away for the Winter

Here's where 'Tug For Two' will spend the winter. Of course it had to rain almost the entire time we were putting her up. By the end of the season we had gone 570 miles. That's quite a few hours at about 6 miles/hour. The storage yard is about 5 miles south of Petersburg.








Our new transportation awaits us. We took an overnight ferry to Ketchikan where we had left our camper. We decided to get a cabin on the ferry so we could have a hot shower and a good nights sleep. Nancy said she didn't sleep well. Go figure. It's raining here in Ketchikan too!!!

Petersburg Again

Well we're back in Petersburg. As I said before it is a fishing village and this picture was taken from our slip in the harbor. Notice how low this purse seiner is setting in the water. They must have a lot of fish on board. On our trip down from Juneau our boat was supposed to have a lot of fish on it too but I felt so lousy I just didn't feel like fishing. We got here yesterday so I went to the clinic today and found I have bacterial pneumonia so I'm on Z-pac, an antibiotic, to see if I can shake it. We've got quite a bit of work to do on the boat to get it ready for storage here in town. Hope I feel up to it.

Still in Juneau

This is the only picture you're getting today. The weather has been so bad and it's been raining so much we haven't left the boat today. The rivulets on the mountain side in this picture are a result of all the rain. There are reports that some creeks near town are flooding. I took this picture through the door so I didn't have to go outside. It's not only rainy, but windy also. It is supposed to be windy again tomorrow too so it looks like it may be Wednesday before we get out of here. Not only that but I've come down with a lousy cold. Have a nice day.

Exploring Juneau

Our second day in Juneau so we decided to do the touristy thing and go to town and join the thousands from the cruise ships. Here is a picture of Nancy in front of the Alaska state capitol. It was saturday so not much going on. Downtown was a different story...








Here is the "world famous" Red Dog Saloon (according to them anyway). Notice how everybody in town is bundled up. It's been cool and rainy ever since we got here. Tonight and tomorrow the wind is supposed to pick up so the seas will be rough. We'll probably stay in town till it gets better.







Of course we had to go see why it's "world famous". It is one of those unique places with weird stuff everywhere, sawdust on the floor and a ragtime piano player where everyone is having fun

We're back. After 3 days without cell or internet service we're back in semi- civilization - Juneau. The first day out of Petersberg we stopped in a small cove in a larger bay where the forest sevice had this float dock, nice because I didn't have to pull anchor.








Going into and out of the bay we saw a lot of humpback whales. These pictures are hard to get because you usually have the camera ponting the wrong direction when they surface. I've got a lot of pictures like these, just before they disappear again.










We then went into Tracy Arm to view the glaciers. They're about 15 miles back in so it is an all day trip back to the head of the fiord. Beautiful country. These are both tidewater glaciers nad here is a shot of the face of one of them. I saw a small "calving" on the face of one of the glaciers while we were there. At one of the glaciers a tour boat had just left the face of it so we followed the path that he had left. By the time we took a few pictures and turned around to go out we found the path had closed in. A little scary but we found a way out, through mostly slush although I heard a few loud bumps.


We saw a lot of icebergs on the way, most of them large and easy to see like this one. You had to watch closely to make sure you didn't hit one of the smaller ones that were mostly submerged.

Alaska's Little Norway

Petersburg that is. Gene and Juan this blog's for you (Or any others with a little Norsk blood). We spent the night in Petersburg harbor, a mainly fishing village. This replica of a Norwegian ship is in front of the Sons Of Norway hall. There are lots of indications of the Norwegian influence around town....







Even the door of the local bar.

Wrangell Alaska

Here we are in front of the Native Tribal House on shakes Island, a small island inside the boat harbor in Wrangell. There was a native woman guide inside the house that explained some of the island native history. They had various artifacts inside. There was also a firepit with seating around it in the middle of the building where they had their meetings (potlatches).






Here are some more of the tribal family totems that have been moved from various parts of the island for display at the tribal house.











A picture of part of the city boat harbor with ours right in the middle. Wrangell also has a very good city museum that we went through. There are about 1800 residents and most of their economy revolves around fishing and tourism. There was a small (probably 500 passenger) cruise ship in town yesterday and the Alaskan Ferry comes in about every day.

I know, not a good picture but this is something you see quite often is porpoises "playing" in the wake of a boat. We spent last night in Berg Bay, a remote bay with no cell phone or internet access. Tonight we're docked in Wrangell AK. Today we're having the first rain we've had since we got to AK. Tomorrow we'll explore the town and report.

Meyers Chuck

Last night we spent the night in a little community called Meyers Chuck (8 fulltime and about 30 summer residents). They have a nice docking facility which was free (My kind of accomodations). There is no road just walking trails between homes. They do have a post office with their own zip. By the way, that salmon we had for dinner was GREAT. Even Nancy said she liked it.

Tonights Dinner

About 15 miles out of Ketchican on our trip north we stopped for lunch so I dropped a herring over to see if I could catch a salmon. Sure enough, before we finished a nice 'silver' bit.
















Look at that pretty red meat. Fresh wild Alaska salmon. Yum Yum

Shakedown Cruise

We went out for a three day cruise to make sure everything was working right and we didn't forget anything before leaving Ketchikan. Found some loose connections on the batteries (found when I tried to cook coffee with the electric maker on inverter power) and a few items which required a last run to wal-mart. We went to Traitors cove about 15 miles north of Ketchikan and our favorite crab spot. We caught 26 on our first pot pull but only 4 keepers ( male over 6 1/2 inch). All together we caught over 60 with 10 keepers. Today we're headed north up the inside passage to see what we can see.

Also in traitors cove there is a bear viewing station overlooking a salmon stream. I caught a picture of 2 cub black bears before my camera batteries went dead. The cubs are right in the center of the pic with a bald eagle watching from a nearby log.