Trek to Alaska - Part 2

After 2 weeks in Utah, we started our drive to Washington. We stopped in Oregon one night and finished the drive the next day. We stayed for 2 nights at yet another hotel in the Seattle suburbs. We wanted to give ourselves some wiggle room to make it on time to Washington because if we missed our ferry, then we lost our money! While we were there, we were able to see my cousins, aunt and uncle in the Seattle area. I hadn't seen them in years, so it was time well-spent.  

They got pretty good at taxiing our luggage. 

Boredom strikes in the hotel.

And since we needed a reason for getting there with 1.5 days to spare, Clark took care of it for us. He got a splinter in his foot and it got infected. So the night before we were supposed to board our ferry, I spent 6 hours in the E.R. with him trying to take care of it.  It wasn't THAT bad, but there are no doctors on-board the ship, so we wanted to make sure everything was okay before we left. After a very traumatic attempt to do an ultrasound of his foot  (me and some guy holding him down in a dark room while he was yelling and crying), they finally got a good picture of his foot and determined there were no "foreign objects" still inside.  This meant they did not have to cut into him and all he needed was some antibiotics. At first they were telling us to not take him on the ferry, so we were relieved to know that we could all go as a family.   

The next morning we drove 2 hours up to Bellingham, WA (where my Dad was born!) to board the M/V Kennicott.  Chris waited in the line to park our car on the bottom deck of the boat for 3 hours.  We opted not to all stay in the car with the kids since they were so so so sick of the car after driving across the country.  So I took them onto the boat and got the keys to our room. Here is our room and a few pictures from the boat so you can get an idea of what kind of boat it was.  

There's a little bathroom and sink in the room as well. 

M/V Kennicott

The best way I can describe the 4.5 day journey on a ferry boat is in between camping and a cruise. It's an odd combination, but that's exactly what it was like. 

We brought almost all of our own food and had to keep refilling our cooler with ice because there aren't personal refrigerators on the ship. They had a cafeteria on-board but it was very pricey.  So we ate a lot of oatmeal, soup, PB&Honey sandwiches, Easy-Macs, etc.  We also had stocked up on pre-made Trader Joe's salads and dinners before leaving Washington which was very nice. Having a little TJ's sushi on day 3 of the trip was a welcomed treat. 

We spent a lot of time eating. And annoying the other passengers in the cafeteria. 

The boat stopped almost once a day so we tried to explore the tiny Alaskan towns but there wasn't much to see unless you took a taxi. 

They loved the playroom.

It got a little hectic in tight quarters.

The part that resembled a cruise was the fact that we were sailing through beautiful scenery and meeting interesting people on-board.  There were no swimming pools, entertainment, or wi-fi (or cell service for most of it!).  But it was great that people were actually TALKING to each other rather than on their wireless devices.  We saw some really cool wildlife - orcas, humpback whales, dolphins, a bear, and sea otters.  It's one thing to see them at Sea World, but totally different to see them in the wild. 

We finally docked in Whittier, AK and drove 2 hours to our new town.  We couldn't get keys to our rental house for 2 days, so we went to ANOTHER hotel. FINALLY, after months of anticipation of what our life was going to be like here, we moved in!

Here's our rental house: 

Our backyard :)  Clark calls it "the forest". And the best part is that he just found wild raspberries growing all over back there. 

Same view at 10:30 PM. We are sleep-deprived because it's never dark...

Master Bath

Isaac testing it out

Kid Bathroom

Ktichen - the cabinet space! And the gas stove!!

We love it so far. The boys have spent many hours digging for treasure in the backyard. We love the house and don't know what to do with all of the space. The weather has been awesome - in the 70's since we arrived so we have been taking advantage of being outdoors more than unpacking. We'll have plenty of time to unpack during the winter ;)

(More pictures of the house once I actually get furniture to put in it). 

And just to embarrass him - he's official! 

I snapped this shot when no one was looking at the front desk of his office :) 

Sorry if this was long to read, but it was even longer to live through it! ;)