In continuing with our road trip up the west coast, the last few legs in Oregon included some of our favorite stops! We left Eureka and grabbed some breakfast at the Samoa Cookhouse. The historic cookhouse has been serving meals lumber-camp style since 1893. It’s the last remaining cookhouse in the west and a section of it has been turned into a logging museum! With a set rotating menu, it’s basically an all you can eat ‘home cooked’ meal! The day we went we enjoyed a breakfast of hash browns, eggs, sausages, and toast with biscuits and gravy. It was a pretty cool experience that set us back in time to the old logging days.
After breakfast, we headed straight for Redwood National Park.
We were in awe driving through these giant forests. These trees are considered mature at 500-1000 years old and can live to be 2000 years old! Man, the world is such an amazing place!
After a little exploring, we stopped at Humbug Mountain State Park. We parked in the campground and walked over to the black sand beach. Such a cool little hike and now we know why they filmed some of Jurassic Park in Northern California/Southern Oregon.
Humbug Mountain is one of the highest mountains in Oregon and it rises straight from the ocean. It’s a gorgeous sight and we had fun playing at the beach for a little bit.
Our next stop was a quick walk down to Thor’s Well, just outside of Yachats, Oregon. In Yachats (pronounced YAH-hots), we checked into one of our favorite hotels our entire trip, Deane’s Oceanfront Lodge.
This cozy family-owned motel was such a nice place to stop for the night. Each room had it’s own back porch access and was right on the beach!
After checking in, we backtracked a little to grab some dinner. We decided on The Drift Inn restaurant and I gotta tell ya, the pot pie was good but their COBBLER! I could go for that alone!
We made it back to watch the sunset from a few steps away from our room. The next morning was our latest check-out yet! We just couldn’t seem to leave. Walking the beaches and finding sand dollars was so relaxing and an amazing start to our day..
After we did finally get packed up, we drove to Newport, OR and stopped at Yaquina National Park.
We opted not to take the tour of the lighthouse but instead hiked down to the tide pools and the pebble beach.
After a good stretch of our legs, we drove on. We couldn’t drive through without a stop at the Tillamook Cheese Factory!
Before stopping at our next hotel, we walked around Cannon Beach and listed off all our favorite Goonies quotes :D
That night, we stayed at The Tradewinds Condos and Hotel in Seaside. Super affordable, complete with a kitchen and view of the ocean. We were pretty pleased with this stay as well!
The next morning we got bagel sandwiches and smoothies from Bagels by the Sea. We went through the drive through on our way out but it was a fast, hot breakfast and we were definitely more than satisfied! Our next stop was Astoria! The actual home of the Goonies :) but also home of the Astoria Column!
The column is 125 ft high with 164 steps up to the observation deck. It was built in 1926 to celebrate the discovery, exploration, and settlement of the west. These days, you can purchase little airplanes from the gift stop and launch them from the top to see how far they go! You know we had to get in on this action.
We then drove across the above pictured bridge into Washington! The Astoria-Megler Bridge stretches 4.1 miles and is the longest continuous truss bridge in North America. We definitely tested Jon’s fear of heights a few times that day ;)
We stopped for the night in Seattle and after a morning of laundry and car cleaning, crammed as much tourist activities in as we could. We started with the market and roamed the aisles of fresh flowers and fresh fish! Always have to watch the men toss fish through the air! Then we wandered through the back and found the fun pig to draw with chalk on. We found the gum wall and then took a ride on the Great Wheel. There was a lot of construction, but it was fun to explore this little area downtown until it was time to head back to the hotel and rest up for the next leg of our trip.
Seattle was fun to explore but I think we got pretty used to those small coastal towns in Oregon that the sudden traffic and crowds was a little jarring for us haha. Maybe we’re turning into rural folks.
The next morning we left for Bellingham and boarded the ferry to Alaska! Which was a whole adventure all on it’s own. You can read about that here! This leg completed our time in the "lower 48" and we were definitely looking forward to getting closer and closer to our new home. Make sure to pin for future reference! And catch us on Instagram to see more of our day-to-day adventures! Make sure you get out and enjoy where YOU live!
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We had a good time exploring San Francisco which you can read all about in our last post, but this next part of our trip was going to be mostly off the beaten track, which we were pretty excited about. We were also about halfway to our final destination which was a pretty big deal!
We left San Francisco in the morning and about 3 hours later pulled into Ukiah, CA for our first pit stop of this leg. We grabbed some lunch and some gas but not before checking out the World’s Largest Redwood Tree Service Station/Museum!....
...which was closed (sad face). But it was still really cool to see and walk around and it piqued our interest in the area we were entering: Redwood country.
After getting back on the road, we ventured a little bit out of the way and got off highway 101 and onto the 1 and detoured over to Fort Bragg. This coastal town is rich in history and would be a really cool place to take some time to explore, but we really narrowed it down to one stop - Glass Beach.
Glass Beach is a true trash to treasure story. These beaches were actually used as city dump sites from 1906-1967. Cars, batteries, bottles, etc. were dumped over and the cliffs and into the ocean. Now what remains is smooth colored sea-glass mixed into the natural rocks and sand that make up the beaches.
We spent way too long - with no regrets - sorting through and finding pieces of amber, green, blue, and clear sea glass. We also had fun exploring the tide pools and jumping off the big rocks ;)
Reluctantly, we hiked back to the car to continue on our adventure.
Our next stop was drive-thru tree park in Leggett, CA. This was a fun place to stretch our legs and get acquainted with those amazing redwoods we were driving by.
Our only disappointment was that our van wouldn’t fit through the tree because of the rack we had on top. Would’ve been cool to say we drove through a tree haha, but walking through was still pretty cool!
Nothing to make you feel small like sitting in a giant tree trunk! This little park was really fun to walk around and find all the wood carvings. A very good stop to get out and stretch for a little bit.
Our next stop was actually a few minutes down the highway, called One-Log House.
This 2000+ year old Redwood one log house was really only created for a tourist attraction, but it is one of the coolest ‘tourist traps’ we’ve ever seen! I mean, really, I wouldn’t mind having one of my own if I ever happen upon a fallen Redwood ;)
We pulled into our Airbnb in Eureka not too far from here. This was our first and only stay in an Airbnb this trip and our digs were very comfortable and quaint! 10/10 recommended. We checked in for the night to rest up for our next leg of driving, which would end in Yachats, OR!
Comments or questions? We'd love to hear them! Make sure to pin so you can come back to this post! Don't forget to follow us on Instagram for some of our day-to-day adventures and until next time, get out and explore where you live!
If you've been following along (and doing the math), we left Anaheim on Day 7 of our road trip up the west coast. We had been having a blast, but we were really looking forward to this next part of our trip because we were passing by areas that we had never been before!
This next leg of driving ended in San Francisco where we would play a little bit of tourist again, but we made a few stops in between that were really fun! 1st stop: Stearns Wharf, Santa Barbara, CA
Our first stop was impromptu - for potty breaks really - but we're so glad we did stop here. We get a kick out of historical places and this pier has quite the history. Stearns Wharf is one of California's oldest piers, the oldest working wooden wharf, constructed in 1872. At the time, it was the longest deep-water pier between LA and San Francisco.
The pier made Santa Barbara accessible to the outside world by sea as it was long enough that ships could tie up at low tide. It was pretty amazing to wander around the pier and realize the impact that it had back in the day. There are restaurants, shops and even a marine museum located on the pier. But one of the coolest parts about this stop was actually driving on a historical wooden pier and hearing the wood creak under our tires.
2nd Stop: Avila Beach, San Luis Obispo, CA
This stop ended up with surprises as well. It was a planned stop on our itinerary, but once we arrived, we realized some sort of street fair was going on! Food trucks galore, live music and dancing....it was all much needed excitement after being in the car for a little bit. But even without all of that, this was the first time this trip of putting our toes in the ocean and it was THE BEST hearing those little giggles and screams as the waves came in. We had so much fun here that it was a little hard to drag ourselves back to the car.
Destination: San Francisco
We checked into our hotel that evening, did much needed laundry in the morning and then set out to explore the city that afternoon. We tried to see as much as we could in the little time we had and I think we did pretty good!
Just driving around town was our first thrill. As we drove up and down the steep hills, the girls giggled that it felt like we were on a roller coaster while Dad was a tiny bit white-knuckled in our over-burdened van. He was pretty relieved once we got to Fisherman’s Wharf ;) We explored Museè Mèchanique, Pier 39, and had dinner at Boudin Bakery.
After dinner we walked (hiked!) up and down the streets of San Francisco to see Lombard street and the sites along the way. If only I had a decent picture from that famous street. The flowers were gorgeous and walking up the street was a feat in and of itself :D
We then walked to Ghirardelli Square, feeling we had earned a little bit of dessert. And when you find yourself at the center of origin for Ghirardelli...can you really deny yourself a scoop of ice cream? Or three...;)
On our way back to our hotel, we of course had to do a drive-by of the Painted Ladies. The girls may never know our excitement but we had all the Full House vibes going on at the end of our trip. Even blasting the theme song on our way out the next morning as we drove across the Golden Gate Bridge.
If you're going to road trip up the west coast, is it even worth it without stopping at Disneyland?? The sad part about this post is that it's already outdated! Star Wars Land opened the week we were here and they were only letting people in if they had tickets....which we weren't able to get. But, as it was still part of our road trip to Alaska, here we are. After leaving San Diego, we spent the night at our friends' house and left the next morning for Anaheim. Where We StayedI can't even count how many times I've been to Disneyland, but in our married life we've been three times and since having kids, we've been twice. Three years ago, we stayed on property, which we definitely recommend, however, this time we needed to be a little more budget conscious as we still had two more weeks of road trip left. We stayed at the La Quinta on Clementine St. We get reward points through them as well as a military discount. It was about a 10 minute walk to the park and I think it worked out pretty well! What We DidDisneyland, obviously!! First, and foremost, we arrived at the park and, SURPRISE! Grandma and Grandpa were there! It was so fun to surprise the kids with that, but so hard to keep the secret. Even as we were walking up, Hayden mentioned how she wished Grandma and Grandpa were there like "last time". It was probably the best part of the trip seeing that all unfold :) While planning our trip, we looked into the new FastPass system, MaxPass. With the FastPass system, you can essentially hold your place in line by visiting the FastPass kiosk at available rides with your park ticket. You use your ticket to get a FastPass, which gives you a time to come back and get in a shorter/faster line, usually an hour after you receive the FastPass. This service is free to use, however, you cannot have more than one FastPass out at a time. Disney MaxPass was a new service since we had last been to the park. It costs $15/day per ticket and gives you the ability to procure FastPasses through the mobile app instead of having to physically go to the kiosk. It also includes unlimited PhotoPass downloads, which is actually pretty cool. In the end, we decided to "pass" on the MaxPass ;) , at least for the first day and add it later on if we felt like it was worth it. In the end, we didn't end up adding it and we didn't feel like it took anything away from our trip. One tip: make use of the child swap if .you have kids not big enough to ride some of the rides. One adult will ask for the child swap at the beginning of the queue and after riding, the second adult can bring up to three passengers into the FastPass line. Don't forget, this can double up with actual FastPasses! So you can definitely get some mileage out of that. We also rode the Guardians of the Galaxy ride for the first time since it had been changed from Tower of Terror. I gotta be honest, I was skeptical, because Tower of Terror is the best! But the change was actually really fun and next time we go, Marvel Land should be up and running! What We AteWe've been to Disneyland enough to know where to get some good eats. These are our top 5 favorites in no particular order, except this first one. Because it's always at the top of the list :D Lunch at Cafe Orleans!! The Pommes Frites are finger lickin perfection. Come to think of it, one visit we just shared the fries for lunch haha. This trip though, Jon and I shared a Monte Cristo and an order of Pommes Frites. Drooling just thinking about it. #2 Out of all the Mickey treats, the beignets are my favorite. I just can't get behind the pretzels and when we tried the churro ice cream sandwich, is wasn't as good as it sounded. We had actually been to Disney World a few months prior to this visit and seeing as how you can't get the mickey beignets in the parks in Orlando, I was craving them! You can get these yummy little guys around the corner from Cafe Orleans at the Mint Julep Bar. #3 Another tasty treat that you can't exactly get at Disney World is the Grey Stuff. From Beauty and the Beast, in Lumière's song "Be Our Guest", you'll hear him invite Belle to "try the grey stuff, it's delicious! Don't believe me? Ask the dishes!" At Disney World, we were only able to find the grey stuff topped on a cupcake, so we definitely had to try it all on it's own when we were at Disneyland. You'll find this at the Red Rose Taverne, formally the Pinnochio-themed Village Haus Restaurant, and I gotta say, the Grey Stuff is better at Disneyland! Maybe it's just better off the cupcake. At any rate, the Red Rose Taverne is a really fun little place to stop and explore. The decor is interesting with murals and details honoring the original animated film but if you look closely, you'll also find the Mrs. Potts, Lumière and Cogsworth versions from the live-action film, which is kind of fun. Bonus: Our second day, we had breakfast at Flo's V8 Cafe. This is a counter service restaurant but it had a really cool atmosphere being right next to the Radiator Springs Racers. The American Breakfast, the Brioche French Toast, and the Chicken Tamale Breakfast...okay, well I'm pretty sure that's everything on the menu, but it was all so good! So you literally can't go wrong. #4 Another hit over in the Cars Land area was from the Cozy Cone Motel. Bacon Mac N' Cheese in a bread cone. Need I say more? We may or may not have gone back for a second serving. #5 It is our personal opinion that no visit to Disneyland is complete without a dole whip! And while the original pineapple dole whips are delicious (we definitely wouldn't turn one down...or didn't, I should say ;), the raspberry swirled dole whips at Tropical Hideaway in Adventureland are highly recommended by this family! We may have had two or three of those babies. Even if we weren't able to offer any insights on the new Star Wars Land, we still experienced a lot of personal firsts. In addition to everything else, we were able to see the updated castle! Super digging the new paint job. All in all, one could spend two days in Disneyland and be mostly content though we can't promise that a small part of you won't be wishing you could stay just a little longer! We made a lot of memories along our road trip, but I think this one was a highlight for the girls. Maybe it had something to do with Grandma and Grandpa ;) but getting to spend some quality time before moving farther away was such a good experience. Here it is, 5 months later and Colbie regularly plays pretend that she's going to Disneyland and I love it. But alas, like stated before, we had 2 more weeks of traveling to do! Our second night, we watched the fireworks from Grandma and Grandpa's hotel room before saying goodbye. The next morning we departed for our next stop, San Fransisco! Make sure to follow us on instagram for more of our day-to-day adventures! But until next time, get out and enjoy where you live!
When we received orders to Alaska, and looked into a few of the different ways we could get there and different routes we could take from New Mexico, it didn't take long for us to decide on taking a scenic route up the west coast. The entire west coast, from one end to the other. To start that trip, we had to make our way to San Diego, the southern most point of West Coast USA, give or take 20 miles ;) Our first pit stop was Tucson, AZ for a night and onward we went onto San Diego. We did make a little stop right in between the two major cities in Yuma, AZ where we had In-N-Out (something we hadn't had access to in 3 years! :) and a little picnic at Stewart Vincent Wolfe Creative Playground, or "Castle Park". This park is one of the largest creative playgrounds in the country and was such a good pit stop for kids to get out a stretch for a little bit. We arrived in San Diego that night, excited to hang out for a few days. Where We StayedThis stop was the 2nd of two where military lodging gave us the best bang for our buck. We stayed at Naval Base Point Loma, which was a pretty central location as well as a scenic one, as our room was right across the street from the shipyard, which was really cool! This was actually the second time we had stayed there, having taken a trip to San Diego 6 years prior. What We DidOur first day was spent at the San Diego Zoo. Or rather, we planned to spend the day there, haha. It ended up only being a few hours, but with kids, you gotta be flexible ;) We definitely played tourist this visit and took full advantage of all the military discounts at the big attractions, so even if we didn't get our money's worth on this particular day, it was still something we crossed off our list. That evening we went to Children's Pool Beach. It was actually created to be a children's pool, but the Harbor Seals have since taken it over so it's a really fun place to visit. The girls had a blast seeing all the seals up close and we had a blast watching them get so excited! The next day, we met up with some friends at Sea World! Sea World Waves of Honor gives free admission to Active Duty Military and their dependents! With all there was to see and do here, it definitely made up for our short day at the zoo ;) The girls loved the dolphin show but I think my favorite was seeing the Orcas. Especially with that backdrop, it actually made me pretty excited to get to Alaska and see them out in the wild. Hopefully there will be a post on that at a later time, because that's definitely an item on our Alaska Bucket List! Where We AteAfter Children's Pool Beach, we stopped at The Kebab Shop in Little Italy for dinner. Holy smokes, if you like Greek food at all, this is the place to go. The Carved Chicken wrap was so good and the sides of saffron rice and hummus and fresh pita bread- insert drooling emoji- I really am going to go to bed dreaming of that tonight. After picking up dinner, we walked a few doors down to Extraordinary Desserts to grab a sweet treat. Honestly, just walking into this place was an experience just on it's own. The atmosphere most definitely lives up to it's name. With all the "extraordinary desserts" on display, I wanted to come back for breakfast...then brunch, then lunch...you get it ;) We settled for a giant chocolate chip cookie and an enormous rice krispy....which was split four ways, because....well....look how big it was!! Both were good, and satisfied our sweet tooth...though maybe some day we'll be able to go back with a more sophisticated palate, if you know what I mean ;)
After our day at Sea World, we left San Diego and spent the night at our friends' house to hang out with them a little more! Shout out to the Smith's for putting us up for the night! Their place also just so happened to get us a little closer to our next destination....DISNEYLAND! Follow us on instagram for more of our day-to-day adventures! Until next time, get out and enjoy where you live! Is it weird that the first few blogs about our road trip to Alaska are about the last few days of our trip? We've lived here for four months now and it's about time we start from the beginning! So this post is about our first leg of driving-from New Mexico to Tucson. This drive was a little surreal, as we were just leaving our home and setting out on a giant road trip...not quite knowing what we were getting ourselves into. Our first stop was one last jaunt in a little area close to Las Cruces, NM called Mesilla. We explored the historic plaza and the old capital building.
The rest of our drive was uninterrupted. We made it to Tucson and immediately checked into our lodging. Where We StayedFor each stop for our road trip, we planned and researched for the most affordable but comfortable places to stay. In Tucson, we found the best deal at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. Because we were traveling through on orders, they actually put us up in the "temporary lodging facility" which is usually reserved for long term stays, so we basically had a 2-bedroom apartment and it was really awesome! We had a full kitchen, a washer and dryer, etc....the complex had a big playground right in the middle which the girls loved after a long day in the car. We've stayed on quite a few different military installations, and I would say this one ranks as number 1. Where We AteAfter checking into our lodging, we ventured out for dinner. We decided on HUB Restaurant & Ice Creamery and it was really good! I ordered the Bahn Mi and I've found myself wishing we could go back just so I could have that meal again! The girls loved the Mac & Cheese. The next morning, we ate breakfast at Prep & Pastry. I mean, I'm not huge on going out for breakfast, but this place (insert drooling face emoji). the french toast <3, the pancakes <3, the croissant sammies....you can't go wrong with anything on this menu. But it does get crowded! So plan accordingly! What We DidTucson was such a cool town! It would've been really fun to explore a lot more. Being that we were just passing through, we didn't have time to do much. But what we did check out did not disappoint! We ended up spending a few hours at Saguaro National Park , getting us a late start for our next destination, but it was well worth it!! How incredible are these cactus?! An adult Saguaro can grow as tall as 50 feet!! And is around 150-175 years old! It was really cool to have this scenery be our last memory of our life in the desert- ending with the symbol of the American west. As I said before, it would've been really fun to get to explore Tucson a little more, and maybe someday we will! But it was time to move on to our next stop - San Diego! Follow us on instagram for more of our day-to-day adventures! Until next time, get out and enjoy where you live!
When we decided to drive from New Mexico to our new home in Alaska, there were so many routes we could take. But no matter which way we started our trip, we knew we were going to end up driving the Alcan Highway. Our entire road trip itinerary ended up taking 19 days, with 119 hours of traveling, and we probably had the most anxiety about this leg. That is because we would be driving through the remote wilderness of Yukon Territory/Alaska for about 625 miles. This means limited stops for gas, food, and lodging. We knew, with our two kids and our dog, that we would have to divide this drive into two days. Two days of straight driving and minimal stops for breaking it up. To sum it up, this was the part of our trip we were dreading the most. However....we were extremely mistaken. Our last leg of driving started when we drove off the ferry in Haines, Alaska. (You can read all about our ferry ride here.) Haines is only 1 of 3 southeast Alaskan communities that are accessible by road to another city. The primary mode of transportation used here is through the Alaska Marine Highway and bush plane. It may be one of the harder places to get to, which is one of the reasons we took this route, and it's worth it! When we arrived, we checked into the Aspen Suites Hotel, which was right on Main Street. It was within walking distance to shopping, groceries, and restaurants. We were also very pleased with the spacious rooms and amenities. For dinner, we found a delicious pizza place called Alpenglow, which was just down the street from our hotel. My family is pretty obsessed with pizza (who isn't?) so it was definitely a win for us. It is important to note here, that no matter where you eat in Haines, most places we saw didn't have "normal" hours. They would close after lunch and open for dinner. Just a little FYI for meal planning :) The next morning, we departed for our destination. We only drove for about 45 minutes before we hit the border of Canada. Getting across was super easy! We had to show our passports and declare our weapons and pay the fee for that and then they sent us on our way. The drive was beautiful! Seeing snow on the mountains was a little trippy, since we made this drive in June. But I do want to say that we drove with a gas can our entire road trip just for this last stretch of driving. Even in June, it can get snowy, and you just don't know what can happen. We had a spare tire and a gas can and we had stocked our cooler in Haines so we were prepared. Summer is also "construction season" so we were prepared to run into delays, though we actually didn't! We made it to our lodging in really good time. Which brings me to.... ...Buckshot Betty's in Beaver Creek! This little place in the middle of nowhere was the perfect little stop for our Alcan drive. This was pretty close to halfway from Haines to Fairbanks, and we were pretty ready to get out of the car...and have access to wifi! ;) They have about 6 cabins and we had booked one of the two bigger sized ones. These cabins were behind Buckshot Betty's Bakery and Restaurant, which is where we ate dinner. All I can say is, their homemade hamburger buns....just salivating a little thinking about them.... Our final stretch from Beaver Creek to Fairbanks was pretty uneventful ;) About 25 minutes from Buckshot Betty's, we crossed the border back into the Alaska. This was also super fast and easy and they even gave us a few treats for our dog :) The wildlife and scenery was breathtaking. We felt pretty dumb for dreading this part of our trip because it was actually really awesome. Even though the drive went really well, we were so excited to finally arrive at our destination. 19 days, 119 hours of travel, 4137 miles, 2 countries including 6 states and 2 provinces, 11 hotels + 1 Airbnb + 1 friend's house + 1 berth, 3 theme parks, 3 national parks, 7 beaches, too many restaurants, countless movies....and we finally made it!! And now our Alaskan adventure begins! A few tips if you're planning on making this drive. First, book lodging in advance. Places to stay are very limited and beyond that, most places are only open seasonally, so plan accordingly! Second, kind of hand in hand with that, a lot of service stations along the way are not open 24/7 and are also open seasonally. We were driving during the summer season, which is when places are open, but it is still a good idea to be prepared just in case. Comment or questions? We'd love to hear them! Make sure to pin so you can come back to this post! Follow us on Instagram for some of our day-to-day adventures and until next time, get out and explore where you live! Update: You can read about the first leg of our trip, from New Mexico to Arizona, here.
By the time we got to Bellingham, Washington to board the ferry, we had been driving for 46 1/2 hours. Don't worry, we had made tons of stops and this particular "stop" was on day 14 of our journey. We were STOKED for this new part of our adventure. To be fair, our kids are pretty great travelers, but being able to still travel towards our destination without being stuck in seatbelts and car seats and just being able to experience something new all around was something we were ALL looking forward too. Loading the ferry was an exciting experience in and of itself. Driving into the belly of the boat in single file line, then one by one getting on the car lift to park on the 2nd floor couldn't have been more thrilling for our girls (aged 2 and 5), though we were pretty entertained by the whole thing, ourselves! Going up.... As part of taking the ferry on government travel orders, it was required to reserve a berth. This is only worth mentioning because there were quite a few travelers who took advantage of the upper deck camping area as well as setting up "camp" in the evenings in the lower deck viewing areas. We were "warned" about the small rooms but, we were quite pleased with our arrangements. Heck, we could lay down and stand up so it was much roomier than a car! It worked well for us for our 3 day journey but if you're expecting a cruise ship ocean view room, you may need to lower your expectations ;) We set sail at 6:00PM on a Friday and we were at sea until we stopped in Ketchikan, Alaska for a few hours on Sunday morning. Our full day at sea was incredibly relaxing. We had lugged binoculars around with us our entire trip for the sole purpose of watching for wildlife while we were on the ferry. We saw whales and porpoises and sea otters more than once! And the scenery was stunning. Ketchikan is known as Alaska's first city. Not because it was the first city settled, but because it's the first stop along the inside passage. It's affectionately called "Rain City" as they receive, on average, 12.5 feet of rain a year! ALSO known as the Salmon Capital of the world, Ketchikan is such an interesting place. Had we had more time, it would've been so much fun to explore a little more. But our first introduction to our new home state was exciting, to say the least. As we waited for our ferry to dock, we watched Bald Eagles catching fish right out of the ocean. It's important to note, that the ferry docks a few miles away from town because of the cruise ships. It was only on our way back that we discovered there was a free shuttle about half way that would've taken us into downtown haha. But the walk down was pretty cool! Obviously, Ketchikan is right off the ocean, with a lot of the roads and sidewalks actually built over water! As we walked past and looked down, my girls were so excited to see all the big purple starfish in the water! Once in town, we got breakfast at Sweet Mermaids. Awesome breakfast burritos!! The hot chocolate and donuts were also a hit. We then wandered through the cruise port shopping area and made our way to Creek Street. Creek Street is literally a boardwalk built above the water. It was built in the early 1900s and is actually the old Red Light District! It has such an interesting history and we had a lot of fun wandering in and out of the shops and the girls loved watching the water below us. After getting back on the ferry, we made a few more stops though we didn't get off until we reached Haines, Alaska. It was interesting to watch the loading and unloading at the different stops though. It is pretty amazing to realize how many cities and towns in Alaska just don't have roads that connect to other places. The ferry is actually used as a way to ship things like construction equipment, like we saw getting unloaded in Wrangell, Alaska. Docking in Haines ended our trip up the Alaska Marine Highway. We could've gotten a little closer to Anchorage, but we really did want a little taste of driving through Canada and to see places that might not make sense to drive to, but better to drive through on the way to our new home. If you're planning to take a trip on the ferry, we highly recommend it! But we do have a few more tips. First, the ferry has two different places for eating. One is a cafeteria and the other is a restaurant. As you can imagine, it isn't the cheapest food. We actually stocked up a cooler so we had milk, cereal, fruits, bread, peanut butter, jelly, cheeses, sandwich meats, etc so we could save some money on meals. But we did eat in the cafeteria a few times. Second, while you can bring pets onto the ferry, they must stay in your car. On the first day while we were at sea, they had "pet call" every few hours for passengers to go to the car deck and let their dogs walk around. They even had a designated potty area. After our stop in Ketchikan, the rest of the stops weren't too long apart, so pet owners could walk their dogs off and back on between unloading and loading. Third, the ferry does provide entertainment! There was a kids area with toys and even a theater room that showed a few movies each day. Though we did have iPads with downloaded movies that we knew our kids would like. You can read about the next leg of our trip here. Or to start at the beginning you can read about the first leg of our trip, from New Mexico to Arizona, here. Comments or questions? We want to hear them! Make sure to pin to save for later and follow us on Instagram for more of our day to day adventures. Until next time, get out and enjoy where you live! |
AuthorWe're just a military family enjoying where we live, one PCS at a time. Follow us as we explore our current home, South Carolina, and beyond. The world is our backyard. Archives
June 2024
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