The next morning, we awoke in Haines, AK. The weather was cooperating and although a bit chilly, it wasn’t raining. I’d read about Haines and had friends tell me about the town several times so I was excited about being there and woke up at 7:15am. A little earlier then my normal 8:30-9:00.
Haines Harbor
A little to the right, more Haines harbor...
I’d planned on 3 days and 2 nights here in Haines while I waited for Dan to backpack the Chilkoot trail. He later canceled that trip so when we got to Haines, we had new plans which required we get on the ferry a couple days early. I’d already booked and paid for the ferry trip to Skagway. Changing our ticket took a little trip around 5 miles out of town to the ferry terminal and a visit to the ticket office. Not a problem and in 10 minutes we had changed our departure time and paid for it. Can’t remember how much it cost…$18 or so for the change? But even then, what with the 40% decrease in tourist traffic, we had no problem rescheduling our departure to that evening. Then we headed back to town to check out the bars and brew pubs. One of Dan’s favorite things to do.
Where I parked the RV for the night. A little seaside RV park. Low rates too.
Along the beach looking at some older Haines docks.
Looking down at the bay from the middle of the road in Haines. We had had dinner and played shuffle board in that building right down there at the end of the road. The RV park was just a 1/4 block to the left of that building.
After we wandered around town, visited the museum, found a brew pub and bought a growler of beer, hung out in three different bars while Dan sampled the local beers, we drove back to the ferry dock and staged. There were a few RV’s there but traffic was a little light. Downturn in the economy and all.
The ferry coming to pick us up.
Here we go, driving into the guts of the ship.
I did have to drive so I couldn’t get allot of pictures as we boarded.
Here's Dan, doesn't look like he's in a good mood for some reason.
Ahhh, the ocean. My favorite thing.
An interesting mountain.
More of them.
Sunset off in the distance. We still haven't left port, we're just loading people and vehicles. I wanted to get a few pixs while we still had light. The ferry didn't even leave port until 7pm and would take 2 hours to get to Skagway.
Nice dock, but it's the views that make the area interesting.
Some of the local boats. It's around 7:55PM so we still have pretty good daylight.
Here we go!
Here's one of the boats that will save our sorry asses if we hit an iceberg.
We're heading almost due West.
Started getting cold and dark as we sailed so we retired to the lounge. I tried to leave a tip later but the guy took exception to that, saying there was no tipping required or expected. Well, so? Still, he seemed offended by the tip so I picked it up.
About an hour later we passed this cruise ship on it's way out to sea.
And here is where we docked. It's too dark to really take any shots so this will have to do. We landed here in Skagway around 2 hours after we left Haines. Cost $240 or so for the trip, 37' RV. No toad.
After leaving the ferry, we just went a couple miles and drove into an RV park that is right close to the docks. Hooked up and turned on the electric heaters right away. It was close to 45°F there. Not too bad but a little chilly. Next, we explore Skagway and take a train trip.