As I have said before: travelling is a transitory thing and so things, and people, move on. It was still with a tinge of sadness that I said farewell to Roland, Travis, Jessica and Will. The hostel had a good vibe to it and these people had only enhanced it – plus Charlie, who had left a message on the notice board reading: “Thank you all for a memorable stay. May the force be with you... always!”
I got up within two howls of the alarm and silenced it before it disturbed anyone else too much. When I returned from the shower all the other beds were empty, so I got my bags down the stairs – in two runs – and then found Roland & Ryan getting stuck in to their own breakfasts. I joined them by depleting more of my stock of Frosties (Kellogs ones – not Scumbag Nestle) but still left enough for Jessie – and some milk to go with them. I brewed up the last of the coffee, and recycled the tin, which provided just enough for Ryan, Jessie & I. Travis, Roland and Jessie were due to set about demolishing the walkway down one side of the hostel. Travis & Jessie had previously dug out some very big holes for posts to support a new decking walkway which would be much wider. This was in arrangement with Christy for rent reduction and Travis, a carpenter by trade, had completed some drawings for the new deck walkway. I thought it would look most impressive when finished. I might even have to go back and see the completed article one day.
Whilst they were attacking this; Ryan very kindly repacked half his car in order to accommodate my bag. He had cleared the front seat the previous evening having offered me a lift – nice bloke. I said if it was too much hassle I would be happy to take a taxi as I would have had to do this if he hadn’t arrived. “It will fit.” He asserted – and it did. Having said our final goodbyes with handshakes, hugs and back slaps, we set off for the ferry terminal.
We arrived in plenty of time as the ferry was delayed in its arrival and wasn’t due to dock until 11:00.
I purchased my ticket and completed all the paperwork commensurate with entering the United States of Paranoia.
Having waited an hour the ferry arrived and started disgorging vehicles & people. Ryan had already driven through the customs check area and I went and waited dutifully with the rest of the foot passengers to be called through.
The immigration process was most strange as the Customs guy seemed more interested in what I did for a job and what it entailed than anything else – rather odd as I had ticked the “No” box for the question of whether I had ever been involved in espionage before. Perhaps I just had that James Bond English reserve look about me. (Feel free to wet yourself laughing at that – I nearly did.) I didn’t make the mistake of saying I was redundant again – I did when I entered Canada and that got me a whole bunch of grief explaining what that was – but just played on “my last employment”. This was quite embarrassing as they wanted to know the name and telephone number of my company and wanted to know if I had any company ID on me. What the fuck for if I was there for pleasure? I refrained from treating him to one of Mother’s own disdainful looks and just played along. If there was some weird psychology or reverse-psychology behind this line of questioning it was totally lost on me. Anyway the upshot was I got my passport stamped and I was admitted to the USA – God Help America!
I boarded the ferry and found my way to a lounge where I could dump my bags and go and explore. I met Ryan on the aft deck and we stood and watched the ferry leave the dock. We were now on the Alaska Marine Highway.
We wandered around the ship to get familiar with its layout and then had something to eat in the canteen. Burger & fries (remember chips are crisps here) was the least offensive of the choices so you see how good it was. Whilst standing up on the Solarium Deck (a covered area which is actually heated – not very energy efficient!) I saw some water spouts off to starboard. After seeing these a few more times I decided I was no hallucinating and pointed them out to Ryan. He saw them and agreed they were probably whale spouts. There were about six or seven of them and they were moving, but nothing broke the surface more than a vague hump, so they could have been whales or dolphin. Not long after this we ran into some turbulence and the good ol’ ship was rockin’ & rollin’ in a rather hefty swell. Poor old Ryan went very pale and didn’t look very well. I convinced him if he could go to sleep he would feel better, either that or stay out on deck in the fresh air. He opted for sleep and achieved it and when he woke up he had his colour back and felt a lot better.
Our first stop was in Ketchikan and we had about 90 minutes so we decided to get off and have something to eat. As a security measure Ryan offered his trusty Honda to lock my bags in whilst we disembarked, an offer I took him up on straightaway with thanks. We selected a restaurant/diner which was part of “The Landing” hotel – perhaps not that imaginative in names but very apt – as it was literally just across the road from the terminal. As Ryan had left his watch back in Michigan it was down to me for timekeeping. I told Ryan; “no problem, I will tell you the time every five minutes.” He said: “that’s good because I will probably ask you every three minutes.” We had a chuckle at that as we had both been rather anal about our tickets, which pocket they were in and not losing them!
We settled in and had a beer and a damn good meal which Ryan paid for courtesy of the Wrangell newspaper he will be working for. I did offer him money as I have some of the monopoly stuff which passes for US currency. Actually that is an insult to monopoly money because at least the notes are different colours. Dollars are all the same size, shape and colour and really helpfully for partially sighted people I’m sure. (As I trust there will be a mainly British audience for this I am sure I don’t have to explain the irony in that. If any Americans are reading this; that was called “irony” and it might be in one of your dictionaries.) The upshot of this was Ryan refused any money as he has an expense allowance and intends to use it. I thanked him again.
Having returned to the ferry before it sailed - we could see it from the table we were sitting at and both expressed the disaster it would be if it sailed off without us taking all our worldly belongings with it – we settled down for a lovely sleep feeling full and contented.
I woke up in the early hours and decided to visit the observation lounge. Wow, I have never seen The Plough, or Big Dipper, so low in the sky and literally dead ahead – no wonder they adopted it as the Alaska flag. Likewise Orion was so low on the mountains it looked like he was having a lie down. It was very interesting to see some familiar constellations seemingly much closer (I know they aren’t) and definitely lower in the night sky. Having seen enough to be very tired again I went back to my seat, comfortably reclined, and went back to sleep.
I woke up about 10:30 and decided to listen to some sounds whilst Ryan slept peacefully on. The wonderful Sennheisers came into their own again, drowning out all the air conditioning and engine rumbling noise leaving unpolluted sound to be enjoyed.
Ryan woke up about 11:00 and we went up on deck for a smoke and watched a rash of lights appear in the distance. “That could be your new home.” I said as it coalesced into a small town’s worth of lights. There were mist patches clinging to the sea in clumps which looked quite eerie. I asked Ryan if he had read “The Fog” and he hadn’t so I said no more. It was also weird the way the mist clung around the rock with the lighthouse on top so the light shone out through the mist making it all look quite surreal.
The clump of lights was Wrangell and we docked at midnight. After we had watched the crew tie the boat up; a very slick and well executed process, it was time to say goodbye to Ryan. I wished him well for his writing, publishing and journalism and hoped he liked his new home. He wished me well for my travels and living. Being the sentimental sod I am I watched his Honda clear the vehicle ramp and gave it a wave just in case he was looking. I then had 45 minutes to wait before the ferry set off again for our next destination – Petersburg. We should get there approximately 4:30am.
In the meantime I have written this up so far and will probably be asleep when we get there.
I did wake up when we got to Petersburg and got up to have a wander round the deck and survey the town in darkness – well the ferry terminal was lit up. I couldn’t honestly say I saw anything of Petersburg, so I went back to sleep.
I awoke as day was dawning and went to watch it get brighter. Like Cowardly Sir Robin I turned my tail and fled to the observation lounge as the wind on deck had nasty vicious long teeth that bit anything exposed – one of the first things I will do in Juneau is get some gloves!
I saw the pod of Humpbacks before the announcement was made over the PA. I did venture out on deck for this and, hopefully, got some pictures that might be worth saving. Remember these are real wild whales not the poor trained things doing tricks for sad humans who pay for such dubious pleasures, so they weren’t “putting on a show” for my camera, or my benefit. There were a good eight to a dozen in the pod and they were all breaching and blowing with abandon. (I don’t know if whales are gay, so I hesitate to use the word.) My hands took a good ten minutes to warm up again after returning to the observation lounge, and then I went back to my corner in the recliner lounge and fell asleep again.
I woke at 11:45 and decided I would not “drop off” again as we were scheduled to dock in Juneau at 13:15. I rechecked my bags making sure everything was packed and I hadn’t forgotten anything. I then went back to the observation lounge and noticed buildings on the shore line. This indeed was Juneau – well the ferry terminal anyway! We docked at 13:00 and I disembarked – no I bloody well didn’t “deship” – and headed for the terminal. I am assuming that all the terminals on the AMH (Alaska Marine Highway) are all the same, i.e. the block built equivalent of a shack with bugger all in them but a ticket desk, some seats and some telephones. As Juneau is Alaska’s capital this was obviously a deluxe one as it had a tourist information desk – unmanned and consisting of some bus schedules. I have to say this is the worst serviced terminal I have encountered so far. There is no shuttle bus service to downtown, the nearest bus stop is 1.75 miles away (“turn right out of the parking lot and up the hill”) and the “share a taxi” stand, which I stood at for twenty minutes, had no one to share it with. As a result a taxi driver who had dropped off his fare saw me waiting and asked if I needed a ride. As I was cold and 15 miles away from downtown Juneau I bit the bullet and said “yes”. The taxi driver was a nice friendly guy and pointed out all the beauty spots and points of interest on the way into town – which took twenty minutes. He also took me past a camping and hiking shop pointing it out specifically as I had asked him where I might get some gloves. He took me to the hostel (which is shut between 9am and 5pm) and hailed a woman who was going in the door with a small child to see if there was anywhere I could stash my bags as I certainly didn’t want to carry them about with me – not when you see the steepness of the hills (mountainsides) that residential Juneau is built on. The commercial places are all on the flat but down by the water.
The cabbie was obviously a good bloke because he only asked me for $30 when the meter showed $33.80. Having stashed my big bag in the storage room round the back of the hostel I set off back into town. I located the camping shop and duly bought myself a pair of gloves and a windproof hat. The good old Southend United woolly hat is great under my hood but it is not windproof and when that icy wind got going it was like having a scalp massage with a sack of sewing needles.
I covered most of downtown Juneau and the old quarter during the afternoon. The residential parts, and there are some stunning houses with what must be amazing views ranged up the mountainside – see the picture taken from outside the hostel.
The other part of Juneau sprawls around the mountain, as in the other side of it, and is about 5Km away from the downtown area.
As I was beginning to wend my way back to the hostel in time for it’s opening I sought out a coffee place, and found one – Heritage Coffee. This has to come a close second to Serious Coffee, it was beautiful – I had two.
I got to the hostel with fifteen minutes to wait, so I did. As I was waiting a lovely looking young lady appeared and tried to get in. I told her it didn’t open until 17:00 and she asked what it was like. All I coul tell her was what I had gleaned from the Internet and the feedback to their site – which was very complimentary. Her name was Jamie and she originates from Ohio but had been living in Seattle for the last four years. We chatted about a few things and had a laugh and then the hostel opened up so we went in. Jamie was staying with a mate of hers and her lover and was suffering from “three’s a crowd” syndrome so she was just checking out places to run away to, so she might be back. I booked in and first off set about getting a shave and a shower to remove two days worth of grime form sitting on a ferry. I felt much better afterwards.
The next thing I had to do was sort out the important thing – the Rugby World Cup Final.
I had a word with the guy on reception, Greg, who was most helpful, and he gave me the number of a sports bar which may be screening it. I rang them from the telephone in the lounge – free local calls – and got confirmation that they are! “Thank you, I will see you tomorrow.”
The only thing left after this was food. I found a lovely pub downtown and had their surf & turf, which consisted of elk and “shrimps”. That is what the waitress told me. The elk was lovely, a very strong dark meat along the lines of venison, but the “shrimps” were baby lobsters! I could not get a whole one in my mouth, they were two bites big!
After finishing this I had a nice calorie burning climb back to the hostel, which certainly kept me warm as there was no cloud, the moon looked like it had been placed in the sky by a celestial set designer and the air had that sharp cold smell (and feel) like I have not experienced in a UK “winter” for a long long time. It gets mighty cold in them there mountains.
My laundry was dry and waiting for me in the tumble dryer so I unloaded it and sorted it out it in neat piles on one of the unused beds as I have a dorm room to myself. There is one other Japanese guy staying here and he has one too.
I am getting this updated and will post it as they have wireless Internet access – yippee.
I am then going to get an early night so I can have a solid, comfortable, horizontal sleep. I also want to be refreshed and awake for England’s triumphant retention of the William Webb Ellis Trophy!
Happy dreams.
No comments:
Post a Comment