May 31, 2024 Friday

UPDATED

May 31.  Left Wenatchee, WA 9AM PT  arrived Fairhaven/Bellingham Ak Ferry Terminal 12:45PM PT. Road Miles traveled 197.  Gas $3.49/gallon.  32 miles per gallon.  Temps 40’s to mid 60’s, sunny, breezy.

Awoke early and finished packing for the ferry.  It is notable that Wenatcheehas no casinos, maybe part of their conservative values?   Breakfast was well done with many assorted items and make your own waffle.  We cross the Columbia River to Rt 2 heading west through the Cascade Mountains and National Forest.  The produce growing continues for a while along the Wenatchee River but still in arid conditions that require irrigation, but there is plenty of snow melt in the area for rivers and then the valleys become too narrow, covered in pine trees.  We see more snow covered peaks in the distance of the Cascade Range.  Pat’s Mom loved the Cascade area in she and Dad’s travel and now we see why.  In fact we are following a truckload of Granny Smith apples not crated so likely for cider production somewhere.  We pass by an orchard of ready to pick Queen Anne cherries, a specialty of Washington exports.  Makes one wonder about the growing season here given elevation etc. There is also logging and lots of tourism in the area.  We pass through Leavenworth and it is a tourist destination based on a Bavarian theme.  It sits in a tight valley of high mountains; the post office, police station and library are just a few of all the buildings that decorate to the theme.  They even have a Howard Johnson Hotel, which we haven’t seen for years.  Maybe stop on way back for lunch on return trip.  We are seeing the headwaters of the rivers passed at lower elevations, running swiftly with clear snow melt waters.  There is some beetle damage to the trees.  We continue to climb into the pass at over 4000 ft., there is unmelted snow on the roadside, the bushes are not bloomed and we reach a ski resort.  There are dramatic waterfalls coming off the sides of the mountains.  As we come down the western side of the pass the atmosphere changes, we see different kinds of trees and foliage, very lush and there is moss on the trees.  The moss indicates there is influence of the ocean humidity.  We see our first salmon hatchery.  We enter into the large city of Everett located on one of the many bays off the Pacific ocean that sits north of Seattle on I 5. These bays have several inhabited islands.

The traffic is heavy around the city but becomes less further out.  There is purple lupine,  Shasta daisies and Broom/yellow gorse bushes growing along the highway.  We see the Olympia Mountains SW of us, still snow covered.  Mt Baker comes into view, a 14+k volcano in its conical shape, covered in snow and glacier.  A lot of the area rivers are fed from this and surrounding less elevated still snowy mountains.  There are native reservations and casinos along the way.  Cannabis is back on the local menu.  We pass through the Skagit Valley and large Skagit River fed by Baker.  There is a lot of agriculture in the area of cattle and produce.  One can board ferries to surrounding islands in this location particularly the San Juans.  

We finally reach Fairhaven, a sister city to Bellingham.  We get our tickets in the terminal and the Kennicott ferry is in port. Given it was out of service for some time in order to be serviced, still looks like it needs a lick of paint.  The terminal is a nice design with good amenities with free WIFI. The car is in line to drive it on board.   Once we are on the ferry we will be assigned our room.  There is mild  wind and sunny day so viewing should be good; we’ll get out our folding camp chairs and take it all in.  No sign of Canadian smoke at that time or throughout the trip so it is more pleasant.  We have a few pictures attached for the day but till have to finish the blog later as there is no WiFi on board.  It may be a while before we can get back to the blog but we will resume as soon as we can.  Our mileage today is driving, we will be adding nautical miles that must be converted while on the ferry.  Stand by….

Finishing up the blog for the day We sat in the lane for boarding for about and hour and a half.  Thankfully there’s a cool breeze.  They are loading RV and other large vehicles first.  They park us very tightly in the very back of the ferry hemmed in by other cars.  We will likely be one of the last to be off the ferry in Haines.  Ferry has 500 capacity and we only have 165 on board.  Being on this ferry makes us wonder if we remember our previous sailing.  Was it another ferry?  It’s all cafeteria dining and the service is slow for hot dishes.  Prices are fairly reasonable and food is okay.  The bar is next door and can take meals there.  Nothing fancy unlike the Columbia.  Our cabin is large with a bunk bed, a pull-down bed and a full pull-out couch bed.  We are able to sleep on lower beds.  We have a lot of storage, a commode and large shower in a separate room and a sink in the main room. There is no window so no clue what is happening outside.  We have a Rie Munoz print on the wall.  And once on the ferry we are on Alaska time.

We watch Mt Baker recede into the distance and even Mt Rainier gave us a shout from the south.  No volcanic activity from these two, thank you very much.  It is darkening as we pass Vancouver, BC.  We make it a night and settle into our cabin beds.