Day 10!

Amazingly enough, the rocking seemed to help with everyone’s sleep and we all got tons of rest. Until 4:30 when Timothy decided to get up. Now normally I would have made him go back to sleep, but when I checked my phone I thought it was 5:30, because while we weren’t technically on Alaska time yet, the boat was. So I discovered after we’d been walking around the boat for a little while that I let him get up at 4:30. Ooops.

It’s hard to be too sorry about that, though, because it worked out well. Most of the passengers were still sleeping while Timothy and I made our way up and down staircases and eventually ended up at the back deck area of the ferry. From there we stood alone in the chilly morning wind and I just…absorbed. The mountains, the calm of the water, the fact that we are going to Alaska…All of it. Those early morning hours go down as one of my favorite parts of the trip so far.

Breakfast in the dining room when it eventually opened was delicious, and then I headed back down to the room with the boys so that Josh could rest with a movie and Timothy could take a nap (since he’d been up for hours). I wanted to be outside for our first open water crossing (aka when the ferry rocks like a teeny little boat on big waves…okay, I’m 100% exaggerating, but that’s what it feels like), partially because I’m less nervous outside in the fresh air, and partially because I get slightly queasy during these sections and I know being outside makes me feel better. I figured this was good timing for a nap since according to the time chart in the dining room, we had another few hours before we reached it.

Five minutes, five minutes after I had Timothy soundly asleep and was therefore stuck in the room, the captain announced our first open water crossing.

Ahem. Seriously???

I wrote in my notebook that motherhood is knowing you get seasick and staying inside your cabin during an open water crossing anyway because your exhausted one year old just fell asleep…

I spent the next hour a half of the crossing alternating between looking out the window, checking on the boys to make sure they didn’t roll out of bed (haha), praying, and looking up Bible verses about fear. The cool thing about the open water crossing at Queen Charlotte Sound was how much it taught me about faith and trust and the ways I sometimes don’t exercise those. Faith when you’re in control? Not really faith…Something to think about.

The shoreline was beautiful even during this bumpy part of the voyage—beautiful rugged coastline with jagged rocky shores dotted by dark evergreens.

After that open water crossing ended, we ate lunch in the snack bar, wandered around a little, then I took the kids back for a nap again. They took wonderful naps and I think I took a little of one too. I woke up with the realization that this was an adventure and I was really having fun! I was determined to enjoy the rest of our journey and not waste time worrying.

Cue Open Water Crossing #2. (And hear the “bahahahaha” in the background).

They announced it while Josh was still sleeping (though Timothy had woken up), so I thought I would be stuck in the room again. Thankfully Josh woke up quickly so we were able to leave the room and try to find a better place to watch what was going on.

This one, while shorter, was much rougher than the first had been and we had a hard time walking around the ship. Watching from the front observation lounge was…intense because we could really see how high the front of the boat would go before it crashed down onto the dark waves again. I was still looking for John (and for a better spot) so we walked all over the ship. Eventually we decided on the side deck near our cabin, which was a good place to watch. From there I was able to enjoy the view, like the way the dark water almost looks like liquid steel, and the way the seafoam really is an earie, glowing light green underneath the white sudsey part you see at first.

I was calming down when I felt Timothy (who was in the baby carrier) tense like he needed to throw up. That’s when I noticed that he was cold, clammy, and slightly green. I tried to get him to watch the horizon and he hung in there until the crossing was over. From there I took him down to the room to watch Thomas as his reward for hiking all over the boat with his mommy who didn’t realize her baby might get seasick.

John hung out with the boys in the room this time and I spent a lot of time on one of the side decks, sitting on a metal pylon that’s probably really for rope and not for use as a bench, talking with my parents and enjoying the scenery. We watched mountain islands rise out of the cloudy mist and I realized that the clouds up here are different than the clouds anywhere else that I have seen. They seem almost to come from the mountain side itself, and they’re entirely ethereal looking, more silver than grey. Sitting there just watching, taking pictures, was one of the most relaxing parts of the trip.

Here are some of the ones I took...

Dinner on Day 10 was delicious—I had salmon—and we watched out the window as we passed the beautiful Canadian coastline. I don’t get why more people don’t live out here. I know it’s isolated and there are no utilities on random islands, but it’s so beautiful and people don’t see it as often as I feel like land like this deserves to be seen. I think that’s part of what captivates me about this part of the world—there is so much beauty that it’s not…overly popular. I’m not sure how to explain that other than to say we passed over ten beautiful waterfalls yesterday, and none of them are famous. None of them had huge crowds (or any crowds) around them. It makes you feel like you might be the only one who has ever gasped at the beauty of a particular waterfall, or noted the way it cascades down an entire seaside mountain. It’s like God made this part of creation for you. It’s beautiful and personal while it’s isolated.

Such a land of contrasts. That’s why I love it.

Day 9

We left whatever little town in Washington we spent the night in and headed for Bellingham after a good night’s sleep.

It turned out that we’d driven further than originally planned on Day 8, so instead of having two or three hours of driving to Bellingham, we had less than one. Hurray! It was much less stressful this way, not having to worry about whether or not we would be on time to catch the ferry.

Just outside of the city we stopped at Blanchard Mountain Coffee company for coffee. Actually we stopped for gas and a bathroom break, but this is Washington, after all, so no one was surprised to see a drive through espresso shop. I got an Americano, which is always a little bit of a risk, but it is incredible. Although I just found out there are three shots of espresso in it instead of my usual two shots. That could have something to do with it…

When we arrived in Bellingham, it looked much like I’d remembered. It’s a cute little town built on the hillside with lots of adorable shops downtown within walking distance of the ferry terminal. It was all a little too “hipster” for John, but I really enjoyed it.

One of my friends I met on an online pastor’s wives forum, Kelsey, drove down from Canada with her family to hang out with us. It was so fun to meet her in person and get to meet her kids and husband too! They spent a lot of the day with us and helped the time pass by much more quickly. Any guesses as to how easy it is to keep two active boys contained and quiet in one building for hours?

Haha. Yeah.

We got in our truck to be ready to drive on at three and were about twenty minutes early. We eventually discovered, however, that the ferry people have you ready way before it’s actually time. Part of the reason we waited so long may have been because of where we are getting off—they seemed to have organized the cars somewhat by destination, which makes logical sense. Sometime after five—five thirty, maybe? Maybe a little before—we drove onto the ferry, grabbed the kids and our luggage, and headed up the stairs.

(Above is the view from our cabin window. It's the center of the boat--cool, huh?)

(Do you see this tent? That's how some people sleep on the ferry. On the deck. In a tent.

I love Alaska.

John loved the first night on the ferry. Josh was excited to board but once we got on he wanted to go back to the dock. And me? If you know me you know that I’m really not good at trying new things (even new-ish—since I’ve done this before) without being nervous about something, so I struggled with that the first day. We had a delicious 4^th of July dinner in the dining room here (which is super nice!!) and then put the boys (and me) to bed.

Day 8

Leaving Fruitland on the morning of Day 8 was bittersweet. We are headed to Alaska, which is more exciting than I can express, so driving away put us closer to that goal. But I wished we could have stayed longer with the extended Foss family. We really all just need to live in the same place again.

The drive was gorgeous on Day 8. Well, gorgeous in between the parts that were utterly brown and unremarkable. The streams in Oregon reminded me of the streams and rivers in Alaska, with shallow, clear water glittering over the rocks. I could definitely live in Oregon.

 

We stopped for coffee in Ellensberg, Washington. Are you sensing a theme with our stops yet? It was good, although nothing has compared to Laramie, Wyoming yet as far as coffee. The coffee here was good…It was a fairly light espresso roast, it tasted like, with a hint of nuttiness. Maybe more than a hint since John is allergic to nuts and showed some signs of a possible small allergic reaction after drinking it.

We saw Mt. Rainier in the distance from far away. There was another big mountain in the middle of nowhere, so it took us a little while to figure out for sure which one was Mt. Rainier. It was huge, still snowcovered, and kind of….loomed in the distance. It’s hard to describe how it looked…but it almost looked like it knew it was a big deal. Like it demanded respect in a quiet, seemingly-peaceful way.

Clearly I need more coffee this morning…

 We stopped on the summit of Snoqualmie Pass and it was adorable. I could live here too. The mountain views, the coffee shops everywhere…I’m pretty sure God designed me for the Pac Northwest.

 We stopped for the night past our original goal. We’d meant to stop in Snoqualmie, but couldn’t find an RV park. So we got a hotel in Marysville instead.

Day 7

We spent Day 7 in Idaho with friends. From my friend Rachael’s house, we took a “quick” walk to Walmart. It was a mile there and a mile back, which reminded me that they’re from Alaska. Haha. Don’t get me wrong, it actually was fun walk, and not too long. It was just longer than I expected. People where I’m from in Georgia don’t really walk anywhere. At least no one I know really walks to get anywhere. We may take walks, but most of the people I know take a car if they have a destination in mind. I don’t know if it’s the heat/humidity or just the lifestyle in general, but people out here walk more (and further). So that was fun, but just a reminder that mindsets are so different.

In other news, I am planning to do some fun blog posts after our trip with what I’m calling my “Vacation Induced Resolutions.” When we drove to Alaska in 2011 I made a list in the RV on the way home of things I had decided I wanted to do differently because of our trip. Some of these were things that the people we stayed with did, and some were things from Alaska in general. For instance, there are so  many pretty flowers around the city, so I decided that despite my black thumb, I wanted to have some pretty flowers at my house. I did plant pansies earlier this year, so it only took me three. Haha. But things like that. This year one I’ve already made a note of is the toy storage at Rachael’s house—the toys were cleaned up so fast there! And in my house it takes so much longer, so I think there’s something I can do to make that better…anyway, I’m planning to make a huge list and share it in August, probably. I’m liking this whole blogging thing, so I think keeping up with it will be on my list too.

From Rachael’s, we drove to her parents’ house in Fruitland, Idaho. The Fosses have been our friends for fourteen years, which is a long time especially when you consider how often my family has moved. Being with them was like being with family—it didn’t matter that a decade and a half had passed since we spent time together regularly. We all just fell back into our normal routines, although some things have changed with time. Rachael’s siblings have all grown up and now the little kids running around were our kids. We had a fabulous time just being together, swimming, eating incredible homemade icecream, drinking insane amounts of coffee (one of the things that cements our friendship), and playing Apples to Apples until way too late into the night.

I was too busy having fun to get many pictures on this day--but I think there may be some on my Facebook if Rachael tagged me in them? 

Day 6

 We left Evanston, Wyoming and headed to Boise on the morning of Day 6! It was exciting to be closer to seeing our friends, but the RV park from this night was probably my favorite so far. It was just shaded and natural enough to feel like camping, but nice enough with nice facilities to not feel like we were roughing it.

The thing about roughing it, lest all of my outdoorsy friends think I’ve sold out, is that it’s really fun short term. And it’s really fun if you’re an adult. But when you’re camping semi-long term with two small kids, some aminities are nice. My favorite one at this RV park was the playground. I’m such a mom, right? The funny thing about the playground is that it was metal. Now y’all who had kids a long time ago or who don’t have kids yet might not pay much attention to playgrounds these days, but let me tell you…if they are metal at all (and that’s a big if), they’re coated metal. Most parts of them are plastic.

This playground was just straight up silver colored metal.

The slide was plastic, but the drop off was kind of like the slide of doom, so that made up for it. The moral of the story is that nothing about this playground was safe. It looked like the ones I grew up with, where you could use your imagination and play and be just a little bit unsafe. I hadn’t realized how tame playgrounds were these days…

Our drive took us into Utah very quickly and the interstate went into the mountains. The rocks on the mountains were red, and they contrasted with the green trees. It was all at once desolate and beautiful, and utterly isolated wilderness in places. The interesting thing out here is that it sometimes seems arbitrary where the towns are. It’s just wilderness and then all of the sudden there’s a town.

We drove fairly close to the Great Salt Lake. We may have seen part of it? We’re not really sure. But we did enjoy looking at the faded, hazy desert mountains in the distance. It’s so interesting to me how the mountains all have different colors.

In Mountain Home, Idaho we stopped for coffee at a drive through stand (why can’t we have more of those in Georgia???), and then through Boise to Nampa, Idaho where my friend Rachael lives. We spent the night at her adorable house with her and her family. That was one of the highlights in the trip since it had been six years since we’d seen each other, and we’ve each had two kids since then. The boys got along well, our husbands had fun talking theology, and we enjoyed catching up and getting to talk in person, instead of on the phone while we fold laundry.