Alaska P5

After a light breakfast in the breakfast nook of the Hampton Inn, drivers who had cars shipped to Bellingham met at 8:30 for the limo ride to the warehouse about 4 miles away. When we arrived, w found the cars in good order in a warehouse next to the ferry terminal. Some drivers checked in at the ferry terminal, if they had picture ID for their passengers. The rest of us gassed up and drove back to the inn.

When I arrived, Jo and I set up to hand out the “Goodie Bags” with the license plate, tour directory ,badges, club pins and flashlights (a gift from the Bakers and the Smiths). This took some doing as the tour members were moving in and about getting ready to depart the inn. A rain shower came up and threatened to spoil our day, but it soon blew over and we had a nice morning after all.

We, with the Olsons, checked out at about noon and drove to Old Town for lunch. We found a “Hippy” restaurant that served lots of organic and other food that was supposed to be good for us. Fortunately they also served some “real” food like bacon and eggs, so we filled up and then the gals went shopping while Dennis and I sat in the sun on a bench on the street corner and “people watched.” Dennis has had an attack of sciatica the past couple of days and walking is not too easy for him. He is taking some Advil, which has helped some.

Then it was down to the port where Jo and I got our tickets after joining the line of cars for Skagway. It was a wait of a couple of hours, but we managed to while away the time visiting with our old and new friends on the tour and finished giving out “Goodie Bags.”

Finally, the line began to move at 3:00 PM. We were in the second line to load. We drove aboard and were whisked up one deck on an elevator and soon were parked and reporting to the purser for our room key. We explored the ship and lounged around until 6:00 PM when the ship weighed anchor and we were soon in the Straights of San Juan De Fuca and on our way to the Inland Passage and Alaska.

An hour later — 6:00 PM Alaska Time (which is the ship’s clock time), we decided to have bite to eat in the snack bar. The thoughts of a big dinner in the dining room were not too appealing after our hearty lunch. We gabbed some at the table and then went up to try to get some pictures of the sunset. I fear that we were too late for the best shots.

At 8:15 we were permitted to go to our cars for anything we had forgotten. Good night! Hope I can make a connection tomorrow to get this on the web.