Day 46: Haines & The Ferry

Museums, Wildlife, and the Ferry

Ferry Pulls Into the Dock

We woke this morning to another overcast day in Haines, but it never did really rain.  So, we decided to take a walk around the town and catch the galleries and museums that were closed yesterday.  We didn’t have to check-in at the ferry until 5:30, and since our rental host was nice enough to let us keep the apartment all day, we could make a leisurely late morning and full afternoon of continued exploration of this great Alaskan town.

Our first stops were galleries, where Bob picked up an orange-and-maroon eagle print from a native artist, and I picked up a gorgeous utility knife made by a local craftsman.  (Sorry no pictures, those are tucked away in the car, below deck, right now.)

Museums

Next we began our 3 museum run at The Hammer Museum.  Yes, that is really a thing, and it is just what it sounds like.  This:

The Hammer Museum in Haines, AK

The collection was truly unique and included something for everyone.  For example, these were some of Bob’s favorites:

Boiler Maker’s Hammers, for Boiler Bob

This Old Hammer from Denver

And, this was the section I liked:

Modern Art Hammers at the Hammer Museum—for decoration only

But, the museum was not just hammers; it included many hammer related items including this special piece of barbed-wire.  So, once again Bob & Lisa visit a museum with barbed wire.

Barbed Wire Museum Exhibit—Check!

Our next stop was the Haines Sheldon Museum, a collection of artifacts and memorabilia from the area.  In addition to those exhibits, they had an gallery with a special exhibition of mezzotints by artist Chirs Nowicki.  He currently lives and works in Poland (but is from the US), and spends summers helping native artist translate their work into prints.  I thought his work was marvelous—but unfortunately all of the prints I really liked were already sold.  Not sure if I can find his work for sale elsewhere in the US, but I’m definitely going to try.

Bob also made a connection at the museum.  A local pilot was manning the museum desk, and as we browsed the gift shop he offered to sign a copy of his book if we bought it.  Of course Bob did.  The book is Panhandle Pilot by Bob Adkins.  And here are Bob and Bob:

Bob with Panhandle Pilot author Bob Adkins

We attempted to go to the Alaska Indian Arts museum again today, and though it was supposed to be open it was closed when we got there.  A sign said they would be back in about 45 minutes, but since we had to catch the ferry, we alas had to skip that one.


Our final museum was the American Bald Eagle Foundation.  They had a huge taxidermy exhibit (sorry no pictures of Lisa with Bears this time), and some native minerals.  But the real attraction was the birds.

They have two disabled Eagles living in their aviary, who are available for visits. Here they are:

Two disabled Eagles, longing to be free (but probably much safer in their aviary).

And here is a picture of a real eagle looking at the mural of eagles in the wild:

Can you tell which is real and which is a mural?

Around Town

As we walked around town from gallery to museum to gallery, we stopped for several interesting attractions.

These little guys were everywhere.  We don’t know exactly what type of caterpillar they are—but you have to be careful not to step on them.

Some Kind of Caterpillar

We also saw a bunch of these brightly colored (and highly poisonous) mushrooms.

Not sure if one side will make you bigger and the other make you small, but we’re not going to find out.

We also saw this steam powered drilling machine.  But, instead of taking a picture of it, Bob snapped a picture of the boiler internals.  A pretty cool shot, taken completely blind.

The arrow points to where the picture below was taken.

Boiler Internals for Steam Powered Drilling Machine.

And finally, the day would not be complete without a crane sighting.  This one is on a barge in the Haines harbor.

Barge with crane—Haines, AK

Our last meal in Haines was a great one—fantastic fish and chips at the Bamboo room.  If you’re ever in Haines, that is the place to go.

And finally, before we took off for the ferry we gassed up M with the most expensive fuel we have seen in the USA.  But at least it was premium, so she was happy.

Most expensive gas we saw in the US this trip.  Yes, $4.21/gallon

The Ferry

We had to arrive at the ferry 2 hours in advance of departure time, and of course we got there a bit earlier than that.  After checking in, we headed to our boarding lane to wait for the boat to arrive.  Here is M waiting in line.

M waits in line for the ferry

This is what it looked like from Bob & Lisa’s point of view:

Empty Ferry Dock in Haines—Taken from boarding area.

The main picture shows the boat pulling to dock.  When it arrived we were quite disappointed.  Our boat was supposed to be the big fancy Columbia, but something went wrong and they had to change boats at the last minute.  This is our boat, the Malaspina, a smaller, older, slower, boat with far fewer amenities. Here she is:

Did you guess that this is a picture of the ferry brochure?

It took them quite a bit of time to load the boat, but here we are driving aboard:

M Driving Onto Ferry

Luckily, we had reserved the biggest most expensive cabin on the boat—as this boat had a comparable one and we were not displaced.  We picked it because it had a sitting area, and the only way to get a sitting area was to get 4 berths.  Had we, like a bunch of other people, opted to save a bit of money and go with a 2 berth cabin with no sitting area, we would have found ourselves without a cabin.  The original boat had a whole deck of those cabins, and this boat has only 29.  So, we counted ourselves very lucky.  

Here is where we are on the boat.  Tomorrow when it is light we’ll take some pictures out the window and take a picture of the cabin itself.

Our cabin location

By the time we pulled away from the dock it was dark.  But the view from deck was stunning as the terminal receded into the distance.

From the Ferry, pulling away from the dock.

Our ferry journey will last 4 nights and 3 days, and follow the schedule below:

Ferry Trip Itinerary

We are allowed to get off during stops, but not sure what will be in walking distance of the dock.  So, we’ll see.  Hopefully the stops will at least permit some connectivity so we can keep you updated.
--Lisa

NOTE: This is being posted at midnight while the ferry pulled into port at Juneau, AK.  Bob is sleeping, but I made it a point to stay up and take advantage of the temporary Internet access to post this blog.  No idea of when I’ll be able to post again, but I’m hoping I may be able to pick up Internet at the tail end of the Sitka stop.