Day 8 Skagway Ferry #tojuneauorbust
The last day of driving was very uneventful except we kept stopping to take pictures because we couldn’t believe how beautiful everything was! We realized our final reservation was actually at a town we would have had to take a ferry to reach. We phoned a friend and got last minute reservations for an airbnb. We were so lucky! We literally rolled into town, met the brother-in-law of the owner of the place, took his suggestions to get groceries while we waited for the key code, and then fell into freshly made beds. We gave ourselves some wiggle room for our last day, so we got to spend the night in Skagway, Alaska before taking the ferry to Juneau. It was like a Christmas Hallmark movie. I immediately made friends with the bank teller and the post office worker (who were in a scandalous argument at the time and were not speaking). We slept and rested and were just so grateful to have a comfortable place to stay that we could cook our own food and check out late due to the ferry schedule.
We chose the route we did because of the ferry situation. Juneau isn’t technically an island but you can only reach it by ferry or plane. If you take the ferry from Seattle to Juneau, it is about 3 days. If you drive up through North Dakota and into the tundra of Canada, crossing into Alaskan borders, the ferry from Skagway to Juneau is only 6 hours. This was much better for little Nina who slept like a baby throughout the entire thing. I grabbed a lounge chair under a heat lamp and napped and read under the stars until we made it to our final destination. Jeanette had made friends with an Juneau native (close enough), Lillian and got the inside scoop of where to look for my forever home and if it was a good place to raise children ( yes it is).
I jumped in the driver’s seat, J squeezed herself in-between the groceries we had acquired and we drove the 6ish miles to my new home, furnished, with sheets made and my pod of stuff from NC, sitting in the driving, just waiting to be unloaded. I could not believe how well taken care of I had been. I was going to rent a truck and move stuff out of the pod, onto the truck and to my new home. Instead, MB (Jenry’s husband), had rented a trailer and attached it to his truck and brought the pod to my doorstep. It was so easy to unload and I am all unpacked and organized!
It feels so good being here. There’s a 3 mile hiking trail about 200ft from my front door that I take Nina on when she is feeling frisky. I just can’t wait for my NP nursing license to come through and I can start seeing patients. It will happen! .
