"Sing A Whale Song" - Tom Chapin

Now that you've seen the exciting entrance onto a floating hotel, here's the dull, "holey moley we've been on a boat for 40 hours..." side of it :)

First big adventure - we learned about "Things That Amaze Me #3".  A cat can fit anywhere. Especially when he's scared.  And when two people search the vehicle where he's supposed to be and they notice that the 4 windows that were left cracked open could have all been possible escape routes for said cat...preggo Mom goes into panic mode.  I was on a car deck on a moving ferry with about 50 other vehicles full of barking dogs and my cat was no longer inside our car, safe and sound!!  About 12 really loud heartbeats later I heard Chad say, "found him".  Gah.  He was under the middle bench seat.  I vacuum that car often, and I've had my head on the floor-you can't see through to the other side.  There isn't very much open space under that seat...I will say it again-Gah.  Yes, this story is kind of the opposite of dull, but I will tell you that after this I was pretty ready to be done traveling.     

Yea yea yea, I know the view was gorgeous, especially when the sun was shining and whales were sounding...

And when toddlers think it's cool that you're on a boat and not throwing temper tantrums for one reason or another, it's pretty cool, but still-there are only so many laps you can make around the ferry deck before even the toddler gets bored.


Even if the toddler is in such a good mood that you get big cheesy smiles whenever you ask for them!

This is a light house, believe it or not.  As we passed it I couldn't really see any access roads to the place.  I wouldn't be surprised if the only access was by helicopter.  After tooting our horn at them (probably pretty exciting moment for those at the light house...) we heard over the loud speaker that there was another sighting of whale spouts!

On to our 2nd full day aboard the Columbia.  We made our first stop in Ketchikan, AK at 0600.  I got up early and took the opportunity to walk to the grocery store across the street from the ferry dock.  My goal was to get some food supplies like cereal and milk and munchies so we weren't spending $6 on one of those little individual cups of cereal that are so incredibly over priced because we are on a ferry and I guess that makes everything triple in price...but I forgot that we were now in Alaska and I was never going to spend less than $5 on a box of off brand cereal again even if I wasn't on a boat. 

It was a cute little town.

Another early morning for me, this one was our last on the ferry!  Up at 6am and I was WAY too excited about getting back in the car...

...I mean, whales are cool, they will always be exciting in my book.  But, I could never live on a boat.  Too dreary.  Too small.  Even if it is a cool looking boat.

Our last grab of fresh air, about 20 min from docking in Haines, AK.

Wave bye-bye!

Things That Amaze Me #4:

A cat, a 2.5yr old, a 7.5mo preggo, and a guy that's afraid of water made it on a boat for 68 hours!!!

After waiting only 45min or so in the car for our turn to ride the car elevator, we're off the boat and back in the car!!!  Wait...did I just say that?

And only needing one more sign, I was able to get it :)