July 28, 2013 Sunday Day 21 Back on the ferry, checked in at 8:00am, departed for Wrangell at 10:00am on the MV Columbia. The Solarium, an open area on the back of the vessel was a happening place - all kinds of tents and sleeping bags set up in the designated areas and people were hanging out enjoying the warm sunshine and soft sea breeze. We sat there for awhile, then we had some soup in the cafeteria plus some sandwiches we had brought (good old p b and j ...

July 27, 2013 Saturday Day 20 Today we couldn't wait to get to town to snag a parking place and free, 24 hour parking spots tend to be sparse. We needed a space because we had booked a 1:30pm tour to Misty Fiords National Monument. Luckily we found a space right away, so we had time to visit the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center and the Creek Street area. The Discovery Center, run by the US Forest Service, has sophisticated exhibits which illustrate native Ame...

July 26, 2013 Friday Day 19 Well it is day 19 and we can no longer put it off, it is Laundry Day. Boo! It is so sunny and pretty out. Luckily I got a somewhat early start, and was the first one in the campground laundry, so I got all 3 machines. The laundry house is fairly nice, lots of windows, and I was finished by 11am. We packed a picnic and drove north to Settlers Cove, where they say you can find a nice sandy beach. Well, apparently, they haven't been to...

July 25, 2013 Thursday Day 18 Today we took several drives around Revillagigedo Island where Ketchikan is located. We also drove through the Tongass National Forest, even on some old Forest Service gravel roads, deep into the wilderness. It is wonderful having my own personal forest ranger to drive these roads that I would never dream of attempting on my own. Michael is really at home here and he loves being back in the forests as well as back in Alaska where h...

July 24, 2013 Wednesday Day 17 We couldn't wait to get out and explore around Ketchikan, so even though it was drizzling, we headed out to Totem Bight State Park, a woodsy trail with a collection of reconstructed and restored totem poles. The story of this park: Once natives had moved away, their villages and totem poles were left behind to become overgrown by forests and eroded by weather. In 1938, the US Forest Service used the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC...