mom2four: Beware lots of pictures

Oh Internet how I have missed you. Just wanted to start with that. Where was I oh yeah about to embark on my 3rd leg of the journey. The part that I was worried most about. The FERRY. I was worried about the ferry because I knew that we were going to be in small quarters. I knew that we would have nothing to do. I knew that we were going to have 4 kids in small quarters with nothing to do. We arrived at the dock about 12:30 on Friday to check in and see what the ferry and everything was going to be like. We were told that we had to be in line by 3:00 p.m. So we left and ran some errands. We went to the bookstore ( you know how I love my books), then to the grocery store (you know how I love my groceries) and then we went to this cute little restaurant for lunch (you know how I love my lunch). The lunch was really good. Kinda pricey but yummy. It was gloomy outside and it really felt like a soup day so we went and almost all of us (not Tyler but if you know Tyler's eating habit and how picky he is you would not be surprised at all) got some very tasty clam chowder that came with some very tasty bread. (side note: Tyler did try the clam chowder and liked it alot). Then we walked around the boat terminal and then at 2:40 got in line for the ferry. I am unsure why they told us to be in line by 3. We didn't even see any personnel to line us onto the ferry until after 4. And most sadly enough we didn't actually get onto the ferry until 5:30. It took forever. Needless to say 3 hours of just sitting in a minivan with 4 kids and a dog needing to go to the bathroom isn't fun AT ALL! When we loaded into the ferry (finally) I was surprised to see how they packed all of the cars in. I was thinking it was like a parking lot under the ferry but I was wrong. It was like you were going under a 2 lane tunnel but instead of 2 cars across there is 3. The traffic is bumper to bumper and you are at a stop. Yep that is what it is like parking your car under there. Nate was soooo close to the side of the ship he had to climb over to my side to get out. After we unloaded everything from the car (that is everything but the dog, no literally we couldn't take the dog with us out of the car) we headed up to our room to see just what it was like. The rooms weren't so bad. They were 2 sets of bunk beds with about 4 feet in between them. There was a sink, a very small closet, and a bathroom (think airplane toilet) that came with a shower (think cramped hospital shower) and they you have it. We were expecting 2 of the kids to sleep on the floor every night but they all slept together in the two empty beds. Which was nice for them. I slept on my own bed and Nate his (and by the way my hip and shoulder on the opposite sides of my body ache from that bed that is why I am writing this at midnight the first day back on land. I just can't sleep). After we got all situated we cruised around the ferry to see what it was like and eventually went to the dining room to eat our dinner. We had planned on eating only 1 meal on the ferry a day because it was super pricey so we got a cooler and packed in food for breakfast and lunch/dinner everyday. The food on the ferry was typical cafeteria food. My favorite I got was chicken and fries. They had these potatoes that were almost the worst thing I have ever tasted. They tasted like someone put half pepper and half cigarette ash into the potatoes. D-I-S-C-U-S-T-I-N-G. We were about to settle in for the night when it was time for Nate to take Pretzel out to go potty for the night. You have to clean up all of your dogs messes on the ferry even there pee so I was extra thankful that Nate was going to take care of the dog. Only problem is... Pretzel wouldn't go on the cement. She waited about 35 hours to go to the bathroom when we stopped at our first port. Poor dog peed 3 times and pooped twice. I felt so bad for her having to hold it that long and at the same time was very thankful she didn't go in her kennel because that would of just been a huge mess.

The next day we got up and just hung out in our room until we went into the first port. We were docked there for 5 hours. We went to the market and picked up some treats and got Nate another book to read. It was nice to stretch our legs a little bit. Then we went back onto the boat and then they announced that they were going to show a movie in the movie theater. We went to see Despicable Me. Now don't get me wrong I was very happy to have the day broken up with a movie but it wasn't really a movie theater it was more like a big room with 20 chairs nailed to the floor and there were 2 big screen T.V's to watch it on. When that was over we went back to the room for lunch and then went back to the movie theater to watch the Sorcerers Apprentice. The rest of the day dragged on and on.

On Sunday we got up and did the usual routine. We did wander around the ferry again and went up to the covered solarium and read for a bit. It was very uneventful especially since the movies were the same ones we watched already.

Today we did some more walked around the boat and played lots of cards games. We finally docked in Haines, AK at 2:30 p.m. It didn't take us that long to get off of the ferry which was so surprising because of how long it took to get on it. Although I sound very negative it wasn't really that bad at all. We could of been driving for several hours everyday anyway and would been stuck in a small space with 4 kids and a dog with nothing to do. Plus we did see a whale from a distance which was super cool. And not many people can say they were on a ferry for 3 days! It really was a good experience.

It felt very nice to get off of the ferry. It is especially nice to be able to sit up in bed without ducking first. Oh another crummy thing that happened is that our battery died in the van so until we can get to a Honda dealership (800 miles away) we are without our navigation system, our radio and worse the DVD player.