Casa Grande, AZ: Alaska Marine Highway System Trip Booked

Well, we did it -- today we pulled the trigger on our trip to Alaska. We booked the portion of our trip where we will travel by ferry on Alaska's Maritime Highway System.  

Trust me when I say it felt like quite an accomplishment. Far greater than it sounds/reads in the eighteen words of the last  sentence. I mean, there are an incredible number of options that can be combined in an almost infinite number of variations. 

Which city do 

we choose for departure: Bellingham, WA; Prince Rupert, BC; Haines, AK? Which towns will we explore by foot and in which towns will we unload the RV and spend a few days exploring: Ketchikan, Petersburg, Sitka, Juneau, Wrangell,Haines, Skagway? Which town will be our departure point: Haines, Skagway, Whittier, Valdez? Do we take the ferry Northbound at the beginning of our trip or Southbound on the return leg? 

The answer to each of these questions impacts all of your other choices. 

Less distance travelled by ferry means more mile of driving the RV + toad, no small consideration on a trip that will cover at least 6000 miles. And that's just the portion in Canada & Alaska. 

More time on the ferry means much more money than driving, even with the high fuel prices of the far Northern lands. And this ferry is not cheap for a 40 foot motor home plus our car. You can easily spend more than $5000 getting from Bellingham, Washington to Whittier, Alaska. 

After two hours on the phone with the Alaska Maritime Highway System's reservation office (with a very patient lady named Thelma), we were done. In the computer and confirmed is a trip from Prince Rupert, BC to Haines, AK. leaving in late May. We will unload the RV and explore Petersburg, Juneau and Haines. 

In addition to paying for the RV, the CR-V, and the dog, there is a charge for each passenger. All told our ferry trip will run about $2200. Our original plan would have cost about $4200 so "a little bit of driving" will save us some big bucks. Alaska is a huge state where "a little bit of driving" translates into a drive of ~ 800 miles. 

Now the fun really starts. Now we start to plan the side trips and activities we will take while in Alaska. And I thought there are a lot of options for the ferry.

Well, that's it for tonight; I'm exhausted and headed to bed. Yesterday I worked out for an hour at the gym, played pickle ball for 2 hours in 85 degree weather and then played water volleyball for two hours. It all caught up with me today. I could barely bike up to water volleyball today.

Don't feel too sorry for me, I just spent another few days in paradise.

See Ya!