Fox and I left Aunt Debbie’s house Friday morning and drove north to a town called Bellingham, WA, where our ferry was. We checked in at the terminal about 2pm and they told us to go get our car in line to board the ferry between 3 and 4. So we did. Friends, all I’m gonna says is they did not start boarding us until 6:30pm. 6:30! We sat in that prius for 4 hours!!!!! Poor Fox had such a headache. She was just about ready to burst. I had a great phone conversation with someone cool so my four hours when a lot better until my phone died. Eventually we did get on the ferry and started to unload the things we thought we’d need for the next 3 days and nights.
A little about our ship:
We are taking the Alaskan Marine Highway from Bellingham, WA to Haines, AK. It will take 3 days to get there. They stop at several other ports along the way which is why its taking so long. We are on a ship called The Malaspina. It’s 408 feet long and can hold up to 701 passengers. I bet there are less than 200 people on our ship. The lower deck is where all the cars are parked. Fox and I were surprised to find out that people have pets that they have to leave in their cars. You can access your vehicles during specific times throughout the day, but we can’t figure out where the pets go to the bathroom. Gee, the things that make us go hmmmm?
Our ship has a mini movie theater (which is only showing kids movies on this trip), a cafeteria, a recliner lounge, a cocktail lounge, an observation deck, a play area (if you can call it that), some video games, a gift shop, a dining room, a shower room, a bunch of cabin rooms (that you have to pay extra for), and a solarium. All in all a pretty decent ferry.
Fox and I were one of the last ones to board with our car (go figure) and get unpacked and to the upper deck before we left port. I have never carried so much stuff at one time, I should change my name to Pack Mule instead of City Mouse! We had to carry our stuff up 3 or 4 flights of stairs, many outdoors, to the top of the ship, the Solarium. The plan was to pitch our tent, put our air mattress inside and make a little private campsite. As it turns out, the Solarium was really tiny and only had 3 walls, and the rest was open deck. There were heat lamps, but many of them were not working and in our mad rush to get out of the car deck before we left port, we left behind most of our blankets. (duh.) There were lounge chairs on the Solarium deck and about 7 or 8 were already claimed with sleeping bags. One of the men informed us that we couldn’t pitch a tent under the heat lamps, it had to be out in the open air. I looked around, noticed that it was almost all men out there and we decided to explore the ship for other options. We hit gold pretty quickly in the recliner lounge. Basically a big, enclosed room that has rows of chairs, similar to a large airplane. We noticed people setting up little sleeping areas on the floors, between chairs, and across rows of chairs. We spotted and empty row, claimed it, and moved out stuff in from the Solarium. We spread out all our stuff, made ourselves something to eat from the food bag, and then noticed some other spots that were good ones. I found a dark little corner in the back of the lounge and moved my camp there. Fox found a table that opened up where she could lay across the row of chairs (being a shorty comes in handy at times like this…my 5’8”ness was not going to fit), so we moved her camp to there. By this point everyone in the lounge in now probably wondering where else we are going to move to. But I think we are pretty content with our choices. There are a row of lockers by me so Fox and I decide to get one to keep our purses in for the night. We fish around and find the only two quarters we have and get a locker. About 5 seconds after we lock them in and pay for it, Fox realizes she wants her crochet needle out of it. So we open the locker back up, loose our $.50, and decide to forget the lockers.
Fox came over to “my room” for awhile and we watched some Friends episodes on my computer. Then they turned lights out around 8:30/9:00 so we decided there was not much else to do but go to bed. I didn’t sleep to well. Not because I was uncomfortable, but because it was 9-freaking-o’clock and I wasn’t tired. I woke up about 2am. Stayed up for a bit to write this entry, then went back to sleep about 3:30. I was up this morning at 7, took a shower, and Fox and I went and got breakfast in the cafeteria. We are now hanging out in Fox’s “room” aka, the table. Me, writing, she, crocheting. I spent most of the morning walking around meeting everybody. I met two girls that are going to be making the same drive as us to Anchorage, so we are going to try and caravan together. I met 2 guys named Nick, on from AK and one from Jersey. And currently there is a cute guy sitting across the isle from me that looks just like Gerard Butler and I’m thinking about introducing myself, just for Jessica’s sake, because I know HOW MUCH SHE LOVE GERARD BUTLER. I am probably gonna have to talk to him, because it would probably be pretty weird just to walk up and take his picture. Ha ha! I am having fun talking to everyone here. My goal is the be the most popular girl on the ship by the time we reach our destination! Plus Fox brought all kinds of games and movies. Whats not to love about two hot girls with fun things to do on a ship out to sea for 3 days!!!
To be continued….
Ice Cube Mouse
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