Puskas FamilyAlaska Vacation: 6/25/1991

John: We Drove the truck onto the ferry. It’s hard to believe that all those vehicles will fit inside. One of the crew said the ferry can hold about 125 cars/trucks/campers/buses etc. The ship is real nice and our cabin is great with a window. There is a forest service girl on board that gives explanations of the history of the different areas we sail through. We can go almost anywhere on the ship. The front has a big lounge area, the middle has a bar, back is cafeteria the upper deck has a solarium on the back. While up in the solarium, I played guitars with a couple guys... one played voice harp, mandolin, flute & another git player. In our cabin we can hear a constant sound of the engines and feel a slight vibration. Have met some interesting people from the Pr. Rupert campground who are on this ferry. May see them along the trip once we hit the road again. We got off the ferry for a short time in Wrangell and Susan & I bought some Garnets from the local kids. The kids are all lined up with pie tins full of Garnets. They get these Garnets from cliffs around there that have zillions of Garnets in them. The parents hand dig them out & the kids sell them. They wheel & deal with you - pretty shrewd little bunch! But it’s all for their “college education”... (Ya right!). Then Susan and I and about half the people on the ship got up at 12:30 to watch the ferry navigate through Wrangell Narrows in the dark. Pretty tight squeeze. We nearly froze to death. We then went to our cabin and went to sleep.

Kari: I go to sleep on a top bunk for the first time.

Karen: We had a 3 hr. wait to drive onto the ferry. The ferry left port at 10:30 AM. The weather was foggy when we left but got better. Kari wasn’t thrilled with getting too close to the deck rail. We’ve really enjoyed our first day on the ferry. we had the sweet rolls we brought on for breakfast & have enjoyed other meals in the cafeteria.