Plush hillsides and first glacier views.

This morning we had a leisurely start, since we knew we only had to travel four hours total before arriving at the Haines ferry terminal. We did our laundry while we had breakfast at the Northern Lights cafe next door, then headed towards Haines with some of our still-damp laundry hanging in the windows. I was sad to be leaving the Alaska Highway, expecting the scenery to downgrade, which it did for a time since our view of the mountains was completely blocked by low clouds and rain. But a little while into our trip the clouds separated enough that we could see the mountains and also caught our first views of glaciers! Some of the most striking views on the trip were today, inspiring us to stop for photos so often that we added an extra two hours to our trip to Haines!

The clouds started to lift a bit to make the mountains visible again. We parked our car on the side of the road and walked up a soft, plush hill to get to this view.

This is why I described the aforementioned hill as "plush." It felt like walking on memory foam because of this carpet of delicate and beautiful plant life. I felt guilty walking on it, but Gavin noted that moose and caribou do it all the time. :)

What a lovely view. The mountains are nice, too. :)

Our first view of glaciers - the silver-blue colors between the peaks of the mountains.

Water from glaciers melting is gray in color.

We stopped the car and had lunch here, watching the clouds shift over the glaciers.

 

The "tide" from this glacier water was coming in; the water level rose 5 inches while I stood there!

On the way to Haines we had to cross back into the USA. We stopped at customs, and the officer took a look inside our car. I completely forgot that I had hung two of my bras in the car windows to dry... I can only imagine what the officer thought! No wonder he searched our trunk for drugs! :)

The "tide" from this glacier water was coming in; the water level rose 5 inches while I stood there!

We actually dipped our hands in the water here. It was warmer than we expected for water that came from a glacier melting!

It was raining, and Gavin made me sit on this wet log. :)

This is probably one of my favorite pictures of the entire trip!

We got to Haines about an hour before the ferry was scheduled to depart - perfect timing! While we waited in the lobby, I noticed the vending machine had peanut M&Ms. This was significant because yesterday when we stopped at a gas station in Canada, Gavin was craving peanut M&Ms. We didn't see any for sale, and the attendant told us that M&Ms aren't sold in Canada, just "Smartees," which were a poor substitute as they had no peanuts! I was excited to get Gavin some peanut M&Ms, but when I put my money in, the package stuck in the vending machine! I let out a somewhat melodramatic wail of "Oh no!" and made various attempts to get them to fall. Finally one of the people selling tickets took pity on us and brought out the key to the machine, mentioning that I had amused him with my failed attempts to get the candy out. :)

The four hour ferry ride to Juneau was also gorgeous! We floated through beautiful blue water between mountains with glaciers tumbling down the side. We even got to see some dolphins following the ship for a while!

Our boat to Juneau.

View from the front deck.

Lighthouse.

Once we arrived in Juneau, we drove our rental car to the airport to drop it off at Hertz, and immediately rented another one at Budget right next door. (Hertz was the ONLY car company where we could rent in Fairbanks and drop off in Juneau, but they were also really expensive, so we got rid of the Hertz car as soon as possible!) Then we drove to the Travelodge hotel for our first night in Juneau. Tomorrow, we look forward to seeing our first glacier up close!

 

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