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7-30 SUN
Alarm is set for 5 a.m. I wake at 4:30 and pack up. Go check in at
ferry, it's two hours before a one hour late ferry- I'm beginning
to see a pattern. So I go up the road for a little ride, thinking
I could have slept in. It begins to rain. At least my gear is
packed away dry. Finally, I board the Le Conte, grab all sorts of
stuff and head for the solarium deck. I hang out, sleep and play
tapes. It's a smaller ship that the Taku. It rains all the way, a
persistent sheet, a little more than a drizzle. At 6 we arrive in
SITKA. I sort my gear and prepare to get wet. This isn't going to
be any fun. First I go check out the campground. There are plenty
of spaces. The occupied sites seem to be well prepared for rain,
with blue tarps and extra plastic. I decide I may as well go the
ten miles into town and check it out. Not much to it. The onion
dome church in the center. I spot the movie house. And things
Mitchner mentions in his book, Alaska. McDonalds? That wasn't in
the book. Motel 8. Hun? I wonder town and fight my thoughts. How
bad could it be? Okay, let's check. $60 less 10% if I join the
club. Ah crap, okay. It's raining. I hate the rain. I go see the
movie, Batman, and watch another on TV back at my room.
7-31 MON
It's much better out in the morning so I don't have to make
another decision. I'll move to the campground. I wonder town and
decide it is okay. Looks better under these conditions. I'm
disappointed in Castle Hill, there's no structures. I visit Totem
Square, Pioneer House, City Center, and Community Center. Take
some photos of the church. Then out to the campground. Pick site
5, eat lunch and then go find good site by the water but it is too
wet to move. Back into town and out to Sitka NP and the Totem
walk. Great place, walk trail through woods discovering dozens of
totem poles. Wonder stores and check out neat stuff- canoes,
graves, blockhouse. Sitka is very cool.
8-1 TUE
SITKA- go to Bishop's House, neat old wooden construction.
Upstairs is finished. Cute Rangerettes. Go to Jackson museum and
then out to totems again and walk it twice. Then it is time to go.
Stop for food and then out to ferry terminal and wait for
COLUMBIA, the big one that goes all the way to Seattle. Hang out
in solarium among the tents and crowds of people. I pull together
a site. Eye two girls but afraid to talk to them, I don't know why.
Later I walk to the back rail to check out the sunset and one
of them comes over. She's from Boston, without the accent, went to
BC for computer science/English, was visiting relatives in
Anchorage. Too bad I'm getting off the boat. She was staying with
her sister in Seattle for a week before going back east. Might
have been fun. She wants to go see my motorcycle but we're not
allowed on the car deck under sail.
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Fishing with Les Index
