Our trip began on Friday the 13th, (is it an omen?) boarding the ferry in Kodiak. We spent a whirlwind day packing the truck with all the needed camping gear, cloths, toys, book, and other paraphernalia that we could stuff in. For three days prior to the trip the kids and I were camping out with the young women for girls camp. My plan had been that we could leave all the gear packed from camp to be a little farther ahead in the packing process. However, the clouds rolled in on the last night and our previously dry tent was dry no longer. That meant unpacking everything to let it dry out before departure.
So Friday the 13th dawned foggy and wet, with the kids completely excited and me wondering what I had gotten myself into. I still had sewing jobs to get done, packing, laundry from camp on top of other normal household duties. Lets just say I was a complete wreck. The kids were great and pitched in and got all of their packing done as well as help with the pre trip cleanup. I got the sewing jobs done and the truck packed. By 3:00 we were ready to head down to the dock.
The kids were very excited to get on board and find our cabin for the night. I am not brave enough to spend the night on board without a cabin. We toured the ferry, made sandwiches in our cabin for dinner, and the kids watched a movie on the lap top. Yes, it sounds all very exciting doesn’t it.
The ferry stopped in Port Lions and we got off to find Katie Strong and Mahra Bejourn waiting to board, and join the cross country team headed to Homer. Dana Strong, Katie’s father, offered us a tour around the village before the ferry pulled away. We have never been there before and it was a beautiful little town. Everything was build in around the trees, and it all looked like it belonged there. We even got to see the fishing hole and watch the salmon try to jump up the water fall. There was more then and I had imagined, but it was still very small and isolated. It would be a much different life even than Kodiak.
After the tour we began to worry that we might not make it back to the boat in time for departure, but Dana was great and got us back with no problems. We went back on board and the kids were ready to curl up and go to bed, another great reason we got a cabin. The privacy was well worth it, and we were able to keep the kids confined and quite during most of the journey.
We woke up the next morning just as we were nearing Homer, and prepared for a long day of driving. On the way we had to stop at The Moose is Loose Bakery in Soldotna. Those of you that know us will remember that our dream would be to open a Bakery, so we had to check out what a famous Alaska bakery was like. There was so much to choose from, but we finally settled on a giant chocolate donut that all the kids could split, some apple cinnamon bread, an apple fritter for Chad and a caramel pecan roll for me. Oh my goodness it was all so good.
After a quick 15 minute stop we were back on the road. What we had expected be to a 4 hour drive took over 6, and we pulled into Anchorage around 2:30, hungry and tired.
Our first couple of days have been busy with travel just to get here, but we are looking forward to all the fun we will have once everyone else gets here too.
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