DAY 6…BOOT CAMP PART 3 :)

I guess on a “glass half full” note having your bags outside your room at 6:00 a.m. so when you arrive at the ship they will be sitting in your room wasn’t so bad after all.  At 8:00 we boarded our  “coach” (phew…this 9 hours included a bathroom) for the loooooong ride to Whittier.  Now, I know a few people that have that gift for gab but Dave, our “coach” driver and tour guide literally talked for a solid 9 hours on the trip from Denali to Whittier😳🤪 My family always used to kid about how I would know EVERYTHING about a stranger I met in no time flat.  Well, even though CTM and I were on the front seat of the bus (making it impossible to sleep so as not to insult Dave) and I still had to ask Dave a few questions to fill in the gaps we know EVERYTHING about Dave!  All kidding aside, he was extremely knowledgeable about Alaska even though he retired here only 17 years ago.  Wait…don’t most people retire down south where the sun shines most of the time and you don’t get several feet of snow in the winter and it isn’t dark 20 hours a day in the winter? 🤔. Even though we were on a “coach” Dave stopped for a couple of breaks and lunch on the way.  Again, the scenery was breathtaking.  Once we got south of Anchorage we ran along the Seward Highway, a narrow two lane road that literally ran along the edge and I mean EDGE of the Turnagain Arm of the Cook Inlet.  So envision this…Dave telling one of his long winded stories while piloting the “coach” with one hand because he had to use his right hand to gesture and point to things to see while he was alternating crossing the center line with an oncoming gasoline tanker screaming toward us and weaving off the road with a huge icy body of water inches from the road on our right. In other words, CTM has scratch marks on his arm and if you ever have the pleasure of being a passenger on Dave’s “coach” in Alaska look for the indentions in the armrest of the seat immediately behind Dave! 😬😉

Not really any opportunity for photos from the “coach”.  Right before we reached Whittier we had to go through a 2 1/2 mile tunnel under the mountain.  It is a one lane tunnel and every 15 minutes they alternate traffic patterns…south bound vehicles, then south bound trains, then north bound vehicles, then north bound trains.  If you miss your window then you could have up to an hour wait.  We only had to wait about 15 minutes before it was our turn and Dave continued his narrative (surprise surprise) while we were waiting.  He told us it was built BEFORE the Great 1964 Alaskan Earthquake and survived quite nicely.   Wait…WHAT???  We survived the Seward Highway but now all I could think was, “Could there be another earthquake while we are passing through the tunnel?  Could there be cracks there that they don’t know about?  Could we be buried alive?”   

Phew… there was FINALLY light at the end of the tunnel…

Within 5 minutes we were clearing security and boarding the ship!  🛳💃🕺🏼🍻🍹. Catch you on the flip flop…

CJM