Day 29: to Whittier

Last Monday was hectic. It was our last day in Seward and we had to get up and out after three blessed days of spreading our stuff all over the cabin there. I also found out that tuition bills were sent out by my employer, so I was inundated with emails and calls from families with questions. It quickly became apparent that I'd need to dedicate the day to work stuff, so we divided to conquer: I headed to the local public library in Seward and M&D headed to the Alaska Sealife Center, the only public aquarium in the state. 

We knew we had to make it to Whittier for our sea ferry at 11:45pm, but didn't have a lot of idea how early we should be. Moran Worrying kicked in and we ended up in Whittier before 7pm. Typical.

Whittier Visitors Harbor

Tunnel into Whittier

 To get into the town, you can fly or boat or travel through the tunnel. That's your only option if you're coming by car or train. I suppose the industrious could hike or mountain bike. But most folks who aren't flying or boating have to travel through this one-car-wide tunnel that can, for obvious reasons, only run in one direction at a time. So the thing is set for traffic to run in one direction for a half hour and then switches the other way for the other half of the hour. It's nearly 3 miles long and is pretty incredible, if I'm being honest.

The fine high school students working at Chico's Pizza on the harbor made us their last pizza for the night and we were in line for ferry boarding at 8:45pm (as instructed. So maybe that Moran worry wasn't all for naught). Made some friends as we waited in line, got the car on the boat, and we're waiting for an elevator to bring our loads of crap up to the stateroom (we're on board for most of the week, so we've got a ton of stuff) and this couple starts chatting with us. Dad is doing his thing where he says something speculative with absolute certainty so that he appears omniscient and this woman we're waiting with turns to him and says "just shut the hell up." It was incredible and we about died laughing. Mom has used the phrase liberally since then, and we've thanked this woman for providing us with the perfect reply to Dad's BS. She informed us, in that moment, that her husband has the same habit of saying BS as Gospel truth and the line has worked for her. We realized they are my parents' twins. 

Would you believe we never even got their names? But we spent the whole week talking to them!

The ferry didn't leave port til its scheduled time at nearly midnight, so we had plenty of time to get settled in, for me to explore the ship, and for the sun to begin setting. By the time we were pulling out of the harbor, it looked like this:

We all stayed up late but for views like those? Worth it.