Petersburg, Alaska

We arrived in Petersburg at about 12:30am on June 27...Don's b-day and Holly and Brian's 1st anniversary!!!!! WooHoo!!! I can't believe it has been a year!!

We get off the ferry, pull in to a large parking lot, crawl into the Casita and go to sleep. Don wakes me up at 8am...we need to get out of there by 8, so off we go to The Trees campground.

Petersburg is not a big town and the big cruise ships don't stop here. It is known for it's Norwegian heritage and for harboring one of Alaska's most prosperous fishing fleets. This region turned into a year-round community around the turn of the century after Norwegian, Peter Buschman, eyed the blue ice of the LeConte Glacier. Buschman decided the north end of Mitkof Island, with glacier ice available nearby, would be an ideal spot for a cannery. Thus the Icy Straits Packing Co. was built along with a sawmill. Many of today's residents can trace their heritage back to Norwegian ancestors who followed Peter Buschman to the snowy mountains and fjords that reminded them of home.

After getting the trailer set up, we set out to explore the island. We followed Frederick Drive that makes it's way around much of the island. One of the overlooks we made it to allowed us to see out across Frederick Sound. There is a lot of floating glacier ice, originating from the LeConte Glacier, floating in the Frederick Sound. We kept driving hoping to see moose out in the many meadows that we passed. According to the guy at the campground, there is a very good chance to view moose out there. We saw lots of moose poop, but no moose. :( We will keep looking. We have lots of Alaska left to see moose!!! We did see about 3 porcupines though!

We have determined that once in a while we need to take some time to wind down. That ended up being this morning. We spent the morning catching up on our journaling and getting organized.

We needed to be in line for the Sitka ferry at 12:30pm. Once there we saw Bob! He is traveling on the same ferry as we are again! Off we go...it will take us 13 hours to get to Sitka.