4 Wheels 4 Girls

On the night of July 20th, we saw the movie Soul Surfer. It was a true story about a girl named Bethany Hamilton who was a great surfer and got her arm chomped off by a shark. The crazy thing is that as soon as she recovered, she went right back out on the water and won a huge surfing championship with only one arm. I had heard the story before, but I had never seen the movie before. It was really good. We didn’t get any seats in the theatre since it was so crowded, but it was still fun! 😉

On the 20th and 21st of July, when we were on our 2-day ferry ride, we did a lot of hanging out and and we played a lot of cards. I taught Stella, Ellie, and Ana how to play Solitaire, and Stella and I did a lot of reading, writing, and drawing. It was a good way to pass the time. We actually had a lot of fun! 🙂

Looking out the window of the ferry at the islands (and a cruise ship) along the Alaska Marine Highway

Oh, and by the way, we also had Double-Stuf Oreos. They were delish!

July 19th, we rode on a 12-hour-long ferry from Sitka to Wrangell, another island in Alaska. So far it’s been fun, except the’ve played too many movies. They’re on #5 right now, and it’s kinda giving me a headache. But the cafeteria food isn’t so bad, the chairs are pretty comfy, and there are even public showers on the boat. It’s been a great ride so far, with only two hours left on the ferry. I hope our next one will be just as fun! 😉

We had to get on the ferry at 3:AM and go back to sleep on the floor

July 17th, we took a ferry from Alaska’s capital, Juneau, to Sitka, an Alaskan island. We woke up at seven a.m. yesterday to catch the ferry at eight, and we arrived in Sitka at one p.m. The ride was nice, on a small, comfy little ferry. There was even entertainment; a movie, How To Train Your Dragon, was playing in the kids area. The ride flew by, and it didn’t seem like five hours at all! It was actually pretty fun! 😀

This bald eagle was just hanging out in the ferry terminal parking lot, looking for salmon in the water below. Those other birds are crows.

On July 14th, we had to say goodbye to our friends Ava and Brooke. They were leaving on a ferry to Prince Rupert at around one in the afternoon, so we didn’t have much time that morning to play with them on the beach and exchange contact information with their mom. They were so cute; I wish they’d move to Atlanta so I could babysit them! We played on the beach with them for a while, but it was kinda cloudy and cold so we ended up hanging out in our RV instead, all six of us. It was fun.

By that time it was almost time for Ava and Brooke to go, so we said goodbye. There were many hugs exchanged, and then we traded emails and such. Finally they left, and we shouted, “GOODBYE!” as their camper drove away.

We were mostly bored for the rest of the day because we were missing our friends. We’ll have to email them soon!!! 🙂

We had a great time with our friends

Today, on July 13th, we went out to the beach again to play. Ava, who’s five, and Brooke, who’s three, were out, and so were two boys, Ethan and Connor. Ethan was eight and Connor was ten. It was great to have a lot of kids, and I showed them Pilot Jake’s grave and his steering wheel, and we found three old torn-up shoes. We decided that they had once belonged to Pilot Jake, the dead fish, so we put them around his body. we played in the ocean and watched the tide come up.

Working on Pilot Jake's grave

Then, unfortunately, Connor and Ethan had to go, but we continued to play in the waves. The tide was going WAY up, and I realized that if we didn’t move Pilot Jake and his grave, he would be washed out at high tide if we didn’t move him. So I dug a hole, pretty deep so dogs wouldn’t dig him out and so he wouldn’t be demolished by the waves, and then Stella picked up Pilot Jake and dropped him in the hole. Then we buried him and piled him with sand almost two feet high to protect him from the tide, and then we put shells on top as a protective covering. I didn’t really think it was much protection, but Ava insisted, so we did. Then we found a thick sheet of metal to cover the grave, so we put it on top and then packed it down with sand. Then we covered the grave with kelp, seaweed, and shells, and then tested its strength by dumping large amounts of water on top. Finally, it was ready.

At the campground with Ava and Brooke

We left the grave alone and played on the rocks since the tide was so high. Then we all had to go eat lunch, so we had a picnic out in front of the beach so we could see the tide come up even higher. Then Ava and Brooke went to a museum, so now we’re taking a break until they come back. More later! 😉

As we were driving from the Sourdough Campground on July 11th, we saw some trumpeter swans! They were gorgeous and white as snow. The mom and the dad had four cygnets, or babies, with them, just like our family! We got out our binoculars and watched them for a long time. We also took lots of pictures.

A family of trumpeter swans on a lake in Alaska

The next day, we saw four more swans, just as pretty as the last ones. I had a perfect view of one from my window.

I’m so glad we got to see those beautiful birds. I hope we see more! 🙂

The view near Destruction Bay, Yukon

On the night of July 9th, we stayed at the Sourdough Campground again, except for this time it wasn’t nearly as fun as last time. We missed karaoke, music, and the pancake toss, and we hardly got any time in the morning to hang out. It was a disappointment. I hope our next visit there will be better! 🙁

This is just a little thank-you to our friends in Fairbanks, Susan, Elsa, Eric, and Gretchen, for all the yummy lettuce, swiss chard, kale, and turnips that we’ve been eating from your gardens! They’ve been delicious in all the salads we’ve been eating and the dinners we’ve made, and they’re better than any greens I’ve ever had! Again, thank you so much! We’ve really been enjoying them! 🙂

On July 8th, we came to Bear Campground in Seward, Alaska. It was pretty weird ’cause there weren’t any adults working there. There were kids running the bar, kids running the office.. There was a playground, but it was small and there were always kids invading every part of it. We basically just went to bed the first night we got there ’cause it was so late, and the second day we hung out a bit and then went to Kenai Fjords National Park. Read the next post to find out about it! 😀