On the road again!

---

Well, here I am again... Somewhere new, with my backpack. Waw. I love it already.

I left 2 days ago, drove down to Skagway with Harvey and it was just a perfect day. Nice and sunny, not a cloud in the sky. The Yukon Gold is not all in the river beds... It's also in the trees! It was so beautiful with the fresh snow on the mountain tops and the gold, green and red colors, fall at its best. The Carcross Road is just one of the most beautiful places in the north I think. We went for a walk while waiting for the ferry and then after yet another goodbye, I was on my way south. It was -8 when I woke up that day, good time to leave the Yukon!

The first ferry was very fast, took me to Juneau. Already I was smiling, re-discovering the feeling of freedom that I so much love when I travel. I had forgotten too how carrying a backpack seems like an invitation for people to talk to you... "Where are you going", "Where are you from" and it starts that way and soon you meet new people.

From Juneau to Prince Rupert was another 36 hours, the weather was not as great but still the views where nice, especially the channel we had to navigate south of Petersburg. Very narrow, I was amazed that a big boat like ours could manage the tight turns. The first night I slept on the deck, something I had planned on doing nearly 15 years ago when I lived in BC and wanted to go to the Yukon... I never did, but now at 35, I felt like I was 21 again and enjoyed the adventure. Didn't sleep too well, between the cold wet draft, the engine noise and the hard plastic chair I was sleeping on (this is the part where I realized I am not 21 anymore...), but I was happy anyway.

During the day I met an American nurse and we spent part of the afternoon chatting, talking about life and drinking tea. When we arrived in Ketchikan, we decided to go out and eat something in town, and it was a real coastal evening, with pouring rain and serious winds, but we thought we were living a fun adventure and we laughed and kept walking towards downtown. We arrived at our destination, a nice little restaurant, soaked through, even if we had our rain gear, thanks also to some vehicles that went by us splashing us real good (and even filled my jackets' pockets with water...), and one of the waiters even put a little heater next to our table to help us dry our stuff! We met some local guys who seemed to think we were some funny creatures, but they were very friendly. After a meal we walked back to the ferry, no more rain, or maybe we didn't notice because we were already so wet... I slept inside this time, while the ship was rocking back and forth, and at 4:30 this morning they announced that we were almost in Prince Rupert.

Too early to get to the BC Ferry terminal, I napped in the Alaska Terminal for a while, then dropped my stuff and went for a walk to town. Found a nice cafe, had a chai, this feels soooooooooo good! I am a traveler again and I love it. Of course I had to check out the book store too. I love to walk in new places, I think we are just so much more open when we travel. You look at things, people, smile, people say hi.

Now I have to go, time to get back to the terminal, the ferry leaves soonish and it will be 6-7 hours on the open ocean to the Queen Charlotte's. I really look forward to it.

Ah, life is good!

---