And farther west!

Our trip out west isn't finished yet. We've come to the end of the mainland and now need to head out on a ship!

Sandy thinks this place is a little bit like an airport - they even have a big control tower!!

We got there beary early (always better that way) and even had time to do some blogging (Sandy supervised and corrected Mama's spelling). There are hardly any cars out there yet!

We took a look around the ferry terminal and saw a big Bald Eagle chasing some salmon (on the fire place).

There were all sorts of food stalls...

And places with things to wear...

And even fancy things like a lady bug light!! We thought Hammie would like that one!

Finally, it's time to go back to the car... and there are now a lot of cars in line with us... then it's time to get on the ferry!

Whew, we made it! And next door, another ferry is leaving too... they sure are big boats!

Now it's our turn to leave. Sandy waves at the dock workers but they are too focused on what they are doing to wave back.

Wow!! We sure make a big wake behind us... bye everybody!

Now, since this is Sandy's first time on a big boat, he has to pay particular attention to some safety stuff...

Sandy studies the ship map beary carefully, but it is a little tricky trying to remember what deck you are on, as they all look alike!

But then he figures out that they have pictograms as well... Deck 7 is marked by an Orca Whale!

Sandy learns that there are assembly points for everyone in case of an emergency. This would be ours based on where we are sitting in the ferry.

The, you would go to that station and get a life jacket from one of the big bins outside... I hope they have life jackets designed for little bears!

Then you would go to one of two different life raft stations. This one is actually a little boat.

Like this... it has a couple of big motors and everything.

This one isn't a motorboat, it's just a raft that floats around waiting for other boats to come by.

It is all rolled up in one of this drums.

Speaking of drums... the ferry whistle does blow and it is beary loud so Sandy had to cover his ears otherwise it would hurt his ear drums!

There are also lots of this life rings around the ferry, which are fun for posing in!

After all that, Sandy does a bit of research on his new stomping grounds. Wow... this is beary different from flat land! So much water... so much sea life!

And then he can always just look outside and see what is going on...

We even pass another ferry going in the opposite direction... this is a very narrow passage and so the ships both whistle at each other... even though it's clear where they both are... maybe that's more helpful during fog and night time?

Almost there! This is another big dock coming up... but our ferry journey won't be quite over when we get there... but that is a tale for another day!