The little Santa isn't alone as he hangs suction-cupped to the glass. Almost every window on the main passenger deck of the Spokane has some form of decoration, from Santas to Christmas trees. One window even sports a laminated snowflake cut from an old ferry schedule. She came in on her day off, the day after Thanksgiving, to deck the decks with a holiday motif. She put up a little Christmas tree in the galley and hung up quilts and stockings throughout the boat in addition to decorating the windows.
Many passengers walk around the ferry, often doing a couple circuits to take it all in.
This is the second year Wheeler has decorated the Spokane since she started to captain the ferry about two and a half years ago. Before that, she took on the Hyak, hanging garlands and ornaments in the galley for about four years. She started with decorations she inherited from her mother and branched out into fixing up relics of Christmases past from Value Village and garage sales. The decorations are all pretty generic, Wheeler said. She stayed away from anything religious and stuck with the commercial Christmas trees and candy canes and a few maritime items such as sea gulls and compasses.