Alaska Adventures: Day 13--July 1

Thu. July 1: It is 5:30pm and we are sitting in our state room overlooking the two streets of Ketchikan that run parallel to the dock, clinging to the cliff that seems to run the perpendicular street up at a 90° angle. The bald eagles are soaring all through this area, drawn by the salmon fisheries and canneries. We are relaxing, resting and reflecting on our wonderful day in Ketchikan. The ship docked about 9:30 this morning and we were among the first to disembark. It was partly cloudy and in the mid-to low-fifties. We had arrived too late to take the 9:45 Blue Line bus across the street which only comes once an hour so we walked about a mile to the Library and Historical Museum, where they were happy to have us begin exploring with a pass that would allow us to return later. It’s a small museum that is full of historical photographs and artifacts showing the development of Ketchikan since its beginnings in the 1860s. We went out to catch the nearly empty Blue Line bus and settled in for the half hour ride out to Totem Bight State Park. When it pulled up by the ship dock it was already full and some people couldn’t get on, which must have been very disappointing for them but made us glad we had caught it at the museum! Totem Bight State Park was set up by the CCC and WPA to 1)preserve ancient totem poles and 2)have skilled carvers teach young Native Alaskans their dying craft. There is a reproduction of a clan lodge house which was built in the old style and a large collection of reproductions of the old totem poles. We learned the significant designs used and found that the important part of the totem pole was the potlatch held to raise it and show off the wealth and importance of its sponsor. When they fell and decayed it was considered part of returning to the forest, so preserving the pole itself was not considered important or needed. In the 1960s when more effort went into protecting some of the ancient poles it was controversial and had to undergo consideration by the native people before it was deemed to be desirable. We spent two hours at the park and then caught the bus back to the museum, where we completed our “tour”. We hadn’t had lunch, just a piece of fruit and a granola bar, and Ann was feeling pretty crummy so she and Shelby were going to walk back to the ship through downtown with a stop at a drug store to find something to help with her cold. Marv and I proceeded down Stedman Street and up Deermont Street to visit the Cultural Center. It is there that they have the original old totem poles which were copied for the State Park and it gave more of the history of their significance and what life was like in the Haida and Tlingit villages from which they were recovered. From there we found our way down along the creek past the native salmon fish hatchery, the fish ladder below the falls, along Married Man’s Path, through Creek Street (the old red light district), and to a Mexican place that claimed to have the best pizza (?) in town! We’ll never know if it’s true because we just ordered an Alaskan Amber, which they brought with their chips and excellent fresh salsa. We had to be back to the ship at 5:45 so we made our way back as a light drizzle began. It had been a great day for us. The bus, State Park, and both museums had only cost $9.00 a piece and we couldn’t help but compare that to what any of the Princess tours would have cost.

As I wrote the above our phone rang. It was Shelby, asking if we had gotten their message about our 6:15 reservation. As I assured him we had I glanced at the computer clock and saw it was 6:20!! Yikes!!!! We dashed down and joined them for another fantastic dinner at the Santa Fe. This time Marv got the beef fajitas and I got the chicken; both are house specialties. For dessert Marv had vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce and I had Earl Gray tea with assorted tiny cookies. But I didn’t have time to finish because we had to run to catch the third show for the ship’s cast, “Do You Wanna Dance?”. It was another high powered show, this time showcasing the dancers especially. To end our evening we went up to the 14^th deck to watch a nice sunset while we had a cup of decaf coffee. We spend all day “at sea” tomorrow so there will be no rush to get up and have breakfast. Finally, we can sleep in!