Day Six –Ketchikan, Alaska – September 6, 2009

Alarm goes off at 5:00am. I forgot to change the time by an hour yesterday, so it was really 4:00am. But wow! Peeking out the window and what a surprise it was this morning to wake up to a beautiful day! It’s still dark, but I can see stars! It was quite misty through the Inside Passage and I was worried the rain had started to follow us. Hopefully, it’s gonna stay away today.

We pulled into the Ketchikan area at around 6:45am. Ketchikan is the southeasternmost sizable city in Alaska. With an estimated population of 7,368 in 2007, it is the fifth most populous city in the state. Ketchikan is named after Ketchikan Creek, which flows through the town. Ketchikan comes from the Tlingit name for the creek, Kitschk-hin, the meaning of which is unclear. It may mean "the river belonging to Kitschk"; other accounts claim it means "Thundering Wings of an Eagle." Ketchikan also has the world's largest collection of standing totem poles. Ships dock right in the downtown area of Ketchikan. One can literally walk off the ship and into the main shopping area within a few seconds.

Ray and I head to the little Café at the back of the ship, called Ocean Café. Grabbed some breakfast and coffee (which was not the best tasting coffee this morning), found the perfect spot, and enjoyed the view off the back of the ship as we pulled into port. The air was fresh and crisp; the water was calm, and the view spectacular! A few minutes later we see another cruise ship coming into port.

On the other side of the ship, I noticed a few homes on an island. Pretty peaceful little area if you ask me!

As soon as it was clear to leave, we were on our way. It was about 7:15am. We head down to this little harbor where a few boats were docked to grab a shot of the ship.

Wandered around the harbor for a minute, and saw this boat. Now that’s what I call traveling. Unless, of course, the boat sinks, then you’re up crap creek.

We decided against excursions on the first day. We headed in the direction we thought was downtown until we ran into this sign. Opps, downtown is the other way. Good thing we saw this, we’d be exploring the town of “Newtown” all day instead! That would have been a bummer.

>A quick about face and we head in the right direction. Majority of Ketchikan's downtown area close to the water seems to be built on stilts. The tide rises anywhere from 17 to 25 feet every day.

<>Passed this carved Eagle I really liked.

<>As we approach downtown, we notice there are many, many shops. It’s interesting; all the ports along the cruise have jewelry shops. You can’t get away from jewelry shops, no matter how hard you try. They are on every corner, in between the corners, across the street, you name it. Also found out that the cruise lines own or are co-owners of these jewelry shops. So you can’t get away from buying something on the cruise line, or off. That’s if you’re into jewelry. Lots of souvenir and gift shops as well. Ketchikan has the highest number of specialty shops in the state of Alaska.

We came across this cute little shopping area called, Creek Street. It was almost like a small boardwalk that lined a creek filled with Salmon making its way back up to spawn.

<>


There was even a little museum all about Dolly Arthur. This steep-roofed home, formerly owned by the inimitable Dolly Arthur, once housed Creek Street's most famous brothel. The house has been preserved as a museum, complete with furnishings, beds, and a short history of the life and times of Ketchikan's best-known madam. And they were trying to reel you in.

<> As we’re taking pictures of the area, I noticed a cool little place off to the side to get a good shot of the creek, but almost ran into THIS!

**shivers** I HATE spiders! I didn’t see the owner of this huge thing, thank goodness! **shivers**

This is what I was trying to get, and found a better place with NO spider webs.

Remember when I said there were salmon in this creek trying to head up to spawn? Well, these poor guys didn’t make it! Wonder if the females are still waiting for them . . .

Or maybe they saw this cutie, pointing the way, and decided to make a jump for it.

Poor fishes.

After our little trek through Creek Street, it was time for some real coffee. We found this little coffee shop along the waterfront called Ketchikan Coffee Company. Had some great tasting coffee. We sat in there and warmed for a few minutes.

We came upon Ketchikan Harbor where some old fishing boats were docked. I love to shoot old fishing boats. And what a better place than Alaska?! This was like being in a candy store for me! I believe we spent over an hour here. Excuse me for a minute while I bore you with some art.

You bored yet? Neither am I. Like I said, I love to shoot old fishing boats.

Ok, enough.

We noticed how high the tide gets around the harbor and learned that the tide will rise up to 26 feet before the time we leave Ketchikan. Amazing!

As we headed away from the harbor, we ran into some locals sitting outside a small camper trailer. We stopped and talked for a bit. One of the guys talked about his experience on the fishing boats, even the experience similar to what you see on the Deadliest Catch. He says it’s just like that. He’s retired now. He also suggested we go to the hatchery and check out the eagles there. As he was giving us directions, a lady sitting with them steps in and an argument starts about which way we should turn at the end of the road. It was quite comical. Instead of sticking around while they argued, we said our goodbyes and walk away. All we hear is “No, they need to turn right” “No, it’s left” “Man, you don’t know what you’re talking about, it’s right” “I’ve lived here longer than you have, it’s left!” etc.

At the end of the road, we turn right and then we turn left. And we didn’t even argue about which way we were going to turn! I can only imagine the argument escalating if they were watching us to see which way we turned! We ended up at this small hatchery called Deer Creek Fish Hatchery! More like a self-guided tour of the workings of the hatchery Outside the hatchery they had a couple of bald Eagles and a Hawk.





I was happy to see some Eagles close up – just in case I was unable to capture any wild ones this close.We walked by the Totem Heritage Center and the park. There’s a stream running through the park and by the Hatchery. You could see the salmon in the water. Interesting to watch their determination to get up that stream.

On our way back to town to get some lunch we ran into a small sidewalk market. Mostly consisting of handmade items. Back in the corner was a little nature section which had an owl, eagle and hawk. The guy was holding the eagle and he pulled out some raw meat. The stare this bird gave towards that piece of meat was chilling.

We found a place where the locals say they like to eat called Annabelle’s. Great seafood there. It offers an authentic Alaskan flavor in a rustic turn-of-the-century environment. Ray had the fish and chips with Halibut. I had the seafood chowder in a bread bowl. Deeeeelicious!!

We had about 2 hours to kill so we wandered around looking at all the shops. Lots of shops! I really enjoyed the local art shops, wonderful galleries too. This was the last week and many were trying to sell all they could. Most of the owners were heading out for the season, many returning home elsewhere, or to another cruise location for the winter.

Hopped back on the ship and found our spot. A lounge chair at the back and grabbed a drink and relaxed with a nice view. We took off at 3:00pm and we’re on our way.

Enjoyed a wonderful sunset and moonrise. Saw a few whales off in the distance. Had another wonderful dinner and saw a show.

Enjoy the sunset . . .

Tomorrow we dock in Juneau. This was our favorite day the entire trip. Our excursion in Juneau was one Ray looked forward to for what seems forever. Ice climbing on the Mendenhall Glacier!