Gallivanting in Rainy Ketchikan

 We were up and about early this morning as we wanted to catch the shuttle into the town of Ketchikan as soon as the ship was cleared for entry.  The walkway down the ramp of the cruise ship led us to a huge warehouse that is now considered to be the largest shopping mall on the island here.  That was certainly a surprise! 

This totem pole greeted us as soon as we walked through the door. 

Another pole stood above a running water display simulating a waterfall. 

And this stern looking sentry was just before we found ourselves among sweat shirts and knick knacks of all sorts that we needed to weave our way through to get to the exit where the shuttle bus was parked. 

We boarded a school bus for the ride.  Makes sense as the tourist season falls when school is out.  The cruise company hires local bus drivers for their transportation from the port to the town.  Ketchikan is 6 miles away from the Norwegian landing port.  The bus drivers have been entertaining and extremely informative as they try to give us a glimpse of life on these islands. 

Here in Ketchikan there is no road in or out.  One must arrive by ship or plane or ferry.  In Sitka, we had been told that many of the local islands do not have a high school.  So, students are flown in for the school semesters and boarded in Sitka while they attend classes.  They are then flown home at the end of the school year, just in time for the fishing season to begin, so that they can help their families with the fishing business. Certainly a way of life foreign to what most of us know. 

We learned today that Ketchikan has 8000 residents.  Norwegian had two ships in port when we landed, although one was leaving by noon time, and there were five more cruise ships docked near the actual village.  As you can well imagine, that is a LOT of tourists!

But, today it was pouring down rain, which actually played in our favor, as we were prepared for rain, and it gave us the opportunity to explore without bumping elbows with strangers, or having to stand on tip-toe to try to see something.  But within two hours, the place was brimming with people. 

After being dropped off on the edge of town,  joined by Kim and Alan, we did have to walk several blocks to the local visitor center to pick up a map and get our bearings.  Souvenir shops were abundant!

Marty found the trash cans on the boardwalk to be quite entertaining. 

Cans of Salmon!

We finally made our way to the welcome sign to Ketchikan. 

On the plaza across from the sign is a statue entitled The Rock. It tells the story of the pioneer women who dared to settle here to start a new life.  The story references the fur traders, the gold seekers and the fishermen who had settled here as well. 

I found this sign to be amusing. 

Kim took our photo next to the sign.  As you can see....we do look drenched... and the day was just starting!

We set out to find Married Men's Trail as I had read that it was the best way to view the fish ladder here in Ketchikan.  Along the way, we spotted some interesting sites. 

Finally, we were at the bridge overlooking the stream where the salmon were swimming. 

Looking down, it was very easy to spot. 

The salmon make their way upstream.

They were very easy to spot.  I watched one jump into the base of the fish ladder, but most were attempting to high jump up the rapids over the rocks, against the rushing current. 

Here is an overhead view of the fish ladder. 

But this was where most of the activity occurred.  We'd cheer when we saw a salmon finally make it up a level, then moan when that same fish went tumbling backwards in the current, only to have to fight forward again. 

Honestly...it makes you wonder how so many of them successfully make it upstream to spawn!

But there were several that we were able to spot upstream in the spawning pool. 

From here, we decided to hike along the Salmon Walk. 

Here's a placard that tells you everything you need to know about salmon.

Who knows...that might come in handy someday!

The trail takes you to the Totem Pole Heritage Center. 

There is a small charge for admission, but look what greeted us when we walked through the door!

Three well preserved totem poles!  The towering pole with what appears to resemble a dinosaur in my mind, is called Brown Bear Killerwhale.  It comes from a local village in the Tlingit nation.  

I do believe I mentioned in the previous blog, that I found information to help describe the symbolism of these poles, and the bear consistently resembles more of a dinosaur head to me, but once I noted the pattern, it was easy to spot. 

The Totem pole on the right comes from the same village.  It is entitled Man Holding Sculpin.  You can see man holding a large club with his right hand with a dangling fish in his left. 

These from the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian all follow a distinct formalized design.  The basic forms are and Ovoid, used to represent eyes and joints.  U-shapes are used to direct flow and movements in various parts of design like wings, fins and tails.  It was interesting to see the consistent use of shapes and colors on the various poles.

In these particular nations of Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian, the poles are carved from red cedar. They would have been displayed  in front of clan houses, facing the water. There were poles preserved on display that were 175 years old.  They were way too long to try and take a photo. 

The museum held many more fascinating items, all hand made by locals.

Note the consistent use of those white buttons. I honestly had no idea how valuable they would be to Alaskan designs, but I saw them adorning most of the ceremonial wear displayed. 

From here, we headed back on the trail, and down to the wharf and stopped in for a quick bite at the New York Cafe, which was pretty empty when we sat down.  I ordered a delicious cod chowder.

It was quite yummy!  By the time we finished our lunch, the cafe was bursting with customers.  Good for the locals, for sure.  We decided it was time to head back to the ship since it was still raining pretty hard, and the village had filled up with people lining the sidewalks.  

It seemed like quite a long walk back to the ship, but we were finally at our pick up spot for the ride back to the ship.  Funny....but as soon as we arrived at the port, the skies cleared and the sun popped out for the rest of the day.  Of course, we could not have predicted that as we were told that it rains 296 days a year in Ketchikan.  And, we managed to see quite a bit at our leisure. 

We enjoyed the rest of the day on the ship.  Marty and I dined alone, and were seated at a window seat where we could enjoy the sunset as we dined. 

Then we enjoyed a walk around deck 8. 

And the moon view from the balcony in our room just couldn't be beat. 

I'd say this was a pretty fabulous day, despite the rain.  Tomorrow we are at sea all day.

On Sunday, we have the day to spend in Victoria, but somehow have to have our luggage packed to be picked up by 9:00 pm. So, sea day should probably involve starting that process!  

Until next time....

Adventures in Sitka

 Traveling through the night, we docked in Sitka at 7:00 AM and were on the reserved shuttle by 7:15 headed toward the village.  The shuttle is free, but is required to prevent crowds of people standing in line waiting to board.  After all, this is a 5000 passenger boat.  

What we learned is that most people sleep in, then head on the shuttle later, as there really isn't much to do in these small towns, unless one is taking an excursion.  Since Marty and I are used to venturing out on our own, we didn't feel the need to spend money on extra trips when we thought there would be adventures that we could explore on our own. 

Our travel friends all decided to join us, and soon we were departing the shuttle to make the walk to the National Park that is located on the edge of the barrier island. 

We were told that we were very fortunate regarding the weather, as the snow capped mountains are rarely viewed due to the high volume of rain that falls here.  So, we felt quite lucky to admire these amazing vistas. 

And how lucky could our day be than to begin with the spotting of two bald eagles, looking like sentries?

The waterfront walk offered some entertainment with these creative structures along the way.

And how beautiful is this? 

Just around the corner, we stumbled upon scads of jumping salmon in the harbor.

It reminded me of a Sesame Street episode from years ago, when Ernie & Bert are in a boat, and Ernie calls out "Here Fishy Fishy Fishy", and a fish plops into the boat, over and over again.  Well, if you can picture it, that's just about what we saw here sans the boat.  We could see their fins popping out of the water, and suddenly.....Whoosh!....a fish would jump up, sometimes two or three at the same time as if they were synchronized swimming.  What a hoot.  We must have stood there for 10 minutes or more, enjoying the free entertainment. 

Here, in the distance, we spotted two bald eagles looking for a meal.

Simply amazing.  They were in the spot for at least an hour, if not more.  We could hear their cries as we walked through the National Park. 

This particular park holds replicas of totem poles that had once stood in various villages in the area.  The original poles, carved from wood, weather over time and are not able to be sustained.  These poles were featured in the World's Fair on two occasions prior to being permanently placed at Sitka National Historic Park. 

The park is located along the edge of the island and offers some beautiful scenic views as you can see. 

This pole stands in the spot of an historic battle that took place in 1804 between the local natives and Russian Fur Traders.   

The National Park Visitor Center holds a fascinating museum explaining the culture of the local Tlingit Natives who were indigenous to this island. It held some fascinating original items.

One interesting fact that we learned was that the Tlingit society was divided into two separate groups, called moieties named The Raven and the Eagle.

Society deemed that an Eagle marry only a Raven, or a Raven marry only an Eagle.  No explanation was given as to why this rule was enforced, but I can't help but wonder if it was to prevent inter marriage. 

There were three totem poles on exhibit with an explanation to the carvings.  A Human figure at the top is the Village Watchman.  His role was to warn people of approaching danger. 

A raven was represented with a strong straight beak and a bear had a protruding tongue and large claw feet.  We would see figures of bears carved on totem poles that reminded me of a dinosaur rather than a bear.  After seeing a few, I finally caught onto the symbolism. 

From here we headed to the Sheldon Jackson Museum.  This man collected thousands of items from Alaskan natives which are in display.  There are cases brimming with various treasures, and drawers that one can pull open to see categorized items on display. 

Here are a few of the holdings:

I've found an excellent use for those jars of white buttons that I have somehow accumulated. I can't tell you how many robes/vests, etc. that I have seen that are adorned with these white buttons. 

This is the mask worn by the battle leader of the Tlingit Indians who was in that famed battle in 1804 against the Russian Fur Traders.  I find it pretty amazing that it still exists, and in such great condition. 

This is an Aleut mask on display.  Very few masks from this culture remain as they were normally destroyed after use.  

Finally, I just really liked this bowl carved like a seal.   It was one of hundreds of designs of bowls on display here. 

From here we headed back towards the town of Sitka. 

where we headed to the Russian Bishop's House, one of few surviving examples of Russian colonial architecture in North America. It was built in 1852 and has been preserved by the National Park Service. 

The interior was filled with informative placards that explained how Russian missionaries came into this area in order to save the local Tlingit natives who were being enslaved by Russian fur traders, something of which I was completely unaware. There were a few religious icons displayed

and a particular devotion to St. Innocent. 

It was sad to read of the hardships that the Alaskan natives endured after the Russian fur traders invaded this land.  I mentioned in a previous blog that Russia sold Alaska to the United States in 1867.  I had never given a thought to that transaction, until I read that the Alaskan natives were never owned by Russia.  So, they have always felt that Russia had no right to sell the land to the US as it was never their's to begin with.  Certainly something worth contemplating. 

In the middle of Sitka stands a Russian Orthodox Church, St. Michael's.  The exterior is different from the style of Orthodox church of which we are familiar.  But it does have some similar features.  

A fire in 1966 destroyed the church but the icons were salvaged, so now a new replacement  church stands here to replace the original built in 1844. 

Walking through town we came across a bear. 

and an interesting totem pole near the visitor center. 

We were able to spy a lighthouse in the distance.  Look closely and you will see a man standing on the rocks in the front of the picture.  He is fly fishing.  No.....it is not Marty.

We took the shuttle back to the ship, which was relatively easy and we were greeted with hot Mocha on this return.  I had failed to mention that we were offered chicken broth the previous day.  Not exactly our cup of tea. 

Marty wasted no time making friends with this musical group on the ship named ADDA. He had a fun time chatting with them out on deck 8. 

Our dinner was a specialty restaurant named Ocean Blue, which specializes in seafood.  I had roasted beets for my appetizer. You have to love this presentation. 

Dinner was Salmon which was delicious!  And desert was this delectable chocolate mousse that was drenched in a chocolate ganache and served with chocolate sorbet. 

And, as a special surprise, Marcie had them give us a small cake to celebrate our 45th wedding anniversary.  How special was that? 

After dinner, we returned to our room to once again to enjoy the amazing views!

Another beautiful day completed!

Until next time.....