Alaska's 1st City

Today we docked in Ketchikan - billed as Alaska's 1st City. The gangway wasn't open until 9:00am so we got everything ready for the day and left our backpacks on the bed in the cabin while we went up to the Ocean Cafe for breakfast. Today I had a bowl of fresh fruit, cereal & milk, yogurt, orange juice and coffee. Thomas had scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes and coffee. We went back to the cabin and read until they opened the gangway for debarkation. When they made the announcement we made our way to Deck 3 and left the ship.

Our only excursion today was the Wildlife Saxman Deluxe Combo Tour with Northern Tours of Alaska and that wasn't until 10:30am. So we decided to walk around a little and see the town. Well, it didn't take us long to walk the main street and we had arrived at the Visitors Center really early for our tour. We decided to check in anyway and see what we needed to do. The woman that checked us in said she could get us on a 10:00am tour and she got us checked in and sent us to a statue just up from the center to find our tour guide. We didn't have any problem finding him and right after we arrived another couple arrived. Our tour guide showed us the van we would be using and we all got in but we still needed to wait for one other couple. I was happy that it was a van and not a big tour bus and that there were only a few people. Well that feeling didn't last long. The woman who checked us in showed up and announced she had to move us for a variety of reasons. So we got off the van and waited about 15 minutes for a bus to show up with a different driver. By the time we were loaded on the bus we went from a tour with six people to a tour with 38 people on a big tour bus. We also didn't get started until 10:50am - 20 minutes later than our original time. I wasn't a happy camper. Finally we were on our way. The tour turned out to be okay but not great. We drove through town and got a quick little tour on our way to Herring Bay. Our driver parked and we walked to an area where we could see the bay. There were quite a few juvenile eagles all around us and we only saw a couple of adult ones and none were really that close. We then walked to a bridge and were able to look over into the stream and we saw quite a few salmon swimming through. It was quite interesting but nothing spectacular. I was also hoping to see at least one bear and that didn't happen. Now back on the bus and it was time to head to Saxman Totem Village. The driver parked and he told us he would give us a quick tour and then we would be on our own for a while but we needed to be back at the bus at 12:15pm. We followed him to the clan house and he gave us a little history. We never did go inside or see any dancing or get to talk to anyone or see anyone carving. When he finished giving his spiel we walked around a little. I found a good spot to hide Monumental Sculpture: Totem Pole and then we just walked around looking at the totem poles. We bumped into PenGwen, Mark & Sue and Doublesaj & Old Blue. After that we returned to the bus for the drive back to town. We decided to try and find a letterbox or two so we headed for Creek Street. On the way we bumped into deniserows and sewsewbizzy (who were doing the Ketchikan Walking Tour) and they said the only box still there was at the Totem Heritage Center and you had to take a bus to get there. We decided to go to the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center to get some Passport Stamps - we got Misty Fjords National Monument, Southeast Alaska Discovery Center and two for the Tongass National Forest. After that we did a little shopping - I wanted and T-shirt (and I found one that had an embroidered totem pole on it with Ketchikan, Alaska) and Thomas bought an Ulu Knife for a friend (which we had mailed home).

Once we had gotten things mailed we headed back to the ship and our cabin. We showered and got ready for dinner and then read until it was time to go to the restaurant. Tonight we had dinner with Dave & Deanne and Doublesaj and Old Blue. It was a wonderful evening and a great visit. I had mixed green salad, gemelli and chocolate souffle while Thomas had a caesar salad, beef tenderloin and chocolate souffle. After dinner I got my letterboxing things and went to find two boxes both on Deck 10. It didn't take me too long to find them and stamp in and then I returned to the cabin to do a little writing and reading. It was a nice day and I enjoyed seeing the totem poles even though the tour was not that great. Today was our last port visit. Tomorrow we are cruising all day and we dock in Vancouver the next morning. Hard to believe that it is almost over.