2017 - June 15th - Alaska - Ketchikan

Overnight we sailed south to Ketchikan. Ketchikan sits on its own island, Revillagigedo Island, 700 miles north of Seattle, Washington, and 235 miles south of Juneau, Alaska. Strangely, Ketchikan's International Airport is located across the 1/2-mile wide Tongass Narrows channel on Gravina Island, not in the city of Ketchikan! Ketchikan records a high amount of rainfall, with an equivalent average of 149 inches, four times as much as rainy Seattle, Washington! The tourist board shrugs it off as “liquid sunshine”! We were warned ahead of time that this port would be the wettest with at least misty rain. But nothing would stop us from exploring the great area of Ketchikan!

Dave Rubin's bronze monument "The Rock" was unveiled at Berth 1 on Sunday, July 4th, 2010. It features 7 life-size figures from Ketchikan's past: Chief Johnson (a Native leader of Ketchikan), a logger, a fisherman, a miner, an aviator, a Native woman drumming, and an elegant lady in her 1890s finery. This was our starting point as the ship was docked at Berth 1! By the welcoming Visitor Center was the "liquid-sunshine" gauge of Ketchikan boasting the average 149 inches of rainfall a year, 4 times as much as rainy Seattle, Washington!

We did have that "misty rain" but enjoyed the shops and stores lining the tourist area of Ketchikan. Ketchikan being the Salmon capital of the world there were Salmon samples everywhere and always Salmon for sale. The Salmon Market on Pier 1 cannot be missed. We got a kick out of the "Orca Corn" popcorn store signage on their store!

The fur stores are all over Ketchikan. Any type of wear that you could possibly want can be found in one of the Ketchikan Fur Stores ... even underwear! No kidding! Your fur can come with the head still attached if wanted. Natural or colored furs in any color shade can be found in Ketchikan. The shopping never stops in Ketchikan. There are gorgeous Alaskan crafted art in every store. It was fun window shopping in all of these unique stores. We decided to catch the Ketchikan Duck land and amphibian vehicle ... it's a bus, it's a boat, and yes it floats! This tour takes us around town on its wheels to see several points-of-interest then goes into the Tongass Narrows channel and bay and we cruise the waters to see Ketchikan from another viewpoint. There is a tunnel going through the mountain from New Ketchikan to Old Ketchikan. The city is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the staircases leading to the residential neighborhoods, the same as if they were streets. As we enter Old Ketchikan on the other side of the mountain tunnel on the Duck we pass by Burger Queen. There are very few national fast-food places in Ketchikan and this local fast-food is written up as the best fast food in Ketchikan, and possibly in all of Southeast Alaska. Supposedly the crews of cruise ships line up for an off-ship burger, locals call their orders in ahead of time and travelers wait in the line. A 30 minute wait in line isn’t unheard of so they say. They only have 3 or 4 tables, so most get it to go. It is reported that their burgers are good but also is said that you'll pay for the quality, even though it’s still "fast food"--$12-15 for lunch! Our tour did not stop here, but it is an important talking point on the Duck tour!!!  Totem Bright State Historical Park is a nice small park that we passed on our Duck tour of Ketchikan. It was explained that there are various totem poles in the park, never as worship centers but served to record stories and family histories, proclaim wealth and status, or honor the dead.

The city parks stay very green with the rain. However, the ball fields never have grass because playing on them, grass never gets a chance to grow. So the city has adjusted to muddy kids on ball days! These streams that flow through the city and parks will be full of Salmon 10 to 14 days from when we were there the tour guide said. The parks were radiant with their vibrant green grass and foliage. We stopped to see and hear the story of Married Man’s Trail which goes over the river and through the woods....but not to grandma’s house! No, Married Man’s Trail was once just a muddy path along the creek that men would use to discreetly visit the working houses of prostitution along Creek Street instead of being "caught" walking in the front doors! At the end of Married Man’s Trail at the bridge the tour stopped at the Salmon Ladder. We were about two weeks early to see the struggling salmon try to jump up the rushing waterfall and continue upstream for spawning. We're told that it’s quite a sight! The city many years ago built this Salmon Ladder to insure the spawning and migration. We had a beautiful view of Ketchikan Creek at the Fish Ladder.

Ketchikan is famous for Creek Street, another stop on our tour. Creek Street is bordered on one side by the Stedman Bridge. This antique red trestle bridge is not only picturesque, it is also where fishermen dangle their hooks in the water below and hope to hook onto a salmon and for kids climbing up to the top of the bridge to jump down into the water. Over a century ago in 1903, this was the small mining and fishing town's red-light district but today the boardwalk street, propped up over Ketchikan Creek on wooden pilings, teams with gift shops, museums and well-preserved homes. The City Council ordered bordellos to relocate across the creek from the town site. More than thirty bawdy houses, most with one or two “working girls," lined the creek over the years. With Prohibition, some houses became speakeasies; rowboats slipped in on high tides and liquor was lifted through trap doors in bordellos floors. The city outlawed prostitution in 1953 and Creek Street became a mixed residential and commercial area. Creek Street is built along the shores of Ketchikan Creek. It was built over the water because it was simply too difficult to blast away the rocky hills surrounding the creek. The most famous house on Creek Street is Dolly’s House, the only “den of iniquity” that still stands today. The green-trimmed doll house appearance looks much like it did during its heyday. Our guide told us that inside there are photos of Dolly adorning the walls, the cabbage rose wallpaper she favored is on the walls, and there is even the “secret closet” in Dolly’s bedroom, where she stashed contraband liquor during the Prohibition years. The house and museum are open to visit and learn more about Dolly and the other women of the red light district, who were only allowed to shop on certain days so that proper ladies could avoid them. The Ladies of the House come out front to entice us to return and visit. If the weather would have been better, we would have returned to explore Creek Street and all it has to offer! It was now time for the Ketchikan Duck to take us into the water and see the city from that view. We were amazed with all of the Bald Eagles we saw while on the water. Many were roosting and we were able to get pretty close to them. They are so majestic as they soar and glide over the shore and the water as our hopes of getting a photo increased. We saw about ten different Eagles, even a pair perched on top of a five story hotel on shore. The cruise was wonderful with various buildings on shore being pointed out to us. We were able to get the ocean view of our cruise ship and the others. On our way back to the berth and our Star Princess ship, we passed Annabelle's Restaurant with this giant gold King Crab decor ... FABULOUS! Our last highlight was passing by small Eagle Park where "Thundering Wings Eagle" was carved by world-renowned Tlingit master carver Nathan Jackson, famous Native American, of Ketchikan. At Eagle Park, this painted Eagle is positioned on purpose so that's it's back end faces Juneau, telling the governing body how they feel about them and their politics (or so the story is told by our guide!).

And so ends our final port of the Alaska Cruise. It seems repetitive to say, but this was a another wonderful day. We didn't mind the misty rain but just enjoyed doing all that we did. All of the captioned pictures can be clicked on at this photo album link.