Ketchikan

Thursday, May 26, 2016
We arrived in Ketchikan after breakfast this morning which meant we could enjoy beautiful scenery out the huge windows in the buffet while we were eating. The amazing thing was the weather.  We actually had some blue skies - the first we've seen on this trip and here we are coming into the rain capital!

We could see most of the small town as we were parking at the dock - one of four cruise ships in port. 

Here you are right in town when you arrive.  In fact the dock has been added to the land to make the area larger so ships park nose to tail all along the boardwalk. This sign welcomes visitors arriving by water - the only practical way to get to the town since there are no roads in.

And right on the dock is this statue representing the history of the town

We joined the huge numbers of people getting off as we had purchased tickets for the lumber jack show in the morning.

 The stadium was just a couple of short blocks away.  And the show began shortly after we arrived.  One of the first things that happened was a passenger of one of the other ships was introduced.  He had tried his hand at throwing an axe on the ship and got a bulls eye so he was invited to do it at the show.  Here is a shot of his ax flying through the air but as you can see by how low it is he did not get a bulls eye this time.

The 4 participants in the show were Rob and Boone Scheer, a father and son duo who both hold championship titles in lumberjack events and two other younger fellows who also have won events. They are 4 of the 12 who compete in these shows at various times - two of which are female.  One of them, Cassandra who goes by the nickname Sitka, was the narrator today.

The following a few pictures taken of some of the events:

After the show, we spent some time walking around the town first enjoying all the beautiful flowers 

We visited the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center where we enjoyed a film on the area as well as interesting displays depicting the wild life, fishing, lumbering, and other aspects of life in the area. They also had this huge 3 D wall map of Alaska that helped us see where we'd been and where we would be going including the waterways had been traveling.  No wonder we always had land in sight. There is a lot of it along the peninsula areas on the two sides.  (Note that Alaska is our largest state - 2 1/2 times larger than Texas and when put on a map of the lower 48 pretty much stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific)

There were a variety of totem poles around the area including this one in the building

And this one that is close to the entrance to famous Creek Street

We then wandered through Creek Street where the homes have become shops and restaurants.

On our way back to the ship for a very late lunch, we got this picture that shows the ship in relationship to the buildings and in the foreground is one of the many people around town who holds crossing signs to stop traffic and allow people to cross safely.  I guess that provides employment and keeps them from having to put up stop lights for the short tourist season.

Later in the day, I stopped to watch a Fashion show in the atrium with passengers as the models showing off some of the items sold in the shops on board.

Then after dinner, we enjoyed the production show, On the Bayou, with its elaborate staging including a mock Preservation Hall that opened so you could see the blues singers and instrumentalists playing inside.  The stage had a moving circular section in center that made it look like a boat was being poled down the river.  John Herrick was sitting in the front row along with the Blacks and Rumrills and got pulled up by one of the dancers to participate in an ending number. Then at the very end lots of colorful pieces of shiny long pieces of confetti fell down over the audience.