Our ship docked in Ketchikan (meaning thundering wings of an eagle) around 10:00am.Ketchikan began by establishing a salmon cannery in 1880's and is known as the Salmon Capital of the World. The town enjoyed a brief boom of supplying goods for prospectors, but later turned into a fishing, timbering, and tourism industry. The population is 15,000.
Larry and I headed off the ship around 11:00am for a walk to the Totem Heritage Center, 2.5 miles outside of the town. Of all the towns visited on this cruise, Ketchikan was the most modern and tourist ready port. Everything appeared to be brand new. Booths were set up inside a facility for any kind of adventure that you would want to spend your money on....snorkeling (brrr), jeeping, hiking, lumbering shows, museums, fishing, eating local foods, zip lining, biking, whale watching, glacier watching, train riding, more boating,....and on! We were told that the Alaskan Cruisers have the most opportunities for excursions, more choices than any other cruise trips. I have to agree.
Out on the dock we walked past the Rain Gauge that indicated the rainfall that had occurred so far this year. Ketchikan is dubbed "the capital of liquid sunshine" with an average of 160 inches of rain. We also saw "The Welcome Rock" with "The Rock Statues" right on the waterfront.
There was a big welcome arch that we walked under heading up the street to Whale Park where Whale/Dolphin backed seats lined the sidewalks. Totems were standing tall along our walk to Creek Street where quaint little shops dotted the banks of the Ketchikan Creek. Creek Street dates back to the Gold Rush Days and was the red-light district of brothels and speakeasies.
Ketchikan is actually an island separated by the Creek where salmon swim up to their spawning area each summer.
On we continued out of the town down along the waterfront on a great hike. Did I mention that we had another glorious day of sunshine? The temps were coolers, but the walk seemed to warm us up! We stopped and had a picnic lunch along the rocky waterfront. We finally reached the Saxman Native Totem Park which showcased a collection of 30 poles. We also took a hike along a path behind the park after going through the visitor center and gift shop.
We caught the local bus back to town and decided to ride it as far north as we could go. It passed the local airport, lumbering yard, a salmon canning factory, the Coast Guard Station and Totem Bight State Park following the inland waterway...it was a nice little ride to see the local sights just outside the city for a buck! After a little window shopping we made it back to the ship around 4:00pm.
In the evening after dinner on the back deck, we watched a Jack Ryan movie. It was entertaining and full of action! I also finished a 2013 Gresham thriller, Sycamore Row, a sequel to Gresham's first book, A Time to Kill. Great story with probably a lot of historical truths.
The ship sailed along side the same road that we had walked earlier as we headed towards Vancouver.
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