By the time we are finished touring little Ketchikan we feel like we are nearing home. The sky is on our schedule. The air is warmer and the huge mountains are all but gone, although I should note that the “hills” around Ketchikan, no more than 3000 ft., still have plenty of snow on them despite the fact that we are at sea level.

We’ve had enough of the shops. Glad I didn’t buy much back in Denali etc because the crap here is the same crap that was there. Lucky for Al and me, between my parents and Al’s Mom who came to Alaska years ago we have all the souvenirs we need. I was about to buy a charm for my charm bracelet and then remembered – Mom and Dad brought me a totem pole charm already! Thanks Mom!

Capt. Greg’s wife and our driver to get to the boat – oh, yes, did I mention her world famous brownies raved about on the internet are really that good – (She’s modest – says everything tastes better out there, which may be true but they still are a perfect complement to whale watching.) – tell us that the numerous diamond/jewelry hawkers are, not surprisingly, under contract with the cruise companies. During the winter the store after store after store of bargains closes up completely, irritating the locals by covering up the windows with brown paper, making the place look like a ghost town. I’m not that into jewelry and certainly not when I’m the target of a hard sell. I have to wonder about people who buy into the ruse that you are getting a bargain just by the fact that you are a cruiser. A sucker born every minute. Ditto with the “fine art auctions” on the ship. Really?

Once we got out of the main part of town we walked to the totem pole museum. It is a small place that is owned by the area tribes. Back in the 60’s they decided they should be preserving this important part of tribal history. With the help of the US government they located totem poles all over the southeast of Alaska – on foot, on plane; these were carefully transported to Ketchikan where they have been put on display – indoors to prevent further decay if possible. Totems were used to tell stories, commemorate members of the tribes, and there were even mausoleum totems that contained the ashes of the honoree.

In conjunction with this museum is a small salmon hatchery next to a tiny creek that you can’t imagine would be the site of a huge salmon run. We are just a little early for that, but the guide tells us in a few weeks we would be able to walk across the creek on the backs of the salmon there are so many. Ketchikan is a known salmon fishing mecca – maybe someday. Back on our train ride from Denali we did see a few salmon (took me a few minutes to hone in because of the “swimming upstream” thing). I would like to come back during salmon season for two reasons – to see the salmon, and to see the bears eating them…

Al and I completed our day in Ketchikan at the Sourdough saloon, playing pool (I still can’t play – I told Al I’m going to take some lessons. Thirty five years of knowing what I’m supposed to do but not being able to do it is enough.) We then  played darts and I did win that. Al didn’t know I was a decent dart thrower…