Day in Ketchikan

There is no place to stow luggage when you come in on one ferry and the one that you are catching goes out 18 hours later. So here we are trudging up and down the streets of Ketchikan with our luggage in tow. People asked us if we were moving. I did feel displaced from time to time and as we climbed the hill to see the fish, like a beast of burden. The stream was teeming with fish trying to get up the rushing waterfall or up the fish ladder. The naturalist on the ferry gave a talk on salmon and only 2% of the eggs live out their life cycle. The good news is that Alaska has maintained or restored the salmon habitat and the populations are stable.
Salmon fishing has been a mainstay of their economy for a long time. In the museum was a sign from one of the early canneries: We eat what we can and we can what we can’t.
Besides the museum we wandered the town reading about their history. We went into the Dolly Museum. Dolly was a madam and ran her house by herself and was the last one to close. It is as she left it and if they don’t do some restoration soon, it isn’t going to last much longer. It and many of the shops are along Creek Street named because the creek is where a street would be normally. Everything is on very high pilings with a boardwalk.
Three cruise ships were in town so with time to kill we watched the Celebrity one leave—huge.
At 11pm we boarded the Taku for the next leg of our journey. By the time we were awake, the ferry was nearing Wrangall. From there a brief stop in Petersburg. Took pictures for my friend, Anita. Next up was Kake. I took a picture of a green road sign as it seemed out of place on this remote highway. Our entertainment while we were in port was that the crew did a drill with the life boat. With three of them in it, they lowered it to the water, drove it around for a bit and hoisted it back up. Regulations require that they do that every once in awhile—nice to know that it works.
We keep ourselves busy reading, Sudoku, I’m knitting, and picture taking. This afternoon as we neared this gorgeous mountain range that appears to rise from the sea, whale watching was the main source of fun. At one time we could see about a dozen sprays and breaches, most of them far away, but some quite close. We got our exercise rushing from one side to the other.
The weather has been perfect. Every day has been sunny and warm—couldn’t ask for anything better. Tonight we get into Sitka so will post from the motel.