Ketch (me if you) kan

Okay, so it's a bad attempt at humor.  Today we were in Ketchikan, Alaska.  Yesterday was a relaxing day at sea highlighted by an $89 bingo win by Linda.  Have I ever mentioned how much we love the bingo shipboard credit money laundering scheme?

This morning I went for a walk.  We are docked at the NCL port at Ward Cove which is about 7 miles from the center of Ketchikan and the 4 large cruise ships docked there.  The weather was perfect for a morning hike - sunny and temp in the upper 50's.  

After walking through the interesting terminal, which is a converted pulp mill, I headed up a trail and dirt road.

The trail went up through the forest so I played music on the way to alert any bears that might be in the area.  After a short while, I could have continued further up the mountain, but I decided to head back to the road where I wasn't so fearful of bears.  I headed north on the North Tongass Highway.  The highway was busy but at least there was a nice wide berm for safe walking.

Eventually, I made my way to the Refuge Cove Recreation Area.  You walk through a small stand of Sitka Spruce to get to the shoreline.

I was there at a fairly low tide which made for interesting views of the coast and some tide pools.

There were lots of seashells and mussels embedded on rocks.

This one downed log provided a fascinating ecosystem to observe.

In the tide pools I saw some little fish, some aquatic life that would spit out water, and this beautiful sea star.

On my way back to the ship, I saw this truck in a ditch.  Apparently, they took the Off Road decal a little too seriously!

After returning to the ship, Linda and I took the shuttle bus into Ketchikan proper.  We then walked along the shore to Annabelle's Famous Keg and Chowder House.  

Unfortunately, all of their chowders have bacon in them so we had to opt for halibut fish and chips.  Quite good and how can you go wrong with accompanying it with an Alaskan Amber?

After lunch we walked up to Ketchikan Creek to see the salmon spawning.  We also saw a couple of sea lions who were enjoying a salmon lunch.  The sea lion is hard to see in the fourth photo, but trust me it was there.

Of course, there are totems everywhere.

From the creek, we took the local free shuttle bus back to the cruise shuttle bus stop.  On the way back, we passed the site of the recent tragic landslide, the result of heavy rainfall.

It was a good day in Kecthikan with amazingly good weather considering all of the rain they have had recently.  We can now hope that it will be as nice when we're back here in one week. Tomorrow, it's Sitka.

Peace and blessings,

Linda and Larry