North to Alaska Part 2

 

North to Alaska  Part 2

 

At 8 am we arrive in Ketchikan where it rains 360 days a year. Today the sun is out and about 78 degrees… it is warm which is very unusual. Around the cruise ship, passengers look like they are on a Caribbean cruise, not Alaska. Many are in bathing suits. Others of our ship mates leaving the ship look miserable because they have packed their Patagonia, Eddie Bauer hiking clothes and gear for chilly, rainy weather.

We arrived at Ward Cove and took the shuttle bus 30 miles into town. The town of Ketchikan is accessible only by sea and air becoming more assessable by cruise ship. The landscape is stunning, green, beautiful with photo ops at every turn. The town is described as historic and charming, I would call it more aged, tired and worn but with 360 days of rain who wouldn’t be.  

It is a small town and boasts 3 grocery stores, a Walmart, hospital, airport, lots of gift stores and a couple of fast-food places. A local favorite according to our cruise Director is Burger Queen. He said it is the most delicious burger he has ever eaten in his life. We walked by and it looked cozy also moldy.  Burger Queen wasn’t open at 9 am so we missed our chance of a lifetime.

Most of shops are typical souvenirs stores but some feature expensive jewelry, furs, Native  American arts. There are seafood restaurants at each turn and of course a variety of taverns and drinking establishments.

Ketchikan is the salmon capital of the world, and as Bubba from Forest Gump would say it has salmon fillets, salmon burgers, salmon tacos, salmon cakes, salmon croquettes, salmon chowder, pouched salmon, salmon skewers, smoked salmon… well you get the idea. It’s no wonder that Burger Queen is a favorite.

We did a what we call a “walk about”. Jay bought a tee shirt because you have to and we returned to the ship for a burger that was good in its own. We then got in our swimsuits and went to the pool. That was our experience in Ketchikan.

The next day we arrived at relaxed Icy Point Hootan on Chichago Island and that is not misspelled. It was Sunday which combined with a small town usually means many shops are closed relaxing and quiet. Hoonah town is only a mile away but there was no shuttle on Sunday. We were going to walk but very few shops are open on Sundays. At the cruise dock there was the largest zip line in the country, a cable car ride to the top of a beautiful mountain and another free cable car to the famous cannery. We opted for the free ride and went to the old cannery. There we found the old cannery converted into a couple of restaurants and  gift stores  selling typical tee shirts, sweatshirts etc. and of course salmon packaged in each sort of way.

We chose to return the half mile by walking path through the woods instead of the cable car.  Beginning the walk  there are many signs warning of bears and advising you what to do if you encountered a bear. I guess these signs are necessary because there are 1.75 bears to a square mile. If we ran into a bear, I hoped it would be the .75 bear and not the 1-point bear, The short walk was   beautiful and although we wore our sweaters, we didn’t really need them. It was again a warm day. 

Back on the ship early while most of the guests sere still milling around buying souvenirs, or gone on excursions. It is a very nice time to enjoy the amenities on board without the hustle and  other guests because many were on boats whale watching. If you decided to spend the money for a whale watching excursion in Icy Straits you are guaranteed to see an Orca or humpback whale …there are that many around Icy strait especially in September. If you are not on an excursion the chances still are still  extremely high. At dinner last night our waitress  gasped because she saw a whale. We missed seeing the whale jump because we were more concerned about the water she was pouring would end up in our lap. 

All and all I would say our stop in Icy Strait  was relaxing, but Alaska tends to be relaxing. Tomorrow it is Skagway, the easiest port to discover on foot and that’s what we are going to do.

 

 

 

 o