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Here's Ketchikan ~ the Salmon Capitol of the World! I should think that's great, if only I eat salmon. It was drizzly there, but not the whole time. We walked around. First stop, the Totem Memorial Park. While on the way there, we saw some totems, some cool looking benches, walked down the famous Creek Street, and saw the University of Alaska Southeast. And the slugs, all over the sidewalks and plants, were HUGE and fat. I've never seen them so big. The say things are big in Texas, but in Alaska, they're even bigger.
The totems were tall, very tall. The backs of the benches that we saw, were shaped into a dolphin and a whale. It was pretty neat. I don't know how comfortable it is, as it was sprinkling and I didn't want to get my pants wet. I would like to have one of those benches.
We did see the University of Alaska while walking to the Totem Memorial Park and the only reason we saw it was because there was a totem on its front lawn. I took a picture of it. Then I noticed what the building sign said. I looks like it's
only 1 floor, unless it's on a hill and the back of the building goes down a hill.
The entrance fee for the Totem Park was only $5. Inside, there was a slue of information and actual totems. You walk into the foyer and there's 2 guides and 3 totems. You have to look up to see the top of them. The lighting was dim, so it was hard to see what was carved on the top. Totems were carved from cedar trees and the traditional totem colors are black, brown, red, and a blue-green. There were 2 rooms, one on each side of the foyer. In one room were more totems. They were laying down and behind glass. Of course, there are placards everywhere talking about different things relating to their way of life. One thing I found very interesting was a placard that stated why the totems were built. Of course, they were built to honor a chief or someone highly regarded in a tribe. The one reason why the tribe built a totem that I found interesting was because of sham. If someone wronged someone, then a shame totem would be built. For example, if you
owed me money and you hadn't repaid, a totem would be built. It would remain up until you repaid your debt. If you do repay it, then they would take it down and burn it. Another thing I learned about totems was that in the back of them was a notch carved out. When you died, you were cremated and your ashes were put in the carved out notch. Of course, you would have to be of some importance to have a totem built. The other room off the side of the foyer contained some Native American baskets, photographs, newspaper clippings, masks, and several other items important to the native people of Alaska.
Creek Street is aptly named because it's built next to a creek. There's a nice boardwalk walking over the water's edge. I saw a couple of people kayaking up the creek. There's several quaint, little shops. I bought my Alaskan sovereign in one of these shops. It's a bear holding a fish in his mouth carved out of elder wood. It's made in Alaska and by an Alaskan. Creek Street was known as the "Red Light" district of Ketchikan. One building is a museum of Dolly's
House, a working girl. As the sign on the side of the house says, "Where both men & salmon came up the stream to spawn". As we walked past the building, a woman came out of the house and invited Dean in. I told her he's married. She said that was okay, you can come too.
Somewhere along the way, there was a carved humpback whale. It was a photo op for Dean and myself. We kept walking around, doing some shopping for gifts, shirts, and sovereigns. Lots of tourist stores here with some good sales. You can get a coupon book from the visitors center. All in all, it was a good day. We only had 5 hours off the ship, but we got a lot of sight-seeing in, shopping, and did a lot of walking.
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