Betchya Can Shine In Ketchikan

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Sharon rose to take in the breathtaking early dawn view as we neared our port of call in Ketchikan. Just one week earlier we didn’t even venture off of the Noordam in this port due to the inclement weather. Well, the locals refer to it as liquid sunshine, and they monitor the liquid sunshine each year. And they measure what most locales quantify in inches with feet. Their record is just over sixteen feet or 203 inches. The monitor shows that it is possible that will be exceeded this year. The average is between ten and twelve feet per year!

We caught a bite to eat in the Lido, with Sharon getting the French Toast which was quite good. The turkey bacon wasn’t quite crisp enough for her, again; although, when I finished it I must say that this was quite eatable and not like the jerky we seemed to get last week.

We went ashore to meet our tour a bit early, and we went across the street to get me an Alaska baseball hat replacement. I found two that I liked, and Sharon found one herself. We had to chuckle when we looked inside and noticed the label declared “Made in China”. Last year when we were in China there was one in our tour group that had bought an olive drab baseball hat with a single red star, and his label had read “Made in USA”. Of course, we may need to take that with a grain of salt. I heard someone on this cruise talking about the day when Japan was making cheap knock-offs of everything; that, they even built a manufacturing town that they named Usa… you guessed it. Their goods all were labeled “Made in USA”.

We took the Misty Fjord tour by boat, a pontoon catamaran craft capable of getting up over 30 knots. There was plenty of room on the main deck and additional inside seating above, and a small amount of outside walk-around viewing. Complimentary binoculars were provided. The outside is very windy when the craft gets up to speed, and you need to be careful of any hats or glasses. We saw many eagles, harbor seals as well as some other water birds. Normally there are many flows of water streaming down the steep cliffs of misty fjords; but, today’s absence of precipitation removed the source of these falling waters. There was one waterfall that did have a source of snowmelt that could sustain it in this 24-hour drought, and was nicknamed Peek-A-Boo Falls by the way it was obscured from view by the trees that framed the narrow gorge that formed the falls that had once been carved out by a receding glacier. The cliffs rise 3,000 feet above the water and then go down another 700 feet. Many places that we had been on our 55 mile journey to misty fjords had traveled over water over 2,500 feet deep in places. In addition to being created by glaciers, the park entrance shows a unique feature that noted previous volcanic activity. Out in the water an island with spire like rock towers reach upward, the site of a long-ago volcanic flute. What remains is all that was left after the glacier receded. The steep sides along the fjord endure frequent slides, where whole sections wash down a hill. The rebuilding process then begins as smaller forms of life and moss and lichens grab hold. Adler trees are the first trees that will take root providing rich nitrogen nutrients to the sparse soil that then allows the denser forests to grow, such as birch and hemlock. Different hues of green reveal the different growths, starting with the lighter green Adler.

The served us complimentary clam chowder or vegetarian chili. I must say that the small cup of New England chowder that they provided was nicely seasoned, and I enjoyed it just as much as some of the more renowned chowders that I’ve tried this past week. Sharon’s chili was also very tasty.

We went to the Dive-In for lunch. Sharon grabbed what she thought was her plain burger, taking the smallest (or flattest sandwich) and was alarmed exclaiming “there’s stuff on my burger!” I told her that was my chicken sandwich and she had simply opened the wrong one.

We stopped by the Explorer’s Lounge to do the daily Sudoku. I quickly finished the Easy puzzle; but, we both struggled with the Hard puzzle. I just couldn’t quite come up with the next number at one point, and was worried I might have annotate everything; which, would put me way behind Sharon. As it was, I was already way behind and Sharon won quite easily. And what I was looking for was right in front of me, I just didn’t see it! Oh well, what is it that they say, “Even a broken watch is right twice a day!”

Team Trivia was at 4 PM and when we walked in ten minutes early (or so we thought) a trivia game was in progress. We soon realized this was a “Food Trivia” Team Challenge. All of our team members were there. Two of them evidently go and do all of the trivia games. We easily managed many of the early questions, such as “Outside of Antarctica, What country experiences the coldest temperatures on earth?” Recognizing that the danger might be that this might be in North America, but I wrote down Russia without too much opposition. One team didn’t get credit for Siberia and was pretty upset that Russia was the answer. Ross, the cruise director has three rules for trivia: Rule 1 – Have Fun, Rule 2 – The Cruise Director has the final word, and Rule 3 – If you want to argue with the Cruise Director, refer to Rule 2. Ross, noted “The last time I checked, Russia is a country and Siberia is not!” There were many choices for what fruit has the highest concentration of Vitamin C. Sharon noted that it can’t be orange (That’s too obvious). Pomegranate was a popular choice, and apricots. I crossed out orange (because Sharon was right, but don’t tell her that I said so) and wrote down “kiwi”. We were guessing 1903 or 1904 for “What year did Henry Ford go into automated production of the Model-A?” I had surmised that Ross had meant to say Model-T, so don’t let that confuse you (the Model-A didn’t appear on the scene for a couple of decades yet). The answer was 1908. One team with a retired Ford worker had written down 1930; but, when he tried to complain he ran into that Rule #3 dilemma. We didn’t do to well on the car questions (notably American Car Questions) this time. We couldn’t come up with anything better than Ford for the first American Car to race in Lemans. The clue is that that car company is still in business today. The answer was Chrysler. We only missed two questions; but, missed the bonus “What band had 4 number one hits in the 1970’s?” Sharon recognized the right answer immediately when she saw it on the answer sheet of the team that we graded at the end. Eagles wasn’t the answer. Wings wasn’t the answer. And neither was Rolling Stones (our answer). It was the Bee Gees. We tied for third but total score we should be equal to the team that won since we beat them by 2 the previous day. They are also the team that first said that they would play with us; but, then qualified that by saying only if their other partners didn’t show up.

We arrived at dinner at 5:45 and it was standing room only waiting to get in. We got a pager to wait for a table. This has never happened before. We didn’t wait more than fifteen minutes and were eventually seated at a table for two. I had the seared ahi tuna which I had never seen served shaved paper thin. It came with a tasty aioli topping and was delicious. I also had the crab roll that Sharon ordered for me; and, it two was unlike anything I’d eaten before… sort of like a taquito crab roll! I had the seafood chowder in a sourdough bowl and this was quite tasty also. I chose the Asian vegetarian noodle dish for my entre, and Sharon had the oven-roasted chicken, which wasn’t here favorite. Sharon got the Baked Alaska with Chocolate Ice Cream, and it came served in a sundae dish! I had the crème brule.

Eating by ourselves, we finished dinner in record time and were early for the Show. Sharon and I stopped in the casino to kill about one-half hour before show time. I wasn’t having much luck and barely managed to hold my own. I was about even when Sharon came over after fifteen minutes ready to go and get a seat. I should have left with her, because I proceeded to lose then next seven hands. I did get a couple of small win streaks, and when I left to join Sharon I was not quite back to even.

Tonight’s Show featured the magic and comedy of Fred Becker. He came out and told the audience that he was a magician, and that he was going to mageesh for us. He then walked over towards the front of the stage and noted “I’ll bet you’re glad I’m not a wizard!” His act featured two routines which used a couple of older men from the audience, who were great sports, and the audience and Fred were in stitches. The show lasted about fifty minutes, and we were completely engaged for the entire performance.

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