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Published: August 25th 2015
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Crosscut Sawing
at Lumberjack Show This morning we awoke already tied to the pier in Ketchikan Alaska. Well that was the 2
ndtime we awoke. At 3:45 the alarm woke us for Janet to go to register for Yoga. And the cliffhanger answer is ….. YES she did get up and try, but NO she was unsuccessful because the class was already filled. So this next couple of months she may find something different to occupy her mornings.
Jim and Kathy thought we were meeting them for breakfast at 6:00 and we thought 6:30, so today they went up to the buffet first and we took over using their table after they had finished eating. It was very crowded in the Horizon Court this morning because all the excursions were pretty early in the morning. Naturally everyone wanted to eat before going ashore, so this was the place to be at 6:30. But we all had a good breakfast and then made our way down the gangway a little past 7:00.
Our excursion was supposed to get organized at 7:30 on the pier, so we had some time to spend in a local souvenir shop. They had
Log Rolling
at Lumberjack Show all sorts of things on sale because it is getting close to the end of their season (didn’t want to store anything until next May). Both us and the Sieberts got a few things and then headed over to the buses.
Our excursion started with a Lumberjack Show. We were shown into an open-air theater, but we were under a cover which was warmed with heat-strips. The theme of the show was to demonstrate various lumberjack skills, but the demonstrators were divided into two teams and the audience had to cheer for one team or the other. Unfortunately our team lost 5-4, but it was a very entertaining demonstration. That included chopping wood with axes, throwing axes at targets, cross-cut sawing, chain saw cutting, a chain-saw woodcarving demonstration, tree climbing, log rolling, and more. It was a lot of fun to watch.
We then boarded a bus to go to our next event, but first the driver took us around town to see some of the highlights. The town has a year-round population of about 8500 with another 1000 in summer additions during the tourist season. They used to have
Kathy & Jim
with Lumberjacks a lumber mill / wood pulp industry, but in 1997, much of the forested land was taken over by the Tongass National Park and the wood pulp industry dried up (they could only cut lumber on a small amount of private land). David & Janet had been here 11 years ago and the town appears to them to have developed a lot since then.
Ketchikan is actually an island and everything here has to be brought in by air or sea. They had a major event a few years ago when Walmart opened a store. It is the 2
nd smallest Walmart in the country, but it’s the “big times” for local Ketchikan residents. They average 13.5 feet of rain a year, so it was not too surprising that there was drizzle during much of the day. Local definitions declare a drought condition if there has not been any rain for 6 straight days and our driver/guide (Hunt) said he has never seen that to occur during his 3 summers in Ketchikan. The only bears living on the island are Black Bears, and there are 3 times as many of them as there are people, but
Jim in Clan House
at Totem Bight State Park they mostly avoid the residents.
After our tour of town we were driven to the Totem Bight State Park. This is a place David & Janet had been the previous time, but it was interesting to see again. Everything was new to Jim & Kathy. Hunt walked us through the park and explained the history and purpose of each of the totem poles and the clan house. We saw mortuary poles, memorial poles, lodge poles (in the clan house), and story poles. There are also shame poles, but none are in the park. Hunt told us the story that each of the story poles were telling. During the walk through the park we were fortunate enough to have dry skies (even some sunshine), so it was better than walking in the rain. The weather was a little cool for short-sleeves, so everyone work sweatshirts or jackets, but it all worked out very well.
The previous time when we were in Ketchikan we had seen a large wooden carved bird in the heart of town, but we did not see it during the drive-around today. David asked our driver about it
Totem Pole
at Totem Bight State Park and he had no idea what we were talking about. He asked his senior guide, who also did not know about it. Fortunately we found a picture of the carving, which showed some existing stores in the background. So they knew David wasn’t confused, but apparently it has been removed sometime in the intervening years.
After viewing the park, we spent a few minutes in the gift shop and then were driven back to our bus. “All aboard” time was 1:30 and it was only about noon, so we decided on another quick visit to the store. Then we went back onto the ship and headed up to the Lido Deck for some lunch.
Instead of the buffet we chose the Trident Grill. Janet had a giant hot dog, Kathy had a hot dog and a fish taco, Jim had a cheeseburger, and David had a cheeseburger and a fish taco. By the way, salmon tacos are really quite delicious. After lunch we all visited the ice cream stand and each had a cup of ice cream with one or more toppings of our choice.
Janet and Kathy went to the afternoon craft event. It was called Gold Nugget Bracelets. We each got a kit of string and beads and the assistant cruise directors helped us make a cute bracelet. Kathy finished hers but Janet got a little stuck and plans to take it apart and start over. It will make a nice memento of the trip and maybe Kathy has found a new hobby.
After being crafty, they both went to the musical afternoon high tea. It was the usual high tea with finger sandwiches, pastries, scones and of course tea. We sat at a table with several other people including the mother of the groom of the wedding that took place on our first day. We had seen the bride that day in her wedding gown and she was beautiful. We assured her that we assumed the groom looked just as good.
Meanwhile David had gone up on the deck to try to take a few photos of Ketchikan from the ship before it sailed. Then both he and Jim spent the afternoon restfully in our cabins. As the Star Princess
Totem Poles
seen from ship as we sailed away left Ketchikan, we sailed past the Totem Bight Park and we were able to see a few of the poles from the ship (certainly at much longer distance than earlier today).
We all reconvened together just in time to go to dinner. This evening’s theme was Italian Night. We had a large selection to choose between, and we got many of them. For appetizers, Janet & David got Prosciutto & Melon, while Jim had a small bowl of Spaghetti and Kathy had Eggplant Parmesan. Then David had a bowl of Minestrone Soup. We all had small orders of their special pasta. For entrée Kathy had Spaghetti & Meatballs, David had Shrimp & Scallops, Janet had Veal Scaloppini as well as a sample of the Shrimp and Scallops, while Jim had the Shrimp & Scallops dinner, and the Mahi Mahi dinner, and the grilled chicken breast dinner (he could not make up his mind so Josephine brought him an order of each). We had a variety of dessert ice creams, including Kathy having Gelato.
Tonight’s show in the Princess Theater was by the same person who had done the first night, and who had failed to make a favorable impression on us. So we went to the Vista Lounge instead and listened to a Vocal Impressionist named Mike Wilson. He was very good and quite funny. We were sitting around the lounge afterwards and he came back in and sat down with us to talk. He started telling us a few jokes he had not used during the show, and then Jim started swapping jokes with him. It was a lot of fun.
We agreed to meet tomorrow morning at 7:30 for breakfast, so that will about wrap up today’s report.
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