Blogs from Ketchikan, Alaska, United States, North America - page 3

Click here for photos from Ketchikan We awoke in Ketchikan to what we'd come to consider the sound of Alaska, a cold rain. Even the sound of the rain hitting our balcony told us it was cold, or perhaps our expectations of weather better than we experience back home had slowly turned into acceptance of the damp, cold reality of our current position. Although I often mention how overcast and rainy Northeast Pennsylvania is compared to the rest of the planet, Ketchikan clans claim to have the scientific proof that they have the fourth most rainy city. Upon closer inspection, we're both spreading misinformation. Neither of us appear in the most overcast group eit... read more

Backpacking in the Inside Passage We now headed to Alaska, dividing the trip into two parts, backpacking and ferry hopping for a month in the Inside Passage then car camping with the same small 2 person tent in the interior. Booking a vehicle on the Alaska Marine Highway is prohibitively expensive. Even bringing bikes would have paid for new bikes by journey’s end. We could have driven the Al Can highway one way and in retrospect, that might have been a good alternative. Much of the Inside Passage is not really oriented for backpackers and it took a few false starts to learn the ropes. Our roughest leg was the first stop, Ketchikan. Flying into Ketchikan at Night We flew into Ketchikan, the first major port for northbound cruises in the Inside Passage, in the evening ... read more

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 ... read more

Geo: 55.3542, -131.691So that there is no unfounded lingering " eager anticipation" here, our lucky numbers did not come up in the onboard Paradise Lotto so Mac's investment of $8 paid no dividends.But, we still had the winning feeling because today was Ketchikan shore day. There were so many adventures and activities to choose from: kayaking, hiking, rope challenges, zip lining, snorkelling, canoeing or sport fishing. All the activities are rated for physicality from Level 2 through to Level 3. For our first foray we chose a Level 1 "Active and Adventure Tour" and "just because" we haven't eaten enough on the ship our adventure was The Wilderness Exploration and Crab Feast. The tour began with a narrated bus tour and our driver and guide was Kevin, a native of the Bear and Raven clan. This ... read more

Geo: 55.3542, -131.691... read more