Blogs from Ketchikan, Alaska, United States, North America - page 9

Cruise West Alaska Tour - 24/07/08 to 16/08/08 On the flight from San Francisco to Ketchikan we changed flights, saw Vancouver Island and had a good view of the Rockies. Beth got good photos of the snow covered peaks, but we do not know what their names are or if Mt. St. Helen is one of them). Kechekan Our Westmark Cape Lodge room gave an excellent view of the harbour. We did not take any optional activities but took the cable car to go down to Creek Street. These shops, built along the Ketchikan Creek (in Australia we would call it a river), are the most photographed part of the town. One of them was the brothel run by Thelma Dolly Copeland. We visited a fish hatchery and bald eagle display. The Ketchikan Creek was shallow ... read more

What's hot: Totem poles What's not: Cruise fatigue Travel lesson of the day: Take the local bus. from Kathy: Ketchikan is one of the rainiest cities in North America, with more than 160" of precipitation annually. Giant slugs and giant vegetation and sagging porches are testament to the humidity. We arrived at 6 a.m. to grey drizzle and learned that this could be considered a weather bonanza for Ketchikan. It is 52 degrees. The kids stayed in bed while Paul and I went exploring. At the Native Trout Hatchery, we watched salmon struggle to make their last leaps into the hatchery pools. A native woman explains, "Salmon die anyway once they spawn. So we kill them and donate the meat to the senior citizen home." The eggs and "milk" are kept to run the hatchery. Notice, ... read more

Our campsite is on a cove and the surroundings are quite beautiful and peaceful. There are mountains across the inlet and little wooded islands dot the water in every direction. We awoke again this morning to clear blue skies and sunshine. Today we are driving into Ketchikan to tour the city and it’s history. The Tongass Historical Museum is the best place to see the history of Ketchikan. There are artifacts, photos and text depicting this city through the years, from the once Native fishing village to the Wickedest City in the world to the Salmon Capital and tourist Mecca that it is today. Ketchikan is called Alaska’s “First City” as it is it’s southern most city and it is also the first place that cruise ship stop on their passage north. Each day we have ... read more

Catching up - first opportunity. We have been crusiing some time. 17th June - Vancouver Orientation on bus - round Stanley Park, Graneville Island - LJ bought some silk stuff. Then back to hotel for lunch. Afternoon free, guess what Lin went shopping along Robson street, the place to be for all the designer shops. In the evening we did a see level to sea level trip with a dinner thrown in. That was up the observation Tower (the lookout) looking over the harbour and cruise port (where we sailed from) then a walk through the port area for a meal looking over the harbour. Nice way to spend the eveing. 18th June - Vancouver Free Day - Rather than go on an organised trip we decided to walk back over to Stanley Park on the ... read more

We woke up this morning with the ship in port at Ketchikan (Alaska), a small fishing town that swells massively when, as there was today, 4 cruise ships in town - that’s 8000 more people. The tourist industry just goes bang when this happens. We got a local newspaper that shows on average about 3 ships visit here each day for the next week ! the tourists are so important here, that the town puts out crossing supervisors to stop the traffic, so tourists can safely cross the city streets. It was cloudy and about 15 degrees but otherwise good weather. We just visited shops and walked down all the local streets. The houses are gray, made from weatherboards and not too flash. Most of the town is literally built on the side of a mountain, ... read more