June 3 - Ketchikan

On Tuesday morning we docked in Ketchikan around 6:30 am. We were up around 7:00, dressed, and got our stuff together to go to town. We had an enjoyable breakfast then and left the ship. We took a leisurely walk to Creek Street to see the sights of town and the area. The creek was running pretty well with active snow run-off increasing the flow. However, there were no salmon running as it is too early - they start showing up in late July and into August.

We saw a juvenile bald eagle in a tree above Creek Street, then moved on to follow the creek up through to the Totem Museum. The totem museum presented a nice history of the Native American tribes in the area and how the totems were used and now preserved. 

New color of rhododendron - very dark red

Creek Street

Ketchikan Creek

Juvenile bald eagle - they don't get their characteristic white "bald" head until they reach maturity at 4 to 5 years old.

Wildflowers growing along the creek

Bleeding Hearts growing wild.

Artwork depicting the interconnectedness of the entire ecosystem to salmon

From the Totem Heritage Center we encountered. As we have traveled across the US, there is always the theme of how the European colonizers/invaders overran and sought to destroy the Native population and their culture. 

Beautiful ceremonial items on display. The red on the green coat is a frog.

More beautiful ceremonial items - such intricate and precise craftspersonship in each one. Themes drawn from nature are common - including orcas, salmon, eagles, ravens, frogs, bears, the sun and flowers. 

Raven Stealing the Sun

Ceremonial masks

Exquisite woven ceremonial shawl

Totems preserved in the center. The tradition is to signify the matrilineal line on the totem. They are painted after they are carved and the erected outside the house of where that extended family lived. They are allowed to weather and deteriorate over time. These are probably about 100 years old.

I was this many days old when I learned that pizza is really a Mexican food! Lol

We headed back into downtown and over to Newtown for Haley to attend a cooking class. Leon headed back on the ship for lunch and a thermal spa cycle of tub, steam room, and heated loungers. Lunch was curry chicken plus pork bulgogi. Both were tasty. 

Haley really enjoyed her cooking class which focused on different preparations of salmon. While she didn't get any pictures of the prepared dishes, she did snap a few pictures of some of the taxidermized native animals that were in the area outside the kitchen where she had her lesson.

The rest of the afternoon we spent time in the Crow's Nest then the Lido as we pulled away. We were fortunate enough to see a humpback while it traveled by the ship, it even turned and showed its flipper once. We continued to watch for wildlife after we left the dock and managed to see a few Dall's porpoises and a bald eagle landing in the trees. 

Dinner was early at Canaletto (Italian) since we were passing through a hot wildlife watching area during our normal dinner at 7:30. Their pasta is handmade - Haley got the spaghetti with clams and shrimp, and Leon got the Ossobuco like the last time we dined in this restaurant in February. 

We had the same waiter as we did in February! He made us this lovely peacock from napkins while we ate.

Dessert was tiramisu (Leon) and lemon ricotta cheesecake (Haley).

After dinner, we went to the back deck to look for wildlife, but it was somewhat disappointing since we only saw a distant whale, distant sea lions on a buoy, and a bunch of sea otters.

We ended the evening watching a musical theater show in the main theater. We didn't know until it started that we were seeing the true debut of the show. Curtain Up was very good, highlighting the best musical songs of the last 60 years. Overall, we've been pleased with the entertainment on board so far. We can tell that HAL is making a real effort to improve their onboard entertainment.

Since we're so far north in June, we were in bed around 10:00 but well before dark.