Ketchikan & Victoria, BC. (Thur-Fri, Aug 23-24)

The ship (MS Eurodam, have I mentioned that before?) was scheduled to arrive in Ketchikan at 7 AM, but was a bit early. Even so, I didn’t get off right away but stopped for a quick breakfast first. Time in port was relatively limited (six hours), but as I hadn’t pre-booked any excursions, I was just going to play it by ear and didn’t think I’d need all six hours to walk around town!

I was interested in seeing some totem poles, though, so had that as a vague plan. On the dock close to the boat, I found a place selling tours of totems, so there you go. In the time before the tour left at 10 AM, I walked around a bit. The first picture is of a bench on the pier. Each one seemd to have a different design, but since I’d so recently seen whales, this whale tail back support seemed a perfect way to start the day.

I walked to Creek Street, which is a collection of houses built up over a creek. In days past (even up to the 1950s) it was the red light district, but now is a collection of gift shops. Salmon swim up the creek, and to help them navigate the rushing water, there’s a fish ladder. I didn’t see any salmon use it while I was watching. It didn’t seem that much more “friendly” than the rocks, but it’s apparently an improvement from the salmon’s point of view!

In a little gift shop just opposite the fish ladder (actually tucked into the side of the viewing platform), I found a jade whale tail souvenir necklace and the proprietor was nice enough to let me take his picture next to the shop’s sign, aptly named Salmon Ladder Gift Shop. 🙂

After walking back through Creek Street, I headed toward the tour start point at the pier, browsing through some shops on the way. Altogether a nice stroll, even if I didn’t buy anything else.

There were nine of us who’d signed up for the tour, and we headed out of town to Potlatch Park, which is one turn short of the state park. Here we saw a bunch of totems and heard the stories associated with them. Pretty cool.

You’ll notice one with the figures sticking their tongues out. This depicts the figure in the act of imparting knowledge or wisdom. That was interesting to find out.

We saw a totem in the process of being carved (though the carver comes in the evening so she can work without so many people around). No pic of that, though.

You’ll notice I couldn’t resist a landscape picture here. This just goes to show that we had another great weather day. On this whole trip, only one rain day! When I checked a few days before the cruise was to start, the forecast was for exactly the opposite. Ha!

Once the tour was over at Potlatch Park, we were given a little time to either go to the gift shop or go through the Totem Bight State Park, which was right next door. I headed for the park!

You can kind of tell the totem pictures from the State Park because they’re generally more colorful. The fellow with the very red body in a sitting position is the first pic from the park.

After some quick pics here, it was back to the bus and then back to the pier. I made it back onto the ship about noon, in time to grab some lunch and watch as the Eurodam pulled away from the pier.

The towel animal this night was a monkey. It’s actually a lot cuter in person than it appears in the picture. Very creative.

As I write this, it’s Friday and the ship is in Victoria, BC, Canada. We arrived at 6:00 PM (after the last discussions and panels with The Nation), and I decided not to go into town. The stay was going to be short, it’s a (have to pay) shuttle ride into town, and we only had a couple of hours of sunlight, though the ship doesn’t leave until 11:00 PM, which is actually any minute now!

I had a leisurely dinner with a couple of new friends and other folks and then was able to take my time packing up. I’ll be leaving in the first wave in the morning, so I expect to be up early and off the ship at about 7:30 AM.

My good friend Robyn is picking me up and we’ll have time for a short visit (at the Pike Street Market, yay!) before she drops me off at the airport for the trip home.

It’s been a wonderful trip. I think I’ll list the panel subjects in another post, so anyone who’s not interested in what we talked about can skip that. The times and activities in the ports were really good, and I’ve been quite impressed with the ship. It’s thoughtfully laid out and easy to get around, the food is good, and the staff has been great. As a matter of fact, I need to fill out the comment card and then I’m headed to bed.

This adventure is coming to an end, and as usual, I’m happy I came and at the same time I’m happy to be heading home. That’s all for now!