I’ve been saying that if it rained the rest of the trip, that was a price worth paying for the gorgeous weather we’ve had so far. Sure enough, it was raining as we arrived in Sitka. Not to worry, though, the natives call this “liquid sunshine,” and it doesn’t stop any activities.

I bundled up in probably too many clothes, deciding to bring out my warmest coat for the day. The forecast was for the upper 50s, and with no sunshine, I figured it would feel cold. Turned out to be pretty comfortable but was probably more than I needed.

Again trussed up like a pack horse, and with my rain jacket on top of my vest and coat, slug with my camera and backpack, I meandered ashore. Right away I discovered a problem. If I needed to have my rain jacket hood on, I needed a hat with a bill underneath it so I’d be able to see! Luckily there was a gift shop at the top of the hill so I’m now the proud owner of a Sitka Alaska ball cap. 🙂

The town of Sitka is not at the docks. It’s about 15 minutes away via bus, and the buses run every 15 minutes or so. Onto the bus and into town I went.

I had booked my only other excursion here in Sitka, and it was a nature hike. This turned out to be a good choice as the tree cover kept much of the rain off of us. It also didn’t rain (drizzle, actually) continuously, but we got breaks periodically.

I got some lovely, moody pictures. I especially like the ones at the beach. And please enjoy the giant slug! There are two types here, an invasive black slug, which I didn’t get a picture of ’cause they’re not so attractive–and they’re invasive. But the tan colored ones are kinda’ cute. Notice the hole. Apparently they do everything through this hole…everything. Interesting.

The picture of the salmon shows white streaks. They’re here to spawn this time of year, and they’re reaching their end of life. The white streaks are where they’re disintegrating already. Once they fulfill their egg-laying/fertilizing goal, their mission complete, they die.

This “stroll” gave me almost my 10,000 step goal for the day, and we were dropped directly back at the port rather than having to go back into town, so that was convenient.

I’ve been surprised to learn that both in Juneau and Sitka, there are no overland routes to get there. You have to arrive by sea or air. Seems incredible, especially with Juneau being the capital city, but there you go. In Sitka, the national forest we walked in was literally at the end of the road!

Animal of the day on my bed looks like a shaggy dog, huh?