OFF THE BOAT in Ketchikan

Our last port was Ketchikan. Residents of Ketchikan ran into a bit of a problem. They settled right next to a huge, rock solid mountain and so with limited space, real estate went quickly, but being the happening place that it is they had to expand somehow. Rather then dig into the mountain and make some sort of awesome Helm's Deep they built up around the mountain placing several edifices on beams, planks, platforms, posts, and poles. As a result you get a cool city that is actually lifted as required.

Its a pretty city with a river running through it and all sorts of trails and stairs to climb. Supposedly some of these were built so that men could sneak off to houses of ill repute.

Being in the know, Ketchikan also understands that you can never have enough totem poles.

And our favorites, bear and whale hat.

Ketchikan is really where my eyes were trained to spot bald eagles (really you have to look for the white heads and tails, that gives 'em away everytime). Thanks to a fish processing plant there is a lot of leftover fish parts out in the water and you know what bald eagles love? Assorted fish parts. So they come from all over to get the free meal.

There are actually 9 eagles in those trees. See if you can find all of them. Well there are at least √9 eagles in there. But we easily saw at least 9 separate and individual eagles that day. Ketchikan wins the prize of my favorite port and Alaskan location that I would most like to live in.

So our last port was actually suppose to be Victoria, but because of high winds ol' Sybe de Boer couldn't dock the boat so we only saw Victoria from a distance.

And so our cruise came to an end and we had to return to the real world where you have to clean after yourself and cook your own food and entertain yourself and go to work. Oh well. I had a wonderful time. Un gran aplauso for my parents and thanks to Dave and Shannon for coming along too!