July 28, 2014 - Ketchikan - We Are Water

The Book club selection for this cruise is We Are Water, and that describes Ketchikan, the rainiest place in North America. We started our 5k walk before it started raining, but it soon started spritzing and that very quickly turned into a steady drizzle. We got our raincoats out just in time because the drizzle turned into serious rain and stayed that way for the rest of our walk.

After reaching the visitor's center, we proceeded to the iconic arch proclaiming this city to be The Salmon Capital of the World. There were lots of stores her selling Native art, in addition to all the jewelry stores. How do these jewelry stores survive? There is nothing Alaskan about them. Do that many cruise passengers buy jewelry when they cruise the Inside Passage? There are a number of shops that clearly indicate they are "Locally Owned," but what they don't tell you is where their merchandise comes from. Can you spell C-h-i-n-a?

This is the heart of totem pole country and a little park downtown had some nice specimens.

After enjoying the totem poles, we came to the infamous Creek Street. This is an area of boardwalks next to ________ Creek that used to be the Red Light district during gold rush times. Rather than proceeding through the extremely touristy areas of Creek Street, we took advantage of the salmon viewing opportunities in the creek. We headed towards a wooded area and up stream to a waterfall and a fish ladder. We saw a few salmon in the fish ladder.

Next we headed through a shabby neighborhood. There was a boarded-up house for sale for $53,000. According to the real estate agent's poster, it had 1 bathroom and 0 bedrooms. After a while we came to a fish hatchery and an eagle rehabilitation center, but they did not seem to be open to the public. A short distance away was the Totem Heritage Center, a city-operated museum that was open to the public.  There were some old totem poles inside, along with some other artifacts. The totem poles were in poor condition. I don't see how anything made of wood could last very long in this climate.

After the totem museum we headed back out into the rain and through a nondescript neighborhood. Well, there were  few cute houses. Many of the houses are built on steep grades and you can only get to them by walking up slippery-looking wooden staircases.