Tuesday Travels - Ketchikan

After a full day of sailing, it was time to stop in Ketchikan...our first taste of Alaska.

View of the town from the ship.  Reminded me of a Christmas village..I loved all the colors which contrasted with the dreary grey and rainy day we were having. 

Looking to the left of the ship...the main town is off to the right of the ship, but this Souvenir store had great prices! 

We were scheduled for two excursions on this day...the first was a Duck Tour, which went all around town and then out into the water. 

Dad sat near a window on the other side of the Duck Boat.  We learned a lot about the history of Ketchikan on this tour. 

After our tour, we had a couple of hours to explore part of the town before our next tour.  We walked up to the main part of town to get pictures of the famous signs...

This town is in a rain forest and is dependent on the rain.  Many homes have cisterns that collect the rain and they use it as their water in the home.  Ketchikan receives an average of 12.5 feet of rain a year! 

Cute restaurant...wonder if you can franchise it like you can Burger King?

Many homes are built on hills and have steep stairways going to them.  The stairs are considered as streets, and the mail is delivered to the houses, and the stairs are kept free of snow and ice.

Our second tour was a walk through a rain forest, then visit a sawmill, the raptor center and then back to the ship.  We saw many unique and beautiful flowers... 

Trees with really tall roots...yes, it is still raining!

Lumber was the main industry for many years.  This tree shows a notch where a springboard would have been placed so the lumberjack could climb higher to cut the tree down.

A banana slug...supposedly if you lick it, your mouth will go numb...we didn't test this theory!

A bear cave...

The salmon were running in the river, and the birds were excited. 

A Bald Eagle at the Raptor center...

Kily, a Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk.  They have tried to release him back into the wild, but he is naughty and kept begging humans for food because he had imprinted already.  He is now a permanent member of the center. 

Once our tours were over, and the ship was ready to leave port, we headed to Arts & Crafts for card making!  The ship has a lot of fun activities for you all the time.

Next week, Juneau...