Ketchikan

Ketchikan was our first port of call on the cruise. We had a fun excursion planned and looked forward to the day.  Ketchikan is located on an island and the only way you can visit is by plane or boat.
We went to the Totem Bight State Historical Park and then to The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show!  

Bight State park has several Totem poles thata were repaired or duplicated and now stand in this state park.  They are all beautiful and tell a story.  

I don't know the story behind this, but it appears to be Eagle standing on Raven's head.

You can see how big the poles are in comparison to us!  This was a smaller  totem.

Big EYES.. they are watching you.

The park is part of a rain forest... yes you heard me right!  Alaska is part rain forest.  It rains in Ketchikan almost every day!  

Our guide Bryce.. .from Utah and is going to Utah State.  
 He did a good job of giving us  a nice tour.  

Roots of a tree.. they just grow right out of the ground.   

The paints were created from natural substances such as clam shells, lichen, graphite, copper pebbles, and salmon eggs.  

Close  up!  

The clan house
A community house or clanhouse of this size could have housed 30 to 50 people.

It was raining very lightly in this photo... notice the huge flowers.. 

This was the tallest totem pole

I thought this looked like a Hobit Home.

 Now on to The Great Alaskan Lumber Jack Show! 

You have to say YO HO after everything you say!  
They had popcorn for sale there and we couldn't resist , we each ate our own bag of popcorn!  YO HO

It was Canada VS. US in lumber jack skills.  The guys in the grey shirts are US and the plaid are Canada. 

Wood Chopping!  YO HO

He said he was making a rabbit, but it turned out to be a small chair.  They gave it to a kid in the audience.   It was cute.  YO HO

The log rolling contest!  Canada won, but US won the overall contests of the day.  It was a fun show.  YO HO 

After the Lumber Jack show, we had just enough time to walk around the town and get back to the boat.
Here is Creek Street.  It used to be a Red Light district. Now you can watch the salmon swim up stream and enjoy the shops.

We were able to see lots of Salmon and even a seal in the river.
All these shops are on  stilts

Time to head back... we were able to walk back to our boat.  

A picture of down town Ketchikan.. there were so many cool shops and places to eat... and it smelled so good down town.  I could have stayed here longer and looked around, but it was time to go back.  I did have time to buy a nice coat and T-shirt in one of the shops. 

Back on the boat, resting while watching a movie in bed!
What a great day.