After this holiday I think I might need a holiday. Today the alarm was set for 6am and we could tell the ship had already docked into Ketchikan when it went off.
We were up and almost dressed when breakfast was delivered to our room at 6.15am. It wasn’t bad but with only one chair in the room we had to take turns in eating it. We were concerned when the cabin phone then rang only to find it was Room Service checking we were happy with the breakfast.
Prepared for all weathers we were making our way off the ship just before 7am along with lots of other people. Along dry we could feel there was rain in the air, which was not surprising as Ketchikan averages 200 inches of rain each year.
Our first impression of Ketchikan was positive and it looked like the pretty type of Alaskan town we had been expecting. We found a helpful tourist map and made our way the short distance to ‘The Great Lumberjack Show’ venue. This was one of the things I had been looking forward to on this trip ever since we embarrassingly to say, watched it on a Jane MacDonald show where she had done this very trip.
Our tickets were for the first show of the day at 7.30am which I had picked to allow us time to explore the Ketchikan before the ship departed again at noon. After a short wait to be allowed in we were seated fortunately undercover as the expected rain started.
The show was cheesy and corny in parts but very entertaining. Done as competition between two teams the events included various tree axing, log rolling and pole climbing. Events I can remember sometimes featuring on ‘World of Sport’. The teams included the current World Champion at running along logs and the World Champion Axe Thrower. It amused me that all the guys had also represented their colleges at these types of events. I not sure Norwich City College or the UEA have teams competing at a UK equivalent if there is such a thing.
Karen loved it, joining in the whooping and hollering. I am very glad we got to see what I think is the only Lumberjack Show in the world.
By the time it had finished, there was proper rain coming down. For the first time this trip the umbrella went up as we went to explore the town dashing from building to building. At least it wasn’t cold.
Most of the shops had the usual tourist tat we had found elsewhere, albeit in a prettier setting. We noted some shops displaying a message about why they were not on the shopping maps handed out by the ships as they had ‘refused to pay the companies a kickback’. To support them we went in a few (and to shelter from the rain). We still didn’t buy anything.
Despite the rain which seemed to be getting a bit heavier we headed towards Creek Street and the Salmon Walk. This is the old Red-Light area for the loggers and had been nicely preserved. The buildings are very picturesque and the creek which was full of salmon looked at its gushing and prettiest despite the rain. We took some photos the best we could in the conditions. It didn’t dampen our spirits and we enjoyed what we were seeing.
However, there is only so much you can do in the rain and after being onshore for about 4 hours we headed back where we quickly changed before heading up to the Lido Market for lunch.
Then we met up again with T&G who had also been ashore for a short while, back in the Crows Lounge. We had a couple of hot drinks before having a glass of something stronger. Karen headed back to the cabin to have a short doze as she felt as though she was going down with a cold.
The afternoon passed quickly before I also went back to change for dinner. Tonight was another ‘classy’ night which meant a nice frock for Karen and the usual Black jeans for me. We both had the Beef Tenderloin Oscar for our mains which was as ever very good.
The meal lasted a leisurely couple of hours and I had possibly my last Dutch 150 cocktail of the week before we relocated to the Rolling Stone Lounge for their final performances of the week. The band are very talented but the direction and choice of songs tonight was all over the place. They ignored the set theme and tried to take requests including some songs they apparently had never played before. Some worked and some didn’t. Led Zeppelin Stairway to Heaven kind of did work.
Then we retired back to the cabin. During the afternoon we had crossed back another time zone, yet ship time was not due to change until 2am. However, our phones and watches all changed literally exaxtly as we crossed the zone during the afternoon leaving our poor heads scrambled trying to work out what time it was here and at home.
So far, we have enjoyed the cruise but I don’t feel I have had much down time as there has always been things to do or people to speak to. I haven’t taken my Kindle out of my bag all holiday. That’s good and bad for different reasons.
This afternoon we left Alaska heading back down the coast. Alaska is still the final frontier. It has its undoubted beauty. We have enjoyed exploring the little bits we have seen. However, we feel we have now ‘been there – done that’ and don’t feel the need to come back. There are other parts of the world we would still like to see and they are all in warmer and drier climes.
