KETCHIKAN

Today was the day to “do” Ketchikan, even though it was raining. You can’t afford to wait for a non-rainy day here, where they can get up to 300 inches of rain in a year. July is their “driest” month, and even then, they average more rain in that month than Seattle does in its “wettest” month of the year. So we took off in the rain, me wearing my new rain boots…

Our new neighbor this morning

We first went to the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center, essentially a natural history museum operated by the US Park Service. It was very well done, entertaining and educational. Next we walked up to the Totem Heritage Center, which is a locally developed center that has “rescued” a number of old totem poles from villages around the area, preserved them, and displays them with interpretive information. They also serve as a cultural resource and educational center for the local tribes.

We followed the walking tour trail map, handed out at the visitor’s center, and went by the fish hatchery and fish ladders, then stopped by the Cape Fox Lodge overlooking town. The Discovery Center allowed “in and out” privileges, so we went back over there to see their afternoon slate of short films on SE Alaska.

All of that was a lot of walking for my still-recovering torn tendon, so we stopped by a local dive bar to medicate with a pint of Alaskan Amber Ale before heading back to the boat for dinner and to decide where we will go tomorrow.

Our plans are dictated by the weather. We want to start heading back down south, but the first “bridge” to cross is Dixon Entrance, and you need just the right wind and water conditions to tackle that. It does not look like those conditions will be anything close to being acceptable until at least Thursday, so we have a few days to hang out somewhere, knowing that Tuesday, especially, is going to be very windy so we will likely not be going anywhere that day. The tentative plan, which we will review in the morning after consulting the latest weather forecasts, is to go over to the nearby Indian Village of Metlakatla which happens to be along a stretch of water reported to being very active with humpback whales…