June 9 June 10 June 11 June 12 June 13 June 14 June 15 June 16 June 17 June 18	Saturday June 16, 2007 I got up about 7 and went down for breakfast, taking my notebook with me. Fortunately, the internet connection was working, so I got the email taken care of, including sending out the first six days of this journal to the family. Then back to the room to swap the notebook for a camera. I spent the rest of this morning's passage on the stern, taking pictures as we approached Ketchikan. Ketchikan is the rain capital of Alaska - they average 225 days of rain per year. And the ship's forecast was for overcast and a good probability of rain. The weatherman was wrong!!! We arrived to clear skies and a mild breeze. The day was beautiful! We passed the airport as we came into port. It's supposed to be the only airport in the world where the tower is lower than the runway... We were also directly in the approach path for the main seaplane landing area, evidently, as sea planes kept going directly overhead. Later, in port, they'd buzz by the ship closely enough that it sounded like they were coming in the deck balcony door! The photo to the left above shows the airport control tower and runway. The other two are sea planes landing close to the ship. We docked about 10, so I got in line to disembark. The line snaked from midship to the theater entrance in the stern where it doubled back and almost reached midship again! Once they started letting people off, however, it moved quickly, mainly because they didn't insist on photographs at the end of the gangway today. Thank goodness. I spotted J and C in the line going the other way. They made a point to say that Mom and I had nothing to do with their switching tables. Seems, before we got there the first night, M made a rude, inappropriate comment to Tatiana, one of our servers. Didn't have time to find out what exactly was said, but they felt uncomfortable enough to request a different table. It's a shame. We had enjoyed their company. Once off the ship, I got on the "Seahorse" Trolley - a horse drawn trolley (photo on the left above) that toured the city. It's pulled by two Belgian horses and had two huskies riding in the front. It was an entertaining and informative 45 minute ride. One of the stops on the trolley ride was at the Totem Heritage Center. The three totem poles above are on the outside walls. The one on the left is raven. The center one is orca. And the one on the right is eagle. I grabbed a bite to eat at one of the local cafes - it was mostly filled with locals, too. The ambiance wasn't anything to write home about, but the food was excellent. I had a mixed seafood basket and concentrated on the excellent scallops, clams, and shrimp. And the macaroni salad (with tiny shrimp mixed in) was perfect. I wound up walking just about the same route the trolley had taken, adding in some side trips, like up Creek Street (photos above) and up Married Man Trail. Creek Street is along the banks of the Ketchikan River and is the former red light district. Now it's a bunch of gift shops. But they're in the same sort of buildings as the original buildings - half on the shore and half on pilings sunk into the river. The street is a wooden walkway snaking between the buildings! The center photo above is a recreation of Dolly's House. Dolly was the primary madam for the street back in the 1890s. Married Man Trail follows the river from a higher street down to Creek Street. Originally, the married miners lived higher on the hill than the single men. They'd follow the creek down to the red light district, where Dolly, the main madam, charged them an extra 50 cents as a fee to clean up all the mud they brought down with them! The center photo above is today's version of Married Man Trail, which is now a board walkway and not muddy at all. The photo on the right above is one of the stair roads leading from Married Man Trail farther up the hillside. Ketchikan has very little soil or flat land. I saw one potential building lot that said it was 5200 square feet of land for $28,000. Our garage wouldn't have fit on the flat part of the lot! Another area was under construction. They were still blasting the granite, attempting to make a flat enough spot for a house. They started five years ago... Since it was such a nice day, some of the local teens - with more guts than brains - were jumping off the bridge near Creek Street into the Ketchikan River. It was a warm day, but I'll bet the river water was still cooooooooold.... The photos above show some of the girls jumping into the river. Finally walked back to the ship. Ketchikan has a lot of steep hills - it could put San Francisco to shame - yet the steepest slope I had to walk all day was the gangway back onto the ship!! Some of the streets are so steep that they're for pedestrians only and consist of a series of flights of stairs, yet they have street names assigned... The photo on the left above is looking down one of these stair streets. And the ones in the middle are looking up other stair streets. In the photo on the right, I've wondered if the sign applies to the boat or to the parking spot just below the boat? Mom had gone ashore for a while by herself. They helped her maneuver the walker down and back up the gangway. She went souvenir shopping for a while, then went back to the ship for some ice cream. I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing. Reading and watching the world go by - and the sea planes taking off and landing almost outside our balcony. Finally, it was time to clean up for dinner. Tonight is the second formal night and the Captain's dinner, featuring lobster tails and baked Alaska. M made an ass of himself at dinner again tonight. We're definitely not exchanging addresses with them tomorrow. Once tomorrow's dinner is over, we won't have to look at or talk with them again. M is about my age, but I just wanted to slap him or shake him or wise him up or something tonight. Jeez, what a jerk! Forgot to mention this on the first formal night. One of the backdrops they were using for the formal pictures was a picture of the Titanic staircase... Can't get away from that ship anywhere (smile). After dinner, Mom and I went back to the cabin to pick up the special Captain's Circle invitation for tonight. This is a small reception for all returning Princess Line's cruisers. I got to go along as Mom's companion. This involved getting to meet the Captain and some of the senior staff, getting a free watered down drink, and listening to how great Princess Lines is... Oh, well. It was different. And, of course, the photographer took pictures - ours is on the right. Tonight is the champagne waterfall at 11:15. I don't think I'll make it that late. I'm beat. We pulled out of port about 6 pm and are on our way to Vancouver. The paperwork for disembarkation was delivered to the cabin while we were at dinner. And we lose the hour we gained when flying to Anchorage tonight. Alaska is its own time zone. In a short while, we'll cross into Canadian waters and we'll be back on Pacific Daylight Savings Time. Next...