Ketchikan, Alaska

Woke up at 5:30. This was good, because I wasn’t going to miss my ferry – but it was also bad, because who wants to wake up at that time? Stayed up too late playing Solitaire. Never even saw it get dark.

Drove to the Ferry, where I checked in and got my tickets. This is part of the Alaska Marine Transit System (or something), so technically the ferry is a highway. Biggest boat I’ve ever seen on the road, that’s for sure. It’s half the size of a cruise ship: one or two decks of cabins, fore and aft lounges, a solarium, a cafeteria, but no pools. That was disappointing.

Got on board, had some applesauce pancakes (pretty good!), and fell asleep on a sofa. We’re going through calm water with islands on the port side, and the mainland on the starboard. A little rocking but pretty smooth sailing, and sleeping on the couches seems to be a favorite pastime of travelers.

All of the passengers here seems to be doing similar things as I am, going through Alaska. The difference is, I’m 40 years younger than everyone else. They did it when they retired, I guess. I quit my job do to this while I’m young. I’m not sure if I’m awesome or foolish, and that seems like a good place for life to be.

Heard a guy talking about Destruction Bay, which I should be going through. However, I was much more interested in sleeping on the sofa than anything else. Now that I’m up, I’m going through my travel logs and trying to write out the blog posts for past days. EDITOR’S NOTE: SLEPT MORE INSTEAD, WHOOPS

Getting to Ketchikan was amazing for a number of reasons. As the boat approached, a group of bald eagles were calling out and flying around the shore. They were loud, putting on a show for us. Then a half dozen sea planes landed or took off along the ocean. Ketchikan is on one side of the island, facing towards the strait between another island. The ocean in-between serves as both their runway, and the ship’s docking area. They don’t have air traffic control, because they would need to also control the boats.

I walked around town, bought some fudge from a store. I’ve found dessert to be a good thing while camping; I can have a snack before bed. I still have the spiced pear preserves I bought in Marin.

The man at the visitor center gave some great advice for things to see and do. The downtown caters a lot to tourists from cruise ships; the population doubles if one ship is in town. There can be up to four cruise ships at a time. Well… technically only three now. There was a storm yesterday, and a cruise ship slammed into a dock, destroying the walkway and putting a hole in the ship. Supposedly, the captain turned down the help of a tugboat that was ready to assist. Oopsies poopsies.

I visited a bar called The Asylum to watch the third game of the Stanley Cup finals. Sharks won, which is bad, but not quite as bad as the Penguins winning again. Hooray? More importantly, beer was $3.50. That’s incredible. I had an Alaskan Summer Ale, which was enjoyably refreshing. However, since this is a road trip, I really haven’t made a habit of drinking. It’s an expensive hobby, anyways.

There were some Pittsburgh fans there, which is odd, when you think of the distance. But it seems like it’s a seasonal town; many people are there for a short period of the summer, then go back from whence they came. The bartender had only been there for a week. It seemed like a local place; customers went behind the bar to get their leftovers that they kept in the fridge. It was hard to tell who was a bartender and who was the customer! But it was a friendly place and everyone seemed to be there to have a good time.

Compared the campgrounds and hostels, and ended up at the hostel run by the local church. It’s nice enough! Dropped off some stuff there, then went to check out the totem poles a mile away. It’s supposedly the largest grouping of “authentic” totem poles in the world, even though “authentic” means reproductions or fairly modern interpretations. Still, a very North Pacific thing.