Island to Alaska with Pictures

[Shirleya53]

Carl,

We will be leaving this Tuesday for our July 2nd cruise on the Island. I have been reading every single one of your posts, hoping to get to the end by the time we leave. But since I can see this will not happen, do you have any special advice/hints for me before we leave?

 

shirleya53@aol.com

[cworld]

Carl,

We will be leaving this Tuesday for our July 2nd cruise on the Island. I have been reading every single one of your posts, hoping to get to the end by the time we leave. But since I can see this will not happen, do you have any special advice/hints for me before we leave?

 

shirleya53@aol.com

 

This is for shirleya53 and shirleya53 only, the rest of you can't read this because it might spoil the story. (get real)

 

Number one - get the eggcrate for the bed, unless you enjoy sleeping on the floor.

Number two - eat what ever you want. If you want 2 entrees, go for it. On Lobster night I had a hankering (good Oklahoma word) for steak and Lobster, but didn't order the steak, I wish I would have.

Number three - If you have lunch scheduled at the Historic Skagway Inn, cancel if possible. Not worth your time.

Number three A - go on a dogsled ride.

Number four - repeat after me LOVE BOAT DREAM.

Number five - sit back, relax, let the staff pamper you.

 

SAVOR EVERY MINUTE

 

Have fun, we'll probably be here when you get back.

 

Carl

[SharB]

Hi Carl!

I just popped in from work to catch up on the latest. I'm still enjoying your review VERY MUCH . Thanks also for the addition of the photos! We've been to Ketchikan three times and only had rain the last time (horizontal rain - great fun, try to stay dry...) All the trips were in September around the same time. I didn't read your last post for Shirley, but IF I HAD READ IT, I would agree 100% with your suggestions, especially to order everything you want for dinner.

 

Shar

[cworld]

As I snapped pictures, I noticed (I'm a highly trained government type schooled to notice this type stuff) it's absolutely beautiful here. The city of Ketchican has to be one of the cleanest, vibrant looking, most inviting towns I've ever seen. This is better than I imagined it would be. It's colorful, it's rich, it's radiant. Probably because it rains all of the time, the air is cleaner. I’ve noticed in Oklahoma, after it rains, all of the colors look brighter. Here, the colors just seem to jump out at you.

 

Another thing I noticed, is that there are no other cruise ships here. (Notice how my finely honed powers of observation picked up on that so quickly. Ain't I somethin'. Yeah, your something alright.) Whooohooo. The Island Princess is the only cruise ship docked here. We don’t have to worry about that lower class of cruisers that cruise on those ships like the X one or the “If you could see me now” brand. We’re here all by ourselves. It’s going to be a great day.

 

Have I said that the weather was absolute beautiful? Well it was.

 

We got everything together, cameras (2) check, excursion tickets (4) check, room keys (1 each) check. I think that’s everything, disembarking is on decks 5 and 6. Let’s go. And off we went.

 

Right now I’m almost giddy with excitement. I’m like a kid in a candy store. I’ve got my camera around my neck, I'm bouncing up and down. I’m ready for action. It that a whale out there? Where are the bald eagles? By the way what is our first excursion dear? Yea, Uh-uh, What? We’re gonna do what? Did we talk about this?

 

We really had preplanned (there is that word) our shore excursions. This morning we were to do a package called the Best of Ketchican by Land and Sea. The published cost was $99.00 each through Princess.

 

One of the things that did impress me about our preplanning is that we were able to go online through Princess and reserve our shore excursions. It really helped to have somewhat of an idea what was available and the cost, and timing. Our tickets for each excursion were waiting for us in our cabin when we boarded.

 

Rating for Princess shore excursion booking process over the internet – A

 

We walked down to where disembarkation (I love using these big nautical words) was happening. I think this morning it was all the way down on deck 5. We dropped our room card key thingys into that security thing that makes that strange honking sound, and got off of the ship. I started to run down the gangway, and remembered that I can’t run anymore. I covered up the stumble by faking that my knee hurt for a couple of steps. At this particular time there weren’t any lines for disembarkation. So nobody saw (and you can’t prove) my ungracefullness.

 

At the bottom of the gangway there was a little bottleneck. What’s going on here? Hello, were in a hurry. It’s 7:48 and we need to get to our bus by 8:00. We need out of here. We’re going to miss our bus. It’s got to be about to leave. We’re late. I told you we needed to leave the cabin at 7:30. We’re stuck behind this line, and we’re never going to get off the boat. What are we going to do? Just about that time, the line moved and it was our turn to get our picture made as we got off the boat in Ketchican, Alaska.

 

It's a beautiful day in Ketchican Alaska, if I haven't said so yet.

 

Oh, so this is what’s holding everything up. Some more of Princess’ quest for obscene profits. You want to take my picture with a digital camera just like mine, throw it in Photoshop to brighten up the colors to make us look brighter than we really are, and then charge us $20.00 for 1 stinkin print. I don’t think so. Especially when I can’t, after a solid hour of looking, find my picture to buy it.

 

(Please, if sometime in the next 3 or 4 weeks, I haven’t written something about the photography process, someone remind me. I have some great ideas to speed things up. That is if anyone is still reading this in 3 or 4 weeks.)

 

We let the kind, young (very young) man take our picture, we even smirked (almost a smile). (Annoying thought: Do you remember, in the olden days, when we were those young men and women? It’s not fun to get old, but I guess it beats the alternative.) And then we got down on our knees and kissed the ground. Mother Earth. Terra Firma. It’s so good to be back on solid ground.

 

The ride on the boat has been so rough that I’ve been thrown into walls. I’ve been walking crooked lines. My legs are shaky even here. It’s like I’m impaired and I don’t even drink (at least nothing alcoholic, what are they putting in the Coke these days?).

 

Truthfully the ride so far has been pretty gentle. There has been a gentle rolling motion to the ship since we left Vancouver. I know it’s nothing, but I’ve been borderline seasick for a while. I know it’s just me, and I should probably try to find something to settle me down. But, it’s not that bad. It’ll go away in a couple of weeks. Probably.

 

It is good to get the feet on ground that’s not moving.

 

Will someone please make this ground stop moving, PLEASE.

 

Hey, can anyone point me to the nearest… Sorry, just relived something I was trying to forget.

 

As we got off, I noticed several people standing on their balconies and looking at us. I’m sure they knew who I was, and were just trying to get our attention. I’m sure they were just waiting for us to alight from the ship just so our presence could waft over them and their purpose for living would be fulfilled for the day. (DOES ANYONE OUT THERE HAVE A PIN OR SOMETHING I COULD USE TO BURST HIS BUBBLE?) There were even officers on the deck looking down just to see our departure. We felt so special.

 

Random thought just popped in to my head... Next time you cruise, get a balcony cabin, and at least once each cruise go out on the deck and cheer people disembarking from the ship. Point and wave at total strangers. It’l really confuse them. Why are those people waving at me? If someone asks, “Do I know you?” You can always answer “Sure, don’t you remember we talked at the (insert your favorite adult beverage establishment here) last night.” Maybe we can start a new revolution in cruising. Instead of having streamers and stuff when a ship leaves, we can do it in the ports when the passengers leave the ship.

 

Man, it’s getting late, and I’m getting silly. I better quit before I say something I regret (probably too late for that.) I did add a couple of pictures to the page on Ketchican. If you’ve been on there this evening, I’ve had some trouble making my mind up how many pictures to add today, so some that were on earlier, are gone. They’ll magically reappear tomorrow, along with some more new stuff.

 

Pictures : http://homepage.mac.com/cktrent2/PhotoAlbum4.html

 

Tomorrow, off to the Saxman Indian Totem Pole Village, or some such place.

 

Goodnight.

[cruzluvr2]

I was on this same cruise. I must tell you cworld that I'm enjoying every line of your tale. At the rate you are writing this review I may think I'm still in Alaska in August. Fine with me, I'd love to go back.

[marcruiser]

Have to tell you, I started reading your posts, a while back; it was so wonderful I read till I couldn't keep my eyes open, then I figured ok, I'll paste into a word document and I can catch up. Well every time there's a post I do that, now up to page 49 (Arial 14 and some fancy page setups). We will be going on the Coral Princess this summer and I have decided to hold your wonderful diary to finish when we come back to remind me of all the (wonderful I'm sure) things we saw and did.

 

I look forward to all your future postings and thank you for all the past ones.

[cmash95]

as much as i am loving this tale, I and my family are going on the Island over Labor Day and I truly hope you have the review finished by then. I love it so far. The only problem is that we are going in reverse so Ketchican is our last stop before we get to van couver. I also love the Pics so far, it is really getting me ready for the excursion.

keep the fun coming

[zonicruiser]

As I write this (on my 28th anniversary) my husband and I were to be flying into Anchorage for a south-bound version of your trip on the Island. The cruise was over booked. Princess called and made us an offer we couldn't refuse! So now instead of traveling today, we leave in 3 weeks for a north-bound version on the Island. We have been upgraded from a outside window to a outside balcony/handicapped room B620. We also received one cruise fare back as onboard credit. I am soooooo glad we will have a balcony after reading everyone's comments and my husband gets to attend an important meeting in Boston next week which he would have missed otherwise.

 

Please keep those memories coming (and pics).

 

Thanks:D

[Perley1]

Zonicruiser - are you on the July 16th Island? If so, check out our roll call! Can't wait to be on the ship and heading north!

 

Perley

[cworld]

it was so wonderful I read till I couldn't keep my eyes open

marcruiser, when I read this, my first thought was "Mrs. cworld is right. I'm so boring that my readers are using my stories to put themselves to sleep." No, really thanks for your kind words. It really helps me to keep coming back.

 

cmash95, I hope I'm through by Labor Day too.

 

zonicruiser, I'm jealous. Sounds like you hit the jackpot. Congratulations and have fun.

 

cruzluvr2, please don't tell anyone about that episode where I... Hope you had as much fun as we did.

[cworld]

OK, pictures all done, security is through with us. I regained a little of my balance and think I’ll be able to walk at least 100 feet or so without falling. But where do we catch our tour? Our tickets only say, be at the gangway by 8:00. Does that mean we will be met on the ship? Does that mean we have to go looking somewhere for our tour? Hey, we haven’t cruised in 25 years. We’re old and senile. Where do we go? We’re lost. We’ll never be found. We’re in Alaska, home of the grizzly and polar bears, and surely we’re about to get eaten.

 

Truthfully finding our tour was not difficult, but the process was a little unnerving. When we cruised on the SS Dolphin, Scourge of the Seas, I think we only did one tour, maybe two. I don’t remember how getting to our tour worked, but I remember that we had explicit directions. Here, are only instructions are to be at the gangway at 8:00.

 

So for all of you first timers that are nervous about where to pick up your Princess booked shore excursions… Whenever you disembark, there will be young people in the bus area, usually wearing Princess attire, standing around holding clipboards. On the back-side of these clipboards are pieces of paper that have tour numbers. These numbers correspond to the numbers on your tickets, not the number from the internet, or from the pre-cruise information. These nice young (there’s that word again) people will direct you to your transportation for your tour.

 

If you booked you tours with someone other than Princess, you’re out of luck. I don’t have a clue how to hook up with your tours. Also, if you tender in I'm sorry. Really, I'm sure you use the same process as we did.

 

Since, at the time we hadn't learned about the nice young people with the clipboards, I used my highly trained observation techniques to scope out how the process worked and find our bus. I was moving through my 50 point checklist, number 17, scan the horizon, number 18, scope out the… “Hey dear, I think we’re over here.”

 

Note to you wives – (not you dear, you handled this like you handle everything, just perfectly) Whenever you are faced with the situation where your husband, the love of your live, your dream man, the one thing that you can’t do without, the reason you get out of bed every day, (did I get that right, dear?) is hopeless and completely lost. Be careful. Just know that - REAL MEN DON’T ASK FOR DIRECTIONS. What if someone sees? There are gossips everywhere. People get jealous of us real, REAL MEN. They don’t hesitate to call the REAL MEN police, who are everywhere out there just waiting to revoke our REAL MAN privileges. They just can’t wait to keep us from watching football in our underwear. They might even make us take the gun rack out of the pickup, or make us go to the (heaven forbid) ballet. Really, just take in to account our fragile egos. We really do know where we are, and where we’re going at all times, sometimes we act lost so we don’t seem so infallible.

 

(Hope you had your boots on for that one.)

 

We found our bus, and met our bus driver, who I’ll call Bob. I’m going to call all of the male bus drivers Bob, because I don’t remember any of their names. After a few minutes, Bob came on the bus, counted us to see if we were all here. Yep, all 13 or so of us were here on time, ready for our Great Alaskan Adventure. The Best of Ketchican by Land and Sea. We pulled off the dock right at 8:00 sharp. Punctual, I like that.

 

Did I mention that the weather is absolutely beautiful in Ketchican today?

 

One of the interesting things in Ketchican is the dock area. Maybe you can see from the pictures, but the dock area is like a gigantic deck. It’s made up of wood planks that are actually sitting over water. What is really amazing about this deck is that it is part of the city streets. Our bus was sitting on this deck. It drove right over the deck as we left the ship. Parts of the deck have even been paved. Truly amazing.

 

We pulled out of the dock area and began our tour of Ketchican.

 

Here’s what the Princess web site says about “The Best of Ketchican by Land and Sea”

 

Experience Ketchikan’s rich maritime history, Native culture and breathtaking wilderness by land and sea.

 

Board your motorcoach for a drive through Ketchikan. Your driver-guide provides lively narrative and points out historic Creek Street, where homes and shops perch over the water on wooden pilings. At Saxman Village, see one of the world’s largest collections of totem poles. Continue on to George Inlet where a stroll through the rain forest brings you to the historic Libby Cannery. Beginning with a short video, this fascinating tour takes you back to when men and women toiled day and night to harvest and process the plentiful salmon.

 

From the cannery dock, board a waterjet-powered vessel with a heated main cabin, comfortable seating, snack bar and restroom. Explore the coastline of glacier-carved George Inlet while the onboard naturalist explains the natural history of southeast Alaska’s forests and ocean. Look for eagles, seals, porpoises and other wildlife while the captain maneuvers for the best possible views. Entering Tongass Narrows, you pass a fascinating variety of working vessels. Your tour’s final backdrop is a mariner’s view of Alaska’s busiest port and your cruise ship.

 

So we’ve boarded our motorcoach, and Bob is driving us through Ketchican. We’re excited. We’ve been waiting for a couple of weeks just for this moment. From the time we saw that riveting description about The Best of Ketchican by Land and Sea, we were pumped. And now, here we are. The time has come. Maritime history, my favorite. Let’s go.

 

Well maybe tomorrow.

[zonicruiser]

Hi all,

 

I can answer the question about taking an excursion when a tender is necessary to get ashore. When you receive your excursion tickets in your cabin, they will mention a time and place on the ship to meet as a tour group. It will likely be a lounge. A Princess crew member will be able to answer questions as to which group to sit with. Once the group is assembled and a tender is ready for your group, a cruise member will lead you (probably down steps) to the spot where your tender awaits. Once ashore another cruise member or tour person will lead you ....... to your awaiting adventure.

 

If you have questions about exercursions either: attend the talk on the first night/afternoon (check the "Patter" daily letterspaper for time and location) or ask the purser's desk. Warning they will be busy the first few days.

 

Interested in any spa features, book early or if you are not going into town there will probably be a special of the day.

 

Happily sailings everyone, "Zoni"

 

P.S. I wrote a lengthly bit at our roll call, Island, July 16, about some past experiences, excursions and the ship.

[flashdog_1]

C WORLD C WORLD YEEEEEAAAAAAAAA CWORLD

 

You don't know, yes, you do! that we wait with bated breath, to find out what happens at Saxman, and so we cry:

 

C WORLD CWORLD, YEAAAAHHHHH CWORLD

 

Let's try harder:

EN COUR AGE MENT EN COUR AGE MENT YEEEEAAAAHHH C WORLD

 

As far as your house work duties go, we say

 

PUSH 'EM BACK, PUSH 'EM BACK, GO WRITE C WORLD!

 

Please join the throng and add your cheer to my feeble attempt.

 

C WORLD CWORLD C'MOOOONNN CWORLD

WE''RE WAIT ING WAIT ING CMOOOONNNN CWORLD

[alwalaska]

I am not quite caught up to you yet, but please keep writing. I am really enjoying your review.

 

Did you ever post the Patters? You mentioned it one time, but I didn't see them out with the other photos.

 

The photos are great.

[cworld]

Did you ever post the Patters? You mentioned it one time, but I didn't see them out with the other photos.

 

You're right. I worked on the Patters but they didn't work. I had problems with the scanner. Sorry.

 

flashdog_1 I don't think I've ever had my own personal cheer before. Thanks.

[ArizonaGal]

Thanks Zoni - since you mentioned in a earlier post that you have been upgraded to a handicapp room on your July cruise, can you tell me how tenders are setup for people in a wheelchairs? Thanks!

 

 

 

Hi all,

 

I can answer the question about taking an excursion when a tender is necessary to get ashore. When you receive your excursion tickets in your cabin, they will mention a time and place on the ship to meet as a tour group. It will likely be a lounge. A Princess crew member will be able to answer questions as to which group to sit with. Once the group is assembled and a tender is ready for your group, a cruise member will lead you (probably down steps) to the spot where your tender awaits. Once ashore another cruise member or tour person will lead you ....... to your awaiting adventure.

 

If you have questions about exercursions either: attend the talk on the first night/afternoon (check the "Patter" daily letterspaper for time and location) or ask the purser's desk. Warning they will be busy the first few days.

 

Interested in any spa features, book early or if you are not going into town there will probably be a special of the day.

 

Happily sailings everyone, "Zoni"

 

P.S. I wrote a lengthly bit at our roll call, Island, July 16, about some past experiences, excursions and the ship.

[zonicruiser]

Our friend used the wheelchair to go into Cabo. The crew wheeled her to a different ramp for the tender than we went through to board. Two crew members help you step from the platform to the tender. If that is not a possibility call Princess or ask at the shore excursion desk. The tender is a moving target. Unfortunately, the shore-side crew grabbed her wheel chair and sent it on with someone else. It was checked out to her. We all had to wait for the next tender to arrive with another chair for her. (She had a rod in her leg from a recent break and it was talking to her.)

I am afraid to admit neither of us are handicapped. It was the room offered us by Princess for rescheduling 3 weeks later for our over booked first scheduled trip.

[alwalaska]

You're right. I worked on the Patters but they didn't work. I had problems with the scanner. Sorry.

 

flashdog_1 I don't think I've ever had my own personal cheer before. Thanks.

 

Thanks again for all the posts. I can't wait to hear about the dog sledding.

 

Why don't you try taking pictures of the patters with your wonderful camera.:) I've seen others do it and it seemed to work fairly well. Can you tell I am one of those anal planners? We don't leave for almost a year. I could tell you were a rodent fan before you even mentioned anything to do with it. We must be able to recognize like types or something.

 

If you are looking for shows with costumes, music, sets, special effects, etc. you should try a rodent cruise. The shows were incredible. The dining rooms are an experience as well.

[alwalaska]

You're right. I worked on the Patters but they didn't work. I had problems with the scanner. Sorry.

 

flashdog_1 I don't think I've ever had my own personal cheer before. Thanks.

 

Thanks for the update. Did you try taking a picture with that wonderful camera of yours? :) I think others have done this successfully. Can you tell I am one of those anal planners who can never get enough information?

 

I knew you were a rodent fan even before you said anything about it. We must be able to spot like types or something. If you are looking for shows with costumes, set, special affects, music, etc. you should try a rodent cruise. The shows were incredible. Two of the dining rooms were almost mini-shows of the own also.

 

Please keep writing. I am dying to know about the dog sledding. The pictures looked really cool. Thanks again for including all of us on your cruise. I love your review.

[cworld]

I must start out with an apology. Please to all of he people of Ketchikan Alaska, I humbly apologize for misspelling the name of your town. This is one of the few times I’ve ignored Word when it told me I had something misspelled. I assumed that I was spelling Ketchikan correctly, and assumed that Word was wrong. WRONG ANSWER. I’m sorry. In my defense (yeah, there’s really no defense, but I’m going to put it here anyway), if you Google Ketchican, you'll find a lot of people misspell Ketchikan. Again I’m sorry. Phew, I need an editor.

 

 

We left off with us boarding our motorcoach (fancy name for big bus) for a drive through Ketchikan. Our driver-guide, Bob, told us about Ketchikan, including a lively narrative about historic Creek Street where homes and shops perch over the water on wooden pilings. Or at least that’s what the description says. The reality was that Bob pointed out a few things about Ketchikan. He drove us through town, pointed out the old brothels (Alaska must have had more brothels per capita than anywhere in the US). He gave us some history about how Ketchikan developed as a city. Overall it was pretty interesting. Bob did a good job.

 

We drove for about 3 hours (probably only about 10 minutes, but I was bored) until we came to the Village of Saxman. Saxman Village is home to “one of the worlds largest collection of totem poles”. Boy if this is the worlds largest collection of totem poles, there aren’t a lot of totem poles in the world. We saw short totem poles, tall totem poles, poles with Abraham Lincoln on top, poles with bears, and eagles, and each one had a different story.

 

Note to the fathers of Saxman Village – Your display has the makings of a nice tourist attraction. I thing it would be more interesting if you would put the story of each pole on a plaque somewhere close to the pole. I know each pole has a story behind it, and some 2 or 3. We’d probably enjoy your display more if we knew some of these stories and the histories of the poles. But thank you for sharing your wonderful history with us.

 

Bob told the story of a couple of the poles. He told us the story about why the likeness of Abraham Lincoln came to be on the top of the pole. As I remember it had something to do with the ship the Abraham Lincoln coming to the rescue of the village. Like maybe they ended a war between 2 tribes or something like that. So the villagers carved the likeness of Abraham Lincoln to commemorate the ending of hostilities (at least that’s what I remember Bob telling us).

 

He told another story of a pole that had 3 bears and a man on it. The story goes something like… Once upon a time there was a married man who strayed out of the village and got hurt. This man was rescued by a female bear. The bear nursed the man back to health and they fell in love. They got married, and had 2 bear cubs. They man had promised to remain faithful to the bear, and not even look at his former wife again. One day the man had to go in to the village. The man saw his former wife, and being a good husband to the bear, quickly went the other way and didn’t even speak to his former wife. The bear saw only that the man had seen his former wife and in a jealous rage tore the man to pieces. (Typical woman always seeing the worst in men.) The moral of the story was, well I’m not sure what the moral of the story was. Don’t marry female bears. Don’t look at ex-wife’s. Don’t mess with Texas (no, that was something else).

 

After about 15 minutes at the world’s largest totem pole display, we hopped in the bus and left.

 

Did I mention that it was an absolutely stunning day in Alaska today?

 

Note to Princess – I believe, based on other descriptions I’ve seen, that the Saxman Village Totem Pole exhibit should take more than 15 minutes to see. When we took your Best of Ketchikan by Land and Sea the morning of May 9, 2005, we visited Saxman fairly early in the morning. We stayed at the totem poles less than 20 minutes, and didn’t even see where they were carving. This was one of the more disappointing parts of our tour, not because of the totem poles, but because of the limited time, and the limited information. Also, it would have helped, if more of the history had been included. Our driver told us that all of these poles were less than 50 years old, but he didn’t really explain that the were replicas of historic poles.

 

There was a strange occurrence while we were at the totem pole village. An Indian looking (the ones with the tomahawks, not the ones from the country) man came up to the bus as we were getting ready to leave. He hollered at the bus driver about how the busses are polluting the atmosphere, and how everything around there was dying due to the pollution the busses were putting out. It was no big deal. As the man walked up the hill, I noticed that he was puffing on a cigarette. Thought that was interesting.

 

I don’t want to sound too negative about Saxman. The totem pole exhibit was pretty cool. It would have been really cool if we would have had more time, had seen a totem pole being made, had been able to read the stories of the totem poles (although, since I can’t read, my wife would have had to read them to me), and had been given more of the history of the poles.

 

Or… if we would have been able to go in THE BUILDING behind the totem poles. As we drove in between the two rows of poles, directly ahead was a set of steps that led to THE BUILDING. THE BUILDING was painted with the same coloring and symbols as the two totem poles that guarded the steps. Bob never said what THE BUILDING was for. It was situated so that haunting trees surrounded THE BUILDING. It was just a little spooky. You know like “There is a house in New Orleans, They call the rising sun…” Just what goes on in THE BUILDING back there? Huh, Bob? Being the bold outgoing person that I am, I didn’t ask. I’m sure Bob would have answered something like… “I could tell you, but then I’d…”

 

The pictures from Saxman Village are here:

 

http://homepage.mac.com/cktrent2/PhotoAlbum6.html

 

Rating for the Saxman Village totem poles - NEI - Not enough information.

 

Tomorrow on to the fish murdering house.

[cworld]

I am dying to know about the dog sledding.

 

 

alwaslaska - somebody's been reading something they weren't supposed too...

 

Thanks, if I get a few minutes I'll try to photograph the Patters. I still haven't even gone through half of the photos I took in Alaska. Plus I've rolled off another 250 of a baseball team. So maybe some day I'll get a little time to work on it. I will try.

 

About the rodent cruise, we talked about it, but $$$$ got in our eyes. Pretty pricey. The kids are still interested, even though there 20 and 15, so we may do it one day. We'll see.

[Mrs. cworld]

Another note to the fathers of Saxman Village--I bet you are getting a pretty hefty profit off of Princess passengers and passengers from other cruise lines--if you don't want the "bus pollution", we will gladly skip your totem pole collection. It wasn't worth the money anyway. A perfectly pleasant morning trip was ruined by the man who was acting like the "pollution police". :mad:

[alwalaska]

If I remember what I read correctly, there is a small fee involved with going into the building. The Cape Fox dancers are there as well as the artisans at work. The inexpensive (choke choke) tour group must not have wanted to spring to the extra $5 or so.

 

Thanks for the warning. I had previously made the mistake of thinking that tours that go to the Saxman village would go in to the building. I will have to read those wonderful descriptions a bit better. I was planning on Saxman Village instead of Totem Bight because in someone's review they stated that their guide spent over 90 minutes in the cold rain explaining the history of every pole in Totem Bight State Park. I am insterested in the history, but that would be a bit much for me. I like your idea of the signs to read at your leisure.

 

Please - please let us know about the rest of your tour.

 

By the way - you didn't tell us we couldn't read the titles and descriptions on the pictures in your very first link. :D

 

Thanks again for brightening my day with your stories.

[cworld]

By the way - you didn't tell us we couldn't read the titles and descriptions on the pictures in your very first link. :D

 

Ann,

You are quite correct and I humbly (if that's possible) apologize. I assumed that you had read the post addressed to shirleya53 only (like you didn't) that talked about the top things to do, I didn't even think about the pictures. Again I'm sorry. (This is starting to become a theme.)

 

By the way, did I mention that it was a beautiful day in Ketchikan.

[cworld]

I wish I could go back and change the links on the pictures, but here is the new rundown.

 

From leaving OKC through leaving Vancouver.

 

http://homepage.mac.com/cktrent2/PhotoAlbum5.html

 

Arriving Ketchikan

 

http://homepage.mac.com/cktrent2/PhotoAlbum7.html

 

Saxman Village

 

http://homepage.mac.com/cktrent2/PhotoAlbum6.html

 

I promise a lot more pictures tonight. I've got them ready, and will get them in when I get a few minutes.