Day 18 - Moored in Ketchikan

Wandered into a great dive bar last night called the Sourdough Bar. The walls are covered in actual photos of various shipwrecks, ships on the rocks, and wildlife. We had beers and played a few rounds of pool. Dinner at Bar Harbor restaurant was just OK, nothing special. Went to sleep last night and woke up this morning to the constant chatter of Eagles, I just love that sound. We are moored right next to a float plane service so the planes have been active since about 8:30 this morning, coming in and out. I think they cater to the cruise ship passengers so when the ships are in, they are busy. To the north we look upon the Ketchikan airport across the water, probably one of the few airports where you can pick up and drop off passengers by dinghy! It has been surprisingly warm and dry since we arrived yesterday which is amazing considering this is one of the rainiest places in the US. I will say it again, Ketchikan is far more beautiful than I remembered from my youth when I used to fly up here for work. It is a city with all the bustle and activity taking place on the water, town is pretty dead. We are renting a car today for 24 hours and doing the land based sightseeing starting with bear viewing tonight at the creek that is downhill from the fish hatchery and the bears have that all figured out. Tomorrow it will be the Totem Park and Museum and Dolly’s House at Creek Street, which is the last standing bordello from the 20’s. Ketchikan’s #1 industry back then was prostitution to service the fishermen and bootleggers. John left to go fishing, David is working on changing filters in his boat, Shannon is doing laundry, and I am researching places to go from here over the next week. We only have 1 cruise ship in town this morning so perhaps a good day to walk around town. UPDATE: John caught a 12 pound Chinook! Yay, salmon for dinner tomorrow. This evening we made fish tacos from the rockfish John caught a couple days ago, and then drove over to the hatchery to see if we could find bears. None. But we did figure out the lay of the land and where to go for viewing when we return in July on our way home.