Tuesday,
June 2nd
Eagles.
EVERYWHERE! Last night as we were in bed reading, the Eagles were having
multiple conversations outside, I think perched on the boat or pilings, but it
made me smile! This morning was the same thing, chatter, chortle, screech,
repeat. Yesterday we switched to the Alaska time zone, and I have been up since
4:30am, or 5:30am yesterday’s time, and semi awake since 3am, it’s gonna be a
long day for me. The sun was already hitting the hills across the channel and
the cruise ships were starting to roll in. At about 5:30/6:00 a float plane
next door fired up and took off. The local fishing boats have been streaming
out of the harbors since daybreak as well. This is a very busy waterfront.
Across the channel from us is the commercial airport so there are jets coming
and going as well – just so much to see.
Hours
later when normal people got up in the morning, Connie and I ventured out to do
some recon on grocery stores and other things, first stop Walmart for some odds
and ends. I was looking for a small metal rake for our shag carpet which mats
down so easily, and that took us to a beautiful local nursery on the north
coast. No rakes but we scored on some herb starts for our galley gardens! The
boys needed the rental car after that for boy errands - parts, hoses, fittings,
and the like; Lorraine and Connie decided to sunbathe and sip cocktails topside
– it is a scorcher today here in Ketchikan - and I decided on some retail
therapy in town. Town was crawling with cruise passengers, 5 ships came through
here today and flooded the streets with pedestrians. The sheer amount of
souvenir shops is overwhelming. I was looking for a new coat for my raingear
because I am tired of all black which I've had for the past 8 years, and wanted
to see if I could find a colorful coat. I didn't find what I wanted exactly, so
will keep looking. Later in the afternoon everyone except John went out to the
Totem Bight Park and Greg guided us through the park explaining each of the
totems from the visitor’s pamphlet. Here is an excerpt from the park's website
explaining the significance:
With the growth of
non-Native settlements in Southeast Alaska in the early 1900's, and the decline
of a barter economy, Natives moved to communities where work was available. The
villages and totem poles they left behind were soon overgrown by forests
and eroded by weather. In 1938 the U.S. Forest Services began a program aimed
at salvaging and reconstructing these large cedar monuments. By using Civilian
Conservation Corps (CCC) funds to hire skilled carvers from among the older
Natives, two things took place: young artisans learned the art of carving totem
poles, and totems which had been left to rot in the woods were either repaired
or duplicated.
By the time World War II
slowed down the CCC project, the community house and 15 poles were in place.
The name of the site was then changed to Totem Bight. At statehood in 1959,
title to the land passed from the federal government to the State of Alaska,
and the site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. At
that time it came under the management of the State Department of Natural
Resources for continuing historic preservation treatment by the Division of
Parks and Outdoor Recreation.
From
there it was up to the Cape Fox Inn which sits up on a hill above the downtown
where we enjoyed beautiful views with cocktails and appetizers which turned out
to be dinner. In the car we were listening to some Queen songs on the rock
station so that made me want to watch the Queen performance at Live Aid 1985
when we got back to the boat. This morphed into nearly two hours of our all
time favorite You Tube Music Videos, the old people’s version of MTV I guess.
The temps remained warm so the doors and windows were open well into the
evening. A beautiful day at Ketchikan.
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| Pretty Eagle on the piling in front of our boat |
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| 4:30AM looking west from our moorage in Ketchikan, sun just dusting top of the hills |
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| At 5:30AM the float planes started up, ships already tied up |
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| Totem Bight Park, reconstruction of typical Tlingit Clan House |
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| Raven and Fog Woman pole tells the story of the Raven who married Fog Woman, who had the mystical ability to create the world's first salmon by washing her hands in a basket. After a dispute, Raven struck her and she was heartbroken, and walked away with all the salmon leaving the Raven to starve. |
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| This was a brand new pole erected just a couple hours before we arrived. Don't have description |
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| And I forgot the story already on this one too, but it was sitting inside their shed for 7 years and was just restored and mounted a week ago. |
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