Ketchikan, Alaska

Wednesday morning we docked in Ketchikan around 9 a.m. Our tour wasn't until 10:30, but that really didn't give us enough time to explore town. Although we were supposed to be doing the seaplane excursion, the ship canceled and instead offered a "wilderness exploration cruise" with a visit to the George Inlet Lodge for a crab feast. We decided to do this tour.  Ketchikan in an interesting town with a lot of history, but I'll save that description for later. Here's our view of the port from the ship.

After breakfast we moseyed on down to the dock and waited for our tour bus which would take us to George Inlet Lodge. From there we boarded a smaller boat holding about 20 people. I felt the boat was a bit crowded with three to a bench, but the windows were large and it had an open area in the middle for the crab trap demonstration (very cool!) plus an open deck out back for taking pictures.

While on the boat we circled the inlet while our guide pointed out waterfalls, an old cannery and eagle nests. Then they stopped and threw up frozen fish which attracted the eagles. Soon we had two swooping down to catch the fish. These are beautiful birds and so big! I wish I could have gotten better pictures but I just wasn't quick enough.

We continued around the inlet to where they place the crab traps. Our guide pulled up one of the traps and it had two Dungeness crabs in it. He explained how the trap works and the restrictions they have to follow in trapping the crabs.  

Then we returned to the lodge for the crab fest. Let me just say that this may have been the best crab I have ever eaten. We ate as much as we wanted then had berry cheesecake for dessert. 

Here's a shot before and after the meal:

OMG it was so good!! And we all left stuffed.  Here's a picture of the lodge which was a former cannery bunkhouse built in the 1940s. The location was beautiful and so were the people. 

On the drive back the tour guide gave us some history about Ketchikan and pointed out all the totem poles, which have great symbolic meaning to the native people here. I think they said there were 40 around town.

She also suggested we check out historic Creek Street. The story behind Creek Street is that it used to be the red light district in Ketchikan "where both men and salmon came upstream to spawn." Here's a picture of the original street, which is more like a series of houses up on stilts.  According to ledgend Creek Street was a place where speakeasies and sporting women such as "Black Mary," "Thelma Baker," and "Dolly Arthur" made a living luring the crews of the North Pacific halibut and salmon fleets. Prostitution flourished for more than 50 years until 1954 when laws were put in effect to stop it.

More than two "female boarders" constituted a house of prostitution under Territorial Alaska law so most of the ladies lived in pairs or alone. Thelma Dolly Copeland was one of the most imfamous. Born in 1888 Dolly came to Ketchikan in 1914. She bought her own house in 1919 where she lived until her death in 1975.

The big green house shown below was hers. We walked down Creek Street before heading back to the ship. Yep, that's Brian standing by the street sign (below) ready to inforce the law on Creek Street.

Some of the other houses here:

We walked by an old church which had a very positive influence on Ketchikan. An Episcopal priest by the name of Bishop Peter Trimble Rowe from Juneau started visiting in 1897. He established a school for native children. In 1898 Miss Agnes Edmonds came to teach the children. In 1902 Fr. Thomas Jenkins came to town and drew "100 people of several races" to his first Sunday service. He was instrumental in building the church you see here:

So now you know both sides of the morality story in Ketchikan's history.

We would have loved to spend more time in this charming town, but the ship sailed at 6 p.m. so we'll have to save the rest for the next trip. As you can see we packed a lot into our day in Ketchikan, but the next day was a sea day just cruising the Inside Passage. We could rest up then. 

This was the second formal night so we made an effort to dress up. Dinner was something yummy (which I can't remember now) with expertly prepared creme brulee for dessert. Actually you can have creme brulee or various flavors of cheese cake every night if you wish. I think Brian had baked Alaskan, but his favorite dessert of the week was the apple crumble with vanilla ice cream.