What an absolutely gorgeous day in Alaska! We woke up this morning to blue skies and bright sun. Chad's apartment offers views of Ketchikan that are like something out of a travel guide. He lives on the third floor, in a newer building, right in the middle of downtown, and everything in town is within walking distance. Right now, Ketchikan is like a ghost town,
because the cruise ships don’t start coming until May, but once they come, it’s
going to be a madhouse here. I'm so glad I get to miss the crowds.
 |
| Chad's apartment is on the third floor of that tower. |
 |
| The marina across from the apartment. |
We left the apartment at 8 AM, and walked to Pioneer Café
for breakfast. We crossed the black and
white checkered floor, sat at a bright red Formica counter, and ordered
coffee. Locals were all around us, and
as usual, I eavesdropped on their conversations. While I pretended to be profoundly captivated
by my oatmeal, I was really hanging on every word of the young men seated next
to us. The one closest to me was
disappointed that it required him getting drunk last night to tell this girl
how he really feels about her. The guy
next to him waited for him to finish before starting a dialogue about how fun
it is to feed his turtles. Apparently,
both of them have pet turtles, and feeding them is a thrilling adventure. Here is the conversation that unfolded:
“My turtle shoots to the top of the water like Superman when
I feed him, it’s so cool!”
“Yeah man, yesterday I caught my turtle sneaking this
pellet, and when he saw me watching, he looked at me for a second and then he
tossed his head back and swallowed it, like ‘whatchyou gonna do?”
“It’s crazy how lethargic they can be, dude, until you feed
them!”
"I can't BELIEVE how feisty they get about their food!"
I’ll stop there, because that conversation lasted for about
20 minutes, and I’ve got a lot of things to cover. But, in case you wondered, this is what
locals talk about in diners at breakfast.
We left the diner and walked to Creek Street, which is a row
of old houses and a boardwalk built entirely on top of pilings above Ketchikan
Creek. In the 1920s Creek Street was the
town’s red light district, and home to over 20 brothels. They have all since been turned into souvenir
shops for tourists. All but one: Dolly’s House. Dolly was Ketchikan’s most famous whore
(sorry, the folks here try to class it up, but let’s call her what she was) and
they have turned her whorehouse into a museum.
 |
| Creek Street |
We took Married Man’s Trail along the creek to the salmon ladder. It all looked very similar to the Pacific Northwest, but along the creek shore, we did spot at least one empty bottle of every single type of alcoholic beverage ever made. I wonder if they’ll clean all those up before the cruise ships come in. I found a small, clear plastic baggie, picked it up and took a whiff. Hmm, I wish I could figure out why the locals carry around skunk musk in plastic baggies. What an odd thing.
 |
| Ketchikan Creek |
We walked along the waterfront promenade, back to the apartment, got the SUV, and drove north to Ward Lake, where we walked the 1.3 mile nature trail. We saw lots of signs warning visitors to watch for bears, and I was disappointed to learn that they are all still hibernating. I was really hoping for a bear encounter, as I have a special connection to animals, and believe that I can train them all. I even brought snacks to share with the sweet, fuzzy critters. Alas, no bears.
 |
| I kept expecting Bilbo Baggins and his posse to appear. |
 |
| It's funny. Just trust me. |
 |
| Ward Lake |
Next we drove to Tongass National Forest and followed it until the road ended. There was nearly a foot of snow on the ground, and the views were just as spectacular as you would imagine. We stopped at Harriet Hunt Lake and felt like we were the only two people in the world. We enjoyed the total silence and sensed the peace – until I decided to take a flying leap into the powdery snow. After I was thoroughly soaked, we got back in the car.
 |
| They offer free flying lessons in Alaska. |
 |
| In Tongass National Park, every sign looked like this. |
On the way back to town, we stopped at Ward Cove and found a
lovely junk yard to photograph. I don’t
know why.
 |
| I saw way more of these junk yards than I would've liked. |
After changing out of my wet clothes, we walked back to
Creek Street, where we took a tram up Cape Fox Hill to the top, where we ate
lunch at Cape Fox Lodge. For an
appetizer, we had the baked crab brie with Granny Smith apples. I don’t remember ever tasting more delicious
brie – it was outstanding. I wanted to
cry a little. We enjoyed our salads, and
then rode back down to town and went into the one of the few shops that are open right now –
a bookstore/souvenir shop called Parnassus Books. We were the only customers and I almost bought something just because I
imagined the lady working there was silently pleading with us, “Please-o-please-o-PLEASE buy something so I
can pay my rent this month.” No thanks, lady, I don’t need a temporary
tattoo of a whale, nor do I need oven mitts with totem poles on them.
The sun was still out, the weather was warm (for Ketchikan),
and so we drove to Totem Bight State Historical Park. At this park, you can see about 14 totem poles, a clan
house, and even watch carvers create and restore totems (that part was closed
today). Is it sacrilegious to say that
we don’t find totem poles that appealing?
You know how some things interest you and you want to know everything
there is to know about a subject? Say,
for instance: how to wake a hibernating bear and feed it honey out of a cup
while teaching it tricks? Well, we just
don’t feel that way about totem poles.
 |
| Chad having trouble understanding what the big deal with totem poles is. |
Not being crazy about totem poles didn't keep us from driving 10 miles south to Saxman Native
Village where we saw even MORE totem poles.
These poles, however, seemed to be a lot more inappropriate and
random. And we thought they were delightful.
 |
| Why yes, I Do believe that's Abe Lincoln on that totem pole! |
 |
| See? Creepy and inappropriate. |
 |
| Now they were just ASKING for this to happen. |
Finally, we were totem-lly sick of totem poles (see what I did
there?) and we drove home. We were still
full from lunch, and it was only 6:45, so we walked a block to the movie
theater to see Safe Haven. And let me tell you our story of THAT escapade: The Coliseum
Theater is a tiny 2-screen, cash-only theater.
We bought our tickets and walked into Theater 1. It was surprisingly big and there were about
20 people in the theater. As we sat down
I noticed a guy had a pair of sunglasses on his head and I instantly began
singing Corey Hart’s masterpiece to myself.
We sat there eating popcorn, wondering why the teenage boy next to us
would want to come see a chick flick with someone who appeared to be his little
sister. And why there were so many kids
with their parents… The previews started and I was all, “Oh great, now I’m going
blind, I can’t even FOCUS.” And Chad said, “3D?
Really?” And we were all irritated at other people’s idiocy. So I peeked over the back of my seat and
everyone behind us was wearing 3D glasses.
I sat back down wondering, “Why would Safe Haven be in 3D? That is so dumb,” so I got up in a huff to get some
glasses for us. When I walked out the door, I
read the sign and realized, “Oh, we’re in the wrong theater.” I went back in to get Chad, picked up his popcorn
upside down, spilling it on the floor. We
ran upstairs to Theater 2 and quickly sat down.
It was all very embarrassing and I hope everyone had a good laugh at our expense. All
that to say: can anyone please tell us what happens in the first five to seven
minutes of Safe Haven?
Here's to Alaska, here's to the people
Here's to the wild, and here's to the free
Here's to my life in a chosen country
Here's to Alaska and me!
- John Denver
-Chad and Rachel
No comments:
Post a Comment