Ketchikan

I have a trivia question for you. What is Alaska's biggest export? We learned this just recently and I thought I'd share it with you. The answer is at the end of this blog.

Yesterday was our first port day--in Ketchikan. But first I need to catch you up on our time on the ship. On Saturday afternoon we attended a presentation on wine and food pairing. We had 5 different wines in front of us (a Riesling, a Sauvignon Blanc, a Chardonnay, a Pinot Noir, and a Cabernet Sauvignon). Also in front of us was a plate with 9 little indentations in it with a different food in each of them: plain chicken, chicken with pesto, mackeral, salt, tomato, chocolate, etc. Our chief sommelier then had us try different foods in combination with the various wines. It really made a difference...of course. But the difference was more striking than I expected. And, of course, it didn't hurt to be drinking wine in the middle of the afternoon!

That evening we got a nice surprise. But to explain it, I have to back up a bit to the evening before when we had a not-so-nice surprise. We came into our stateroom on Friday evening to change for dinner and discovered water leaking from our ceiling. We called housekeeping right away and they came fairly quickly. They took care of the leak while we were out for dinner and all was well. But when we came back to our stateroom on Saturday evening, there waiting for us were a bottle of champagne and two plates of chocolate dipped strawberries. There was no card but we found out that the head of housekeeping had had them sent to apologize for the incovenience of the leak.  Very nice. And consuming a bottle of champagne between 2 people before dinner certainly adds a new dimension to dinner!

As I wrote at the beginning of this post, yesterday (Sunday) was our day in Ketchikan. Ketchikan is the southeastmost city in Alaska...at the very tip of the inside passage. It's population is about 14,000; it's not big at all but it is a regional center. Allen and I had signed up for a shore excursion here: we did a hike in the Tongass National Forest. We met our other 10 cruise guests and the guide in the parking lot just beyond the disembarkation point from the ship. It was only a 7 mile drive to the trail head. (During which we learned about Alaska's biggest export, but that will come later....hang on.) Once we got there we started our 2 mile hike (one way) along Ward Creek in the rainforest. Our guide pointed out the various types of trees that grow and explained about the geography of the area. Our turn around point was a waterfall at which we could see salmon swimming upstream. (That's where the picture that started this post was taken. You really can't see any salmon in the picture though. That's Allen and me, not salmon.)

During the 2 mile hike back to the trailhead we did a little detour to a pool which is the spawning grounds for the salmon. There we saw the fry which are the young salmon. They live in this pool for 2 years or so until they are ready to swim downstream to the ocean. They were hard to see but we caught a view of several of them.

After the hike, Allen and I wandered around the downtown of Ketchikan which, to put it mildly, is very touristy. We found a place to eat and then poked around in a few shops, all of which had pretty much the same things. Jewelry shopping is big too, though we didn't really browse in any of those shops.

We were pretty beat after our hike and wandering so we came back to the ship for a relaxing evening. We've gone to the evening entertainment the past two nights. The first night was the singer Mark Preston, who was in the vocal group the Letterman way back when. He sang--some Lettermen songs as well as some standards. He was quite entertaining. The show last night was called "A Touch of Broadway." It was done by the cast onboard the ship and was very well done.  There were 9 dancers and 4 singers who did an excellent job of recreating a few Broadway shows. It was an excellent show.

We ate in the Grand Restaurant, which is the main restaurant onboard. We didn't sign up for a set seating but can go anytime that we want to dinner, which adds some flexibility.  The food has been very good. In the Grand Restaurant, there is a set menu which doesn't vary from day to day as well as a menu for the day. There are also a few other eating venues around the ship: a large buffet which serves through much of the day. There's also a cafe where you can stop for a cup of tea and a small nibble. Plus there are several bars around the ship.

Today, we're going into port at Icy Strait Point. We don't have any excursion for today so we'll just wander around for a while.

Okay, I'm sure you're on the edge of your seats wondering what the biggest export from Alaska is. Could it be gold? Moose? Glaciers? No, the answer is gravel. I guess it has to come from somewhere.