Our first item on the agenda was a trip to Totem Bight State Park; we hopped on the city bus by the tourist information center for a 25 minute ride north along the coast, arriving at 11 AM.
According to the bus driver, we had over an hour until the next bus was heading back to town, so we took a leisurely stroll along the park trail, through the woods, to see some totem poles.
We learned about the different types of totems, and the meanings behind the different animals/people on them.
All of the totems are replicas of the originals that were brought to the park from abandoned native villages in the area.
The park also has a replica clan house, complete with a giant "entrance totem" at the front door.
After completing the park trail, we still had about 20 minutes until the bus arrived, so we investigated the neighboring gift shop and totem carving center.
We took the bus back towards downtown, such as it is ("Alaska's 4th Largest City!"), but it was inexplicably not stopping downtown, so we, along with almost every single passenger, de-bused at Safeway and switched to the "downtown shuttle".
The downtown shuttle was filled slightly beyond standing-room-only, so we got off at the first possible stop downtown and walked the rest of the way to our lunch destination.
We walked past the visitor center again, and then passed the cruise ship; I was finally able to get close enough to get this photo.
Lunch was at Florida Bill's Crab Cracker, which doesn't seem to have its own website (not pictured).
After lunch, we meandered over to Creek Street to admire the former-brothels that are built out over the water.
I was eagerly anticipating the funicular tram ride up the hill, but unfortunately it wasn't running.
One of the former brothels is now some sort of brothel museum, complete with period costumes. We passed on that tour.
We continued our self-guided walking tour along the harbor, out onto a jetty for some scenic views.
I think we interrupted this eagle's fishing expedition; it somehow managed to seem indignant as it took to the sky upon our approach.
On the walk back towards downtown, we came upon some locals enjoying a quick swim, despite the potential electrocution hazard.
For the remaining hour or two before we had to be back on the ship, we walked around and enjoyed the beautiful Alaskan weather (in the city that measures annual rainfall in feet, not inches).
They get so much rain that they apparently refer to it (euphemistically? sarcastically?) as "liquid sunshine", but we didn't see any sign of it.
We headed uphill in the direction of the fish ladder, just upstream from Creek Street, but there weren't yet any salmon to be seen.
Rather than walk back down the way we came, we took the Married Man's Trail back to brothel row.
This extremely large fish... sculpture? helps guide the salmon up the creek, I suppose.
Last call to not be left in port was 5:30 PM, so we returned to the ship around 5, which left enough time for an adult beverage and some blogging while we still had cell reception.
It was a beautiful evening as we departed Ketchikan and headed south, towards Canadian waters.
After dinner, Sabrina and I went topside to watch the sun almost-set, and it even got dark enough to see a few stars around 10:30 PM.
I guess it was technically 11:30 PM, since we crossed back into the Pacific time zone as we entered Canadian territory?
Tomorrow will be a day at sea, en route to Vancouver.
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