Different Things To Do In Ketchikan

When we awoke on Thursday morning, we were in Ketchikan.

My parents went on a tour of the city. Sam, Kathy, Mike and Lorene went on a float plane. Andy and Amanda went to a totem pole park. Glen joined Mark, Michelle and Nani who wanted to spend their time having a zipline experience. 

I was left to my own devices since I was adamantly opposed to going on the zipline excursion. No, thanks!! Not a chance!!! No way, Jose!!!!

So I decided to walk around Ketchikan. A kind man saw me taking a picture of this totem pole and asked if he could take my picture by the pole.

The popular place to walk was along Creek Street.

In the 1920s, Creek Street was known as Ketchikan's red-light district. Its most famous madam, Dolly Arthur, realized she could make a lot more money from the attentions of men than she could waiting on tables. 

Married Man's Trail was a muddy trail that went through the woods that men would use to discreetly visit the working houses along Creek Street so no one would see them using the front doors.

I decided to take a tour of Dolly's house The poster hanging in Dolly's window caught my eye: "If you Can't Find Your Husband...He's in Here!"

Dolly had her own bathroom and she also had this small urinal room for the men.

She had a little wet bar hidden away inside her hallway wall.

This is her bedroom "where she did all her work" (a quote from the tour guide).

Enough of Dolly and thinking about that way of life...

Off I walked back towards the ship sitting in the harbor.

As I neared the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show building, I decided to go in and see if I could possibly buy a ticket. I had tried to get a ticket on the ship and they were sold out. Sure enough, there were three tickets left and I snatched one up.

The show wasn't for a couple of hours, so I went back to the ship and did what had to be done to bide the time--ate another piece of cheesecake and read my book for a while.

When I walked into the Lumberjack Show arena, I looked around for my parents since I knew they would be there at that time. They were surprised to see me and I was happy there was room next to them for me to sit with them. Soon after that Andy and Amanda walked in and sat behind us. It was turning into a family affair.

Let the show begin!! I think I can speak for all of us that we thoroughly enjoyed all the activities the lumberjacks performed for us. Very entertaining!!!

I was so glad I had gotten into the show because it was what I had wanted to do in Ketchikan. It made me extremely happy!!

I was so nervous about the activity Glen, Mark, Michelle and Nani had chosen to do. Andy and Amanda had been with them earlier in the morning and Amanda told me they wouldn't be ending their excursion until noon and that was the time everyone was supposed to be back on the ship.

It was a relief when I spied them standing almost at the end of the line on the left. It warmed my heart when they saw me and started waving. Michelle is standing near an orange cone with Mark near her and Glen has his yellow and black coat on with Nani in front of him. They were all wearing their gold medals around their necks. I guess they earned a medal for surviving the ziplining adventure.
Here they are posing for me to take a picture as they are getting on the ramp. They really were some of the last people to get back on the ship.

Mark and Michelle were so proud of their medals; they wore them all around the ship the rest of the day.

This is the pose Glen, Michelle, Mark and Nani took at the end of the zipline. If you ask me, I'd say the guides were the ones that deserved the medals having to put up with these characters.

Of course everyone was hungry for lunch so off we went to find food. The specialty buffet was decorated beautifully with an ice sculpture and several fruit and vegetable carvings and creations.

After lunch, some of the family hurried off to attend the ship's onboard fashion show. We lingered longer with Sam and Kathy.

When I asked Sam exactly how that body binocular strap worked, he did a demonstration for us of how to put it on. We were laughing about Sam doing his own version of a fashion show--camo coat/binocular strap style.

 Here is Glen out on our balcony waiting for me to get ready for the evening.

This particular night there were several very unique appetizer dishes offered. I really did not like this choice I made of vegetable pate.

 Apparently Andy and Amanda did not like the fish eggs atop their appetizer.

Nobody complained about the main dish part of the meal.

 In fact, those who ordered lobster were quite excited about their meal.

 Our waiters helped get the meat out of the lobster tails.

Glen moved to the small table this evening so Nani could sit at the big table.

The waiters made a big presentation of bringing out plates of baked Alaska--an appropriately named dessert to be having on an Alaskan cruise.

The chefs took a parade around the dining room so we could all clap and show our appreciation for all the work they do every single day to feed all of us.

Baked Alaska was the only dessert offered that evening in the dining room.

Unless you happened to be Mike and Lorene who got recognized for having recently celebrated their anniversary. I was a little jealous. I would rather have had their yummy dessert over the baked Alaska.

This is the after-dinner pose of Mark and Michelle.

 And here they are sitting behind us in the Princess Theater waiting for the show to begin.

 Entertainment for the evening was British Invasion put on by the ship's singers and dancers.

We participated in a game show after that and probably went to another midnight buffet. It seemed to be our pattern for each evening.