Ketchikan, Alaska, Part 1 June, 2012

I AM ON VACATION!  The mantra continues.  The ship docked in Ketchikan at a little after 7 a.m.  We were at sea yesterday, and the weather was lovely.  Today would be different. 

The town looks very quaint from the dock.  After about 3 blocks in, it became hilly.   It is long along the coastline and narrow otherwise.

I went into town at about 9, wearing my green poncho as there was a steady rain.   The ship docked right in the center of the western part of town. 

  After stopping at the information center when I got a walking tour fold out map, I found where to get the free shuttle up to the hatchery and eagle center and the totem heritage center.   I had printed out a similar map off of the website for Ketchikan.   Ten minutes later, I got off the shuttle and for $15, got into the two centers.   

Ourside the Totem Museum

 

 Above:  Totem created for the creation of this center.  

When I walked in, I faced 3 huge totems.

Totem poles honor the dead, record history and oral tradition.  They were never worshiped.  Once raised, they were left to deteriorate naturally.  The western red cedar were often used to make poles as they withstood the damp climate quite well.  The above examples were carved in the mid- to late-19th century.  They were brought to Totem Heritage Center in 1976 to provide examples of traditional carvings and to inspire future carvers.

This is a close up of pole #3 above.  After missionaries came to the area, people used to make poles that honored the dead.  The top figure on this pole is brown bear, with wide nostrils, strong teeth, and sharp claws.

Tlingits in Tongass Village in 1868 with US Federal agent.  .  This was one of the first photos taken in Alaska.

Tlignet in traditional regalia

During the Depression, carvers at Saxman Village kept the art of carving going.

In the above photo taken at Saxman Village in 1941, a group of Native carvers work on the Wandering Raven pole, which now stands in the entrance to the Clan House in Totem Bight park.  This was one of many totem poles carved as part of a Civilian Conservation Corps project in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

The following describes some of the reasons of totem poles  were carved historically:

Above is a picture of Chief Johnson's house and totem pole in 1904.

Above is the interior of Chief Lots' house in 1898.

Head of an old pole lying sideways in the museum.

The Raven figure above originally topped a 50-foot pole that stood in the center of a village.  There are elements of a frog crest on the raven's breast and the tail may represent a sea mammal.  You can see the original pole above in black and white.  

Totem poles often had rings on them.  They symbolize the number of generations an object or story has been owned by a particular group.

Poles were often used as supports for homes.  Here is one that looks like an inverted eagle's claw. It is one of four that supported the main beams in a house in Old Kasaan.

There were also masks on display, made by instructors in the Totem Heritage Center carving classes. 

Masks served a number of functions. The animals, humans, and mythical figures they depict may represent important events or feats or symbolize stories of clans or individuals.  During special occasions, the masks are brought out and the stories are repeated so that they will be passed on.   In some places, masks are made for a specific event and they thrown away.

I then went to the bird sanctuary and fish hatchery.
From 1917 to 1953, there was a bounty on bald eagles as the fish farmers through the eagles were raiding fish from their ponds.  Eventually, they found out that was not true, but a # of eagles had already been killed.  Juneau has a raptor recovery center.  If an eagle loses a feather on one wing, one on the other side automatically falls off.  
The sanctuary has an owl and 3 eagles that cannot be released in the wild.  There are a number of such sanctuaries throughout Alaska.  Two of the eagles cannot fly at all so we could see them.  Auroro, the eagle on the left below,  was found on a garbage dump with  her left wing badly broken.  She weighs ten lb.  Cha-ak on the right hit a power line in Anchorage.She weighs 13 pl.  These birds are powerful and can exert 1000 lb. of pressure per talon.  Bald Eagles have a wing span of 6 to 8 feet.

 The 2 eagles built the next above with twigs supplied by the staff.  The grey horned owl was shot by a hunter.  It has shrapnel in its right wing.  The owls are the least intelligent of girls of prey as their eyes take up 90% of their brains.  These eagles lay 2 to 3 eggs in the beginning of May and sit on them for about 30 days, which is the usual incubation period.  Then the staff take away the eggs.

Eagles have amazing eyesight but have to rotate their head to see to the sides.


We then saw the fish hatchery and heard about the different kinds of salmon.
Later I learned the names of the 5 kinds through a finger association:
Thumb = Chum
Point (to eye) = Sockeye
Tall finger = King
Ring Finger = Silver
Pinky    =  Pink

The salmon imprint on the water in Ketchikan creek so return to the hatchery.  From 30 they take the eggs and use them for the new spawning.   Below you can see the development of the eggs.  They are 6 months in incubators and are these coho and king salmon are released into the creek when the salmon are a year and a half old. 

The rest they release back into the stream to lay their eggs naturally.  They give the 30 mentioned above to low-income area people or feed them to their birds.

I then walked down the Creek Street boardwalk.

 It paralleled Ketchikan Creek and had stunning views as I walked along.  I took off my cape hat briefly for this picture even though it was still raining fairly hard..

 I saw a number of beautiful (big) rhododendron plants along the way, about 6 or 7 weeks after these plants flowered in Seattle.

 Many of the houses along the creek had been bordellos and bars when the logging and mining industries boomed but since then (esp in the past 20+ years) most have become businesses, art shops, or (especially) tourist places.

  I stopped at the Star house, also called Dolly’s house.  It is a slightly upscale tourist place with the original star in the floor still preserved.

Part two of Ketchikan will follow with a description of the town museum, library, and Totem Bight state park, where I saw a lot of totem poles.

Alaska--June 2012 ON SHIP

 Howard retired on June 15, and on June 24th we started our Alaska adventure. 

I'll divide this into sections, first with info on our experiences on board ship.  Then I'll tell about our visits to Ketchkan, Juneau, Skaguay, and Seward, and then our land trip north to Denali.  I took too many photos so I hope I can finish the blogs before the fall!

We flew to Vancouver, BC, took 1.5 hours to clear customs, take a bus through town, and get to the harbor when we could board our ship.  It had been close to 20 years since I had been in Vancouver, and I was really surprised by the enormous growth in the center of town.  Only 1 building remains from the World's Fair in 1986 in what had been a run-down part of town.  Instead, many (very expensive) high-rise condos have sprung up, all in the past 20 years.    As we sailed out of Vancouver, we passed by part of Stanley Park and under the Lion's Gate Bridge.

Port (white area) and high rise condos

Harbor Police escorting us out

We are on the Holland America line ship the Zaandam. We are on the 3^rd floor, really close to an exit to the promenade deck outside where we can walk around the entire ship.  4 laps equal one mile. There are comfortable wooden lounge chairs outside with blankets available to use.  

We have a nice ocean view—with the deck between our window and the ocean.  Our bathroom is about 3 feet wider than the one on Carnival cruise  I was on with Timna and boys last December  and it has a full bathtub!  One disappointment—we have no refrigerator.  

We took the stairs a lot and especially enjoyed the Escher copies in the staircase we used the most.

This seahorse statue was our reminder that our room was nearby.

We are traveling with Marsha and Marty, whom we have gotten to know through our synagogue and empty nesters' group.  Marsha found out a few days before the trip that Ruthie Maslan Sassoon and her brother Fred Maslan would also be traveling with us.  Ruthie taught me music at Herzl religious school (in 2nd grade??) and I remember doing Israeli folk dancing with Fred at the Seattle Center when I was 18 or 19.

We often ate dinner with the four of them in the formal dining room (Rotterdam).  I was delighted to find the separate vegetarian menu.  We had to order a day in advance, and I did so several times.  each night there was also usually good fish options as well as some good vegetarian dishes....all clearly marked.  The food was really delicious.  One could order more than one entree, etc.

The first night was confusing and there were lines for dinner.  We decided that we didn't want to eat at the same time daily with the same people at the same table.  So we chose to go to the 4th floor (not the 5th) and take our chances with getting in.  We found out afterwards that we could make reservations up to 3 days in advance.  That really helped to know.  

We usually had breakfast and lunch in the Lido restaurant on the 8th floor, with buffet services.  Soda pop was part of the "bar" service and it cost money....which I thought was a great idea!  We could eat more quickly there and have a fantastic view.  But dinner was leisurely and often led to a lot of laughter!  And lattes were free in that dining room!

The first 48 hours we were served, to limit the spread of any infectious disease as several other ships had that problem.  We did not. YAY!  The food  both looked great as tasted fantastic!

Vegetarian Curry

Mushroom Strudel

Chocolate Nut Tort

The staff was all incredibly nice.  Many were from Indonesia, but I did chat with a food server from Bogota.  Most of the stewards were married.  Ours was named Haris.  He was 35, but looked younger and had a 4 and 2 year old back home.  He traveled/worked for 9 months and then had 3 months off with him family.  All worked 7 days a week...or was it 8?

The ship had 8 floors and had a small but nice gym a good heated swimming pool and 2 hot tubs, a library with chess boards and puzzles in progress, a theater with very up-to-date movies, flat screen TVs in the rooms (Howard enjoyed ours and I could have easily done without it) and a great variety of programs in the evening.  Howard usually called it a night after dinner but the rest of us went to hear the Adagio String quartet, an ensemble that played great dance music, a fantastic piano player, who played Gershwin one evening and the Beatles another, etc.  By the pool there was also a super-sized chess board and ping pong, and elsewhere there was shuffleboard, a tennis court/basketball court, etc. 

 We sometimes sat in the Crow's Nest on the top floor in front for the fabulous view.  The gym was just below that and also had a great view.

The mats in the elevators changed daily to remind us of the day of the week.

One employee was in charge of the floral arrangements, and he did an amazing job.  The flowers were all over--dining rooms, public bath rooms, lounges, etc. and they always looked very fresh.

Orchids in a restroom

Orchids in buffet area

Howard especially liked standing on the back of the ship, a more protected area, watching the wake and seeing any wildlife in the area.  We did spot dolphins, whales, and a variety of birds.

Wake from back of ship

I treated myself to two massages and felt a lot better after both.

The stores on board were small.  Ditto for the casino.  Smoking was allowed in the casino and on the deck.  There were smokers...but not overwhelmingly so.  

Every night, when the steward turned down our bed, he also made us towel animals.  I really enjoyed them!

Towel Squid

Towel Froggie

Towel Elephant & Doggie

Towel Chimp and me--Chimp is on right

The last day on board, several stewards gave a demonstration on how to make these towel animals, and Marty and I both went.  Most of the animals could be made in under a minute!  The demo was a lot of fun, and I bought the book--it was better written than the one from the cruise I went on with Timna.

Swans for newlyweds or on anniversaries

Towel menagerie

I met some fascinating people including a mother and 2 daughters.  The mother, Ruth, was a retired nurse.  One daughter and the son-in-law were college profs and the other daughter Emma lives in Okinawa and works for the military.  She was studying Hebrew with the local (Sephardic rabbi) until he left.  

There were children on the cruise, but not a lot.  There was also fewer singles between 25 and 40.

The second to last night was the 2nd formal dinner.  Two of our guys were sent back to their cabins to put on long sleeved shirts!  Marty went from a nice button-down short -sleeved shirt to a flannel long sleeved shirt--rather funny.  That night at 10:30 was a fantastic dessert extravaganza.  To me the setup was more amazing that the desserts themselves, though I did enjoy a mild cappuchino cheese cake.

Several carved watermelons adorned the set up.

Later used in the Lido buffet

A horse--my favorite

Bouquet from Turnips, carrots, radishes, & tomatoes

Fruit dipped in Chocolate

I've written a lot about food, but I managed to stay away from the desserts but they were a lot of fun to look at!  We really had a lovely time in the ship.  The weather held and we only had one really bad rainy day--in Ketchkan.  The people were very  nice..the cruise relaxing.  The first day at 5, Marsha and I went to a beginning Tai Chi class.  The first thing we had to do was repeat several times:  I AM ON VACATION!  and that has become my mantra for the voyage.

One more nice thing:  Holland America is into conservation. There are recycling cans in key areas.  There are no paper towles--just cloth ones.  We are urged to reuse our bath towels too.

I wouldn't consider myself a cruise person, but this trip was very pleasant and a great way to get an intro to many sites in Alaska that are only reachable by sea or air.  If we do go on another cruise, however, we won't pay the regular price.  I'll definitely check out Vacations to Go, for example.

BTW, there were a number of Israelis on board, some of whom now live in the US but others who came specifically from Israel for the cruise.  Fred led Shabbat evening services, and we had about 18 people participate, half of whom were Israeli.  The ship did provide challah, gefilte fish, and kosher wine!  BTW, kosher meals are also available...but may need to be ordered in advance.

More on the sites to come.  It is a lot faster to take photos than to edit and then write a blog!