Ketchikan

Ketchikan was our third and final stop before heading on to Vancouver. Our excursion in Ketchikan was a 4x4 Jeep trip! All 6 of us ended up doing this one together, too. First we were taken to a small lake (it was very windy and wet), which we canoed across. I think Joel & I were the only ones paddling in our 16 passenger canoe. Or, maybe, we're just out of shape! They had baked salmon and hot clam chowder waiting for us.

Liking neither, I proceeded to eat the goldfish (native to Alaska, I've heard) only to find out from Joel later that one of the young children had been eating them out of the bowl with the same spoon I had used to dish them into my hand! I guess she had been eating them out of the bowl with her fingers and her mom told her to "use the spoon". So she did--and proceeded to eat the goldfish like cereal! yuck!

We then walked through the rain forest and saw lots of vegetation. I had pictured Alaska to be more barren--but it was just as if we were in a South American Jungle (except it was cold!). One of the large plants that they have is called skunk cabbage--because it smells like skunk! Here are some pictures of Joel being abducted by this alien plant!





































After this fun stop, we paddled back to our Jeeps and set off for about 45 minutes of back country driving. Us being city-folk and all, we don't do this very often. Joel, Gary, Aimee & I all took turns driving our jeep. It was great fun--very messy & we didn't even have to wash the jeeps when we were done!

Here is a video that shows a little bit what it was like. My sister Aimee is driving, Joel is in the front seat & Gary & I are in the back seat. As you can tell a little from the video, we are all laughing and whopping it up!


By the time we got back in to town it was pouring down rain. We did a little walking around town. Part of the town is built on stilts over a stream (picture below). In a few weeks, the stream will be filled with thousands of salmon traveling upstream to spawn. We walked through town to a salmon fish hatchery. They release fish into the rivers to help keep the fish population growing. Very interesting.
Then it was on to do a little more shopping in town and back to the boat to dry off!