Ketchikan

Alaska is great!  So much so that I want to stay up all night enjoying it.  And if the daylight hours had anything to do with it, I would.  This is what it looked like at about 9pm last night.

Still pretty much freakin' daylight.  I really didn't bother looking at 10pm...it would have kept me up.

So we jumped up early to shop around in Ketchikan - we're only here until 2pm and with a 2.5 hour tour in the middle of the morning, that didn't leave us much time to roam around.  

I HAD to buy an Alaska hat!

Our 10:45 tour - a backcountry tour on small inflatable motorized boats that you got to drive around in one of the channels looking for whales, seals, eagles, lost hikers, etc. - ended up cancelling due to foggy and rough weather conditions in the channel.  Joe really wanted to rodeo that boat...oh, well.  

Plan B was a walk around.  We shopped the tourist stores, looked at fabulous first nation artwork, and checked out the local coffee shop. 

So cute!

Beautiful bus stop - even in the rain.

Here's Johnny!  Turns out there's not much to do in Ketchikan except drink, fuck and play hockey.

This is in front of the Happy Bear Bar.  They look happy, right?

Just for you Ms. Judy!

I made friends with the bears - this bear, not the happy ones.

Joe got in touch with his natural 'Murican self.

Another bear...this one is not so happy.

We were in town for such a short time.  We barely had enough time to find a bar...that's a lie...we ALWAYS have time to find a bar.  We stopped in at Fat Stan's for a couple of beers and a to-die-for pizza: goat cheese, jalapenos, and reindeer salami.  Wow!

And beers from Denali Brewing, Alaskan, and Cascade Lakes - so good!

We headed back to the ship just in time and went out on our balcony to say goodbye to this darling little town.  Would have loved to stay longer, but we're on to Juneau!

So we're sitting on the balcony enjoying the float planes buzzing by and talking about how goddamn good that pizza was, when our neighbors on both sides came out onto their balconies.  Apparently they were all related and from Waverly, Iowa.  And they had a discussion - right over us - about how they would "Never live in Ketchikan.  There ain't nuthin' to do.  No Walmart, no Costco.  Nuthin'!  No way," would they ever live here.  Well, thank god for small favors!

Tomorrow - Juneau!  Whale watching and Mendenhall Glacier viewing.  Not to mention pub crawling until almost 9pm!