Happy Independence Day From Ketchikan!
We will not come to Alaska with any cruise line or on any cruise itinerary which does NOT include a stop here in Ketchikan where today's excursion is not offered. We were "rookies" on the first trip here, but from that point on - six consecutive visits we've made the trip to the George Inlet Lodge when visiting Ketchikan. Why is that? Well if you don't know, read on my friends! We actually slept a little "later" this morning and that was nice because the past two days we had to be off the ship early. But today we were not arriving until 11am and our meeting time wasn't until 11:15am. The sunrise that greeted us was an indication that today was truly going to be a good day; and when I was enjoying my morning coffee while sailing through the waters of Alaska with the snow-capped mountains in the distance I was truly appreciative of how fortunate we are to be able to do what we do and experience what we experience in all of our travels.
After a laid back morning - well, Kim went to the gym and I "worked" on the computer - we were off the ship to meet our group. We arrived at our destination within half an hour and then descended the 79 steps to the lodge/dock. Side note - for those of you who know about Kim's double knee replacement, while she is nearly 100% many things are still a struggle. Going down stairs one of them so Kim took the courtesy shuttle van to the bottom while I made the "reverse climb." We boarded our awaiting boat and headed out into the inlet where we saw eagles fly around the ship. Got a great panoramic view of the area the the Tongass National Forest. It is the largest natural forest in the US, about the size of the state of West Virginia and is a temperate rain forest! And the crew showed us how they catch the Dungeness crabs.
We returned to the lodge for THE highlight of the excursion - the All-You-Can-East Dungeness Crab Feast! As you can see in the collage, we've enjoyed this on every trip to date! We sat at a table with two ladies who, sadly were with another cruise line on their first ever cruise. Why sadly? Because their ship had experienced engine troubles causing them to completely miss one port and were unable to see a single glacier because of the interruptions to their trip. WOW how awful is that? None the less we made their trip (or so they said) by explaining to them how this feast is also a contest to pile up the highest number of scraps. And while we didn't win, we were one of the top three, piling them up to over 36 inches off the table - you'll note there are NO rules :)
Two final side-notes. First, for those of you who know us and follow our travels, we always shop for two items to bring home from every trip we take: (1) a Christmas ornament and (2) a pair of socks for me. With limited on shore time, even less time to even consider shopping today had to be the day, and BINGO - success! Secondly, for those who know me, you know I'm a big thoroughbred racing fan. Sometimes on trips I still play the races, sometimes not. I was up in the air about it on this trip but once we got started and I realized how much "free time" we'd have on board I thought I'd play the holiday races. But then, uh oh - all thoroughbred racing sites and wagering platforms are blocked on board. But not to worry - I am so clever sometimes! I was able to see who was running in the big races today at Saratoga and once off the ship, opened my phone and got my bet in on Zulu Kingdom in the Grade 3 Manilla Stakes. Won for fun and I cashed for almost $10 profit while enjoying my crab feast!
Tomorrow we will be sailing all day, so we'll see how scenic it is for photo purposes. But I can tell you we will be posting pics from our overnight stay in Vancouver! Hope everyone had a great 4th of July holiday!
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