Colorado Cruiser: Day 7 Sitka

Day 7 in Sitka

About 6:30 Nannette heard a loud thump outside our room, so she got up, put on her robe and went out on the balcony to see was happening. The ship had just pulled into Sitka docks and was tying up. Nan stayed out for about 30 minutes (in her robe) watching the men tie those massive ropes up to hold the ship. It's amazing how good the weather has become. The forecast had been for cold, wind, and rain but we're getting mostly clear skies and very warm weather. It's great.

We both went back to sleep for an hour, then I got up to go get breakfast while Nan slept a bit more and waited for her breakfast to be delivered.

After breakfast we met up on the docks. We took a few pictures then boarded the shuttle for the 15 mile ride into Sitka. Our bus driver gave us a brief tour including the 2 stop lights. She also said that Sitka is the largest city in the USA. The entire island is within the city limits, so it's physically larger than any other in the US, and the second largest in the world. At least that's what our bus driver assured us.

Once we got off the boat we had to figure out what to do. We hadn't seen any excursions that interested us so we were on our own. Eric read a pamphlet about a self guided walking tour so we started out by following that. We strolled down a street past shops and houses. We stopped to talk to a man mowing his lawn to ask what kind of grass it was. Kentucky bluegrass. His lawn was beautiful.

At the end of the road we reached the Sitka National Historical Park. It's a park featuring totem poles and native american history. We posed for a few pictures in front of the park, then we seemed to all go our separate paths. John and Angela headed back into town, Eric and Shauna took a long path into the park, and Nan and I took a short path into the park.

Ours was a nice path through a beautiful forest. We were expecting to see totem poles but there didn't seem to be any. After about half an hour we spotted a very tall totem pole in an open field. We walked to the pole and Nan dialed a phone number to listen to information about the pole. I guess in 1802 a big battle was fought between the russians and native americans. The totem pole was to carved and erected to commemorate those that died in the battles. Even some russians came to help dedicate the totem pole.

After the first pole, we started passing more and more. We saw allot of different types of poles from family guards, history, quest, and those honoring ancestors. Nan dialed the information number on many of them, and we even stumbled into a park ranger leading a tour. They were all very interesting.

We reached the visitor center about the same time as Eric and Shauna. They had a very long walk through a deeper forest but hadn't seen any totem poles. We watched a movie about the poles and the Sitka battle, then headed back into town.

We discussed going back onto the ship for lunch but decided to buy lunch in town. There was a large restaurant near the terminal so we went there. It was very expensive and not very tasty. We should have either gone back to the ship or eaten at the food truck in the terminal parking lot. We heard allot of people say it was pretty good.

Our bus ride back to the ship was driven by a guy from Utah who said he spent 2 years in Mexico. He said he was working the summer in Alaska and because the housing here is so expensive, he is living in a tent. He moves the tent around every few days, but should have allot of money by the end of the summer.

For the rest of the day we played a few hands of cards, watched shows, ate dinner, and all of the other things that we've been doing for the past 5 days. It's not that it's boring, but it does get a little repetitive after a while. Especially eating, then killing time for 2 or 3 hours till it's time to eat again. It feels like we're constantly eating.

That's a first world problem for sure.

Nannette by the ship