Colorado Cruiser: Day 8 Ketchikan

Day 8 Ketchikan

The ship was docked long before I woke up this morning. I heard the announcement at about 6:20, then rolled over and went back to sleep. I got up an hour later and went to get breakfast.

Eric and Shauna had left the ship at 7:00 for a canoe excursion to a freshwater lake in the rain forest. They later told us it was great and they'd do it again. 21 people hiking through the rain forest to the lake, then paddling a big canoe around while the guide explained the fauna.

Nannette and Angela were going to attend a lumberjack show in town so we all met at 9:00 on the dock to walk the town before that. Nan's first stop was a Christmas store to look for ornaments. That's her new collection item, small ornaments.

We got a few t-shirts, hats and goodies for the grand kids. We figure our adult and married children don't need little knick knack gifts anymore. What they really want is tickets to join us on these trips but that aint happening.

Somewhere between stores the rain began to fall. It wasn't very heavy but it was enough to drive people off the streets which I'm sure made the shop keepers happy. We kept wandering until it neared 10:00 and time for Nan and Angela to go to their show. They headed back toward the ship. John and I kept walking away from the ship. Neither of us were really into doing more shopping and that's all there seemed to be, so eventually we just turned around and headed back.

Nan asked me to buy her some popcorn on the way back so I got a massive bag of it. I don't think we'll be able to finish it off before the cruise ends though, and we still have kettle corn from a few days ago. Every time we go to the card room or the crow's nest we leave a big mess of popcorn on the chairs and floor.

Speaking of which, John and I met up in the crow's nest. We were sitting on the port side, facing Ketchikan and watching the rain come down. It seemed to be getting harder and harder was we watched. I started to worry about Nan and Angela walking back from their show in the rain so I decided to google the location and go meet them with the umbrellas. I eventually found the Great Alaskan Lumberjack show and pulled up the map. It showed the mark for the show, and right next to it, my present GPS location. Just a couple hundred yards from me. I looked out the window and, sure enough, I could see two tall poles that lumberjacks climb for the competition. I couldn't see the grand stands because they faced away from us, but they only had a short walk back to the ship, and many shops they could dive in along the way.

After a few seconds of earnest concentration I decided they'd be fine and settled back in my chair. Not long after that, John got a text message from Angela saying that the show was delayed due to rain and had only just started, so if I'd gone, I would have been standing in the rain for a long time waiting for them. Some times karma aint so bad.

Nan said the show started very late and put them very close to the departure time of the ship, but the announcer kept assuring everyone that the Westerdam wouldn't leave without them. She enjoyed the show and was impressed with the skill of the contestants. One of the lumberjacks is from Pagosa Springs, one of our favorite little Colorado towns.

I headed down to the Lido deck at 11:15 to find us a table. I'm tired of wandering through the crowds looking for a table, so I got there early. I sat at one of the 6 person tables by the window and bore the glares of people that walked past. By 12:15 everyone had arrived. For once we had a nice table with all of us together for lunch.

We had a good lunch together, then split off for naps, reading, and whatever else anyone wanted to do. I took a short nap and worked on the blog until 3:00 when we all gathered again for a few hands of cards.

We decided to play Uno instead of Skip Bo. It was fun but because we had sat next to our spouses, and Uno is pretty nasty to whoever you sit beside so a few cases of "stink eye" were exchanged here and there, but it was still a fun time with just as much laughter as ever.

For dinner we were having another Gala night where everyone was supposed to dress up nice. John and I had originally wanted to skip the dining room for the buffet until we heard it the main dish was prime rib and lobster. I did leave my tie in the room though. Three hours with a tie per week is enough for me.

The dinner was really good but it turned out that Nan, John, and Angela really don't like lobster. So as a good samaritan, I decided to eat their lobster for them. That's just the nice guy I am. But after eating a large steak and 4 lobster tails, I was so full I could hardly move.

At 8:00 we went to the live performance in the theatre. It was an evening of fairy tales. Most of the songs were recent and just sung in a fairy tale setting.

Another problem this far into a trip is that everything starts to blur together, so if more than 2 days goes by before I write the blog, I can't remember what was done on what night. I remember lots of nights and lots of events, I just can't place the night with the event.

This was a pretty light photo day. I had hoped that Nan would take pictures of the lumberjack show, but she was too busy enjoying the show to worry about pictures, and a bit too cold.

The view of Ketchikan from our balcony