Ketchikan …

… Rain, rain go away.

As we had booked an early excursion we were up, had breakfast and off the ship by 8:00 am!

The excursion we had booked was billed as a Photo Safari so we were looking forward to it.  Unfortunately it was raining like crazy so it wasn’t as enjoyable as it could have been.  But our guide Tori was fantastic and showed us around Ketchikan despite the rain. 

Our first stop was Potlatch Totem Park and Museum … which is filled with clan houses and totems.  You can see the outside of one the clan houses in the bottom right photo.  The carvings were amazing and the stories Tori told us about these carvings and the totems were very interesting.  She is a native Ketchikan and was very informative about the history of Ketchikan.  Too bad the weather was so foul … but that wasn’t her fault.

After touring this park we moved on to a couple more places before ending up on Creek Street ... which is an Historic boardwalk with a rich history.  Particularly known for its former role as a “red-light” district. The upper right photo is an iconic shot of the buildings along the Ketchikan Creek.

We were all pretty soaked by this time so Tori dropped us back off at the dock.  But before we boarded the ship we walked to the center of town to get some pictures of the main statue in town.  The sign in the back of the upper left photo says “Welcome to Ketchikan: The Salmon Capital of the World.”  But it really should say “The rainiest place on Earth!”  as they average 156 inches of annual rainfall!

We were back on board and sailing away by 1:00 pm.

But our day wasn’t over.  After enjoying another delicious dinner in the main dining room we changed our clothes into something orange and went the World Stage.  Because of Holland American’s Dutch heritage every cruise features an Orange Party where everyone dons anything and everything orange!  This is a nod to the House of Orange … the color associated with the Dutch royal family. 

The party was really fun with a live band and lots of dancing and overall silliness!  We didn’t stay for all of it as we were pretty tired by this time. 

Tomorrow is pretty much a sea day so we will have plenty of time to just relax.

Last day of sailing tomorrow …