Ketchikan

Today we were in Ketchikan, Alaska. We slept in until 9:00 am!!! I couldn’t believe it! It was a lazy morning. Benjamin went back into the Fun Factory. Then we met up with him to have a family scavenger hunt. We didn’t win, but we had fun going around the ship trying to get items- from rubber bands, to candy wrappers. We couldn’t go into our room- and we didn’t (just Great-Grandma’s). We left the boat at 2:30 pm. We went to the Great Alaska Lumberjack show first. It was lots of fun and VERY loud. We were divided into two teams and we were rooting for two men. Our team (Canada) won. The guys did different events of which they got points. It was very neat to see how strong they were. After the show we went by bus to Totem Bight State Park. Our bus driver was Tlingit (sounds like Klinckit) and had many great stories about his people. He led us on the path of the state park and we ended up at the clan house. It was a house where the chief and all of his family (even extended) would have lived. It was made out of cedar and smelled wonderful. It had a pit in the middle where the fire would have been. It also had four poles that held up the building. It was built using tongue and groove- no screws, nails, or peg. Amazing! Outside it had about 10 totem poles, each with their own story. We learned of the fog woman who made fish by sticking her fingers in the water. Her husband started to brag to the others as to what she could do and she took all the fish with her and left. The clan starved for the winter. We learned of the eagle boy that killed a monster in a lake and put on his skin and became the monster. His mother in law was mean to him so he brought many fish up to the shore to feed the clan. The MIL took all the credit. He did it again. And again she took all the credit. Then he went and got two whales. He fought so hard that he died on the shore in the suit. The clan discovered him and then gave him all the credit. The MIL retreated to her hut and was never heard from or talked about afterwards. About the mad who fell in love with a bear and vowed to never have any contact with his wife and kids. He lived with the bear and turned into a bear himself. They had many cubs and were very happy. One day he was hunting in the forest and came upon his wife. At that time, he turned back into a man and his bear kids all ate him. Benjamin thought the totem poles were awesome. His main goal was just to touch them! He has seen so many on Little Einsteins and through school. The only problem with this park is that our camera died as soon as we got there. Tyler had his little one in his backpack; so I ran back up to the bus to get it. Its battery was dead too!!! Tyler went to the little gift shop, but they didn’t have any disposables. We did get some pictures on his phone- the best we could do at that point. Oh well. We got back and got a new battery and went on a short tour of the town. Most things were closing by that point so we didn’t stay long. We came back on the boat and ordered room service. Tonight we have the grand buffet at midnight. It should be interesting. We also lose one hour tonight. Tomorrow we are at sea. Until then...
Try this for pics

Alaska