Final Day in Alaska - Ketchikan Once More (Saturday 6/1)

I sure do love Alaska!  It was hard to believe this adventure started 3 weeks ago . . . and that Pam had flown home nearly a week ago too. As they say, time flies when you're having fun, even if you're not feeling 100%.

While I was still experiencing a cough and nasal congestion, it didn't prevent me from getting out and taking in all that Ketchikan had to offer.  On this day, I had most of the day to get out and see what I could see.  My flight home (via Seattle to Chicago's O'Hare) didn't depart until 5:30pm so I still had roughly 6-7 hours before needing to get to the ferry and over to the airport to return my rental car.

For breakfast, I took another suggestion from someone who provided me with local input on where to eat.  The New York Cafe is another neighborhood place where locals are known to dine.  Open for breakfast, lunch & dinner, I was surprised at how busy they were when I arrived at 9:00am on a Saturday.

Service was a bit slow, but I was enjoying my leisurely morning out of the rain.  I guess in a rain forest climate, it rains a lot!  My breakfast (toasted bagel with salmon cream cheese spread, scrambled eggs and tea) was a very reasonable $18 (including tax & tip).  The amount of salmon in the cream cheese was the perfect ratio . . . not skimpy and not too much.

After breakfast, I wanted to accomplish a couple of things before leaving Ketchikan . . . 1) check out wildlife in areas known for possible sightings, and 2) visit a couple of the totem parks.

I headed south out of town first, bypassing the Saxman Village area because of the rain. As I approached Herring Cove, I remembered hearing about black bears frequenting this area.  When I turned down the road, I saw a lone photographer with a long telephoto lens.  My goodness, while there were a couple of bears "out there" . . . they were WAAAYYYYY out there!

I was fortunate that with my Nikon P900, I could zoom in enough to take a couple of nice photos.  With the rain and distance, they weren't real sharp, but I'm happy with my effort.

This one just looked lazy, but eventually got up and walked away from us and into the forest.

 

 

After this stop, I headed further on down to what I knew would be a dead end.  Imagine my surprise, when I came around a corner and saw this eagle eating something in a small turnout.  I pulled up slowly and as quietly as I could (thankfully I was in a dinky Nissan Versa).  I turned off the engine and just sat there for a minute or two.  The eagle didn't seem to care that I was there, so I rolled down my window and took this video.

I couldn't really tell what it was eating but when I came back through this area about 15 minutes later, it was gone so I got out and took this photo of the remains. I'm pretty sure it's what's left of a crab.

By now the rain had stopped, allowing me the perfect opportunity to stop at the Saxman Village to check out their Totem Pole Park.  There was an admission booth with a posted $5 fee. I was prepared to pay the $5 until I was told that I would not be permitted into either of the buildings (the carver's workshop and the clan house).  I wasn't sure what the purpose of paying a fee was since the totems were throughout the area in a open space.

The guy told me that mostly people come here as part of a cruise tour/excursion and that the fee is paid for them to have access as a group.

As you can see, the guests on the tours had a guide who was telling them about the various totems and their cultural significance.  Ketchikan is know as having the largest collection of Native American totem poles in the world.  It is little wonder that visitors from around the world want to see and learn more about them.

Since I was by myself, and there were a number of tour buses arriving, I decided to just walk around and take a few photos and head on out.  Next on my agenda . . . Totem Bight State Historical Park north of Ketchikan!

This was more my speed . . . Totem Bight State Historical Park is a self-guided walking tour with signs and story boards which along with the park brochure shared history of the area and totem poles on exhibit here. While it was mid-afternoon on a Saturday, I pretty much had the entire park to myself.  Given its location further out of town, my guess is that the cruise ship tours don't venture out this way.

The clan house with totems around it.  For more information about the clan house and totems at Totem Bight Historical Park, check out their park brochure.

Inside the clan house

After my walk around the park, I was hungry and ready for a late lunch before heading to the airport.  But I was in a pretty remote area, and unsure what if anything might be around.  TOOTS (my Garmin GPS) was pretty useless in helping to find "food" but fortunately, I saw a couple of large motor coach buses parked in a church parking lot near a road sign pointing down to a local marina.  I figured there might be a chance of finding a restaurant there, so I headed off to the unknown.   A mile or so down the road, I found the marina which had one group of tourists coming off boats, while others were getting suited up with life preservers to go out.  I went inside and asked if their grill was open.  They had what looked like day-old hot dogs, but he suggested I check out the Local Grounds tent out in the parking lot.

I had seen it when I drove in, but thought it was just a coffee hut.  To my surprise they had several hot food options, including chicken tenders, hamburgers, pulled pork sandwiches, along with sides like cole slaw, onion rings and french fries.

Add a chocolate shake and I was good to go!

Back in town, I had to top off the gas tank . . . I had driven a total of 79 miles over the two days.  At $4.17/gallon, I took 2.76 gallons for a 28.6 mpg in the Versa. Given the dinky size of the car, I'm pretty sure the gas tank wasn't "full" full . . . but what did I care?  For basically $237, I enjoyed my two days of self-touring without being dependent on taxis, the city shuttle or a tour operator.  I was on my own schedule, did what I wanted and enjoyed my 48 hours in Ketchikan. The ferry had me across to the airport by 3:30pm, ready to check in for my 5:30pm flight home.  WHEW!

AND THAT'S A WRAP!  I hope folks enjoyed reading about our RV2AK Adventure.