Alaska Cruise Day 1-3

On July 5th Dorothy and I left from San Jose for a short flight to Seattle, WA. We left the airport about 9am and by 2pm we were on the boat and enjoying the view of Seattle harbor. Our cabin was a balcony cabin directly on the back of the boat. This was a little noisy when the door was open (over the engines) but when the captain tells you about a landmark on the port or starboard side we always got to see it sooner or later.

Thanks to my friend Matt we jumped on the dinner reservations and then settled into our cabin to watch the departure from the lounge chairs. The weather was marginal looking like it would rain any minute. We finally settled into the Bier Garden at the top of the ship for some beers and get used to watching the boat sail. By Day 3 we reached Ketchikan, the first stop on our Alaska tours. We got a few minutes to wander town and then caught another boat much smaller to the Misty Fjords. It rained off and on during the sail out to the Fjords but stopped when we got there.

We were hoping for more animals (eagles and bears) along the way but no luck. The service on the Misty Fjord board was outstanding. They had a native Alaskan on board telling about the various Indian tribes in the area, the younger girls explained some the differences growing up in Ketchikan and it was great.

When we returned from our four hour journey we got about 3 hours to wander Ketchikan which is not a very big town but seemed to me to be kind of an old frontier town. Creek street is a cute shopping area that apparently will be full of spawning salmon in another month or two. When we departed Ketchikan we headed to Juneau but that is the next entry.