Ketchikan
Today Thom and I woke up after everyone else. We grabbed breakfast in the Horizon buffet before heading on shore. When we got on shore we met up with Mom and Dad to catch the bus to the totem pole national park. Unfortunately, we were at the wrong bus station and missed the bus. So we shopped around for a bit. As we were loading the ship on Saturday, we received a coupon book for the different ports. Ketchikan definitely had the most coupons.
After catching the bus, we rode about 30 minutes to the totem pole park. It was very cool to see the different poles. A bear on a totem pole means teacher. We saw the restoration area for the totem poles. On the bus we met a nice family from Israel. They told us about their culture. It started to sprinkle as we were walking around the park. Raining is very common in Ketchikan. They don't measure their amount of yearly rainfall in inches, they measure in feet. In Ketchikan the locals have a saying, "if you can't see the top of the mountain, it is raining. If you can see the top of the mountain, it is going to rain."
When we made it back to town we walked around the shops. It really started to downpour as we walked. There were a couple shops where you could get very inexpensive things or free things. We had to load the boat by 1:30 to make it to Juneau. It felt a little rushed to do the port in just a couple hours, but we managed.
When we got back on the boat, I joined Mom, Dad and Drew for lunch while Thom got ready to work out. After lunch I joined Thom. The ellipticals and treadmills have TVs on them so it made the time go much quicker. When I finished working out I went to the lotus pool (indoor pool area) to watch the boat sail. It was very relaxing. When Thom finished his workout he got a couple pieces of pizza. I think that may be one of his favorite parts of the cruise- pizza whenever he wants!
We then headed back to the room to get on our swimming suits. Mom, Dad, and Drew joined us in the hot tub. There was a cute little boy who kept coming in and out of the hot tub. He didn't speak English, but of course, Mom tried to talk with him.
After swimming I headed back to the room to get ready for casual dinner night. We got ready a little early because the Naturalist said between 6:00-7:00 would be a good time for whale watching. So, at 6:00 Dad and I headed down to deck 7 to watch for whales. It didn't take long! The first whale we saw was relatively close. We saw his back and he did showed his fin. The Naturalist said we saw Orcas, too--I can't tell the difference. We saw about 6 or 7 whales total.
Then we headed to dinner. It was an Italian theme, so the waiters were in striped shirts. For appetizers we had Pasta e Fagioli, herb and sea salt marinated seafood antipasto, and mixed greens and baby spinach with crisp bacon pecorino cheese and pine nuts. For our entrees we had spaghetti con Polpette in Salsa di Pomodoro Fresco (spaghetti and meatballs), Filetto di Mahi Mahi alla Griglia, Capesante e Gamberi Gratinit (scallops and shrimp), Saltimbocca di Pollo (chicken with ham on it) and a bacon wrapped shrimp burger. For dessert we had creme brulee, lemon gelato, and a mocha ice cream thing.
When we finished dinner we went to the Wheelhouse Bar to meet with our Israeli friends. It was very enjoyable talking with them. They have two daughters who are with them on the trip and I talked with them quite a bit. The youngest daughter (6th grade) talked about her dog, friends, and school. They invited us to Israel and we invited them to Iowa. They are doing 6 weeks in North America. (Canadian Rockies, Alaskan Cruise, Denali, then Orlando for Disney).
When we departed from our friends I went upstairs to bed. Thom and Drew found the mini golf and played a game. Apparently a bunch of other young people came in so they met some new people. Tomorrow is Juneau!
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