Wednesday, August 16, 2017

"Rainy Days and Mondays Always Bring Me Down" Tuesday August 15, 2017

The Ketchikan weather Tuesday reminded me of the Carpenters' song.  My early morning walk was abbreviated because of the heavy wind and rain.  It eased a bit in late morning, and I was able to walk from Megan's apartment to Mountain Point Boat Launch on South Tongass Highway, and then explore the woods and short trails there.  And of course, a couple of eagles were there keeping watch on things and talking to each other.






Megan and Patty came a few minutes later in the car and we then went to the Totem Heritage Center.  It was very rainy and windy when we arrived and I tried to take some photos outside - not much success, as it was also kind of dark and cloudy as well.




Once inside, we learned about what totem poles were used for and how only a few of the thousands remained in the 1960s - 1980s when they started to collect and preserve them.  In addition to the City of Ketchikan's Totem Heritage Center, there are also some at Totem Bight State Park and Saxman Village Totem Park (Saxman is the town just south of Ketchikan). 




In addition to preserving the totem poles and their history, the center tries to preserve other aspects of the Tlingit and other native cultures of southeastern Alaska.   Among other things, the center displayed this canoe and this carved red cedar panel.




This photo is from 1868 and is one of the earliest photos of Tlingit peoples.


Other than this short totem on the covered porch, we did not spend much time looking at the totems outside of the museum.


We then went to Dwyer's Crab and Fish Company Restaurant for lunch.  It is on the third floor and because of the inclement weather was virtually empty - this was in spite of the three cruise ships in town.  The restaurant looks out on the piers and was directly across from two of the ships - the place was virtually deserted because of the weather.  We shared appetizers of coconut crusted prawns and crab cakes, and for entrees Megan had fish tacos and Patty and I each had a bread bowl of Dungeoness crab corn bisque - a fine lunch.

After lunch, Patty and Megan explored a couple of shops and then we went to the U.S. Forest Service's Discovery Center to learn about Alaska's public lands, the rain forest and more.  Unfortunately, I neglected to take more photos of the exhibits - they were very educational.  The next time we are in Ketchikan, I will plan to spend more time there.





And since it was a very rainy (and windy and cloudy) Tuesday, we decided to call it a day and have a quiet dinner and evening at Megan's apartment.





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