Cape Fox Lodge, A Westcoast Hotel Ketchikan

... 8220;bridge to nowhere&#8221; was to have been built.<br><br>Once in the monument, we cruised through a series of fjords and saw much wildlife, including harbor seals, sea lions, more bald eagles than we could count, and even a small pod of orca. At the mid point, we approached a floating dock and with impeccable timing, a couple of float planes arrived and pulled up alongside us. They ferried in new ...

... doused with Alaskan Amber!!! They presented each lady with a rose, picture of the evening and the ship's signed cookbook! WOW!!!!<br><br>Upon returning to our room, the night skin was absolutely clear. The moon was full and hung large and low in the sky and there were hundreds of stars visible. To our surprise, there was a meteor shower that passed over. We saw a dozen shooting stars dance across the sky!<br><br>What a magnificent day!

... After a couple days I fast ferried to Valdez and drove up to Slana where I lived when I worked in Wrangell-St. Elias NP. My friend Thelma and her extended family were great hosts. The ride out of Valdez was in steady cold rain and then showers through the Copper Basin. It snowed down to about 3500', looked like September's "termination dust" not the middle of summer.<br><br>The weather cleared off and ...

We docked in Ketchikan about 5:30 this morning, at least I think that's when it was. The time is hard to pin down yet. We moved back two hours on Monday as we flew over to Vancouver. Then last night we moved them back another hour as we moved from Canada back into the US time zones. My internal clock is all messed up. Combine that with a room with no windows and a sunrise at 4:00 ...

... I'll list some other highlights...they are too random to coherently write about! *Boat Sinking: Our supply boat capsized in the cove with 6,000 gallons of fuel aboard. This turned our quiet cove into Coast Guard central and added a crew of 40 men to salvage the wreck, including a dive crew, diesel spill cleanup crew, Capt. Handsinpockets from the Coast Guard, and a barge loaded with a 60 foot crane, fuel tank and motorhome. *Catching 6 ...

... me and attempting to stop my ascent. I'm trying to wrestle my arm from him not understanding why he won't give me my arm so I can let the air out. He's grabbing me, I finally get my arm to the correct button and the next thing I feel is my weight belt slipping off of my hips. Yes, in grabbing me, J pulled the tab of my weight belt and released it. Well, there was no way I was staying down in that wetsuit at this point. I swam head first downward and tried ...

Inside Passage, Ketchikan July 16th, 2008 Vacation Day 15 Today was a day not much any different than any other. The day started with my cell phone picking up a signal and getting screwed up to wake us at 6:30 this morning. Thus the day starts of with a bang. Dad woke up in a bad mood and mom went to bed in a bad mood. Like I said it starts already. We head out to the deck and about the only animal I know for fact I saw was 2 stellar sea lions swiming ...

... the morning. We did drive and walk to Ward Lake which was not very impressive. We spent a little time taking one last look at the shops before the cruise ships left and the shops closed up tight. After dinner we returned the area where we had seen the bears the night before. There were several bears, but really too far away to get any really nice photos. They will be closer after the salmon start to ...

Ketchikan is the southernmost island in Alaska. The only way in or out is by boat or plane. Last year it rained 300 days, and it snowed only 4 feet of snow. The reason I say only is because Juneau had over 200 inches of snow, so Ketchikan is considered a rain forest. It's a small island, only 35 miles long. Bryan and I went on a duck tour of Ketchikan, and got to hear all about its colorful past history with our guides Captain Shawn and narrator Gus. They told bad jokes ...