Ketchikan, Verenigde Staten Reisjournalen en blogs

Rambling Bears Rambling North America
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- 6 aug 2017
- ⛅ 17 °C
- Hoogte: 77 m
- Verenigde Staten Alaska Ketchikan Ketchikan Harbor 55.345299, -131.6503355°20’43” N 131°39’1” W
Dag 11
Ketchikan, The First Town in Alaska
6 augustus 2017, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C
Arrived in Ketchikan at 7am in the morning and our Airbnb host was at the dock to pick us up which we thought was extremely thoughtful of her. She gave us a running commentary about the history of the town and points of interest all the way to our destination.
Leaving our bags in Jayne's office as the studio needed to be vacated and cleaned, Jayne dropped us off at the local hotspot for breakfast. We were slowly learning that meal sizes in the US come in two sizes - super-size and massive, so we decided to share a plate of three blueberry pancakes. Big mistake, two pancakes would have been sufficient.
Breakfast over we hit the streets. The haze was slowly lifting and it promised to be a warm day. Down to the docks to pick up some maps first before we get lost. Ketchikan is a town on the cruise route so luckily their are only 4 berths so at any one time there can only, "only", be four ships in town.
So our wandering took us down the Main Street, along the docks to the Southeast Alaska Discovery Centre. Crossing over to Creek Street, Jayne called and gave us the all clear to move in. Our little studio is on a pier street. Part of the original town and now heritage listed, the building our studio is part of was a brothel right up to the 1970's when the current owners bought it. It was than their family home where they raised their children. 5 years ago they bought another home and covered their old home into Airbnb appartments. We have an amazing location right on the water and close to everything Ketchikan has to offer. So,moved in we did and once settled we headed out once again. We explored Creek Street, walked the Married Man's Trail to the Salmon Ladder, followed the creek upstream to watch the salmon spawning then onto the Totem Heritage Centre.
The cruise ships leave late afternoon and Ketchikan chills out. Such a lovely town after the madding crowd has vacated.
Dinner - chimichangas for two, Ketchikan style.Meer informatie
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Beth Vogelzang Rocky & Bullwinkle Tour
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- 26 aug 2017 12:02
- ⛅ 14 °C
- Hoogte: 16 m
- Verenigde Staten Alaska Ketchikan Ketchikan Harbor 55.34222, -131.646155°20’32” N 131°38’46” W
Dag 25
Ketchikan, United States
26 augustus 2017, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
Just arriving in Ketchikan, Alaska - touted as the Salmon Capital of the World. As we are docking, I thought I'd share a few pics. We are off to what I expect to be a very kitsch Lumberjack show... Haha. We purchased tickets in Oz online well before the trip, at about 25% of what they are charging on the ship... My tour guide thinks of everything!!!

Will report back later!

The Lumberjack Show was a little twee, but showcased the skills required for timber orders. It was fun and a good hour long show.

Ketchikan is an interesting town, with a strong river in the centre of town, with a salmon ladder, complete with salmon swimming upstream. The "old" part of town showcases the history, being where the loggers andfisherman spent their free time and hard earned dollars, as evidenced by the signs at Dolly's house.Ketchikan gets 16 feet of rain (yes, you read that right!). We were lucky today, to have only an overcast, but dry day, maximum temperature 15 degrees.
Today we had a very nice long chat with our lovely youngest daughter over coffee in a Cafe. We miss the family very much, so it made us a little homesick.

Tomorrow we spend at sea, sailing the Inside Passage. We will be looking for some big marine life (hopefully a whale or two will come play), before docking in Vancouver on Monday, and more adventures in Canada!Meer informatie
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Reiziger ALASKA AND CANADA 2018
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- 29 mei 2018
- ⛅ 8 °C
- Hoogte: 41 m
- Verenigde Staten Alaska Ketchikan Ketchikan Harbor 55.344318, -131.64567655°20’40” N 131°38’44” W
Dag 5
KETCHIKAN, ALASKA, USA
29 mei 2018, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C
5.30 am alarm and a quick breakfast in the Lido as we docked at the quaint, first frontier, little town of Ketchikan. Ketchikan is known for its rain and it didn't disappoint. Our bus collected us for our trip and we saw bald eagles in the fields en route not a major wild life spot in these parts as there are as many bald eagles as people! We were greeted by our friendly kayak hosts, kitted up and used the rest rooms which were 'rural' with a curtain for a door. The kayak centre was in a rural spot and we were only a small group and it was good to get away from the cruise crowds and sample the delights of rural Alaska. We had a fast zodiac boat ride to the beach were our kayaks were waiting for us. More kitting up and a briefing from our guides Billy and Terry and we were on the water. It was both tranquil and scenic, there was one harbour seal spotted, more eagles and a star fish. We paddled around the remote Tatoosh isands, the water became a little more choppy when we were on the open sea side in the final section of the trip. We had some dry weather but the rain started again as we beached the kayaks and we were very glad of the shelter, home made cookies and hot chococlate. The rain didn't ease as we boarded the zodiac in fact it turned to hail and we were all pretty wet and cold by the time we got back. We boarded the bus and were pleased to be somewhere warm and dry. Once back at the ship we had a quick change of clothes and headed out to 'do' Ketchikan.

In town first thing on the list was a warm cup of coffee then we started our tour of the town. We visited the compact Whale Park with its Knox Brothers clock and Chief Kyan Totem Pole (Ketchikan is the town with the most totem poles in Alaska), we saw St John's Episcopal Church, Creek Street which was once the rowdy, red light district of town and is home to Dolly's House, Dolly was the town's most successful madam! We of course did a little retail therapy but stayed out of all the diamond and jewels establishments!

The ship set off around 3 pm, the weather was good so we sat on our balcony to enjoy the scenery and do some wild life spotting, we saw a group of 4 either seals or porpoises. We then went to a entertaining talk called Dreamers, Schemers and Stampeders which highlighted some of the colourful characters who lived here especially in the gold rush era.

We dined with a couple from San Francisco and two girls from Toronto who were very amusing and entertaining.Meer informatie
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Reiziger Pacific Northwest and Alaska
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- 9 sep 2018 13:01
- ☁️ 15 °C
- Hoogte: Zeeniveau
- Verenigde Staten Alaska Ketchikan Ketchikan Harbor 55.342632, -131.65106255°20’33” N 131°39’4” W
Dag 7
Ketchikan - salmon & seals
9 september 2018, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C
14,000 year long population, swelled by cruise ship passengers. Our trolley bus guide told us that, last week, there were 4 ships in and the visitors almost outnumbered the residents. Today there are 4 ships in..

It’s been raining this morning - in a typical year, they have 15ft of water (so, 180”). By comparison, Glasgow, which is at the same latitude has 43”, but the total is similar to the highest peaks in the Lakes.

There’s so much salmon and great feeding for seals and black bears. In The Creek, which runs through the old town, it was like “shooting fish in a barrel”.

They’re 90 minutes by air from Seattle and over 2 hours from Anchorage. With only 60 miles over road on an island 100 miles x 60 miles, they rely on air, but mostly tug towed barges to bring all their supplies (including fuel) from Seattle. We saw a couple of these near the islands around Vancouver and wondered what they are. Now we know!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketchikan,_AlaskaMeer informatie
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Reiziger Sounds really interesting -enjoy😃
10-09-2018Reageren
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Reiziger The Alaskan Cruise
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- 19 aug 2018
- ☀️ 20 °C
- Hoogte: 16 m
- Verenigde Staten Alaska Ketchikan Ketchikan Harbor 55.342222, -131.64611155°20’32” N 131°38’46” W
Dag 8
Ketchikan, Alaska
19 augustus 2018, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
Today we visited our first port of call on our cruise - the town of Ketchikan. Our boat arrived at about 7.00am, although we went to the buffet breakfast before disembarking. Ketchikan is not a very big town and we didn't have any specific plans, so we went out to explore on our own.

The weather was surprisingly fine, and a very pleasant day. Finding wifi was impossible though - everywhere requires a password (obviously to stop tourists from using it for free!), so we decided to finally buy a SIM card.

We walked along the famous Creek Road with its colourful buildings, but they were generally either a shop, a restaurant, or a former brothel. One amazing sight was a nearby river which seemed to be bursting with salmon. We'd never seen so many fish congregate in one area before.

We were pretty interested in the local cannabis shop, which is clearly a new thing for us. It was very interesting - we really didn't know anything about it, and seeing a lot of their products and the wide range available was something new. For me personally, learning about the different medicinal reasons too was an eye opener.

Around the middle of the day, we went back to the cruise ship and had lunch with Stephen and Woody before heading up to the sun deck for our departure from Ketchikan. We ended up enjoying the jacuzzi with beers in the adults pool section before going to dinner.

One of the highlights was seeing some humpback whales on the side of the boat. We tried to see them from the dining room after dinner, but it made more sense to get the better view from the top deck. As you can imagine, this was very popular with everyone, and we were very lucky to see a whole school of them very close to the boat,

Later in the evening, we went to the Martini Bar with the friends we have made so far on the cruise. We have been very fortunate to meet some great people, meaning the cruise has really gone very well so far.Meer informatie
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Osi Inglin Alaska & Kanada
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- 18 jul 2019 11:06
- ☁️ 14 °C
- Hoogte: 13 m
- Verenigde Staten Alaska Ketchikan Ketchikan Harbor 55.342636, -131.64831555°20’33” N 131°38’54” W
Dag 18
Ketchikan
18 juli 2019, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C
Ketchikan kommt vom Tlingit-Indianer-Wort „Kitschk-Hin“ und heisst soviel wie „thundering wings of an eagle“. Deshalb findet man auch diese übergrosse Holzskulptur unten auf der Hauptstrasse des Ortes unseres letzten Landganges.

Wie Juneau ist auch Ketchikan durch seine Insellage nur mit Fähre und Flugzeug zu erreichen. Alles muss auf diesen beiden Transportwegen „importiert“ werden. Unser indianischer Stadtführer sagte denn auch trefflich: „The only things we produce are salmon and babies.“

Tatsächlich hat der 8´000-Seelen-Ort keine Goldvergangenheit, weil hier schlicht kein Gold gefunden wurde. Er wurde 1883 gegründet, indem hier ein Mann namens Snow eine Salm-Einsalzungs-Anlage gebaut hat.

Heute legen - ähnlich wie in Juneau - täglich mehrere Kreuzfahrtschiffe an, dies z. T. unmittelbar neben der Hauptstrasse, wie das Bild unten eindrücklich zeigt. Auch hier werden noch dieses Jahr 1,2 Millionen Menschen den Ort besucht haben.

Nach der Stadtführung am Morgen ging‘s am Nachmittag in den Regenwald. Dort bekamen wir in einem Fluss auch Harbour seals zu sehen, und in einem Heim für verletzte Vögel konnten wir auch einen Bald eagle von nahe betrachten.Meer informatie
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Reiziger North Pacific Passage
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- 16 aug 2019 14:00
- ☁️ 19 °C
- Hoogte: 16 m
- Verenigde Staten Alaska Ketchikan Ketchikan Harbor 55.342222, -131.64611155°20’32” N 131°38’46” W
Dag 9
Cliff Tunnel, Ketchikan
16 augustus 2019, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C
The original application to build this tunnel through the cliff failed. During WW2, funding was reapplied for - to build a bomb shelter - and it was granted. The cliff hangs above the water. a tunnel was drilled for vehicles, but water still flows beneath the rock.Meer informatie
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Ali and Jeff Carithers Vancouver to Tokyo
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- 14 sep 2024 07:35
- ☁️ 52 °F
- Hoogte: 4 m
- Verenigde Staten Alaska Ketchikan Ketchikan Harbor 55.341338, -131.64755355°20’29” N 131°38’51” W
Dag 4
Ketchikan, Alaska
14 september, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ☁️ 52 °F
Arrival in Ketchikan this morning! Pretty dreary and foggy, but we are at the tail end of the Alaska cruising season so not too surprising.
There are mountainsides full of evergreens and misty clouds. It looks quite mystical.
Ketchikan is also the salmon capital of the world and they said that at the height of the season,
you can almost cross streams by walking on the backs of salmon swimming to spawn.
Information about totem poles was the task for the day, but the real highlight was the all-you-can-eat crab feast. I wasn’t that interested until I tasted the crab and it was truly delicious,
It was a typical day in Alaska in September-cold, warm, sunny, cloudy, rainy and windy.Meer informatie
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Roland Zimmerman Are these king crabs?
18-09-2024ReagerenVertalen
Ali and Jeff Carithers Dungeness
18-09-2024Reageren
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Reiziger Canada & Alaska Summer 2019
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- 8 aug 2019 12:45
- ☁️ 15 °C
- Hoogte: 15 m
- Verenigde Staten Alaska Ketchikan Creek Street Historic District 55.34331, -131.6445855°20’36” N 131°38’40” W
Dag 24
Ketchikan Pt.II
8 augustus 2019, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C
Our second visit to Ketchikan and our final port of call on a miserable, grey and rainy morning - perhaps more typically Alaska than we have experienced! We walked up to Creek Street to see the salmon run again but found it almost empty compared to a week ago with some fish and some seals. So we entertained ourselves instead at the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show - 12 events showcasing different lumberjack skills. Despite seeming a bit corny and very touristy, it was actually huge fun and the guys were very funny. Afterwards, we resumed our brewery tour of Alaska before heading back to the ship for our final day at sea!Meer informatie
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Reiziger North Pacific Passage
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- 16 aug 2019 07:00
- ☁️ 15 °C
- Hoogte: 29 m
- Verenigde Staten Alaska Ketchikan Creek Street Historic District 55.343625, -131.64346255°20’37” N 131°38’36” W
Dag 9
Ketchikan - Early Morning Arrival
16 augustus 2019, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C
An early morning arrival sailing through the Tongass Narrows to the Salmon capitol of Alaska. This town is very seasonal with the main industries of fishing and tourism. There are big canneries here for the salmon.
Ketchikan is on a rocky island and hosts several cruise ships each day. Today we are berthed at a sea mooring and tender into the dock.Meer informatie
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