Ketchikan

This morning we woke to an Alaskan shoreline. This was the view from our balcony.

We had breakfast in our room so we would not miss the arrival of the first port.

​The dock is positioned so we look directly down from our balcony to see the town.

We packed the backpack and dressed for our hike up Deer mountain trail.  We did 5 hours of hiking in the rainforest.

Oh and just so we did not lose track of the day of the week, the elevator floor shows that it is Wednesday.
 
There are lots of eagles here.  Kevin use to say that the Alaska state bird should be the huge mosquitos and that the eagles are everywhere. We have thought of Kevin a lot and I’m sure we will even more on this trip.

​As we walk into town we can see Deer mountain in the background.

​It looks like we may get wet.  Ok that is silly if we are going on a hike it is almost always wet.  That is why we have a plan and a backup plan and … Ok you get the picture.
 
We had researched the hike and found that we should stop at the visitor center just off the dock for a GPS.

The GPS can be used in case of an emergency to call for help. We also noted the time we should return and at that point the visitor center would attempt to contact us or send help.  We always have a backup plan.

We were glad to have good hiking boots.  The climb to the top 2 3/4 miles and just over 3000 feet in altitude.

​A good start but we have a lot more to climb.

​The trail was wet, and it is definitely a rainforest. There are creeks everywhere flowing down the mountain.  Many were flowing down the trail itself. That along with the mist and occasional sprinkles got us pretty much soaked.

I know it is hard to tell from the photo but the leaves on this plant were several feet tall and the leaves were more than a foot wide.
 
We did have a very nice overlook.

We were able to climb up over 2500 feet in just under 2.5 miles of hiking and then the rain really started to come down heavy.  We started back down.  The trail became a rushing creek at some points. The total was a 5-mile hike. Got a cab to meet us at the trailhead and take us back to the visitors center. Turned in the GPS with 5 minutes to spare. They joked that we made it back and no rescue party needed. 

We returned to the ship to change clothes and went back to Ketchikan to buy thicker socks.

Back to the ship to get warmed up in the hot tub and an afternoon snack.  Hey, eat as much as you want on a cruise because it's already been paid for.
 
Dinner was fantastic.  The menus have so many things to try like Cucumber-Green Apple- and Mustard Goat Quark!?!  No, we did not try that or the Tomato Braised Pork Ossobuco. There were plenty of choices of more familiar things to eat. 

After a walk on ship we watched a comic at the main stage.  He had been on the tonight show with Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, and Jimmy Fallon. At 11pm outside it looks like the sky just before it is dark a kind of twilight. 
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Oh, here is our evening towel animal. Isn't it cute.