That's Life: First port

Sunday, August 16, 2026

First port - Ketchikan

Another day another beautiful sunrise. We saw whales from our balcony Saturday morning. Hard to photograph though.

Arriving in Ketchikan we saw the U.S. Coast Guard station.

This eagle totem pole is in downtown Ketchikan. From Google: Located at the entrance to the famous tunnel, alongside Cruise Ship Dock 3, is a gorgeous, stylistic Eagle totem pole that was carved by Nathan Jackson of Ketchikan. The name "Ketchikan" is believed to come from the Tlingit word "Kitschk-Hin" which means "thundering wings of an Eagle".

Cindy and I did the Ketchikan City Highlights Tour on a trolley. It was a beautiful day and apparently a rare one without rain. We were dressed a bit too warm. I think it was around 75 degrees. The tour guide joked that they issued a heat advisory for the residents.

This was the workshop at Saxman Totem Park where we stopped. The man in the picture is the artist who made the eagle totem pole. He's 88 years old and can get paid $5,000 to carve a linear foot. We were a little disappointed he didn't talk to our group.

This is the Seward totem pole in the park.

This totem pole we're standing in front of has Lincoln at the top. It's an interesting story.

One of the colorful totem poles.

After the totem park we were taken to the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center. It was kind of boring but we got to paint Christmas ornaments.

My finished eagle ornament. Kind of pretty. One woman asked if I was an artist. Not quite.

With the tour over, it was time to shop! I bought two T-shirts and an Alaska magnet. How funny that we ran into our Houston friends, Julie and Nathan, in one of the shops and asked if we'd be back on the ship in time for the afternoon puzzle race.