Ketchikan was our last US stop on our cruise a couple of years ago. This was one of the most adorable towns I’ve ever seen! It had a lot of very colorful cottages dotting the landscape, and a cute downtown shopping center.
This was the stop where I had no excursions planned and hubby was headed out on a halibut fishing trip with his father-in-law. I decided to spend the day shopping for souvenirs for friends and family members (above and beyond the jewelry I had already acquired, see my Effy Jewelry Alaska post).
It turns out that Ketchikan, which is normally a very rainy town, was actually going through a heat wave while we were there. The temperatures were around 75F the day I went shopping and there was no rain, so it was a beautiful day to walk around and explore. I started off walking east on Water St. and quickly came upon a store called the Tongass Trading Company, which had pretty much everything Alaska. I was able to get almost all of my shopping done there–salmon jerky, whale tail necklaces, t-shirts, even a puzzle of Ketchikan. I loved this store!
From there I ventured over to the historic district. I had to devote a “few minutes” to Effy Jewelers, to make my last purchase with them. After that, I mostly wandered and people-watched.
I stopped in at the Crab Cracker Seafood Bar, where I had a cup of clam chowder and a crab leg for lunch. Now, if you know me very well, you know I absolutely LOVE crab legs and you are probably wondering why would she only have “a crab leg”? This crab leg was king crab and was almost the length of my arm, so only one crab leg was necessary! We don’t get them this big back in Missouri!
When I finished my shopping/lunching tour, I headed back to our cruise ship, the Norwegian Pearl to find out what Hubby and Dad had caught. Turns out, they each caught A fish, but NOT halibut. They donated their catch to the one guy on the trip who did catch a halibut. Better luck next fishing trip guys!
Travel tidbits from my life