November 14, 2015

Alaska: Ketchikan

Agnes alaska, travel, usa

Alastair and I are going on holiday tonight, yay! It’s great but it reminds me that I never got around to blogging the rest of our Alaskan / Rockies trip from last year.

But you know what! It’s never too late! Because, beyond anything, this blog is a good, self-indulgent, memory bank for me of food we’ve eaten and holidays we’ve taken over the past eight years.

Our third stop, after Skagway and Juneau, was Ketchikan – apparently Alaska’s first city, according to the sign above (I believe this refers to it being the first port for most ferries and ships coming from the South).

On the previous two stops, I had booked us on shore excursions but for this one we decided to have a casual day and just spend it around the town (mostly because there wasn’t anything that particularly interested me from the excursions).

Ketchikan is the most southeastern city in Alaska, with a population of ~8000. We had a very leisurely day wandering around, trying to find wifi (very difficult), and looking at shops. There was a ton and a half of souvenir shops, but since it was our last Alaskan stop before heading back to Vancouver this was a good opportunity for us to buy presents.

It wasn’t just shops though. This is Creek St, which is a boardwalk build over Ketchikan Creek. It used to be the towns red-light district, boasting up to 30 brothels, until prostitution was made illegal in 1954.

And of course there was lunch.

And it was seafood again, of course. Bro and Dad had to get one more fix of Alaskan crab leg.

We also had some fried clams and fried prawns.

Plus grilled hallibut.

And a bread bowl overflowing with seafood chowder.

Actually while I love the idea of a bread bowl, I feel like they’re overrated. The bread is never that good after it’s been filled with soup.

After lunch and a bit more souvenir shopping, it was time to board the ship to head back to Vancouver. We only had a small taste of Alaska, I’d love to go back one day and see more of it.