Sept 3

Sunny this morning, which is nice because we have plans to go to old town Eureka today.  We did a little laundry and headed out. We planned to take the Humboldt Bay Harbor Cruise today. This is a 75 minute narrated cruise aboard the Motor Vessel Madaket. The vessel is 101 years old and the oldest passenger carrying vessel in continuous use in the USA, owned by the Humboldt Bay Maritime Museum.  It is the last of the many ferries that carried lumberjacks and others up and down the water ways in this area.  We saw a variety of birds, along with Harbor seals and Harbor porpoise. It was really cold going along the water and seeing the sites.  There is a long history of the lumber industry along with the Yurok Indians and early settlers.  They apparently still ship out logs overseas from here but the pulp mill has closed after several tries and will be torn down soon.  We went all over the bay and saw so many things, the last being this memorial to the fisherman lost at sea. 

It was enjoyable to walk around old town and along the seemingly newly developed boardwalk, but again several places are closed, even on this Labor Day weekend, actually out-of-business is more like it.  I’m surprised how few people are in town in the afternoon on a holiday weekend.  We decided to go into a quaint little restaurant and deli, but they deli is out of business and the restaurant doesn’t open until evening. 

From there we took a quick look at the Blues by the Bay and decided we weren’t interested.  It is really just a lot of booths with things for sale, more like a sort of “flea market” – so we just headed back. 

By evening the fog has rolled back in and it is quite cool.     

Sept 2

Okay today we did NOTHING.  Yes, we ate meals (leftovers), played cards, watched TV, and read… relaxing day!

Sept. 1

We were up and out early this morning, headed to Crescent City.  It is clear and sunny and the drive was beautiful.  Our first stop was just south of Orick to see his herd of Elk.  There were so many of them and so close to Hwy. 101, it was a surprising sight. We watched them slowly graze and head north. From there we took Bald Hills Road and drove to the Lady Bird Johnson Grove and Nature Trail, dedicated in 1968.  What a delightful walk!  The only thing that could have been nicer would have been the blooming season for the rhododendrons.  There were so many under the canopy it would be gorgeous if they were blooming. 

As we continued our drive, mile after mile of Redwoods thick and dense in the forest.  It is hard to believe that only 4 percent of the Redwoods are left after all the logging. 

Over the Klamath River (I love those golden bears on the bridge) and into Klamath for a stop at the Trees of Mystery.  After lunch we took the walk through again. They built a tram (in 2001) at one end of the walk.  The actual views when traveling on the tram weren’t so different but once up there they have built a viewing platform, well worth the tram ride up. 

On we went to Crescent City and the scenic drive along the coast.  We missed most of the town but noticed there are a lot of vacant buildings and homes as well.  The visitors center was closed.  We did see the Battery Point Lighthouse but when we drove out to walk to the St. George Reef Lighthouse we decided against that.  The wind and sand was blowing very hard and we decided to take the Prairie Creek scenic drive on the way home instead.  We also did an “Elk Search” but only saw a few this time in a totally different location.  The ones south of Orick were gone on our return trip.  Anyway, we had a great day and we are tired, we’ll sleep well tonight!

Aug 31, 2011

It is sunny, clear, and of course since it is clear and sunny it is windy today.  We decided this would be a good day to head out to Samoa.  It was a pleasant, short drive.  We first stopped at the Cookhouse, which we thought was a tourist place with little shops and such but it was really just a family style restaurant with a little room on to the side with some antiques.  The Humboldt Maritime Museum was in a small building right next door, but it was closed.  From there we headed out to the end of the island or peninsula, not sure which it is.  Anyway the area is a popular ATV area but we had it to ourselves today.  There are bunkers all over from WWII, unfortunately they are all locked and you can’t go inside.  One thing I learned today was that a Japanese submarine torpedoed a Petroleum Tanker off the Mendocino Coast during WWII killing several crew member while the rest abandoned ship. There are unconfirmed stories of subs spotted off the coast being bombed by our seaplanes or blimps equipped with bombs and Japanese paraphernalia being washed ashore afterwards.  Interesting stories, which may be true since the confirmation of the sub attack off Mendocino! We drove further from this point and came to the edge of the South jetty. Walking up the dunes we could see the North jetty and South jetty at the same time.  No wonder it is considered the most dangerous port on the CA coast, the water is fierce for sure.

We drove east from there and into Arcata and back into Eureka along 101 again.  We stopped at Fort Humboldt Historic Park.  Again, the visitor center was closed but we had a nice walk around the area.  There was also an historic logging exhibit.  There was a sign that said they will have a self-guided interpretative tour completed in 2012.  No sign of that happening yet, but there were a few signs around to explain what we were looking at.  I was surprised to see that Ulysses S Grant was stationed at Fort Humboldt.  The purpose of the fort was to ease relations between the Native Indians and the settlers coming to the area.  I guess we all know how that turned out.  This was also a gathering place where the Indians were then sent to the reservations.  A sad time for history in the Americas.

Tomorrow I think we will go to Crescent City.   

Eureka Aug. 30

Fog is the word for today.  The sun did try to peak through around 1pm but it didn’t make it.  We did laundry and some cooking…Well, “we” as in “me we” – LOL.  After that we headed to south to Ferndale, where we did see the sun!  We drove through Ferndale and saw several old Victorian dwellings.  The main street in Ferndale has been designated a National Register Historic District to get there we drove over the Eel River on the Fernbridge, built in 1911.  The bridge is a Civil Engineering Historic Landmark as well.  After driving through the town we headed to Ferndale Beach where we spent most of the afternoon walking along the beach.  It is a very long beach that allows ATVs and horses along with people of course.  We found many lovely little rocks, I am not sure if any of them are agates or not, but I don’t think so.  This is a rough and dangerous beach, of course no one swims here and this was a calm day.  We drove back through Ferndale and took a short drive through the cemetery.  It was one of the most unique old cemeteries we’ve seen.  After we left Ferndale we drove on the back roads to Loleta and made a quick stop at the Cheese Factory.  We were under the impression that there was a restaurant there and we were going to have a snack, but they only make and sell cheese.  The samples were delicious!  We knew there was a Casino nearby so we thought we might go there for a snack.  We stopped but it just didn’t look inviting so we made a few necessary stops and then headed home.  Lots of traffic in downtown Eureka today.  There must be some logging going on as we saw several logging trucks today. 

Eureka Aug 29, 2011

Lovely day today because when we got up the fog was only high and seemed to go back out to sea as the morning progressed. We planned to head North today and we did just that. We were going to go have lunch at the casino in Trinidad because Ann said they had great food and it was overlooking the ocean.  However, when we got there the restaurant was closed.  Maybe they only serve dinner, or maybe they just aren’t open on Monday, we don’t know.  From there we were told there were good fish and chips down by the beach.  We headed down to the beach but never really got to a beach.  We saw some lovely views though and the detour was worth it.  We headed back into Trinidad determined to find lunch and we did.  Oh my, what a wonderful lunch we had!  John had the fish and chips but I had the best mussels I believe I have ever eaten.  YUM!  The broth they were in was highly flavored with garlic and they added a sprinkling of bleu cheese over the top, which I would never have thought of doing.  Besides the wonderful food and service we just has a great time.  From there we knew we had to walk off the lunch so we strolled over to the Memorial Lighthouse and down the 227 steps and additional path to the beach below.  We watched harbor seals and birds and looked for elusive shells but came up empty handed.  Back up the 237 steps (yes, we counted) and northward to Patrick’s Point State Park.  The Redwoods are lovely and my photos do not do them justice.  One portion of the park has a Sumeg Indian village and we walked through that.  It was very interesting.  It is a replication of course, but the Yurok Indians still use this to have cultural events and keep their traditions alive.

Agate Beach:

 

Back to Eureka and time to relax.  Hopefully with the hundreds of channels on TV we will find something we want to watch! 

Here is an interesting tidbit.  It is legal to grow and smoke pot in Arcata. Prop 215, the compassionate use act of 1996.  I suppose it was based on medical marijuana use, but it is far beyond that according to his article.  I really don’t see how that is possible but John read it to me from the Journal.  They passed a law and it is allowed.  So I wonder how many young adults go to Humboldt State just for this reason?  Seems crazy to me that they can pass a law like this that supersedes the laws of the state.  With all the talk of making this legal, if you read this article they are having massive problems due to the passing of this law.  Some of the problems are “Plagues of electrical fires, mold damage, and violent crime.” BUT one of the counsel members states their economy is not as bad as it could be because of the law and another calls it tolerance “run amuck” – so that’s the scoop on that.  Moral to this story, don’t send your kids to Humboldt State.  LOL   

Eureka Aug 28th

We heard Ann leave this morning, not sure what time it was as I kept sleeping!  I love this weather and sleeping long hours like we did in Alaska.  When I did crawl out of be and check my email I was shocked to find out Sam was in the hospital!  So concerned…I called Deb but her phone was off of course.  I texted her and I did eventually get a text back.  They think it is his gallbladder.  I hated to leave the house but we had to get some food we wanted and I figured the cell phone would work in downtown Eureka.  She did call to let me know they came home and he will need to see a surgeon about having the gallbladder removed.  He is okay for now, what a relief!  We ate dinner (at lunch time)) at Applebee’s and then shopped at Costco and headed back.  After putting things away and checking email and such again, we watched a movie and then headed out to Safeway for some smaller items we wanted. A quiet day but we didn’t want to venture too far until we knew about Sam and if he was okay.  Tomorrow we will head north and see what we see. 

Eureka

Aug. 26, We had a nice trip up but I was a little disappointed the highway was not as I recalled it.  It used to wind through the redwoods and it was so lovely.  Now 101 totally bypasses all of that except in a couple brief places.  We’ll have to research how to take that redwood drive on the way home, if not before. 

We drove past our cut off for Ann’s house and went directly into Eureka with the thought of getting something to eat, but we weren’t hungry.  Instead we stopped at the visitor’s center, but that was closed.  We drove around and looked at several things in old town and picked up a few items with information about the area.  Then on to Ann’s, which was quite easy to find.  She is on Humboldt Hill, her home is lovely, and above the Tsunami area as well.  However, she does have the NOAA alert in her home for Tsunami warnings and such.  The side of her home facing the ocean is mostly glass with a deck as well.  We have a spacious bedroom and bath to call ours for the next couple of weeks.  She has unlimited wireless Internet and all sorts of channels on the DISH TV network.  John’s figured that out by now I am sure.  Our clothing is put away and hung up and it is off to bed.  Polar sheets, never had those…comfy!!!!

Aug 27, Today Ann drove us around and showed us some places we will probably want to go later; a zoo, a lovely park in Eureka, restaurants with good food, what stores to shop in, and the great fact that they have a Costco here!  A lot of stores are closing as the economy is very bad here now that fishing has all but died out and there is no further lumber mills in operation.  Eureka will only allow a chain store to come into an already established building, so Costco is in the old Montgomery Wards building.  There is a Kohl’s where Mervyns used to be.  No WalMart, and Borders is going out of business, as have other stores.  Such is our economy I guess.  There are quite a few old hippies up here, and talk about liberal… well, we won’t go there, were just visiting.  LOL  Ann is leaving in the morning and we probably won’t see her again, at least not on this trip. 

July 30, 2011

A long but successful day, we are home.  We did most all of our packing and laundry yesterday so it was just putting in the last minute things this morning, plus a trip to the library this morning. After that we came back and emptied the fridge out the rest of the way, ate our lunch, and called a taxi and we were on the way to the airport.  There was a break in the almost nonstop rain so we had a lovely little trip across the passage and to the airport.  We soaked in the last of the cool weather.  Anyway, we barely got through security and they were beginning to board a little early so no real wait for us.  We traveled in a very colorful Disney painted airplane with Tinkerbell painted on it! Our trip to Seattle was uneventful.  We had great views of both Mt. Rainer and Mt. Adams.  When we arrived to Seattle we at dinner at Wolfgang Pucks and it was really tasty.  I had roasted chicken and Caesar salad.  Our flight for Fresno boarded on time but we sat for a while since the lavatory did not work and we needed it fixed before takeoff.  Anyway it didn’t take long and we were on our way.  Lovely skies on the way home and our luggage arrived with us.  Thankful to Cheryl and Taylor for picking us up at the airport and depositing us at Home Sweet Home.    

I guess this is probably “smog” but it does look pretty as the sun goes down.

July 29, 2011

Our last full day in Ketchikan and the rain seems to want to show us it’s in charge!  It is raining particularly hard today.  We packed up all our unused food and took it across the street to the Salvation Army, saving out just what we plan to eat tonight and in the morning.  They seemed very grateful.  I have a few items of clothing to drop at their Thrift Shop tomorrow on the way to our last visit at the local library.  Here is an interesting hat worn by local visiting the library.  I can sort of understand the sentiments as so many of the visitors are rude, hog the sidewalks, push others out of their way, etc.  However, the tourists partly keep this community alive as well and offer many summer jobs.  After today’s library visit we watched movies and did our laundry.  I don’t think I have ever come home with a suitcase full of clean clothing before!  We also went through a variety of brochures we have picked up along the way, deciding what to scan  for digital scrapbooking. We hope our checked suitcase won’t be too heavy and we won’t have to adjust too many things after we get to the airport tomorrow.

Off to bed.  We will miss the sound of rain on our roof each night and sleeping in a chilly room with the window open, snuggled under the covers, ahhh – great sleeping weather!!!  :-) I don’t want to think about it being 103 tomorrow in Clovis, but we do miss our family and friends!

July 28, 2011

The rain continues today.  Breakfast and the library are the two morning routines.  Despite the rain and four cruise ships we decided to walk downtown.  We have been wanting to try the giant shrimp at a stand down by the ships and our time is running out.  It stopped raining while we ate, good thing because the only area there is to eat is outside. John’s looking pretty scruffy, eh?  Anyway, the giant shrimp were pretty good but not near as good as we anticipated.  Alaska cuisine is not developed in my opinio0n.  Perhaps I have not gone to the right places.  The Fox Cape was good though.  From there we went to the Tongass Merchant Co. I wanted to see if they had some particular socks and check their prices.  They had them but much more expensive than I can order them for on the Internet.  They certainly had a good selection though.  I also took a photo of these boots.  This is undoubtedly the official footwear for the state since most locals wear these; men, women, and children alike. From there we walked north and saw a few different things and decided to stop at a pastry shop we had read about called, Sweet Mermaids.  It was a hard decision but we each chose something to try and share; blackberry pie for me, cream puff cake for John.  They also had some giant cake pops, everything is big in Alaska I guess! It’s a quaint little place but we weren’t terribly impressed. One would think cruisers would not be eating in local restaurants with all the food cruise ships are well known for, but it seems a lot do eat here in Ketchikan.  Maybe they all want to try the local salmon dishes?  Speaking of which, I have seen the same cookbook a number of times in the shops, “Salmon Desserts and more” – Really?  As much as I like Salmon, in dessert just doesn’t sound like a good plan to me. 

Mid afternoon brought us back to the apt. and somewhat of a Star Trek marathon with movies that are here for tenants use. We ate our leftovers for dinner and did more reading.  Tomorrow will be our last full day here.  ’

July 27, 2011

From what we can surmise it rained all night long.  It seems a bit colder today as well.  We are trying to soak this all in as it seems to be a scorcher in Clovis and according to friends another big heat wave is headed in! 

We heard from our tenants today that the A/C is making a strange noise.  It is still putting out cool air so hopefully it isn’t too big of an issue.  I called Jeff and got the name of the guy who put in his new A/C unit, called him, and he said he would contact the tenants and that he could be there around 1pm. We heard from the guy later in the evening.  Long story but it will be fixed tomorrow morning at 9am.  I hope it is resolved. Our RE agent is checking into why the home insurance seems to omit this A/C. 

Today was a perfect day to curl up with a good book.  I finished The Choice by Nicolas Sparks.  John is working on his latest by Clive Cussler. 

July 26, 2011

Another typical morning here in Ketchikan, since I am writing that, I am thinking it must be time to head home!  One highlight I discovered yesterday is GMA (Good Morning America) is actually on one of the few TV stations we get.  I was eager to turn it on again today and much to my surprise it was actually a rerun from yesterday!!!  We do get a Seattle station intermittently, which I think is current.  Most stations on the basic cable revolve around local news, of course, along with fishing, hunting, etc.  Anyway, we were off to the library for our Internet fix for the day. It was a slow day at the library today with only two ships in port.  When we left there we were going to go finally have those jumbo prawns at one of the stands downtown but it began to rain and we didn’t bring our ponchos so we just headed back to the apt.  Lunch, laundry, and playing cards. 

We decided today would be a good day to go down to Saxman so we headed out to get the bus. It didn’t take long to get there and it wasn’t raining when we arrived.  However, the place was closed!  We made the assumption since ships were in port it would be open, next time we’ll call first.  According to the gift shop staff they had just one tour this morning at 9:30am and closed after that.  We did enjoy a walk around the place but we couldn’t get in the main building of course.  Perhaps we will try another day.  There are many totems here, I lost count actually.  They have a separate building nearby where it looks like they are either making more totems or repairing some.  I know at Totem Bight they have a carving house and more to look at.  I guess if you have just one day to look, Totem Bight might be the best choice.  I might add that the views going southbound on the Red Bus were very nice.  At one point the bus goes up to an elementary school and when they do the turn around one has a great view of the inside passage.  There are some lovely, new, modern looking homes overlooking the passage as well.

After walking around the area and on a few forest trails we headed back walking along the S. Tongass Highway.  There was just a small area with no path, most of the way there is a paved walking/bike path. The views are great and along they way every so often they have wooden steps that go down to the shore.  John did find us this little “fixer upper” close to the road, so we wouldn’t need to worry about building a driveway.  There was even some furniture inside! Lots of raspberries around the place too so we wouldn’t go hungry! We didn’t take any side trips today but when the bus came along we hoped on and rode it home. 

The remainder of our day was very quiet.  I hope I finish my latest Nicolas Sparks book before I need to turn it back into the library!  We got pretty excited about 9pm when we saw the sun peeking out of the clouds tonight with patches of blue sky there and there.  Maybe we’ll have a good camera day tomorrow! Additional ‘wildlife” we saw today.  These slugs are rather disgusting creatures, three to five inches long.  This I why the plants need to grow so large to feed these natural predators! Scratch those spots of sun and blue skies…it is pouring rain!

July 25, 2011

It was a great morning with a heavy fragrance of sea in the air today.  We really enjoy the weather here. Today we took inventory and decided to purchase what else we will need for the remainder of our time here, which isn’t much.  After breakfast, laundry, TV, and dishes we headed to the library for our daily dose of Wi-Fi.  We surely appreciate that option.  We can use our phones at no charge for almost everything but it is not convenient and replying to emails in length is difficult and as I said before I cannot post the blog from my netbook.  It was a busy day on the sea front today with four ships in port.  Creek Street was going strong and we saw Nic departing with a group for fishing on our way home. Anyway it was a nice walk to and from the library, not far at all and it was not raining. 

We had lunch, played cards, and headed to Wal-Mart. We had a couple of unopened items we wanted to return but they would not take things back, unopened food items cannot be returned in Alaska, a state law.  No worries, we will give what we have left to the Salvation Army across the street.  We saw a couple of ships departing on our way back from Wal-Mart.  It still seems a thrill to see the big cruise liners coming and going.  For whatever reason the Red Line bus is running late. It is terribly congested on the single street through downtown when ships are in.  Anyway, our Wal-Mart trip took a lot of waiting at both ends and we sort of ran out of enthusiasm by the time we got back. So we’ll save Saxman for tomorrow, maybe it won’t be raining then. We really don’t mind the rain but it is not conducive for taking photos! We watched another old movie and meals rounded out the rest of our day. 

July 24, 2011

Sunday, and not a sun day in Alaska.  We have the liquid sunshine again today.  However, I might add that we don’t mind this at all!  We spent a good part of the day sipping our coffee, reading the paper, playing cards, and catching up on what things can be accomplished on a computer without Internet. 

It is a different way of life here.  Total sections of the newspaper are devoted to hunting and fishing, which is pretty much expected. But the greased log walk and ear pull competitions are pretty outstanding events here as well!  I am beginning to feel the cultural differences more acutely. 

After a movie and our lunch we went on a leisurely two mile walk to the south and up the hill.  It was sprinkling when we left on our walk but midway through we were able to take off our ponchos and it was actually pretty warm.  Our walk took us past the Totem Heritage Center.  We did not go in since we were there in the past when cruising. It is certainly worth the stop as they have unrestored totem poles from both the Tlingit and Haida villages. Across the river was the first of fish ladders we would see today, locate at the Deer Mountain Tribal Hatchery and Eagle Center.  We had some wonderful views of the fish ladder and a barrier on the river.  There were cute little gray birds fighting over tiny baby fish they caught.  There is a lovely city park between the two places along the river, a great place for a picnic in nice weather. After my mediocre attempts to take photos of the fish we continued on our walk taking us back down the hill, along beautiful Ketchikan Creek and views of a large fish ladder on a very rough part of the creek.  We walked past a couple of various sites including a feat of engineering where houses are built on the Grant Street trestle structure.  This is how they conquer the challenges of the terrain here in Ketchikan.  We ended up just north of the library.  Most of the ships are gone for the day and we rambled along Creek Street and saw a couple of seals “fishing.” One caught a live fish and headed back toward the bay nonstop.  The other pictured here found a fish head and nibbled away at it as we watched.  We went back down Stedman Street to our apt. buying a cinnamon roll at the Ketchikan Coffee House on our way back home.  That will be a special dessert for us tonight.   

I used the “My Tracks” program on my phone and it indicated several statistics about our walk but I was unable to post it to my Facebook like some of my friends do.  Anyway, it is a fun feature on my phone. 

After a simple dinner of cubed steak, a shared baked potato, and salad we enjoyed that cinnamon roll.  We watched another movie and watched the clouds and fog roll in.  We are really enjoying the cool weather. 

July 23, 2011

We spent the morning trying to arrange the garage door repair for our tenants.  Thankfully we were successful in that process and all is working well now.  God bless good friends who step in during our absence to handle such things!

We still don’t have any internet and I am not very happy about that.  Our landlord called and said he will be out of town until Tuesday and I could call to check on the reason the Internet is not working.  We did that, but sadly they say his bill is not paid and they will not restore the service.  Hmmm…  I am not a happy camper.  But I can use my phone for a lot of things, I just don’t know how to post this blog without the service on my Netbook. I think  we will see if Verizon can turn on my phone for a “hot spot” Wi-Fi connection.  John’s calling now... One phone call and it “could” be done BUT since we are “off the grid” we cannot get the new service added here.  It won’t work.  Ugh. Alaska is really beautiful and we have enjoyed this trip so very much.  However, we would not want to live here! :-)      

We found out today why the horse drawn trolley is not in operation this year.  It is not due to the economy but for a very different reason.  “They” feel it slows down traffic too much and they will not be using them anymore in the future.

There will probably be no Sunday blog since the library is closed on Sunday.  Look for my next installment on Monday!

July 22, 2011

A very quiet day.  I am a bit cranky since we have no internet.  Our landlord contacted the company and they are having “technical issues” but it was not resolved all day.  We spent the morning at the library enjoying the free Wi-Fi, newspaper, etc. We also borrowed another movie to watch today.  There are 5 ships in port today so town is very crowded.  I admire the people of Ketchikan for the grace and hospitality they offer so many visitors.  Sadly some are not very good guests and have forgotten any manners they might have had.  BUT – that’s another story.

Some house cleaning today, and laundry.  Our landlord Jim invited us to a $7.50 BBQ at the yacht club but we ate a late lunch so we didn’t go. 

We spent some time trying to get garage door repairs for our tenants, to no avail.  We have repair insurance through American Home Shield for our rental condo and thought it would be easy to arrange this. We have been happy with them in the past but John sat on the phone on hold waiting for service for 55 minutes!  We still have to address this issue tomorrow.  

It was a mostly sunny and we enjoyed the day very much.  Clouds seemed to come in toward the end of the day and by the time the last ship, Celebrity Century, left at 8:30pm it was quite cloudy.  

High cost of living in Alaska.  These are pretty large watermelons for this price.  The last batch for the same price were 2/3 the size! I think of all the fresh produce we have at much cheaper prices compared to here, we are very blessed in the central valley. 

July 21, 2011

Happy _ _ th Birthday to my sister!!!  LOL!

Today we were up and out early with a taxi taking us to the ferry, which took us over to the airport.  While crossing over to the airport we had this nice glimpse of two cruise ships coming into Ketchikan from the North.  There were no glitches checking in and off she went. We were able to see her taxi out and begin the take off process but after that we just saw this tiny view of her plane over the buildings.  I zoomed in and got this somewhat blurry photo.  Shortly before she was due to land in Seattle we got a text that her flight there was on time for SFO.  That was a relief!  She will have time for a meal in Seattle before departing.  Just as long as she gets to SFO before the last shuttle leaves for Napa (10:30PM) It will be okay. By 6pm our time, 7pm her time I was starting to wonder why we had not heard from her.  About that time she called and she was home safe and sound!  The shuttle ride from SFO to Napa took 2.5 hours in the commute traffic.  The down side of the bay area for sure!  She had a long day but her own bed will feel good tonight I am sure.  My Mother is an amazing woman!

After Mom took off we caught the bus back to the apt. and did a few things around here, cleaning up and starting some laundry.  We finished our books so packed them up along with John’s laptop and my netbook and headed to the library.  I might have mentioned after using 80% of our allotted internet, our landlord let us know we had a limit! Therefore, I am not looking at every little thing nor am I leaving sitting there “on" all night.  I certainly wish I knew there was a limit before we got to the 80% usage mark.  He said, “Nothing is unlimited in Alaska.” So we live and learn. We read and spent a good deal of the afternoon there catching up on emails, Facebook, and various websites I try to keep up on.  We walked and then watched a old movie we borrowed from the library as well.  Finished up laundry and watched a little TV, reading. It was sunny day with a little breeze but starting out with some clouds this evening.  That was our day, we’ll see what tomorrow brings!

July 20, 2011

A rainy day here in Ketchikan.  Too bad for Mom’s last full day here we have a lot of rain.  She doesn’t seem to mind and said she has seen plenty of totems and won’t miss the trip to Saxman or Totem Bight.  John and I walked to the post office this morning as I had a letter to mail to Canada and didn’t have the right postage.  We have an acquaintance on the Suez Canal cruise that is arranging some tours in Jordan and we wanted to send her our 10% down on that to hold our spots.  We also walked up to the IGA and got a few more cans of garlic/pepper smoked salmon to be certain we have enough! Meanwhile, while we were gone Mom had her suitcase out and began to pack… BTW, one very good thing to remember is you cannot take canned salmon (unless it is only 3 oz.) on the plane.  Be sure to pack it in your checked luggage if you make a trip up here. 

For lunch I prepared white salmon.  I forgot to mention that Nic brought us a couple of lovely fillets (frozen), one regular King salmon and one white King salmon, and had left them hanging on our door knob the other day.   

I also wanted to mention the community college right around the corner from our apt.  Isn’t this a lovely setting to attend community college.  A tree studded mountain behind you and the inside passage in front of you!  Actually, further up there is still a mountain with snow on it as well.  If not college, we have seen and talked to a number of young people, probably college students who are working here for the summer.  I am sure some experience is needed since the ones we spoke to were working at one of the zip line sites. 

Our landlord for this month was inspecting the other units that he is upgrading and installing in this same building, just in back of ours.  In addition to our 2bd/1b apt. he will have another 2bd/1ba apt. and a 1bd/1ba apt.  Neither will have the same view we have of the cruise ships but looks like everything will be upgraded and the other 2bd will even have a tub.  They will have a shared laundry between the two units and you will enter the larger unit from an outside stair case.  He told John he may not be renting out by the month anymore as the units are empty all winter long and he can get more income by renting just a few nights at a time.  I guess it’s a good deal for him to do that.  I’m glad we did this now!

Since we were pretty housebound with the rain today we played a lot of Rummikub and read. There was just one ship in port today, the Radiance of the Seas, a sister ship to the one we will cruise on through the Suez Canal.  They are scheduled to depart at 6pm.  Since the rain let up we walked out to the jetty across from the pier and watched it depart.  Good thing we went a little early as they left about 10 minutes before scheduled. It was nice to get out for a short walk anyway.  Back for out last dinner with Mom, penne pasta with shrimp, asparagus, and red pepper, and French rolls.  We have enjoyed her visit so much and we hope she had fun too.  She says she did! 

July 19, 2001

This morning we have the Lumberjack show scheduled at 11am. We left the apt. about 10am and Mom and I headed to one of the stores to get a couple things and John went to the post office to mail a package to my sister for her birthday (on Thursday) I hope it makes it in time!  The show is lots of fun.  It was a totally different thing than the Ironjack competition we saw on the 4th of July.  There are two teams and 4 Lumberjacks in this show.  A couple of them were from the Ironjack competition.  Anyway, you cheer and jeer the competitors and it is fun.  We did a lot of heckling of the other team and at one point a wet lumberjack, fresh off the log rolling event rushed up and sat by us to get us wet.  I was shocked and embarrassed, John loved it.  Anyway it was fun.  After that we went to the Fish House and had lunch. Since it began to rain during the show, it was nice to sneak into a nearby restaurant and have lunch.  The Fish House was crowded so we ordered our food and they said to go sit at Fat Stan’s and they would bring our lunch, and they sure did! No problem since it was just a couple doors away.  By the time lunch was finished it wasn’t raining so we went back to the apt.  We saw this young bald eagle near the bridge.  If you want to know a fact about the eagle, the male and female look alike.  They look like this young eagle until age 4 or 5 years when their coloring changes and they no longer have this mottled look but the beautiful white head and tail feathers. A little later we walked just up the street to the IGA store as Mom wanted to buy some of the garlic/pepper smoked salmon we had the first day she got here.  It is canned and really a delicious way to have some nice pink smoked salmon.  I will also take a few cans home.  Surprisingly, the best price for this is the little IGA store. Snacks for dinner including some of that smoked salmon, watched Jeopardy, some Rummikub and that completed our day.  Lots of rain today but not really cold and lovely in between showers