If it’s raining…

Then we must be in port!

Alaska’s climate (or at any rate the parts we’ve been visiting) is temperate rain forest. That means it’s not hot, and it rains. A lot.

So far it’s rained every time we’ve set foot on dry (er, damp) land! We had beautiful weather in Seattle, and on our first day at sea. And it was even just cloudy in Juneau. Until, that is, we got out of the bus that had taken us up to our float trip!

It also rained in Sitka, and, yes, rained again today In Ketchikan!

We didn’t let the damp weather stop us, though (well, the kids would’ve, but their wretched mother keeps insisting that they see more of Alaska than the inside of a cruise ship!). Dad, Peter Grace and I had no shore excursions scheduled, but got off the boat anyway, and strolled through Ketchikan. We made our way up to the Totem Heritage Center, where there is a large collection of Totem Poles. Being made of wood, Totem Poles are affected by weather and age; the Center collects them when they can and either restore them or at least preserve them. They also teach Native arts in classes there. It was a neat place.

All told, the ship was in port about 6 hours; we probably spent a couple of that on shore. We did NOT wake up at 7am to be the first ashore; rather we had our oh-so-civilized room service breakfast, and then toodled ashore around 9:00 or 9:30.

One thing that is very interesting (to me, anyway) about Alaska is that it reminds me of the North Carolina mountains in the relative haphazardness of the life. Many of the houses are not so much designed as they are added-on-to; the towns we’ve visited are clustered around ports, and have spread only where there’s a need to. And, many of the residents seem to have multiple jobs; one in the summer, one in the winter, and a third (or fourth) either to make ends meet or simply because they like it. Very different than the world of suburbia that my kids at least, and I to some extent, are used to.