Ketchikan, if you can, June 8, 2011

Ketchikan, AK, June 8, 2011.  Happy birthday, Annie.  Last night she told me the one thing she wanted for her birthday was breakfast in bed.  Food options are limited here in our room.  She said all I needed to do was give her a granola bar and peel an orange for her.  I forgot.  I have been made to pay for my transgression all day.  I took her for a long walk from the harbor to town, about five miles round-trip, I took her to lunch at a fine Italian restaurant.  I have been very sweet to her all day long.  So, I asked a while ago if I was forgiven.  “Not yet.  I want to play this out a while longer,” she replied.  Smart woman, that Annie.  This is a high price to pay for a granola bar and a peeled orange.  

Ketchikan is a tourist town.  Almost every business in the downtown area is designed to cater to tourists.  I don’t know how many cruise ships dock here, but there must be a lot.  The downtown is filled with “trading posts,” jewelry stores and other merchants who want to appeal to tourists.  

The walk from the harbor to downtown was along the busiest street in town.  Notwithstanding the carbon emissions, beautiful flowers grow along the way.  I will include pictures so you can judge for yourself.

The ferry is moving again.  Our next stop will be in the lower forty-eight, Bellingham, Washington.  From there, it is a short 2000-mile hop to Kansas City.