Last week Rick and I joined Sunnie and Janae Titmus in Ketchikan for a few days. We had been planning this little getaway for a few months and had been looking so forward to it.
Our friend Dick Mouritsen passed away unexpectedly (from Covid) and I felt very strongly that I did not want to miss his funeral which was being held the morning we were scheduled to leave. With a little tender mercy experience we were able to get our flights changed with no extra fees. At first Delta was going to charge us close to $900 to make the needed changes. After waiting on the telephone line for 3 hours to finally talk to an operator from Delta, it took another thirty minutes for her to finally relent and give us the flight changes to get us to Ketchikan without extra charges. We were so thankful for her ability to talk to the upper authorities to get permission to trade it straight across.
As it turned out we were able to leave after the funeral and go as far as Seattle. We stayed at a hotel near the airport and caught the flight to Ketchikan the next morning arriving just after 12:30. It was a beautiful day and whereas it was supposed to rain the next couple of days we tried to do as much as we could that day.
Sunnie and Janae picked us up from the airport in a Toyota Camry rental and we headed right to lunch. We ate at the New Yorker Restaurant. Janae and Rick ordered the lunch special, black bass. What they didn't know was that it came in a soup. They didn't love it but both ate most of it.😁
Next we went to the Lumberjack Show. It was very entertaining! We were on team Canada and won overall. It was fun to watch the lumberjacks chop, saw and climb and run!
Next, we drove over to Ward Lake and walked around the lake. My goodness!! It was so beautiful!
We were able to see the salmon swimming up the river to get into the lake to spawn. Thankfully we didn't cross a bear on the path!
Next we drove up to Lunch Falls. The falls were steep and the poor salmon were trying so hard to make it up stream. I'm not sure how they do it. I think the odds are not in their favor jumping up those tall falls.
There were a lot of dead ones in the water.
This is us at the falls next to the road on the south end of the island.
We went back to this spot after two days of rain (just before we left to go home) and it was so much bigger and running so much faster! At that time we could barely get a picture because it was coming down so fast and we didn't want to get drenched.
That night we had dinner at Annabelle's restaurant.
The food was so good!
Alaskan King Crab was on the menu!
We all chose that except for Sunnie.
I think he got the salmon.
The next day was pouring rain. We had a nice breakfast at the Pioneer Cafe and then drove over to Herring Bay to look for bear. Sad thing is we didn't get to see ANY bear this visit to Ketchikan. We drove up to the bay at least four different times but didn't see any. Big disappointment! Sunnie and Janae had seen SIX the night before we got there.
We had lunch at the Mexican place just down from our air BandB. We weren't hungry but Sunnie said he didn't want to miss a meal!😂
Next, we drove up to a lodge and marina on the North end. I can't remember the name. We watched a couple of groups come in from fishing and watched the workers fillet the fish. Kinda cool!
Next we drove over to the Blight Totem Pole Park. We spent an hour or so walking around looking at the totem poles and the scenery.
We had dinner that evening at the Fish House. I thought they would have something non-fishy for me but alas, the only thing on the menu without fish was a small dinner salad and the fries. I noticed they had cornbread and that sounded good but one bite into it I knew there was fish in it.😁 Everyone tried to make me think that there wasn't. Rick even had a bite and said, "no, I think that's green pepper." Janae took a bite and said, "I think they might have some bits of halibut in there". Finally the bus boy walked by and yes, he confirmed there was salmon in it. Shocker! Not really, for me, though!
After dinner we stopped at the Crepery. Sunnie and Janae shared a strawberry shortcake crepe while Rick went next door and ordered some pie and ice cream from the Pioneer cafe, where we had breakfast that morning. I helped him eat it and it was delish! (Better than salmon cornbread, anyway!)
That night we settled into our comfortable clothes, turned up the heat to warm up and played two rounds of 5 Straight. We each both one a round:) Sunnie went off to bed and Rick was on the phone so Janae and I played a fun dice
The next morning was our pack up day. After packing up most of our stuff we had breakfast at Sweet Mermaids bakery and then did a little shopping for souvenirs. We had a little time so we walked through Creek Street. It is so pretty with all of it's colorful buildings. It was a pretty rough place with bars and immorality back in the day but now it is just shops and restaurants. Most everything was still closed due to Covid and no ships being in that day.
Janae and I caught our flight a little earlier than the guys, who were flying to Juneau later in the day, to get started on their fishing trip.
Our flights were uneventful and it felt good to get back home at the end of the day!
Good times making good memories with good friends!
