The Famous Ketchikan

Yep, it's famous but you may not have even known that. It is the leading salmon fishering place. Ya know who comes here to fish? Johnny Depp...we just missed seeing his yacht. DANG! We went to see a world famous totem pole carver...what an interesting and peaceful man he is. I wonder if that is because he works with a product from earth all the time. We also saw and group of Tlingit dancers. Mickey MADE me go up and dance with them. The dancers were great but a little girl about 18 months old really stole the show and she wasn't even a part of it. We may have a picture of her...she was moving pretty fast between the dancers with her bottle. The mom Tlingits dance holding their newborns and infants.

I LOVE the fog horn!

Oh! Sitka!

I sure didn' know much about a place named Sitka until yesterday...oh, and for those of you who think Sitka was the place in the movie 'The Proposal'...it isn't. The movie was filmed in New England. What a bunch of cheaters those movie folks are. But, the real Sitka is even better. It is a small fishing community, really just an island. The only road goes 7 miles one way and then ends...and it goes 7 miles the other way and the ends. But it is BEAUTIFUL. There was so much history there. Russian history, American history and Tclinkit Indian history. I have a new love for totem poles. I've always thought they were kinda dumb, but they are NOT! As you might guess, totem poles tell a history of a village or a family. The one thing I thought was a great idea was one of the four reasons for a Totem...to tell the history of a clan, as a kind of family crest, to tell legends, as a mortuary/memorial, and to display shame. I loved the last one. Imagine this, someone in the community does something awful (to the Tclinkits that would be stealing) anyway, they would put a totem in front of their home until the wrong had been corrected. Can you imagine our society putting a shame totem in front of someone's home until the wrong was corrected? Food for thought!

Internet costs $.75 a minute so I'm outa here for now...I do love the ocean!

One Less Thing on My Bucket List

Before I kick the bucket, I wanted to see a sheet of ice fall from a glacier...
I DID!
We saw and watched the Hubbard Glacier yesterday. Blue! Huge! Silent! Thunderous! Cold! (Duh, on that one). The glacier (I almost wrote 'thing' instead of glacier - how irreverent!) is 40 stories tall, 26 miles wide and I don't how deep it is....but MASSIVELY MENACING. We also got a cultural perspective from a ? tribe, and a scientific perspective from a park ranger.

Global Warming? to quote the park ranger...Global Warming is a new field of science and because of that a lot of mistakes have been made and will be made. The earth IS warming, but it is most likely the natural cycle of the earth...what has YET to be determined is what part we earthings have had in it. Here's my belief...for what it's worth...it is a natural cycle determined by our Father in Heaven and His Son...but we earthlings have been irresponsible and haven't taken care of the precious home as we should have.


OFF to Sitka!

OH NO! we are leaving Juneau

I just walked out on the verandah and watched Juneau fading away. I am a little sad. It is really a unique city. The only way that it can be reached is by air or water. It is literally built on the side of a mountain that builds from the shore. VERY unique. We weren't able to go on the float boat today because the cloud deck was too low. I guess safety comes first. We wandered around the town and purchased WAY too much stuff. I have a very generous husband and a new set of diamond stud earrings . We shopped for the Witt/Hansen families. The school teacher got the best of me and I bought a children's book. Oh, well...you'll just have to accept me for what I am...a kindergarten teacher...yep, I think that is what will happen. It is 10:00 pm and still light enough outside to read. And that is with the fog setting in. What a delightful few days. Tomorrow we get to visit an inland passage and view the Hubbard glacier. I have wanted to see a glacier for YEARS. I love it when I get what I want.

It's not that I haven't had a fabulous summer!

In my mind I have blogged so many times and about so many different things...it just never really happened. BUT, this is really happening right now! I am about 6 hours away from Juneau Alaska...REALLY! We are in a beautiful veranda suite because the cruise line upgraded us from just a veranda to a veranda suite. We are having a wonderful time! That sure sounded dumb, but how else could I say it? There is so much to do on the boat and as most everyone knows, sooo much food and it is excellent! I swore I wouldn't overeat...I wanted to do it differently...NOPE! The gentle rocking of the ship and the QUIET of the ocean is food for thought. I also happen to be with good company...Mickey! We have taken some spectacular pictures and I will post them later...Yeh, right!

Tomorrow we will take a float plane tour of several glaciers, and go to a mountain lodge.

The staff of the liner sure wants us to buy some diamonds in Juneau...we'll see about that.

Should I report in later?