Leslie Sunday, June 1, 2008
At 5:15 am this morning I looked out toward the ocean and saw a orca whale swimming along in the harbor. There were only a few fishing boats out so early so I guess the whale felt safe coming near the shore. He saw past fairly quickly so I couldn’t get a picture.
The day started out very cloudy and a bit cool. I’m glad we did our trip on the water yesterday.
After lunch we decided to go to Saxman Totem Park that is located 2 miles south of Ketchikan. Saxman is a Native Village. There are 24 totem poles that were salvaged from abandoned native villages in the late 1930's mostly by the civilian conservation corps. One funny pole is a ridicule pole making fun of William Seward, the person who bought Alaska from the Russians. Apparently he was treated to honors by the natives and he failed to offer gifts in return. Here’s the Seward pole. Notice the red ears, they are red to show that Seward was stingy.
Seward pole
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more poles
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There is also a carving shed in Saxman where people work on modern totem poles. During winter experts teach classes on native carving to encourage traditions. When we stopped by, one man was carving on his first box. He explained the several of the features of the box represented his ancestry. The totem poles are carved from red cedar wood so the building smells wonderful.
We had carried the laundry along hoping we’d find a laundromat. Success. We found a clean laundromat. And even better, when I started up my laptop to downsize some pictures while waiting for the wash to run, I discovered that there was free WIFI.
When we got back home, a large adult bald eagle was sitting on a rock along the water just below Carpe Diem. The eagle was most cooperative and allowed me to take over 100 pictures. He didn’t seem to be too bothered by my presence and allowed me to climb down the rocks and get about 20 feet away from him.
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Leslie
Sunday, June 1, 2008
ANother Day in Ketchican
Robert, Sunday, June 1
There are three sack rats on this adventure; Molly, Cody, and Leslie. So when Leslie woke me from a sound sleep at 5:30 in the morning, I know it must be something big. She was looking out the back window yelling, "Whale!" Sure enough there was an orca swimming by about 100 feet away. Unfortunately, it seems the best king salmon fishing in the whole area is exactly where the whale was swimming and there were already boats out there slowly trolling back and forth. One boat got a little close to the whale and it disappeared. We did get too see it but fleetingly. And fortunately I don’t have any trouble getting back to sleep which I did. Later we drove to the other side of town to see the totem poles. We looked at the totems, talked to a man who was carving a box for his mother and, headed back. We did stop to buy filters for our Brita water filter. The water here in the campground has a lot of iron in it. If you pour a glass of water it has a quite noticeable yellow tinge to it. It also has an "off" taste. We thought that the Brita might filter that out. The Brita improves the flavor but the yellow tinge remains. When we left home we filled several 5 gallon plastic containers with water. The water has a funny taste as the containers are new but the Brita removes the taste and the water isn’t yellow. We grilled the halibut we bought yesterday at the fish store and it was delicious.
There are three sack rats on this adventure; Molly, Cody, and Leslie. So when Leslie woke me from a sound sleep at 5:30 in the morning, I know it must be something big. She was looking out the back window yelling, "Whale!" Sure enough there was an orca swimming by about 100 feet away. Unfortunately, it seems the best king salmon fishing in the whole area is exactly where the whale was swimming and there were already boats out there slowly trolling back and forth. One boat got a little close to the whale and it disappeared. We did get too see it but fleetingly. And fortunately I don’t have any trouble getting back to sleep which I did. Later we drove to the other side of town to see the totem poles. We looked at the totems, talked to a man who was carving a box for his mother and, headed back. We did stop to buy filters for our Brita water filter. The water here in the campground has a lot of iron in it. If you pour a glass of water it has a quite noticeable yellow tinge to it. It also has an "off" taste. We thought that the Brita might filter that out. The Brita improves the flavor but the yellow tinge remains. When we left home we filled several 5 gallon plastic containers with water. The water has a funny taste as the containers are new but the Brita removes the taste and the water isn’t yellow. We grilled the halibut we bought yesterday at the fish store and it was delicious.
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