When you’ve been to Alaska as many time as Amras and I have, its’ easy to think that you’ve run out of things to see. But there’s always something – even if it’s just walking around enjoying truly fresh air. Today we decided to head out to the part of town that we never really visit, because it’s past the tourist area – but only 15 minutes away from the ship’s dock is the Totem Heritage Center , which houses the collection of the only 44 original totems in Alaska. They are old, and weather beaten, but they are still breathtaking – kept carefully inside a museum, tucked safely out of the elements, they are no longer painted and colourful – except one or two small traces of black and blue paint on the faces. I was startled that they allowed photography, and was still very careful to turn off my flash.
Right next to the heritage center is the city park – which I had never been too. Small but beautiful, it’s full of wandering ponds and tiny waterfalls that make the kind of sound we really miss out here. Something about rushing water makes me feel incredibly at home. And no, living on the water doesn’t have the same soundtrack. There’s something different about it. I swim in the ocean for hours, but I think I could sit by the river for days. There is a river that runs through Ketchikan, and at certain points, which gave me the chance to get some really nice pictures! Also, next door to the city park is a salmon hatchery (not to be confused with a farm, I actually found out that it is illegal to farm finned fish in Alaska) – so I now have a bunch of pictures of little itty bitty fish! They will make an excellent opening shot for this season’s memory reel.
Beyond the main street of town, it’s obvious how much things have changed. The shop where Amras and I spent hours playing pinball has closed it’s doors, as has the music store and the new age shop I used to visit all the time. They’ve been replaced by other shops in some cases, but are just as frequently empty store fronts, which I find very sad. It’s as if no one wants to bother coming up the road past the big tourist places – that’s a shame, because there’s a lot of cool stuff up there. One of the local movie rental places is going out of business so we were able to pick up a bunch of new games ,and I now finally own Inside Out, which makes me possibly more happy than it should.
And all the pictures I took at the museum came out nearly completely black because I had the wrong settings but hey…it’s a learning experience right!?
I always get so much enjoyment from seeing you happy and going out to do fun and/or interesting stuff. It is sad when businesses you have previously enjoyed are no longer there but there is always the hope something just as good or even better will open in their place. I’m definitely more a river person than an ocean person. It’s sad your museum pictures didn’t turn out well. I think that means you have an excuse to go back next time you are there.