Well buckle up ladies, gentlemen and gentle-ladies {Hey… I don’t know what kind of confused characters ride da’ train – you know what I’m sayin… ???} you could be here a while…
Our first foot on Alaskan territory was when we docked at a our first port in Ketchikan. If you haven’t read the journey so far, please catch up:
The ‘Early’ Beginning of Our Journey
and
Bright and early, I was back up and at ‘em, you know since the sun only goes down for like a couple of hours in the summer. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that during the night, we had arrived in Ketchikan. It was the first time I’d seen a building outside my balcony since we left Vancouver. 
Ketchikan is a quaint little drinking town with a fishing problem, also known as the salmon capital of the world or Alaska’s first city.
Being that it was our first stop, we immediately hit the rows of Alaskan-inspired, Chinese-made shit for sale. We saw the SAME stuff in at least eleventy different stores across the state. But, why not at least have some fun with it all?
Ok, enough of the crap, let’s go find some real local artisan shops. Totem poles are all over the place an Alaska and we just happened to wander into a shop where they are locally made. This guy had quite an amazing collection of hand-sculpted art to buy and provided us with some very interesting information. His large poles take 4 months to carve before he begins painting and they retail for $6800, which is the cheapest in town. Most local totem pole shops sell them for $1000 per foot.
Made a few purchases and we were out the door, where we were greeted with two spectacular pieces of Alaska’s wildlife. Many cruisers paid tons of money to go on various wildlife excursion, but they should have definitely stuck with us! We made our own excursion for free {minus the shopping. and the eating. and the beer.} but we saw so much of what the guided tours advertised.
Now tell me these guys aren’t amazingly awesome?
Oh yeah, I even got to ride a moose! You know what they say…
You can take the girl out of Texas but you can’t takeu Texas out of the girl!
Next on our agenda was to find our way to some food and beer, but first we had to make our way through this precious little village. I could totally go back and spend some more time there, away from all the crowds. The schools of salmon and the sea otter were incredible, the ride up Cape Fox Hill was so fun and looking out at our boat from the mountain was surreal.
Finally, we reached our ultimate destination: FOOD! And let me just say, this joint did NOT disappoint. We had some of the best appetizers I’ve ever put in my mouth, they were really borderline-orgasmic. Seriously! The crab and brie dip served over apples….OH.MY.GAWD.CHOLESTEROL!!!!!! Not to mention the plentiful oysters on the half shell and shrimp cocktail, topped off with a nice selection of Alaskan brews: Amber, Summer Ale and White. {still looking to find Alaskan brew in Dallas}
Oddly enough, as we were sitting there enjoying the food, beverlies and company, I ran into some LSU fans from Breaux Bridge {where we spend Thanksgivings on the swamp.} I’m seaux glad to see that Tiger fans are taking over the world, one random bar at a time. Geaux!
After eating, we perused the streets of the Ketchikan neighborhoods even more. We learned that they are really proud of their salmon, have really small doors, have a precious produce department in their grocery stores but they don’t know how to group their aisles and that the best pizza in town comes from the Mexican restaurant. Who knew?
What was really cool about Ketchikan was the bridge overlooking copious amounts of salmon just waiting to be caught. You could rent a pole and buy a one-day license and get after it. And don’t you think I didn’t….
My dad had strict instructions for me to send home a picture of me holding a salmon to prove that I really was in Alaska. He even emailed me inquiring about the fish. {see below}
Bebe,
How long dem pirogue you ride on en what dey name dat boat? You hang on dem side rails fo sho not to fall off to dem icewater so cold yo hair be frozen wit dem win blowin.
My swamp trappin friend Robicheaux from Thibodeaux say dem crawfish in Ooolaska bout long as you fo arm as to only eat one fo dinner. Damn, how many dat size to fill a sack?
My nother friend Alphonse Boudreaux be a fish professor to dem LSU school. Kinda like fish in school I think. Mo way, he say no redfish in Ooolaska like at Grand Isle, LA but dem sammons in Ooolaska demselves be red. You believe dat? A fish what itself be red? You be eatin diffent kinda foods on yo jerney, fo sho. Butcept dey ain’t no nutrea dere, so you don’t have yo favrite stew.
Yo mama n me sit here side by each wait fo yo hello tru dat twitter machine like yo mama aks about. Dey got Tony Chachere on dem boat?
Don ferget tie yo pirogue tight to stump when you get out.
Pappa
And like the good daughter I am, I got that fish he wanted…
After all that fishy business, it was time to head back to the boat and clean up for dinner. After riding a moose and throwing around some fish, I was definitely due for a good rinse.
Dis.gust.ing!
This was an incredible day with so many new sights and experiences to check of my bucket list, but little did I know what that night would have in store for me. THAT deserves it’s own blog!
Stay tuned for…
Remember the Night We Hijacked a Piano Bar?!?
1 comment:
you failed to mention that you paid $5 to get your picture taken on the stuffed moose that was located smack dab in the middle of the taxidermy/post office/gift shop...folks, you could do it all at this place!!!
my mouth might be watering for some of that crab dip right now!! I WILL recreate that!!
remember the night we hijacked a piano bar? I REMEMBER!! that blog definitely deserves its own post...the boat was rockin' that night!!
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