Andrew and I put mom and the boys back on the ship, and we walked around Juneau at about 4:00 when many of the cruise crowds were returning to their ships. Locals stood on the sidewalks in front of the filled bars and yelled to each other and called between side walk groups and cars cruised by with people hanging out the windows yelling greetings to their friends. It was, after all, the Fourth of July. The sidewalk was clear and we could walk in and out of stores unmolested. The retail culture here must be frantic, a season of only four months, make it pay, work all days (everything was open for the Fourth, with only the local stores, like copy centers, hair cut, general merchandise were closed) and work hard because once winter comes, all activities are over. We spent time with the boys off shore, but they weren’t exactly doing their favorite activities, but that’s almost impossible when you’re combining the grandparent and the child. But there were activities on the ship; the boys just chose not to participate. And since that was their choice, I didn’t get too wound up about it. Thomas slept. In Ketchikan we docked practically into the downtown again and sent Thomas off on a fishing trip. He came back with three salmon so we’ll need to have a salmon bake and invite his fishing buddies. Ketchikan was, like the neighbors, adorable. We liked Creek Street because it’s built on piers overlooking the river, that in the right season, is chocked with salmon. We took Mom on a longer walk to the Heritage center because, yes, there were totems to be seen. Michael now has a lot to say about long carved poles, especially when his mother became very excited over the almost rotting, just barely preserved carved poles. But he was a good sport. We did most of our shopping in Ketchikan. We bought a sprit box for $80 that reflects the style of carving I most admire, it’s of the raven stealing the sun. We couldn’t afford a mask or a wall hanging. Simple masks were being sold (or tagged) starting at $400 and up. Totems were priced at $4,500 and up. The carving was native to be sure, but for the artistry displayed, I couldn’t, deep in my black little marketing heart, justify the price. The native mask we bought in Costa Rica, painted over by a local artist was much better and cost less. And was available only in a rather remote place. So what we saw did not satisfy us. I did buy a pewter bracelet, the artist who designed it attended the Emily Carr School of art, so I had to have it. It depicts the raven, my personal favorite because he’s very Miss Behaved. We did not kayak, it was too cold and I knew I’d spend the entire (and expensive) expedition, complaining about how cold I was. (If I complain about a breeze through the Russian River valley, this would not work for me) So in the interest of marital harmony, I passed on the water adventures. You know what? The best gift store was in the Vancouver airport it had all the Haida art work, the boxes the masks the wall hangings, even a selection of the bracelets that I bought in Ketchikan (and for a few dollars less, there’s that shipping cost again), and a book on Emily Carr’s artwork depicting the totems in the area

Sitka is Russian. The Russians were the first to colonize the coast of Alaska, BC and down through California (Fort Ross was as far south as they came). According to Michner, the Russians did a very bad job of colonizing, the worst in history as a matter of fact, so there are many spots where this Indian rising and this slaughter occurred. But now it’s been all covered up with gift stores. We walked through the town, shopped a bit on the way; the Russian cathedral is in the center of town. We walked along the street past park and skirting the bay. We walked to the park and through the park to see totems and the rain forest. Mom liked the walk. We came back for lunch and everyone but me wanted to stay on the ship, so I took the boat back and puttered around Sitka all by myself. On the Fourth of July we docked in Juneau next to the Crystal Seas, which looked like one of those new huge ships I’ve been reading about. It was twice the size of our ship with twice the decks of balconies. In the center was a four-story window and I could see the shadow of people moving about behind the glass. Now this could be a ship with a climbing wall and other amenities and far more dining areas and specialty options (that cost extra of course) but there is a limit, I suppose and as I pointed out to Thomas, the odds are that our next cruise will be smaller, not larger because we’d want to get in further to where ever we are. In the mean time, Juneau is just lovely. It rained and it was cold, but I loved the fact that the ship docked right across the street from the downtown, or at least a line up of tourist shops, ice creams parlors and bars. We stood in the rain for some time on Franklin Street and watched a terribly slow parade march down. Instead of squirting kids with water hose, the fire trucks and men threw taffy at the parade audience. Locals toughed out the weather, lining up an hour before the parade in the rain, to wait for the festivities. We stood for a time, but then made our way back to the ship for lunch because Michael must feed every hour or so. Even though the rain was dismal and cold, the little town, crushed up against the mountains, still white patches of snow and long trails of waterfalls thin through the green hills and mountain faces thick with trees and growth. That much was apparent even in between the drizzle and cold. We shopped excessively but I haven’t found the totem or mask that I love. The masks are very expensive, seems to be asking more than the carving and work would merit. We celebrated Mom’s birthday in the evening. Cocktails at 7:00, I like Cosmopolitans and two before dinner is quite relaxing. Then we had the champagne for dinner and wine and a birthday cake and the waiters all sang to her. So all is good and we promised mom a bird feeder because we were not going to schlep it on the trip. Will we do a large ship again? Would I travel on one of the even larger ships being built? Probably not because it’s not about the room service or the dinners or the dressing up, it’s being able to get to places you can’t get to by road or rail. Like Juneau which is only accessible by boat or plane (the guide book says that Juneau has 100 miles of roads but they don’t lead anywhere) And I like traveling to small places, places that are authentic as it can be with less people than what we’ve experienced on this trip. I’m not a fan of crowds or doing what everyone else is doing, and here we were, docking in these tiny towns and bringing the crowd with us. There was no avoiding it. We are. So I think spending the money on smaller would be more interesting.

Gold panning in Alaska In the morning we took a tour of a Gold Dredge (because we had no choice, it was on the way to the airport and our connection back to Anchorage.) Anyway we took a tour of the Gold Dredge where they too washed away tons of mountainsides with hydraulic nozzles to get at the gold. We did “pan” for gold, the tour gives you a bag of dirt seeded with tiny gold flakes. I was all for immediate gratification so we cheerfully panned. Michael was the best at it and gathered up all our gold flakes so we now own a total of $24.00 in solid gold, which is currently worth more that our Zap stock. The tours we took on this part (and we assume for the rest of the trip) are geared for people who don’t walk or move at all. At the Dredge “tour” we walked about three yards from the bus to the film room. Then another forty yards of careful walking through the actual dredge, then, whew! Many people had to sit again. Fortunately, benches were placed strategically around the park for resting before tackling the arduous hike up a ramp to the dining room. Part of this tour’s appeal was the “real” miners dinner. We ate a noon, which is fortunate since I used up so many calories riding on the bus between breakfast and lunch. Anyway. We were unceremoniously herded into a long dining hall and served “family style” (eating family style in my family means every man roots around in the refrigerator for something to eat – winner eats all) here it meant you sat where you were told and food was plopped onto the table and you served yourself. We slid down on benches and cast iron pots of meat stew (no it wasn’t moose, a helpful black board told us so) were placed between every four people. Biscuits and ice tea were also served. The glasses for the ice tea was served in mason jars (for that authentic touch) the water here is obviously filled with minerals because the glasses were cloudy, I didn’t doubt for a second they were clean, the groups trouping through here, not only cannot walk, but I’m sure have delicate constitutions and everything would need to be perfectly clean or the buses would no longer stop. But I ended up sitting across from a prissy older woman who pursed her lips with great distaste at the glass and shook her little head and declared, “This glass is dirty!” It was also never going to be more than half empty, but I didn’t point that out. What I couldn’t resist saying though was “Then don’t drink out of it.” She replied that she certainly wouldn’t and drank her water (the same water used to wash the dishes and make that streaky stuff on the glasses but far be it from me to point that out) out of her thick pottery coffee mug. I drank from my glass just to be Miss Behaved. I’m still alive. The stew was remarkably good, I can’t speak for the vegetables as I picked them all out, but I liked the meat. And the biscuits were fantastic, light, fluffy, probably made with lard. What the hell, we’re on vacation. We didn’t speak to the couple any more than the conversation with the glass. They didn’t seem to be having a very good time. I was kind of enjoying myself, but I couldn’t come up with anything more to say that would annoy the woman. I tried though. We also visited the pipeline, not as awful as we think when we read about it in the “lower 48” as we’re called. It’s a pipe. The natives are favorably inclined towards the project for the very good reason that the building of this thing created fantastic wealth for the state and the residents. So they’re happy with it. No leaks or disasters were mentioned on our sanctioned tour. Thomas sat on the bus and listened to his music. We left him there, which is why he’s not in a picture in front of a big pipe. I don’t understand why he wasn’t fascinated.