Around Ketchikan - July 22, 2011

Ketchikan - All around the town.

 Eagles' nest.

 I love watching the boats on Tongass Narrows.

 Gulls on Tongass Narrows. There are almost as many boats as birds!

 Juel and I went to Nob Hill Overlook. This high street provides an awesome view of Ketchikan.

 Nob Hill Overlook

 Nob Hill Overlook - interesting view of the cruise ships.

 From Nob Hill Overlook - A barge out on Tongass Narrows, beyond The Point.

 From Nob Hill Overlook - Using the wonderful zoom on my camera, I can get a good view of the airport. The airport is on Gravina Island, across The Narrows.

 Nob Hill Overlook - Looking north - The tent is where the Wild West Show is put on. The Point, a barge, and Gravina Island are in the distance.

 Nob Hill Overlook - Zoomed in on The Point (the two-toned building) and the barge. Gravina Island is beyond.

 We are now standing above the tunnel. We were told this is the only tunnel in the world that you can go through, around and over. These stairs lead down to the Tongass Highway. The tunnel was built in the 1950's.

 These houses, that are on top of the tunnel, were built in the early 1900's, so lots of care had to be taken when the tunnel was built.

 This is a view of where we were - Nob Hill Overlook and the tunnel from the north side. Notice that traffic heading north goes THROUGH the tunnel and southbound traffic goes AROUND the tunnel to the right.

 Here is a view of the tunnel from the south side. Notice the houses on the tunnel.

 The tunnel, again from the south, but further away. Notice the stairs to the right of the tunnel. We took the picture of them from the top looking down.

 One of our first nights in Ketchikan we ate at this restaurant. The food was OK. We didn't yet know how the bus system worked and we were rather stranded and very hungry. We ended up walking a lot of the way home before we finally caught a bus.

 Creek Street - A trip through Ketchikan is never complete without stopping along Creek Street - one of my favorite places!

 Some unique carvings on one of the shops.

 Baleen hanging along the rafters in a Creek St. store

 Lunch on the porch of the restaurant on Creek Street. We sat outside right over the water. The girl in the background is fixing our food. The restaurant is in the picture below.

 Ketchikan Creek taken from Creek Street Bridge...

 And a zoom-in of Ketchikan Creek...

 Thomas Basin on a sunny day looks like a picture fit to be a puzzle!

 Other side of Thomas Basin on the breakwater...

 I took many pictures of these houses. Their color and mood changed with the weather/clouds. They are also in the picture below. 

 Thomas Basin - the pink building is the Federal Building.

 I never could get tired of being near the water here. Thomas Basin is so pretty, especially on a sunny day and with the mountains in the background.

 Still snow on the mountains near the end of July.

 From out at the end of the breakwater at Thomas Basin. The cruise ship is tied to that block.

 Raven

 The tide is REALLY low right now...

 I thought of my grandsons and their swords like this when I saw this plastic sword floating in Thomas Basin.

 We headed down this ramp to get closer to the fishermen and their boats.

 We watched this fisherman cleaning his catch.

 Opening up the fish.

 Removing the eggs and other yucky stuff!

 Hey boys!...check out those teeth.

 ....and see the gills.

 Fishing boat

 Close up of the nets.

 This young boy was so proud to show off his catch! He was so pleased that I asked to take his picture.

  Salmon under Steadman Bridge.

 Whale Park. Needs to be seen from above to see why it is so named. From above you would see that the shape of the park is like a whale. It is a nice little park with lots of flowers and several benches to get a shaded rest.

 Chief Kyan Totem Pole is in Whale Park.

 

 Some of the many pretty flowers in Whale Park...

 This is outside Juel's favorite shop. We had taken a picture of me with this killer whale before, but it didn't show him off very well...so here is his better side.

 I wanted another picture of these wind chimes. I love them but they were too expensive. I collected lots of driftwood and hope to make something like these myself.