During the night, we crossed from British Columbia to Alaska. We rolled out of bed early as the ferry docks at Ketchikan at 7:00am for a 3-hour shore leave. Not much time and we're not sure what's open at that time on a Sunday morning. It's a 2.5 miles walk into the center of Ketchikan from the ferry. Fortunately, a double-decker tour bus is waiting at the dock along with many taxis. We opt for the tour bus.

Ketchikan used to be a supply town for miners and loggers. It is the gateway to the Tongass National Forest, the largest of the national forests and a temperate rain forest. It is the southernmost city in Alaska and the fourth-largest city. It claims title to salmon capital of the world. It is also reputed to be the wettest city in the US, with 155" of rainfall per year. However, we were treated to yet another beautiful day. It is now almost totally a tourist town. There are more than 30 jewelry stores! You can see one of the many cruise ships that now dock in Ketchikan. Our ferry looks very puny next to a cruise ship.

We toured the town on the bus and also on foot. We saw a few salmon spawning but the big run doesn't start until August. Bought a couple of t-shirts one of which reads, "If a man speaks in a forest where no woman can hear, is he still wrong?"

Ketchican is full of totem poles. They are carved by members of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian peoples. Each pole tells a story. Some tel the story of the geneology of the family. Others can be mortuary poles, with the ashes of the dead inside. Shame poles are erected by someone who has been wronged and are not taken down until the grievance is resolved. Most of the ones in the Ketchkan are relatively new as the cedar ages and the colors fade on old poles.

Our day was spent traversing the Tongass. Management of the Tongass has always (and continues to be) controversial. The paper/wood companies want to log and the sportspeople and environmentalists want to preserve as much as possible, especially the old growth forest.

We made a brief stop in Wrangell at 3:30pm. Only 40 minutes in port so there wasn't really time to get off the ship. We then headed into the Wrangell Narrows. This "shortcut" requires in excess of 40 turns by the ship. We were led to believe that it would be quite a bit more tricky than it ultimately seemed. I'm sure the channel is very narrow in places.

We arrived in Petersburg about 7:30pm. Petersburg bills itself as the "Little Norway" of Alaska. It was founded by a Norwegian named Peter and has nothing to do with the Russian city of St. Petersburg. We decided to try and find food in the town even though it was Sunday night. We ran into a local guy carry a pizza box and he directed us to a restaurant right across the street from the ferry terminal. Since we had to wait over 45 minutes for our order, we never got into the main part of town. Reports from other people indicated that not much was open anyway.

At 9:30pm we departed from Petersburg. We've started on the last leg of our journey through the Inside Passage. We reach Juneau at 6:00am tomorrow (Monday) and have to be ready to disembark. It's going to be a very early morning.