Alaskan Cruise’26 Day 3

Day 3

Ketchikan. Our first stop. It was nice. We paid $90 for a ride into town with a tour. And a ride back to a boat. (About a 3 mile journey from pier [not dock!] to downtown. 

   We got some of what we asked for. During the trip to town, which was through a lot of road construction, a rock bounced up and shattered the driver’s windshield.  Honestly sounded like a gunshot and it sprayed (thankfully small) shards of all over the front of the bus: including the driver. Fortunately, while the glass was cracked all to hell, it stayed together. The fact that we were only going about 35 mph also helped. 

  So, we made it to town but Cameron the Driver said the trolley would be out of commission for the rest of the day. Someone with a new bus might be by in two hours but the city shuttle. Nobody came. We ended up standing line for about 20 minutes to take the city bus back. 

  Not a tragedy but I certainly wouldn’t say we got our money’s worth. 

  Ketchikan was cool. Reminded me of Winthrop. If four huge cruise liners sailed up the Methow River. (Which is a totally cool image!)

   What I don’t get is why someone, anyone  thought the very tail end of the Alaskan Panhandle would be a great place to sell high end gems and jewelry. 

   Selling animals and their fur makes sense. As does the local tribes’ art work. Even gold but who goes to the Great White North to buy opals, tanzanite, or jade? Baffling. 

  We didn’t see anything we HAD to have besides two delicious coffees. 

  But the ride back to was very interesting. Our bus driver was a retired school bus teacher who flies up from Utah every summer for the work. And she told really interesting factoids about the local area. 

  The most fascinating was that in the small town of Skagway (our Day 6 stop), it’s illegal for a woman to give birth. Any woman doing so is given $500 fine. 

  WTF? I hear you say? Well, it’s because the tiny town has only one paramedic and the only way to get to a hospital is by plane or boat. 

  So, what they do is when a soon to be mother is within a month of her due date, said mother is flown to Juneau, where she stays at the hospital; given all the creature comforts till the baby arrives. And it costs Mom $1 day to do so. 

  The women around me started out with How Dare They? to eventually “A month long vacation away from the family? Sign me up!” 

  Sorry to inject a bit of political cometary but this SURE seems like socialism for such a libertarian state as Alaska. 

   Reminds me of the old adage that a conservative is a liberal who got mugged. 

  So it was back to the boat where we had a delightful dinner and then we did this. 

   $.25 to the first person who can say what the hell it going on. And no, the Norwegian Joy doesn’t have an optometrist onboard. 

  After that, we went to a magic show. She was fine. It was fine. 

  Guess every magician and illusionist I see will be compared to Mac King on Las Vegas. And they’re all found wanting.

  Having toured, spent, seen, and eaten, we decided it was time for bed.