End of Cruise, We disembark in Seattle

Monday was a relaxing day at sea.  It was nice to sleep in and to have lots of time to pack at night.

Tuesday we reached Seattle.  We took a Taxi to the Comfort Suites downtown where our car was waiting in the underground garage.  We loaded the car up with our luggage and then set off on foot for the Duck Tour.

This lasted 90 minutes and was a lot of fun.  Its hard to take decent pictures on a moving tour but here are a few art installations

This is an Aluminum tree.

This is Ivars on the Pier.  Ivars is a very well loved chain of restaurants in the Seattle area with wonderful Clam Chowder. 

This is an old manufacturing plant that they left as a kind of art installation on Lake Union.

View of the Space Needle while floating on Lake Union.

  

I would like to know what that building on the top is, I didn't get a chance to ask.

The floating house from Sleepless in Seattle.  This is not a houseboat because it is tethered to the shore for sewage and such.

After the Duck Tour we made a quick stop at the Experience Music Project and took the Monorail to 5th and Pine.  We then walked to Pikes Public Market. 

These pictures are all right side up.  They are light fixtures between the buildings in a covered area on the second floor where we finally ate our bag breakfast from the hotel.

This is one of the Boardwalk type ramps to get between levels.  Notice the "Welcome Down Under" sign on the right.  These are the old small stores underground.

This to me is typical of the little stores, everything crammed in to make use of the small space.

More of the same store.  Little salt & pepper shakers and kitchen nick-nacks.  He also had old cookie jars.



You have to see the fish or you haven't been to Pikes.

This is a big piggie bank at the front entrance.  It took forever to get a picture without people hanging all over it.  The place behind it has the yummiest dried fruit.



A Police Horse at the main entrance

An interesting find at another store.  This one has more floor space.

After walking around and in and out of the Market we walked back to our hotel.



This Bumbershoot was on a building near or on Pike.

Building detail as we walked.

For dinner we were back on the Pier.  My husbands brother treated us to dinner at Anthonys Seafood Restaurant and I took this picture from our table.  "Mount Ranier is out" the locals say.  Tomorrow we continue the road trip.

Ketchikan, May 8 2011

On our way into Ketchikan we saw quite a few Bald Eagles.  There are two adults almost center in this photo.

Coming into Ketchikan.    This was the only day we had a second ship in port with us.

We saw these on the way to Creek Street.

This is the Creek that Creek Street is built over.

I dont know what this plant is- I assume it is a bulb.  I saw it in Washington too.

One obilgatory shot of Creek Street.  I wasnt impressed with any of the photos I took there.

We continued walking from Creek Street near the pier.

Both the above totems were in yards along the way.

This is the outside of the Totem Heritage Center.

This is detail of the Totem Pole to the left in the above picture.

These are the Totems you see when you enter the Center.  The third one looks like a Dinosaur to me but is actually an Eagle.  The Center is like a Mausoleum of 19th Century Totems from the Ketchikan area.  It is a very quiet, solemn Museum.  The rest of the Totems are lying in glass cases.

A Raven

Another Eagle

There was a free bus to and from the Heritage Center that we were not aware of.  We took that back down to the pier area where all the shops were. 

If you only want to go Souvenir shopping at one port Ketchikan would be the one.  There are a lot of shops all close together and incredibly cheap trinkets if you dont care about authenticity.   There were also some nice artisan shops with items made in Alaska.

All three pictures above are different views of the same statue.  As you can see it is right on the Pier.

Goodbye Ketchikan.

Skagway, May 7, 2011

I woke up about 4am and it was surprisingly light.  View from our Balcony, a few hours from Skagway.

I knew about the graffiti at the Skagway Harbor but it was still neat to see.

Some of the graffiti pictures were taken from my Balcony- the dock is pretty close to the mountain.

Thats our ship - the Carnival Spirit.  It looks small and thin from this angle.

The mountains surrounding Skagway.

These are some homes you walk past going into town.

It was a little foggy above us.

Skagway was clearly my favorite stop.  I just loved the small town and the scenery.

The Red Onion Saloon, built in 1897 and moved from its original location.  It has been a working bar again since 1980.

You can see how the mountains are just right there.

More of the town. 

Yep, thats a mounted deer butt.  Kind of grabs your attention.

Reindeer sausage was new to me- and no I did not try it.  I wonder if Santa would.

These signs say Sarah Palin store and Barack Obama store.

More of the town.

More Graffitti, this time its actually an advertisement for a local business.

This mountain is so deeply covered in snow it almost blends into the clouds.

This is with the town at my back and the ship to my left.

Goodbye Skagway!

The scenery on this day was just incredible.

Sea Lions, lots & lots of Sea Lions  Much more than you see in this one picture, they stretched for quite a way.

A Glacier we passed.

You can still see the same Glacier- its the white patch to the left of center.

This is not much later, the sunset is off to the right.

Same Lighthouse from the other side (looking back).

To me this was the most beautiful day of scenery in Alaska.