Thursday June 19th
 KETCHIKAN, ALASKA
 Sunrise 4:04 am, Sunset 9:36 pm. Temperature 13C.
Definitely heading south! The ship arrived in Ketchikan around 10 am, lots of steep hills, colorful buildings and sea planes.

We all boarded a bus for our planned excursion to the Rainforest Sanctuary - never would have thought of Alaska having a rainforest, but it sure does!

Before we left the main entrance, the guide gave a very serious safety talk - apparently this area is well populated with black bears, and apparently they are frequently sighted, and apparently there have been some issues in the past ..... First - take any and all food from your backpacks, pockets and purses and store it in the locked boxes here at the gate. DO NOT take any food with you..... Second ... he was going to count heads before and after the hike. IF a bear approaches, everyone is to huddle together in one mass, making ourselves look as large as possible, and start walking slowly backwards. If the bear continues to approach, we are to make as much noise as possible, and if the bear still continues toward us, the guide would light the flare he was carrying and toss it toward the bear, expecting that would make any animal turn and run, and I assume we would have all done the same.... so off we started, and I nervously noticed that I was at the back of the group - it was a relief to turn and see another guide bringing up the rear - also with a flare! Every rustle in the bushes caused heads to turn but I guess the tour must be safe or they would not continue doing it. Right? Anway, again the scenery was spectacular, lots of mossy trees, and the tour guide entertaining.

He pointed out various plants that should not be touched, and showed us huge slugs that inhabited the area ...

Logan and Jodie were the only kids in our group so he pointed out a huge hollow under a tree, and asked them to peek in to see if there were any bears there.

Apparently it had been a den at one time, but was too close to the path so had been abandoned. At the end of the trail was a sanctuary for reindeer and eagles ... the deer were just shedding their winter coats so looked pretty shaggy. They enjoyed being fed and petted ...

and were in the process of growing new antlers - some old broken antlers were there, waiting to be tried on....

A native demonstrated totem pole carving -

and the kids checked out the sizes of local trees.

But these were the only bears we came across -

I think everyone was just a little disappointed not to have had a live encounter! When the bus drove us back to the pier, it was drizzling, and Jodie was pretty tired so she and her Dad went back to the ship, while the rest of us hit a few tourist shops,

and Logan found a totem pole to hug.

The prettiest street by far was 'Creek Street', which is now nothing but tourist shops and galleries, but in earlier days was a well known 'entertainment' district.

And so we headed back to the ship and after another wonderful meal, Jodie and her Mom headed for bed. The rest of us went to the show - that night's entertainment was "Recycled Percussion" - a group of four young men singing, dancing and drumming on anything and everything. Each member of the audience was offered a drumstick and a dented metal tray, pot or baking pan so they could accompany the musicians. And they thoughtfully offered everyone foam ear plugs as well! We all thoroughly enjoyed the upbeat and energetic performance - Logan's favorite part was a "Totally Random Cookie Time", when, while a ditty by that name was sung/played, the four percussionists donned aprons and chefs' hats, grabbed huge trays of cookies and ran through the audience distributing the cookies - lots of fun. And good cookies! It took Logan a little while to settle down that night - he would seem to be asleep, but then start singing "totally random cookie time" and chuckle to himself.