It is now Day 4 of my trip, but Day 3 of the cruise – it is Sunday, May 13th, 2012, and it is also Mother’s Day.  Ketchikan was our first port visit on the cruise, and therefore, my first real glimpse of Alaska.  I had a shore excursion that I had pre-booked  with our CruiseOne shore excursions provider  http://www.shoreexcursionsgroup.com/Ketchikan-Shore-Excursions-s/104.htm.  The shore excursion consisted of three excursions in a package, and would allow me to experience Ketchikan, as well as two of the other port stops – Skagway, and Juneau.  The price was really good, and I figured that instead of just walking around the pier where the cruise ship docks, I should go further into these destinations, and go to the main attractions.  So, today’s Excursion 1 (out of 3)  is  the Saxman Native Village and Ketchikan City Tour.

I live in San Diego now, so it’s a little like someone coming to San Diego, but not knowing about the beautiful beaches of Del Mar, La Jolla, and Encinitas or about Balboa Park, or the Hotel Del in Coronado.  If they just wander around the cruise port area, all they would see is beautiful SeaPort Village, and the harbor area near Anthony’s Fish Grotto Restaurant.  There would be so much left of San Diego that would be left undiscovered, and that is why you sometimes just have to take these excursions, so that a professional tour organizer will take you to the best spots.

I only had to walk about two or three minutes away from where the cruise ship docked to check in with the bus – all the information about the meeting point was on my ticket.  The bus set off promptly at 8:30 am and altogether this excursion lasted about two and a half hours.  We went past the downtown Ketchikan area, which is within walking distance of the cruise terminal, and then made a few stops along the way to our ultimate destination – Saxman Native Village – which is where all the totem poles are.  The two stops we made along the way were so we could take pictures of a waterfall, and a lake.

Here are some pictures of these two stops along the way:

This picture was taken while in the bus on the Saxman Native Village Tour shore excursion

I kind of like the picture above, even though it’s not the best since it was taken in the bus, and shows one of the passengers in the way of the view.  The waterfall pictures were not that unique, so I didn’t include.  Below is a picture of  the lake where we stopped, and then I just had to take a picture of a house in Ketchikan.  Then there are some pictures of totem poles, and some interesting street signs, as well as a Ketchikan trolley.

Some historical information about the totem poles

After viewing all the totem poles, we headed back to downtown Ketchikan, which is where I took the rest of the pictures below:

Don’t forget to visit Dolly’s House on Creek Street, this is a tourist attraction – with a story behind it that I won’t get into here.  Ketchikan is well worth the visit, it is so colorful, I could not stop taking pictures.  I hope you enjoyed looking at all of my pictures, and please let me know if you have any comments.