Ketchikan - Our Final Port

Picture perfect Creek Street

Our last port was Ketchikan, and we had booked a Misty Fjords flightseeing tour with Family Air. We didn’t have to meet with them until 2:30p, so we headed up toward Creek Street for some photo ops.  I liked the stores up there for their uniqueness. We tried Salmonberry jam, Huckleberry jam and Birch caramel, and bought a little of each. We also bought a Totem at Creek Street.  We found the same totems down in town, but most cost a little more. We headed toward the main streets in town and went through several stores. After a while, they all start looking the same.

The city sign is probably a good idea
after all the places we've been to in the
last two weeks!

Misty Ketchikan the morning of our arrival

The SUV from Family Air was right on time, and we headed off to their pier. Another group had just landed and they were thrilled with their trip.  They stopped at a lake and did a little fishing, they were very successful. We had booked the flightseeing with a landing on a lake. If this had been our first port, and our first look at Alaska, we probably would have been more impressed. Our pilot, Dave, was as nice as could be, and very accommodating; he flew by a waterfall he knew I wanted to photograph. When we landed, he showed us a stick that beavers had chewed off, eaten the bark and discarded, which I thought was cool. But the whole trip just could not compare to the summit flight we took over Denali. It’s not something I would really need to do again.

A shot of our ship as we take off

Islands in the sound as we head toward Misty Fjords

The lake in the distance is our landing spot

Our plane was teeny-tiny - 4 1/2 seats

The view as we leave Misty Fjords

More gorgeousness

Are we in Alaska or Norway?

After looking at the photos from our Misty Fjords trip, I can't believe I wrote the above paragraph (most of the writing was done as we went).  I must have been drunk from all the Alaskan beauty.  I mean, hello! It's really gorgeous. I was pretty jaded not to be knocked out by Misty Fjords while we were there. My bad. I guess I'd seen too many incredible mountains, glaciers, forests, lakes, waterfalls, etc., earlier in the trip.

We realized that the entire cabin was
metal, so we used the magnets collected
along the way to fasten our Inside
Passage map to the wall.

Our last cruise day, through the Inside Passage was uneventful.  It was so foggy that we could barely make out any land to port or starboard.  It was okay, since we had to pack up anyway.

That's it for Alaska.  It was incredibly beautiful and I'd go back in a heartbeat. I thought Princess did a fabulous job, on land, by train or by ship.  We had impeccable service, and I won't hesitate to take another cruise with Princess.