Barbara J. Hamby

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Alaska Cruise - Continued 3

I omitted a couple of highlights of the trip. A fall on my face in Juneau, left me with a broken front tooth, a cut lip, and a scraped knee. The cut on my lip is nearly invisible now, the knee is mostly healed, and the dentist rebuilt the tooth today. I’m not as good as new, but may be better than when I left.

In Skagway, a local character presented a program on the ship that included a recitation of “Dangerous Dan McGrew,” and “The Cremation of Sam Mc Gee.” He claims students in Skagway cannot graduate from high school without memorizing those two classics. What a kick to hear them recited with great gusto in the area where they originated.

We left Skagway at 8:45 p.m. Tuesday and arrived at Tracy Arm about 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday. We cruised Tracy Arm for several hours before turning back because of icebergs and smaller ice in the water that made it dangerous to navigate. The temperature was an unseasonable 60 degrees F. and the sky was cloudless. We were told there are only about ten such days a year in that area.

We arrived in Ketchikan at 6:00 a.m. on Thursday. Since we would only have about six hours there, we had not booked any tours. Instead, we chose to take a walking tour of the city. A steep, winding trail along a scenic creek took us up to a fish ladder and the Totem Heritage Center, where I photographed a number of totem poles. We also visited a library and museum. My feet would not take me through the museum, so I rested them on a bench in the library while Al toured the museum. Back on the ship shortly after Noon, we headed South to Victoria.

(To be continued)