Actually, we got 3 sunsets--each more lovely than the preceding--as the ship moved south and the sunshow varied magnificently, while we viewed the declining orb through different levels of undulating mountains in the Inland Passage.
Ketchikan is the fourth largest city in Alaska and a popular port of call for cruise ships sailing the Inside Passage. It is also the rainiest city in the US, with over 162 inches each year!
Typical Ketchikan Weather
Ketchikan is located on Revillagigedo Island, and fishing, timber, and mining were once the most prevalent occupations. Today, tourism is just about the only thing going on. There are numerous trinket and diamond shops. Many of the buildings still have a turn-of-the-century look, and there are shore excursions; we passed on these.
A River Runs Through It
Creek Street is Ketchikan's historic shopping and entertainment area, and its stilted houses are very picturesque. Like most Inside Passage communities, Ketchikan is not accessible via car, and even its "international" airport is only accessible via a small ferry.
Old Town on Stilts
Central Park
It's a bridge to the future of the people of Ketchikan. ~ Lisa Murkowski, Republican Senator from Alaska
[Dubbed the "Bridge to Nowhere," the bridge in Alaska would have connected the town of Ketchikan (est. population 7,400) with its airport on the Island of Gravina (population 50) at a cost to federal taxpayers of $320 million, by way of three separate earmarks in a highway bill in 2005. It was never built.]
