Ketchikan? You betchikan!

Hey, Ellen!

Lance, my husband, has come up with this catchy Ketchikan phrase…Doncha love it! I’m gonna get a t-shirt made up just for you…ok, and one for Lance…and me…and Gene…and anyone else reading this who wants one and sends in $19.95 plus S & H.

“Ketchikan! You betchikan!”

Lemme tell you why that phrase rocks my Crocs. Mainly because we just saw a wild black bear mama and her two cubs, and as we are standing on a freezing bridge, watching the swirling, spawning, five foot salmon below us, ANOTHER mama bear comes hunkering along with a single cub…All the while, there are about 15 bald eagles flying overhead, along with a seal poking it’s head up from the sea, far side of the bridge, right next to a very wet and happy sea otter, playing hide and seek with the waves. Sounds like it is too good to be true? That’s just the tip of the iceberg (there aren’t any here, by the way) here in Ketchikan. There’s also starfish and crabs bigger than your head.
BLUE crabs…and red crabs! And a wonderful NPR community radio station (KRBD) and yummy food (Halibut Hut, which even had a cool jukebox…I played “MmmBop” just for you) and yesterday we hiked Ward Lake in the Tsongass National Preserve where we saw TWO RIDICULOUSLY HUGE SLUGS…banana slugs…one was lime green and looked like a tank, and the other one was stretched all the way out, just like a squishy banana. iolana discovered them both cuz, as I pointed out, she’s small enough to be down by the good stuff! We also saw a beaver
swimming lazily towards some tall reeds, and two kingfishers and many, many ravens. The ravens seemed ominous, but didn’t bother our good fun in the woods, dappled light on our faces, fresh cherries in our mouths, laughing and spitting the pits here and there. Waterfalls, chipmunks, occassional dog poop. (Or deer poop, but it sure smelled like dogs…)

We all saw the Lumberjack (and Lumberjill) Show. That is another entry bound to happen….

Ok, more later, I’m gonna go snuggle with my honey…tomorrow is the Ketchikan Fourth of July Parade through downtown, and we are going to cheer and eat pie homemade by the local church ladies.