Other Cities in Alaska: Sitka and Ketchikan

We went on a cruise to Alaska last May, you can read about that here. Our first stop was Alaska's Capital Juneau, and in my post on Juneau, I wrote about how I had a hard time imagining that it was the Capital City since what we've seen of downtown was small and quiet, but it was only when we docked the next day at Sitka did I realize that by comparison, Juneau really was the capital city. Hahaha.

The ship docked in the middle of the sea so it really looked like we
were in the middle of nowhere.

We had to take a tender to go to town, but the system is so organized,
you just go to the appointed lounge to get a boarding card
which says what time the tender leaves.

Off to Sitka in the tender,
but it's really just a very short ride.

Sofia with a tender in the background.

Can you spy the Bald Eagle we saw on our way to the shore?

We also saw a seal after we got off the tender.

I must confess, my eyes aren't really that good. I didn't spot all those animals without help. It;s my hearing that's good, because when I hear people get excited and see them pointing to something, I just look in the same direction and quickly whip out my camera too. 

Sitka is an even smaller and quieter city than Juneau. 

The Bald Eagle welcomed us this time.

We didn't really look at the map so when we saw a free shuttle to the
shopping area downtown we quickly jumped in.

It brought us to their store with Russian inspired Jewelry
and quite a lot of mined stones.

We didn't realize that downtown was an even shorter main street, that would just lead us back to the ship. Hahaha. The city offers free wifi downtown so we just parked ourselves on a bench and started surfing.

We saw the volcano...

and the church that were featured on both sides of the Welcome to Sitka
sign.

Other things of interest include:

Reindeer Hotdog Stand, but I was too full to try.

I'd say Sitka was the place we visited with the most Fur Shops.
They even have fur undies! And yes, that's the bear's face!

We attempted to play tourist by taking a picture
with the Totem in front of Pioneer's House.

We also tried shopping in the Book Store.
I found free books but Sofia came out empty handed.

Tito Ian saved Sofia's day by getting her a hand-drawn
Coloring Book. She was really happy.

Group picture before we headed back to the ship.

Thanks for my freebies, Sitka!

Ketchikan was our last stop in Alaska. We had higher hopes for this place because the tourist information said that they had a lot of shops and jewelry stores similar to Juneau, and they were known for Totems, Salmon and there was a famous Red Light District area. For me, I was just thinking that this was my last chance at helping the economy of Alaska and I was thinking that something similar to my souvenir from Rio would make me really really happy (and my bank account very very sad), but it was not meant to be. If you're curious, my Rio souvenir is the last picture on this post.

When we woke up, our view wasn't that promising.

However, things started to look up when we saw the other side of the
ship from our breakfast table. Yay for stores!

This was also part of the view from the ship.

I don't remember any animals welcoming us this time around.

Sofia went directly to the penny collector machines,
since Sitka didn't even have them.

We gave in and bought Color Changing Nail Polish for Fi
and they were nice enough to give her a free color changing ring.

Check out that ring! It's now purple!

Did you know that Ketchikan is the Salmon Capital of the World?
There were a lot of Salmon Shops offering free taste,
but it's not really my cup of tea. I think it tastes too fishy.

At the Totem Replica Store

The real Totems were in a park further than walking distance,
so we settled on tiny Whale Park instead for some Totem Pics.
I say tiny because what you see in the picture is all of Whale Park.

We made our way to Creek Street,
the historical sight of the Red Light District.

Ads and Fi by the creek of Creek Street.

With Ma and Pa at before entering.

These used to be the Red Light Houses on stilts by the creek.

Now, all of them are... Souvenir Shops!

We saw a Tram (and it was only $2 for unlimited rides) so we explored.
Little did we know that it went to Cape Fox Lodge Hotel.
It was a nice ride, and the view of downtown and the ship is nice.

Just some trivia, Do you know what the tallest structure in Ketchikan is? When we were there, it was the Oosterdam! Or maybe that was the tram guide being sarcastic. 

We just took a quick pic at the park at the back of the hotel.
BTW, it's bigger than Whale Park. Hahaha.

We sort of spilt up with the rest of the group after the tram to do our thing.

Sofia and I stopped at Good Coffee Co for a Cappuccino and Free WiFi.

Then I dragged by daughter to the Jewelry Shops hoping to find
something that screams "Buy Me!"

I was really tempted by these. The store said they're
Mardi Gras Topaz, except there was a catch.

The store selling the Mardi Gras Topaz had a sign that said "$99 for Most Things". Uhmmmm... Really a turn-off for Jewelry since you don't go to Daiso to look for your precious (or even Semi-) stones. They explain it by saying that they just selling everything at one price to avoid haggling, so they say they take a loss on some pieces while they make up for it with others. This also limits their assortment to selling only stones set in silver or loose stones. I was really tempted by the Mardi Gras Topaz which they were selling for $99 for one pendant in silver (above) or $99 for two loose stones (below). I walked away because I wanted to set my stone in a ring - just like my H. Stern Ring from Rio (and just the gold would have cost me much more than the stones), so I wanted to only spend if there was value in the stones (which I was highly questioning) and I also didn't want an extra one, because $100 was a bit too much to spend. Coming from shopping for Jewels in Sri Lanka - I know how much was acceptable to spend per carat in general for Topaz, as well as for the other popular stones. I am glad I didn't give in because you can't even find any google image of the Mardi Gras Topaz online, so that probably was just colored glass cut really nicely.  

We just settled for the free gift for entering instead.

Since Sofia was so patient when it was my turn, she was allowed to buy
2 soft toys and a husky bag.
The lady was nice enough to give her a free shopping tote and she told
 Sofia to call it her "Memory Bag" and stash her treasured toys inside.

Sofia and I taking our last picture in Alaska.

Freebies from Ketchikan!

Goodbye Alaska! Thanks for all the freebies. Sorry I didn't see anything I wanted to buy, but I swear I really really tried. just saying.