This morning started with the ship slowly cruising into Sitka, Alaska and it was overcast and dreary looking but as we got closer and closer to the pier, the clouds lifted and it was a nice day overall. Clear (no sun) and 54 degrees was the high today according to our TV. We walked off the ship and took the free shuttle to downtown Sitka. From there, we walked about 20 minutes to the Sitka National Historical Park. On the way, we stopped and tried a reindeer dog. Its a hot dog made from reindeer meat. A local lady started making these and theyve popular. She was nice. We got one to share and I had two bites. It didnt taste like anything bad but it was a bit spicy. I thought it tasted like a warmed summer sausage. Im surprised I tried it but Kamie tries everything everywhere we go. He liked it. Once we reached the park, we walked their totem pole walk. Its one mile through the forest and along the beach dotted with totem poles. Pretty area. The totem poles are neat to see. I just wonder how they carved them so high? We dont know
because we didnt go inside the visitors center. We walked back to find the shuttle. This walk is along the waterfront with lots of interesting things to see along the way including lawns and gardens. Sitka is clean, beautiful, and there seems to be a lot of pride in ownership. Our shuttle driver told us the average home is $630,000 and she pointed out a small trailer park and said each of those homes would range from $250,000 to $300,000. (and they didnt seem to be as well taken care of as everything else). The local high school is about the size of a large house and the building looks like the houses surrounding it. We ate lunch today at a place on the dock called Crab & Chowder. You can hold your crab before they cook it (if you want) and they are all locally caught. We did a sampler of King Crab Legs and Dungeness Crab Legs. We shared some delicious chowder too. We ate everything but the coleslaw. We also tried the local Spruce Tree beer. Its a novelty but not necessarily a good beer. We got back to the boat earlier than most cruisers because
we didnt have a scheduled tour in this port so I got the big Lido Deck hot tub all by myself for about 20 minutes. It was great! I watched another movie on the stateroom TV (Bottom of the 9th). It was okay but I think all this movie watching is boring at this point. Im going to have to find something else to do tomorrow afternoon. We have a planned activity off the ship early in the morning but everyone has to be back on the boat by noon tomorrow. We watched the Coast Guard do a rescue from our balcony! At first, we thought maybe the boat was capsizing but then we saw the Coast Guard helicopter dropped a guy in the water and there was one person on the boat. the Coast Guard guy swam onto the boat, then the Coast Guard helicopter and got really really low like we couldnt believe how low that helicopter was to the water and it was taking too long so our ship had passed but we assume they strapped the boat guy to the coast guard person and took them both up in the helicopter or?? Either the boat
engine failed and the guy was stranded or the guy had some sort of medical or health problem and radioed for help? We have no idea but it looked pretty cool. That water is maybe in the 40s, if that though Im sure the Coast Guard wetsuits are super thick still what a job!
