Cruise 2015: What a Ketch-ikan

Our cruise's second to the last port of call was Ketchikan, Alaska. While there were excursions offered in the place, we chose to do without any of them and instead discover the city for ourselves. Plus, the excursion choices didn't appeal to us as if they were worth spending over anyway haha!

To kickstart our self-piloted exploration, we first dropped by the tourist center to grab a map of Ketchikan. Skipping the excursions was the best decision in this case; not only did it allow us to choose whichever sites to soak up in, but it also allowed us to set our own pace. The city map even had several walking trails to follow, depending on the tourist's interests.

Ketchikan was filled with colorful, low-rise, wooden structures which could be spotted right from the harbour. We prodded deeper into the village until we got to Creek Street, one of Ketchikan's famous tourist spots. It was filled with shops that sold not just name-bearing souvenirs, but also native items like spirit animal stones, Ulu knives, and more. Of all the places we've been to, Ketchikan appeared to be the most in touch with its Native American origins-- right from its own name, to the totem poles that were scattered around the city.

As it turns out, Ketchikan was also one of the first places that Filipinos migrated to. An oriental restaurant put up by a kababayan stands as a proof of that history, and continues up to this day to serve patrons and curious gastronomists alike. While it would have been nice to try and see how authentic the food cooked up by Diaz Cafe was, we didn't eat there. Of course, we didn't pass up the chance to eat salmon at the Salmon Capital of the World! We also paired our salmon orders with Alaskan crab legs, which was even more heavenly when dipped in their lemon butter sauce. Not only did the seafood taste good, but you can tell that they were freshly caught and not some frozen stocks instead.

The remainder of our time in Ketchikan was spent buying some more souvenirs for ourselves as well as obligatory pasalubongs, eating some delish popcorn from a joint named "Orca Corn", and running through the drizzle.

On an ending (side)note, I would like to make a confession: another title that I considered using was "Keeping Up with Ketchikan". Although it fit with my habit of naming travel posts in alliterations, it was pretty cringe-worthy-- and I wouldn't have anyone cringing at one of my favorite destinations, would I? So I went with punny instead, because "salmon" and "catch", get it? 

One last post on our 2015 cruise after this one,