Alaska - half way

We are here. Only took us 20 years to get around to it. I'll try to post pictures later.

We were in Ketchikan yesterday. Chilly. Met  some interesting locals.

I have never seen so many jewelry stores in one place. The cruise line pointed everyone toward several of them, they paid sponsorship in a coupon book, by staging a 'scavenger hunt' of questions.

That being said, my favorite stores were both non-participants in the kickback game. They were Sockeye Sam's and Tongas Trading Company. I bought a silk shawl with Tlingit bear box motif at Sockeye Sam's.
From Tongas I got a nifty alpaca knit hat with ear coverings and those braidy strings.

Today we got up early and spent 2 - 2 1/2 hours on the upper deck (in our warm gear) as we traveled through Tracy Arm Fjord. There is so much gorgeous scenery that I couldn't decide where to look. After a couple of hours we kind of went into overload. A "few" pictures were taken. A glacier calved. Wow, just wow.

This afternoon we moored in Juneau. There must be a clause in our ship's contact that says that they must moor at the dock farthest from whatever town they stop at. Yesterday that meant a 10 minute walk. OK, did that. Today the note in the ship's paper said "15 minute walk to AJ Dock" Oh and BTW there is a low fee shuttle available for those you need it. HMMM walk or ride? Oh yeah that was tough. I doubt anyone walked.

Favorite store? Alaska Knife company, or maybe Rufus Page. R.P. is a small shop that carries local, and quite high quality, crafts. We purchased a man-size ulu for mister, among other small items.A.K. had a caribou antler handled ulu for me with a chopping bowl and sharpener included.

We are pulling away from dock and I am about to lose signal. Bye for now.

In April I put in some raised beds for planting veggies and herbs.

Here is a pic from a couple weeks ago. The tomato plants are taller now, still flowering. The strawberries are bearing small but very tasty berries; it's their 1st season. The kohlrabi are forming nice bulbs. The snap peas are trying to bush rather than climb, but hey we've got dinner veg. The string beans not quite so well. Fennel seems to really like me this year. You can't see it in the picture, there is a small planter of nasturtiums for color and to go into the salad as well. The cat? That's Celia.

There is enough green leaf, romaine, friese lettuces that we are sharing with one of his co-workers. And I think it is going to be a good thing that we like spinach salad as well.

 A friend will be tending the garden while we go on vacation. She's been told to share in the harvest.

Multi-color blooms

A bit more color, a few days later.