Ketchikan Lay Day 2

Today is the big day. We are going to the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show. We’ve “heard” the crowd roar when we’ve been here before but have never seen the show. We know it’s going to be kitschy, but fun.

today we play tourist

To get ourselves in the right frame of mind, we hit some of the other tourist highlights. We walked the infamous Creek Street. The buildings built on pilings along the salmon creek are now full of small souvenir shops with only an echo of the brothels of its heyday.

creek street is touristy, historic and charming. Visit after the cruise boats depart to enjoy the latter two.

We took in some of the other shops in town in the vain hope of discovering something we could not live without.

We would be remiss if we did not mention the Three Bears grocery store. You need a car because it is south of town near the native village of Saxman. It is large, has a great selection of items, the produce is the best in town and it sits on a most magnificent plot of land overlooking Tongass Narrows. If you’re coming up from the south, look for it on your starboard side before you get to the Coast Guard station. Co-located is an Ace Hardware and a liquor store.

the three bears, our new avorite grocery in Ketchikan

The Lumberjack show was a hoot. We were happy it wasn’t raining, as I can’t imagine how hard that would be for the 4 jacks and the female emcee. These guys were really talented and two we ranked 1st and 2nd in the world rankings. They performed impressive stunts in a U.S. vs. Canada “competition”, and the cruise-ship crowd had a great time, as did we.

it was a fierce competition between the U.S. and canada Teams

the pole climb is an impressive display of these lumberjack’s talents

how these two can stay on the log as long as they did was impressive

Dinner was at a place Karen found called the 108 Taphouse and Burger Bar. Part of the Cape Fox Native Corporation since 2022, this burger and beer pub is small and has a loyal following with the locals. Reservations are a must for dinner. We saw lots of people – mostly locals – being turned away as both the tables and bar seats were filled. It’s an open kitchen, so it was fun to watch the chefs as they made burgers and other bar goodies.