It was hard to believe this was day 6 of our cruise and we were due to arrive at 1PM in Ketchikan, the southeastern most city in Alaska, and its 4th largest. Our excitement was building because at Ketchikan we were going to see eagles, totems, and a lighthouse.
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| Lighthouse, Totems and Eagles |
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| Inside Passage |
This was the opportunity to see a one-time only screening of Destino, a fantastic brainchild of one of the most unlikely pairings in the history of Hollywood and the Art world. We had plenty of time before docking in Ketchikan, so we made it a point to show up at Dazzles where this screening was held. It was very interesting and I am very glad we took the opportunity to view this screening. Jack Warner held a dinner party in 1945, and this concept of Walter Disney and Salvador Dali corroborating began to evolve.
Disney said good new ideas have to be fought for; they do not just come. He felt Dali bubbled with ideas and was communicative. He also felt it was important to keep breaking new trails.
Destino was the name of a Mexican ballad Disney had envisioned for a musical short film project for which he had been compiling short features for theatrical release. Dali was attracted to Destino's title and the concept. In late 1946, for eight months he became an employee of Walt Disney Studios, arriving at 8:30 and working to 5PM. Twenty seconds of film, several paintings, various pen-and-ink drawings, and many storyboards came out of this period of time.
Dali talked about this collaborative in his own newsletter, saying it would "offer to the world the first vision of psychological relief". He was a pioneer in printmaking in the 20th century. All printing methods used by Collectors Editions in the publication of Destino artwork are the same ones Salvador Dali used throughout his career, and performed the same way, with his artistic vision and sensibilities firmly in mind.
Ketchikan
Alaska's first city was founded in 1885 as a salmon cannery site, with fishing being its initial livelihood. This earned it the title "Salmon Capital of the World".
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| 1st City in Alaska |
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| Easy walking from the dock to tours, shopping, etc. |
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| Long, tall stairway at far end of photo |
On our boat tour, we had many opportunities to look for eagles as we viewed trees with their nests at a distance, but it was a challenge focusing in on the nests with my 5X zoom camera.
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| See eagles nest three branches down from top of tree in center. |
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| Totems in state park accessible from water |
Two eagles on this side of the highway can be seen on the rocks.
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| Two eagles |
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| Rough waters with predictions for 6-foot waves |
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| Warning of dangerous rocks ahead |
Rain Capital of Alaska
No one waits for the weather to change. Average rainfall tops 200 inches, so all visitors are likely to experience the "liquid sunshine". Remember you can click on any photo to enlarge it.
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| Rain gauge near ship dock |
Elephant in our cabin
Back at our cabin, the ship employee responsible for making up our room had left another fine creation in our room. About every other day he would create an animal using a bath towel, first a bunny, then a monkey. This time we found an elephant resting on the bed to welcome us back. All were adorable!
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| Elephant created from one bath towel |
Tonight, we enjoyed another table with a view while eating our dinner.
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| My sister and I ready to order dinner |
Enjoying this Alaskan vacation with my sister has been fantastic! Thanks to my sister who did a superb job of pulling it all together! Alaska is so fascinating, perhaps because much of the beauty of Alaska has been untouched!
We had a total of five people in our group, but to protect their privacy, I have purposely not used any photographs of the other three.
Activities offered on the ship included a huge variety of things too numerous to list here. This was a non-smoking cruise. However, in the casino on board people were allowed to smoke if they were playing the machines. An exercise room, spa, library reading room, plus entertainers, game shows, bingo, shopping, and dancing were only a small fraction of on-board activities. Golfers got to take part in a "hole-in-one" challenge down the main staircase one afternoon as passengers looked on from several levels.
Two individual entertainers that we particularly enjoyed on several evenings were Brian Rath who sang and accompanied himself on the guitar, and Tim Kruse, who played the Grand Piano. Brian's programs included evenings where he featured James Taylor hits, Radio hits of modern masters who made their mark on contemporary music, All-time hits, Acoustic Pop, etc. Tim featured programs of nice soft jazz, piano bar hits of the 50's and 60's, tribute to Billy Joel and Elton John, classic rock, and even a sing-along program. The musical entertainment provided by these two guys kept us coming back to hear more.
Celebrating a Beautiful Cruise with Festive Balloons
Day 7 was mostly getting our bags in order and making sure our passports were easily accessible. The last evening on ship the five in our group enjoyed dinner overlooking the water from a round table with a window view in one of the main dining rooms. Later my sister and I joined others along with the cruise director in a sing-a-long of familiar songs, after which festive, colorful balloons were released to float down from the ceiling near the central staircase.
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| Festive balloons released after group singing. |
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