Catch Me in Ketchikan

After a long and anxious travel day, the first night of our trip was spent finding our way to food and drink, unpacking and crashing hard.

The first full day onboard was entirely at sea and my first stop was the fitness center. I fired up a treadmill that directly faced the wake we were creating and settled in to watch mountains slip by on the starboard side.

The footing took a little getting used to ... the boat is moving, of course. I managed 4 miles and we spent the rest of the day exploring the ship.

The next morning, we landed in Ketchikan and it was characteristically raining. Ketchikan is the southeastern-most city in Alaska gets more than 12 feet of rain a year. That's FEET, people. It's like Ireland. With more rain. It's a city of 8000 people and the 6th largest in the whole state.

It was fun to be on the treadmill as we pulled into the dock. It was also surprisingly smooth. With another 4 miles in and a quick trip through the breakfast buffet, we disembarked, bought rain ponchos, took a spin through the town's historic red light district, stopped at a candy shop and then went back to the boat to find the bus to our first excursion -- sea kayaking!

I have never kayaked before. Never been in a canoe. I was sort of worried I would not be so good at it. More worried, truthfully, that when you sat in a kayak you were actually strapped in somehow and if it flipped, you could get stuck upside down underwater. Big relief when I saw this wasn't true.

We were in a bay with an island a ways out from shore and the sun poked out at just the right time. We paddled for about 2 hours, all the way around the island, stopping to marvel at the bald eagles overhead, the thousands of super bright orange and purple starfish piled in the crevices of the shoreline rocks and the most outrageously beautiful surrounding emerald green mountains.

It was a great upper body workout, too. We'd hang back from the group and explore, then paddle like hell to catch up with the rest. After rounding our last corner, we made a little game with our guide and raced back to the dock. I have been pestering Jim since we got home to go rent kayaks somewhere. It was fun! Really fun.

The whole experience was unbelievable and we have exactly one photo because I was afraid to carry our SLR camera in the dry bag and more afraid to whip out a cell phone, lest I drop it in the drink. Our guide was kind enough to snap and share this:

My life jacket rode up a bit. But I didn't care too much. After a morning of
 rain, we've got another great hair day in Alaska! I eventually donned a hat.

Exercise: 4 miles on treadmill, 1-2 miles walking about town and almost 2 hours paddling at a moderate pace
Food Splurge: Chocolate from a shop in town. Non-memorable dessert at formal dinner.
Hair Day Rating (1=worst, 10=best): 3