Alaska - July 2012

Cylon ship? (Ignore if you're not a Battlestar Galactica fan.)

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One of the onboard sessions was a presentation by Libby Riddles, the first woman to win the Iditarod. It was a really interesting presentation, and gave us a much better understanding of what an amazing feat of endurance the Iditarod is (the winner usually makes it in 10-13 days, getting only a few hours of sleep a day. The dogs are the real athletes, but the mushers pretty impressive, too!

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Libby and Cheri.

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Ketchikan is a quaint and charming little town. Although it still has plenty of tourist places, it doesn't feel as commercialized as Skagway (which is TOTALLY touristy) and Juneau. It's the only one of the three we felt like we would like to spend more time.

Some dumb tourist outside the Totem Pole Museum in Ketchikan.

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Cheri, Traci and Rick outside Totem Pole Museum in Ketchikan

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The first known photo of an Alaskan tribe with totem poles

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The totem pole museum in Ketchikan.

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Some ceremonial masks.

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Part of a very old totem pole

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Alaskan health food. Hey, you need lots of fat calories to build up your layer of blubber for winter...

There was no shortage of food. In fact, the huge buffet made it far too easy to eat, eat, eat!

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Our outstanding wait staff, dressed up for formal night.

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Blowing out the candle on his birthday cake!

Dick, who organized and hosted this great trip, gets some well-deserved applause!