July 24, 2013 Wednesday
Day 17

We couldn't wait to get out and explore around Ketchikan, so even though it was drizzling, we headed out to Totem Bight State Park, a woodsy trail with a collection of reconstructed and restored totem poles. The story of this park: Once natives had moved away, their villages and totem poles were left behind to become overgrown by forests and eroded by weather. In 1938, the US Forest Service used the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) funds to hire skilled carvers to restore and reconstruct these abandoned totem poles, preserving this piece of native culture in what is now a beautiful state park.
At the park, we saw a bald eagle fly overhead, break a branch from a tree, then he flew to another eagle perched high in a tree, placing the branch in the nest. He was either building a nest or doing a remodel, but it was so cool to watch. We saw him do this several times before we moved on. He was always under the watchful eye of his mate, who I imagined was the wife, making sure he put things in the proper place.

Next we drove into town to check out the historic sites plus the shops and touristy areas. There was a bridge we could stand on and just watch salmon swimming by. Several people were catching fish right here in the center of town.
Browsed some shops, many are locally owned and it was cool to see the true native art. Five HUGE cruise ships were in port, so there was quite a buzz going on in town
We had dinner in O'Brien's Pub, then headed back to camp to watch an episode of the Bachelorette on our iPad. Yeah, I admit it, we watch it, haha!

Wildlife Sightings
Bald Eagles