This past week has been one of the most fun and memorable ones that we've had so far in Ketchikan, because my mom finally arrived for her visit with us after a week long rafting trip along the Selway River in Idaho and Montana. She arrived late on Friday night and we settled in to her rental apartment with some wine and some good story sharing.
After getting out of work early on Saturday, Mom wanted to take me out to lunch, which initiated our sad tour of Ketchikan's measly selection of restaurants and eateries. Matt and I usually never have to worry about this because we don't go to restaurants. After an adequate lunch at Annabelle's (named after a beloved prostitute, as are most things in this city) we hit up the Blueberry Festival. This festival was a wonderful gathering of community members to share artwork, food and music with each other. Interestingly enough, though, was our discovery that there are in fact no blueberries at the Blueberry Festival. If you inquired about the location of said blueberries to the locals, they quickly turned defensive. The two best responses we got when we asked were:
1. "It's not about the blueberries, it's really about the culture"
2. "Well there's actually a grocery store right down the street and I think they have them there..."
A few days later we found out that the reason there aren't blueberries at the festival is because all the blueberries on the island, while delicious, are infested with little worms. Mmmm, tasty! Another delightful aspect of the festival was the Battle of the Bands. Well...sort of delightful, seeing as the only band we heard was a heavy metal band and it didn't really sound like real music. After giggling behind our hands about the band we noticed that two of the band members worked at the Duck Tours and one of them worked at the Lumberjack Show. It was pretty weird.
 |
| The weirdest part was that I think these guys won |
The Blueberry Festival culminated in a beer tasting at the Lumberjack Show site which was super fun, but we kind of couldn't believe they'd let that many drunk people around a pool with a bunch of logs in it, surrounded by chainsaws.
 |
| Mom and Matt drinking $30 worth of beer in itty bitty cups |
When we bought our tickets for the beer tasting we were automatically entered into a raffle, and amazingly enough I won the grand prize! This would have been a little more exciting if the grand prize was something useful or even something I could carry home. Instead, I won:
 |
| A Twisted Tea Bean Bag Tossing Game! |
The game board weighed about 40 pounds and folded into a suitcase which didn't make it any easier to carry. I ended up giving it to the lumberjacks, who have already made a lot more use of it at their frat house then I ever would have at my apartment. It was cool that I won something but I would have been perfectly happy with the "inferior prizes" such as the Alaska sweatshirt or baseball cap. I guess I can just add this to the random things I have won in my life, such as the Diaper Derby when I was a toddler, and a ride on a scooter pulled by a team of sled dogs in college.
Although I had to work on Sunday, Matt had off so he spent the day with Cathy- they went to the Eagle Hatchery and hit up a few of the totem pole hot spots in the city.
 |
| One of the two teaching eagles at the Eagle Sanctuary |
|
 |
| The Clan House at Totem Bight |
By far the best part of Mom's visit was our excursion on Monday. We got free tickets onto Kevin's Wilderness Survival Skills boat tour (let's just say we know a guy) AND there happened to be a videographer on board so we'll be in a promotional video for the tour! Our skilled guides took us on a beautiful boat ride to Blank Island, telling us about the natural history and ecology of Ketchikan and the surrounding islands along the way.
 |
| Pretending to have a deep conversation to get in on some promotional film time |
 |
| Naturalist Casey shows passengers some Dungeness Crabs pulled from a crab pot |
The boat dropped us off on the island with the Wilderness Skills Instructor, Jeff. As we watched the boat recede into the distance, Jeff informed us that we were now officially in a survival situation and that he would teach us how to utilize the resources on the island in order to stay alive and comfortable. We learned how to make shelter, identify "edible" items and start a fire with a magnesium striker. It was awesome.
 |
| Exploring Blank Island |
 |
| Jeff informs passengers that you can actually eat that thing! |
 |
| Our first foray into home ownership! |
|
 |
| Starting a fire from scratch! |
We had so much fun on our excursions but we had an equally great time kicking back in the apartment eating great food and over-analyzing the Olympics. It was so great to see my mom and get to spend some quality time with her. And it was also awesome that she fed us food and bought us nice things. She headed back to New Jersey yesterday and Matt and I are settling back into our routine. As for me, there are some interesting things in the works and I will dish more later in the week as things develop.
Stay tuned for more!
Bridget
No comments:
Post a Comment