Kake

We docked early in Kake this morning at 8. This is a traditional Tlingit Indian village. After another hearty breakfast(guess you can see a pattern here), a Tlingit elder from Kake gave us a brief overview of Kake and it's history. Our driver, Ellie, took us to a totem carver, Mike Jackson, where he gave us a demonstration on totem carving. Then, we walked a short way to see the world's tallest totem pole. It is in dire need of painting and the elders are contemplating what to do with it. Then, we were driven to a salmon hatchery which was not being worked at the time. We were given a tour and told how it works, which was very enlightening. Now, I understand why salmon is so expensive in grocery stores here. There was a children's fishing derby going on at the time and one little girl about 5 was proudly carrying her fish around. We went to the community center for a performance by the Keex' Kwaan Tlingit dances. They were dressed in full regalia. We were told there were usually about 30 dancers, but due to the fishing derby there were only a dozen or so that morning. It was much fun and one young man named Drew was very outgoing and kept us entertained. We ate lunch on the ship and then Aspen, Cody and I walked to a general store which was very small and , I think, their only grocery store. They buy from Costco and break up the packages. The items were very expensive. Back at the ship, I visited with a young deck hand, Seth, who was from Kake, but now lives in Sitka. He told me people could hunt anywhere except they could not shoot across a road or on a road. His dad was almost killed when someone shot at an animal on the road close to him. The hunter was fined a very hefty amount. Seth's mother at one time had a home business called ''So Soft Creations'' with items made from sea otter fur. This is the softest fur I have ever touched, but is very expensive. We sailed from Kake about 3 PM and as were were leaving, we could see rain moving in on the town of Kake. We had perfect weather the whole trip with just a small shower or two. Okay, cookies today were chocolate chip cinnamon. I never eat cookies at home! Lamech is the best baker. Tonight was the Captain's dinner as it was our last night on the ship. I had gone up to the bridge several times which was encouraged and met Captain Stu Vincent. He was very nice about answering my questions. He told me our entire round trip was about 800 miles. He sat at the table with Cody and me. We had baked potato soup(my favorite of many tasty soups), seared salmon, potatoes and broccoli and our choice of about ten different desserts. Lamech outdid himself that night. I chose creme brulee which I had once before. Howard sang for us dressed in his native regalia. Then, we watched a slideshow that he had put together of our trip. We saw him every day with his trusty camera snapping pictures. We were all given a copy of the CD the next morning which was just another nice thing they did for us and topped off a most wondrous cruise. Jess was a very good artist and he sketched a picture of Aspen from a photo of her and gave it to her. The ship made its way slowly back to Sitka. We went through a very narrow strait, aptly named Peril Strait.