Well we docked a tad later today so I managed a sleep in and then I had time to wander the very interesting streets of this town. They say there are about 14 000 people that live here...making it the 4th biggest town in Alaska. The main industry is tourism from May to September and they too estimate they have 1million visitors per year. In fact today 5 cruise ships were pulling in which meant 9500 people to visit the town and spend money. They say that the other 25% of their income comes from fishing!
I took a town tour first today...on a duck....a vehicle that went on land and in the sea. It was a great, quick way to see around.
One of the amazing things I learnt today was about the 'Stair Streets'...these are streets that are actually hundreds of stairs going up and houses along the way....no other way to get to the house..a heck of a long way to carry groceries, furniture etc. In the winter time the Council have to clear the snow from the stairs as they are considered streets!
I learnt lots about Salmon fishing and the different types of boats they use to do the fishing. We even saw a harbour seal when out in the duck BUT I was too slow with the camera.
After some more time wandering the shops and picking up a few more knick knacks I made my way to my afternoon experience....the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show...wow are they strong. Check out some of the activities they did. They had the audience in 2 teams...half supporting Dawson Creek (I was in that team) and half supporting 'Mill'.
The people in the show are professional lumberjacks who compete across the world in competitions. Although for this last show of the season they also had 3 people from our cruise ship (our Cruise Director Kelsey, Location Guide Lance and Party Host Reggie) in the team for Dawson Creek. The other team had 3 staff from another cruise ship!
The night show tonight was 'Rocking Around the World'...the dancers and singers did a terrific job. The next day I was doing my laundry [boring I realise] and met one of the star singer and dancers Mum...she was from TEXAS and was on board for the first time to see him in action. She said he had already been in a live show of Shrek and a live show of Sesame Street!
Then late into the night I was in my element...on Deck 9 Reggie the Show Host ran a competition 'Country music - name that tune'. I did really well and impressed many people with my knowledge of country music! The prize was milkshakes!
The following day was on our final day on the boat! I started packing and was amazed at how many extra bags I had accumulated from little shopping trips throughout the week. Another trip to the Post Office coming up to send some things back to Australia.
In the afternoon I went and played BINGO and was very pleased to win one of the games and take away $393 US Dollars!
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