Our last port in Alaska was Ketchikan, aka: "The Salmon Capital of the World." In addition to all of that salmon, Ketchikan is known for being the first city in Alaska. And also known for: Lumberjacks.

Our stop in Ketchikan was short and we arrived very early in the morning. We had one excursion booked; The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show. Dan and I did not do the lumberjack show on our previous trip to Ketchikan, but after hearing how much everyone enjoyed the show, it was on our must-do list for this trip.

The show is located across town, about a fifteen minute walk from where the Ruby Princess was docked. Here are the pictures that we took as we walked through the town.

The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show lasts about an hour and is held in an open-air arena, with first come-first serve seating.

The show centers around competitions between two pairs of lumberjacks, one pair from America and the other from Canada. It is similar to Medieval Times, in that depending on where you sit, you are either rooting for the Canadians or the Americans. All of the lumberjacks play a different character to give it a bit of a storyline. For example the "bad boy" lumberjack was on the Canadian side and he was a sore loser which ramped up the rivalry. The American side had a slightly goofy, bad-boy character too. With regard to the actual events, It was hard to tell how much was predetermined and how much was actual competition.

That said, it is a fun, high-energy show and clearly, the lumberjacks are all very talented. They did log-rolling, wood carving, axe throwing, sawing, and the final competition, where one lumberjack from each side had to climb up a tall tree. These are all skilled athletes, no matter how much of it may have been staged.

We rooted for the home team, but I can't remember which side actually won. It was a close competition throughout. The excitement wasn't so much in who won, but in the actual competitions themselves. If you're heading to Ketchikan, The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show is a perfect pick for the entire family. This is also a very short port stop, so this excursion will leave enough time for you to enjoy the town.

The kids got a picture with a lumberjack. This guy was one of the "nice" characters.

Dan wasn't feeling well, so he headed back to the ship and I took the kids around the town. Ketchikan has a small indoor mall with an outlet store, where we stocked up on Alaska souvenirs and had a sugary treat.

Like the other ports, a lot of the stores in Ketchikan are tourist traps. I'm not sure what it is about cruise ports but they seem to be the place where people go to get jewelry. There are so many jewelers in Ketchikan and all of them had some kind of free trinket to entice buyers to enter their shops. We navigated around these stores, but we were lured in by a store selling items that change color in the light. I bought Zoe color changing nail-polish and Felix a tee-shirt, both were big hits.

Our morning in Ketchikan was a blur and before we knew it, we were back on the ship and enjoying an afternoon of swimming as the Ruby Princess headed to its final port, Victoria Island in Canada.

Our first port was Alaska's capital city of Juneau. We arrive mid-morning and had several hours to explore the town prior to our planned excursion.

Here are a few initial shots from when we exited the ship. The statue is of a bull terrier puppy named Patsy Ann, who helped out on the port during the 1920's. She is a legend in Juneau.

I don't go on cruises to shop, but apparently this is a huge part of cruising for many people and jewelry is a focus. Like other port towns, Juneau had the same jewelry scam going on, with stores offering little trinkets and aggressively trying to grab our attention. We played a game where we avoided these stores in pursuit of our souvenir magnet that we like to buy. The town is cute, but really mostly a tourist trap. I imagine locals steer clear of this area during cruise season.

For lunch, we went to Deckhand Dave's, a fish taco food truck parked in the port. Fresh fish with fluffy batter = delicious.

Crows are everywhere in Alaska! We also saw wild bald eagles, but the crows rule the city. They are very clever birds.

Pretty wild flowers.

For our afternoon excursion, we hopped on a tour bus and headed to the Juneau Sled Dog Discovery and Musher's Camp. Located in the Tongas National Rainforest, we visited a training facility for dogs and mushers preparing to compete in the Iditarod.

In the summer, the dogs train with sleds that run on dirt. We were given a short ride in one of the sleds. The barking, howling, and whining prior to running is ear-splitting. You've never heard such a ruckus. The huskies are so excited that they can't help but make noise, but when they run, they are completely silent and focused. All you hear is the sound of their feet hitting the dirt and the musher's calls.

After the ride, we saw a presentation on the equipment used and the logistics regarding the Iditarod.

The Tongas National Rainforest is lush and beautiful. We were able to take a few pictures before heading to the final portion of our excursion.

Saving the best for last, we went to meet the puppies! We held puppies ( both a few months old and a few weeks old) and snuggled them. We also got to see the older puppies run in a giant hamster wheel like contraption. They loved it! You just can't feel anything but pure joy when cuddling puppies. So soft and sweet.

Time with the puppies was over too quickly. If they had let us, we'd probably have ditched the cruise and moved in with the dogs!

After our short bus ride back to port, we had just enough time to ride the Goldbelt Mount Roberts Tramway, an aerial tram that rises to 1800 feet above the port. At the top, we found a gift shop, restaurant, and a raptor center.

A few pictures that I have to comment on. First, look at this brown bear paw print. Yikes! We saw many bear warning signs in Alaska and if this paw print doesn't make you take the warnings seriously, nothing will!

Dan thought this log was rubbish! Just before the cruise, we had a one-ton Timothy Oulton log coffee table installed in our house. No log will ever compare to our log!

See the hang glider? This was very close to the aerial tram and bald eagles were also soaring in the vicinity. It was quite the show.

One last picture of Juneau, posing in front of our ship.

Alaska 2017: Ketchikan

2016 Alaskan Cruise- Juneau