In Ketchikan the shops were back so got a local tour to see eagles, totems and possibly a black bear. Our guide was a native woman who had lived in Ketchikan her entire life and had studied native herbal medicines. She showed us a form of kelp and had us break it open and rub it on our skin. It works very well as a moisturizer and I wonde r oif it couldn’t replace some of those very expensive anti-wrinkle creams.

We went to part of the village with a large number of totem poles and our guide told us some of the legends associated with the totems. Visitors are not allowed in the rest of the village without permission. We did see a black bear there — raiding someone’s garbage.

Laura asked her which stores were owned by local people and sold real local crafts (not made in China). She named two places. The first, the Crazy Wolf studio was right across the street from where we got off so in we went.

I was wearing my Vietnam vets hat and the owner, Ken Decker, also a vet asked me where I served. When I told him I was a river rat based a Sa Dec it turned out he was a Navy SeaBee at the same place at the same time I was there. We talked for a long time.

The other store was called Rain Barrel. It had beautiful native sculptures from whale bone, walrus bone, stone, wood and antlers.