Our guide John had just started the duck tour business. Most of the time he is a fisherman. On our land tour of Ketchikan, we found out that the town is 4 blocks wide and 14 miles long. There are no roads in or out, but everyone has a car--or more than one since it is too expensive to get rid of old cars. As we drove around the town, we saw that many of the roads were actually just wooden boardwalk staircases. People who live on those staircase-streets have good physiques and good memories: good physiques because of all of the exercise, and good memories, because you only forget to leave the house without your keys once. Some of the roads are actually not on the ground, but actually over the water, supported by pillars.
The economy of Ketchikan is based on tourism, fishing and canning.
Rafi was sick and stayed in. Gabriella spent the day with Aunt Anna Lynn, Amy, and Sarah.
Ketchikan was famous for its many bordellos and houses of ill-repute. They tried to remedy the situation by passing a law that you had to have as many churches as you had bars. So if someone wanted to open up a bar, he had to build a church, too. The bordellos were also quite famous, especially Dolly's bordello (which Miriam visited). Dolly maintained the house for about forty years. Even though everyone knew there were lots of prostitutes in Ketchikan, they maintained some sense of propriety--people rarely went in the front doors. There was a special "married man's walk" that let people sneak in from the back, and others would slip in through the trapdoors from boats under the pier during high tide. In 1954, anti-prostitution laws came to Ketchikan, and most of the fishermen were so angry, they moved to Seattle. Eventually, the fishing trade moved back. Fortunately for the fishermen, Ketchikan still had as many bars as churches (and churches as bars!).
There is a little tram up the mountain with beautiful trees. Miriam saw several large slugs. At first she thought they were cigars, but then she realized there were just too many for that.