Our last night in Sitka
We've had such a beautiful time here. The sunset tonight was gorgeous, made even more special by the drumming and singing of eight Native girls atop Castle Hill, an early stronghold of the Kiksadi Tlingit clan. It's a very historic spot, the place where the Russian governors lived in the late 1700s and early 1800s and where Alaska was officially transferred from Russia to the US in 1867. We've had a great time and I'm having to drag my husband away from here. 
Tomorrow we take the ferry back to Juneau where we'll spend another two nights. There will only be two cruise ships in instead of the four that were there last week, so we might be able to spend a little bit of time in town without getting stampeded by tourists. It was insane when we were there before...we didn't even try to get out and walk.
Then we're going to Skagway for a night, Whitehorse for a night, Tok for a night and back home. The Top of the World Highway is still closed because of our late spring, so we'll skip Dawson this trip. The forecast is for good weather the rest of our time out. 
= new reply since forum marked as read
I know you're savoring it...
but didn't see him. He's a Facebook friend of mine -- I knew he was half the man he used to be. 
Agreed he looks great. I sure wish he had decided to run for something again.
Hey, can you believe we had four days in Sitka with no rain?? We must be living right..
it's just that Juneau was swarming. Four ships at once is just too many people for such a small town, in my humble opinion. As I said, I won't have a problem with two.
Incidentally, I've lived in Alaska since 1975, so I am well aware of the importance of tourism to the state.
If the poster knew me, (s)he would know that I'm really quite a friendly person -- but I will admit to having certain "issues" with the large cruise ships, for a variety of reasons which I won't go into here.
My advice to anyone wanting to visit Alaska and have a "real" Alaskan experience, at a fraction of the cost, is to travel via the Alaska Marine Highway system, the ferries. They are much more laid back, you can go where you want, when you want and actually interact with the people who live here.
Sitka has been probably our favorite place in the state so far, maybe because we had such glorious weather and such a great place to stay. We rented the top floor of this very sweet old Native lady's house (she's 85 and I think her husband, who looks like Santa Claus, is probably the same) for $100 a night. It's got a living room with a beautiful view, two bedrooms and a little kitchen area. It's been like being at home. If you ever decide to come up here again, get in touch, and I'll give you her name. We found her on the Internet, but it's kind of a secret. She said she hasn't had to advertise for 16 years! This was much better than the Westmark (or a cruise ship ) .
