When the crew of Thankful came on deck yesterday morning we found Island Queen in a slip across the harbor and her skipper, Dick Moller, a good friend of Matt's, coming over for coffee and a visit.
Dick has a vacation house here in Hoonah, and he invited us over to do laundry. We all piled into his truck, got the laundry started, and then headed over to the old salmon cannery that had been converted into a tourist trap for the visiting cruise ship passengers.
We had heard that sleepy little Hoonah transforms when a cruise ship comes in, but weren't prepared for what we found ashore yesterday. The population had doubled overnight, and the streets were full of gawking tourists wandering around taking photos of mundane objects.
Over at the cannery we found overpriced restaurants, bars, and stores full of absolutely nothing you need. Amazingly, Lori found something she needed there and made a contribution to the local economy. They did have a very well done cannery museum that showed how salmon used to be processed there. Matt's first job out of high school was in a similar salmon cannery in Alaska, and he showed us the machines he used to be responsible for.
The cannery sits on the shore beneath a 1,500 foot mountain, and the proprietors have made use of it to install the longest zip line on the planet. The zip line is more than a mile long and has a 1,300 foot vertical drop. We watched the screaming tourists ride it for a while, but the $150 price tag seemed a little steep for only a minute and a half of entertainment.
Hoonah set a record high temperature for the day yesterday of 80 degrees. It felt like we were home in Hawaii.
At 6PM the tourists disappeared along with the cruise ship and sleepy little Hoonah returned to normal. The new brew pub in town, which was closed the day before, remained open though so we all enjoyed some smoked salmon pupus and craft brews.
This morning there is another cruise ship in town, but we won't be there to witness the chaos. Thankful is on her way north to Glacier Bay. The skies are clear and the forecast is good for our crossing of Icy Strait. We should be arriving in Bartlett Cove, where we will check into the park, at 1PM.
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