Daily Didactic
We woke early in our Sitka parking lot and headed over to get a few hours of our money's worth out of our Starrigavan campsite. We slept in late, and woke up to realize we were surrounded by the biggest trees we have camped next to since the redwoods. We eventually headed into town in the late morning and spent some time trying to find the B&B we'd be spending the next two nights at. Google Maps appears to have Sitka at least slightly confused and we eventually found the place on our own. From our B&B we headed in the direction that looked most like downtown and milled with cruise ship passengers down Lincoln Street until we found a bite to eat in the restaurant under the Sitka Hotel. Filled with food we wandered on down Lincoln to the Totem Park and the Pioneers Home, up Castle Hill, around by the boat harbor, across the now closed Sheldon Jackson College, and through the small Sage Aquarium and Hatchery. The weather was bluebird clear and warm, and it was just a really great day for wandering Sitka. There were, however, four cruise ships offshore of downtown and there was a lot of traffic on the sidewalk.

We decided we'd head for the B&B and kill a little time until the cruise ship's dinner whistles blew at 6:00 and the town emptied out. When we returned to town around 6:15 we learned another interesting thing about Sitka as a cruise ship town, everything closes when the cruise ship passengers depart. We window shopped and found a bite to eat for dinner and eventually headed back to the B&B for the evening. At a little before 11:00 we headed to the airport to pick up our good friends and companions for the Chilkoot Trail, Todd and Cori. After doing some quick visiting we called it a great day in the little town Brian was born in a few years ago.

Morning in site 18 of Starrigavan Campground, we hadn't been there long		Looking up in the huge trees
Starrigavan Creek		On of the smaller boats we saw
Mount Edgecumbe		An unlikely Shiva in the back of the Sitka Hotel 'Pour House'
The old and funky Sitka Hotel		The pioneer in front of the Pioneer House
Totem park in front of the Pioneer Home		The top of the totem
The bottom of the totem looking up		A petroglyph next to the totem
Sitka welcomes us		A light house across the harbor
Three cruise ships in the harbor, a fourth was around the corner		The boats in Crescent Harbor
One of the bigger boats we saw today, ignoring the cruise ships...		Harbor cleanup artifacts
The sign was arguably cooler than the octopus		The Sheldon Jackson Sage Building and hatchery , now run by volunteers
A great old chimney over part of the now closed Sheldon Jackson College		St. Peters Church
Downtown looking up the street toward St. Michaels Church		The bridge to the airport
Ferry water taxis		The something apartment building and the top of St. Michaels
Looking at Harbor Mountain from Castle Rock		St. Michael's Church

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