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Jim and George Carmack, Soapy Smith and Klondike Kate, Ed Jensen on his bicycle and
the Lucky Swedes. She makes a good yarn out of it.
We have to dress up for the captain's welcome-aboard cocktail party and dinner that
evening. That damned Bonnie. Silk tunic, dress slacks, no pantyhose. I see people in
jeans. I wish I was one of them. The reception line waits for a handshake and a picture
with Captain Donal Ryan of Ireland, who then introduces his officers, who hail from Italy
and Scandinavia and the Philippines and Poland and Indonesia and, of course, Greece. For
dinner there is, among other things, mushrooms en croute, pumpkin soup, Caesar salad
and rack of lamb. Yum.
Day 3: May 16 th , Ketchikan
Ketchikan gets an average of 162 inches of rain a year but today, inexplicably, the sun
is shining. Shore excursions are available—biking and hiking and kayaking and, on this
day, an appearance by your four favorite mystery authors at the Ketchikan Public Library,
with snacks.
Day 4: May 17 th , Sitka
A low overcast, a few sprinkles, and then sun. I go down to the Sheldon Jackson Mu-
seum, a circular building that looks like a giant Tlingit ceremonial hat which houses my
all time favorite museum exhibit: a drawer full of Yupik storyknives. Later, the mystery
authors hold forth in the local library, again with snacks. They must have heard about
Ketchikan.
Back on board the mystery cruise begins in earnest in a crowded Mid-Ocean Lounge
where Brad, Sue, John and I talk about the writers who influenced us. Josephine Tey, Ern-
est Hemingway, John D. MacDonald and Theodore Roethke were mentioned. We are
nothing if not eclectic. It is time for us to start singing for our supper, and after the panel
discussion I teach a First Lines workshop to a packed Aloha Theatre. On Saturdays were
real movies in that theater, with popcorn. It's the popcorn that gets me. John's wife, Jan, a
whale biologist, boards the ship at Sitka and takes to the aft deck with enthusiasm.
Day 5: May 18 th , Skagway
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