Sitka, AK

Got up this morning at 3:00 a.m. to check-in at the ferry at 4:30 a.m. for a 6:30 a.m. departure.  Lots of sitting around, waiting for the next thing to happen.  I did doze a little on the ferry.  Not sure if Barry did or not.  One thing on the ferry, called the Fairweather, was a monitor showing where the ferry was at all times.  I will post a picture of it.  The ferry is the blue blob heading south, although we find it hard to keep track of directions with all the curvy roads and not sun, just cloudy daylight.  After two days of some sunshine and not rain, we are back to cloudy and rain.  Guess it's fitting since we are in the middle of a temperate rain forest.
Also will post a picture of the light house we saw during the ferry ride.  It is called the Five Finger Lighthouse because it's on the Five Finger Island.  One brochure says it's available for rent during the summer season.  That would have been fun to do, but too late for us this summer.
We arrived in Sitka at 11:00 a.m. and got settled into our motel.  We then ate a meal as breakfast on the ferry wasn't much.  Took a drive around Sitka to see how far all the historic buildings were and decided to park back at the motel and walk the town.
First site was the statue of a pioneer outside the Pioneers Building.  The place was first built for homeless men and then a wing was added for women.  We don't know what its being used for now, but liked the statue.
We then headed towards the Russian Orthodox Church.  It's a practicing congregation today and was started shortly after the Russians settled in this area for the fur trade.  It's suppose to be the first Christian church in Alaska.  We couldn't get in, but will try again tomorrow.  Supposedly if the priest is in the church, anyone may go in and see the sanctuary.
Right across the street is the earliest Lutheran church in Alaska.  The czar asked the Finnish Lutheran church to send a pastor over to serve the many Finnish shipbuilders Russia had brought over for the ship yard.  The pastor wasn't allowed to evangelize amongst the natives, but only to serve the workmen.  It too is still a thriving congregation, ELCA.  The picture is part of the original altar rail of the first church.  The first and second church both burned.  The third and current church was built in 1967, after the second one burned in 1966.  Seems the fire started with a hardware store and leapt over to the Russian Orthodox church, then over to the Lutheran church.  The firefighters found the water lines were frozen and had trouble fighting it.  Many of the artifacts were saved from both fires and are on display in the church entry.  There was a couple there from Cleveland, Ohio, who are spending a month volunteering at the church as the welcoming committee to all the tourists who come through.  They were told to expect 2000 on Wednesday & Thursday as those are cruise ship days.  It's nice to be here on a non-cruise ship day, however, some things are closed or not working because there's no crowd.  But it's nice not to battle the crowds.  We did that at Juneau.
Our last stop was the National Park Association that maintains the historic residence of the bishop for the Roman Orthodox church.  It's call the Bishop's House - bright yellow with a red roof.  It has been restored to what it was like in 1823, when the first bishop, Saint Innocence, was sent here to run the congregation - then he was just a missionary, who later became the bishop of Alaska, then much later a saint.  The house is quite large and two stories.  It served as a seminary at one time and a boarding house for Tlingit children attending school in Sitka.  The second floor chapel (the picture you see) is still used on special occasions with the Park services' okay.
Well, enjoy and talk to you tomorrow!