August 21 19th day OTR 12 day OTS

We are in Sitka today.  Otto did not come off the ship.  His knee was acting up so Inge, Rufus and I made our way ashore on the tender.  We walked the length of the town and then I sat down to use the wifi.  It is provided free of charge all over town by Radio Shack.  Howeve, I had to move to the library to get good reception.  Even there I am having problems downloading pictures.

Sitka was the capital of Alaska for awhile after the purchase from Russia and it was the Russian capital in Alaska.  A lot of Russian influence here - there is a Russian orthodox cathedral here.  It was free the last time we were here and now they are charging $5 and using the proceeds for upkeep.

Tonight we will go to the Pinnacle Grill to celebrate Otto's birthday, a day early.  The Pinnacle is a "pay extra" restaurant famous for their steaks.  Should be good.

We have a sea day ahead of us tomorrow but we will need to pack our bags.  Our last stop will be on Thursday at noon in Victoria - we are there until almost midnight since we are just across the bay from Seattle, where we will dock on Friday morning at about 7 am.

This will be my last post from the road.  My next post will be either on Friday afternoon or on Saturday when we are back on Terra Firma.  It has been a chore finding internet connections that work well and the ship connections are just too slow.  So know that we are well and will be in touch again on the weekend.