Bitter Sweet

These are stock photos, but this is REALLY what Ketchikan Alaska looks like

View of Deer Mountain from Tongass Narrows

Creek Street. NO cars allowed.

One of several marinas

Kayhi Auditorium. I preformed with the

Ketchikan Community Chorus here in a

Cole Porter Review. I spent countless hours

here supporting my friends and family.

The brown building in the lower left corner is Tongass

Trading Co. Where I worked summers and Christmases

from 1996 -1999.

I grew up in a town called Ketchikan Alaska. I loved growing up there. I guess I would have liked anywhere my family was, but since this where they were, I liked it a lot. Today, my parents moved! Movers packed everything up, parents loaded the car on the Alaskan Marine Highway Ferry headed for Bellingham Washington.....most likely never to return. Ouch! This hurts.

When I moved here to the home of my husband's birth and family, I told everyone that it was my mission to get my family to move here too. That was just a joke 3 years ago....but a few months later my brother moved here, than 1.5 years ago my sister's family moved here, now my parents. That's it....all of us. Wow....I did it. This feels GREAT!

BITTERSWEET

I love Ketchikan because it is small, it is unpretentious, it is beautiful, it is quiet, it has nice people, and it has a great ward.

Ketchikan is located on Revillagigedo Island. The Island was named after the viceroy of Mexico in 1793, and is the 12 largest island in the United States, and the 166th largest island in the world. Ketchikan had a population of 7368 in 2007 making it the 5th largest community in Alaska. When I was growing up the population topped at almost 15,000, but when logging was shut down during a certain democratic administration, the pulp mill and all it's associated business took a big hit on the community. Ketchikan is known as the Salmon capitol of the world, and I'll testify there is some fantastic fishing there. I love to fish! Ketchikan is located 1000 miles south of Anchorage, 235 miles south of Juneau, and 730 miles north of Seattle, Wa. It's an island, so you can't drive anywhere. The Ketchikan International Airport is even on a small island just 15 minutes ride away from town. Ketchikan is a small isolated town on the huge island. The granite and muskeg terrain is so harsh no roads or towns can be made there. Ketchikan is in a temperate rain forest. It rains 162 inches (13.5 ft) every year. Forks, WA only rains 121 inches/year....we've got them beat by a lot. It snows a little, but always melts away quickly. It has massive hills, bigger than any hills I've seen in Seattle. There are streets made out of wood ( no cars allowed), there are some streets hanging out over the ocean held up by huge log pilings, and many stair cases that are designated as "streets."

Here are some things I'll always remember about Ketchikan.

• the "mall" it is ghost town now, but when I was a teenager, it was a thriving hub of activity.
• KTN has a wonderful arts community. Amazing musicians, singers, painters, sculptors, native artisans. Most of them work in "regular" jobs, and are artists on weekends.....but the result are some wonderful community theatre, community chorus', and art work through out the community.
• Hiking around KTN is fantastic.
• Ocean kayaking.....a must try activity
• Ketchikan has a good sized ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The building where the ward meets is made from Cedar logs. It is beautiful.
• Ketchikan has a lot of churches in it, considering it's small size. When I grew up I counted the churches at 15. The bars at 14.
• You can practically walk everywhere. We always grew up in town, with only a 5 minute walk (at the most) to my mom's work, the church, and the mall.
• Only tourist use umbrella's.......locals carry a rain coat everywhere, even on a sunny day.
• With all the humidity from the precipitation, every one's skin looks great, but you can't have amazingly styled hair....it just melts....so there are no fashion parades there...it is great. Everyone is so laid back. Styles are always a few years behind.
• I started college here in 1997 at the University of Alaska Southeast, Ketchikan Campus. I had some of my best classes there, and one of my best professor, Erik Karolak. He was a visiting professor from Ohio State University.

This town is lovely, but it will always hold an emotional place in my heart, because this is the town my parents chose to raise me. This is where they loved me, and taught me how to be a good person. The friends I have made here continue to be my closest friends. Goodbye Ketchikan. We hope to come back to go fishing one day soon, until then....take care of yourself.

Links:

Wikipedia

City of Ketchikan

Ketchikan Daily News

Nathan Jackson Tlingit artist

Ray Troll

Google Maps