I live in Ketchikan, AK. We are basically part of Canada. We are completely isolated from the rest of the world, you cannot reach us by foot, the terrain between Canada and Ketchikan is too treacherous. You either fly here or take the Ferry out of Washington or Canada. The population here is about 8000. And you can drive about fifteen miles here alone the one main road. That's right, one road in and out of town in both directions. You drive about twenty minutes North and you hit forest, to go any further you hike...
You drive about fifteen minutes south and you hit a dirt road that you can drive over in a regular vehicle but only going about ten miles an hour because of how unmanaged it is. Obviously you can only make this drive during certain times of the year. There is also a dirt road that spirals up into the mountains. And of course you can't go west cuz then there is water.
It is kind of neat because as you can see on the map there are tiny islands to the west of Ketchikan, our Airport is on one of those Islands, and they are close enough that I can see their shores, trees, and if there were homes or people I would be able to see them too, but there aren't.
So why is life here hard to get used to.
One, I don't want to get used to life here. I have worked hard my adult life to set and meet high standards and living here severely lowers those standards. I do not want to become complacent, just because the standards are low, I hope this makes sense.
Two, this is an industrial town with a population of 8000 people, half of which are natives. The town is heavily male and dominated by the fishing industry. I believe logging is also present but not as much in my face so I'm not really aware of it on a daily basis. Only when I see big cargo ships sailing by carrying their gold mine in evergreens.
Three, tourism. This town shuts down when the water gets to severe for cruise ships to make it safely in and out of Alaskan waters. That means from September to June this place is a ghost town. The majority of downtown shops are only stocked and open during tourist travel, which is fine because what need do I have for ten jewelery shops, fur shops, and $2,000 wood carvings. My point is that the stores that open seasonally aren't for people living in the city anyway they are for tourists.
This is a town that sold it soul to make a buck, no wonder the natives hate the white people so much here! And I'm not just saying that because it sounds right, Drew and I actually ran into a drunk older native while location scouting at totem park. He proceeded to tell us how racist they are and how he was raised to be a racist by his grandma and how he could not be racist in the army...etc etc. yes the conversation was that random, like I said, inebriated. Anyway, I asked him if he was happy with how he has seen the town grow in his lifetime, and he shyly looked down grinned and said no. He was so proud of his heritage and complained of the children in the Indian community playing video games instead of learning how to live off the land. I really wish he wouldn't have been drunk so we could have talked longer, also the rain pouring down on us didn't help.
So on to four, the stores and services here. As I mentioned there isn't much downtown except for stuff for tourists during the summer months. However to really spell it out for you, I shop at Walmart, and I am HAPPY to do it because it is the only real store here! There are a total of three grocery stores. There is a McDonalds, and two Subway locations as well as a taco time in the 'Plaza'. Yes Ketchikan has mall... MALL MY ASS, they have a two story plaza with a grocery store, a liquor store (because Ketchikan probably has fifty damn liquor stores - but no orthodontist) it also has a hair salon, the public utility office, a gross ass wanna be hot topic clothing store that clothes the emo culture here, a nail salon (where it costs you $80 for a set of acrylics!) a craft store, a second hand store, a sears mail order store, two cell phone stores (did I mention cell phone service is pretty much limited to a ten mile radius of what they call downtown, and if you have sprint there is no service here at all) some kinda kitchen store, and a few spots that only open up when tourist season arrives... And a lot of empty store fronts because the mall is too big for the amount of businesses actually setting up shop. That's the mall that people here are so proud of because it's still new to them. Anyway. there are a couple of hardware stores in Ketchikan, and outposts. Oh and there is a veterinarian! And that's basically it. There is a really tiny FORD dealership, I almost forgot.
Five, medical. There is a hospital here. However this is a place where they hold like little get togethers at planned dates. Like lets say you need some kinda optical help, well don't worry on may 7th we will have 'such and such' here. Since this is important to Drew and I, I will bring this up. Pregnancy, Drew and I want to start a family while we are up here, and so we have inquired as to what the deal is with pre natal and delivery care. Basically, they bring in a specialist once a month from Seattle, but not even the same specialist, different ones. So you are constantly seeing a different doctor. Now I don't know if this is only a service offered to military or not, but I am at least thankful they send these people here! Now on to the scary part. Let's say you had a delivery emergency and one of these specialists wasn't here... AIRLIFT to Seattle, or so I've been told...
Six, We have now received two notices about our water up here through Ketchikan Public Utilities. These notices say basically, hey there, your water has exceedingly high amounts of haleocentric acids, but don't worry it's safe to drink still. And cancer is only a problem if you are exposed for years. Have a nice day. I know this is not necessarily related but it needs to be pointed out. You cannot leave your home without seeing a mentally challenged child or young adult here. Sometimes more than one during the same outing. With such a tiny population of people here, the proportion of those people with what appears to be down syndrome is overwhelming. The discussion on why I don't actually think genetics and a tiny gene pool is causing this will be saved for another time.
Sooo, I know it sounds like I hate Ketchikan, but I don't. If this were a blog about everything I hated about this place it would be EVEN longer, but it's not, I just wanted to give more basic info on the day to day reality of Ketchikan. I know it got quite long, but I promise I tried to keep it short. lol As for Ketchikan itself, minus the industry or low standards set by people who just don't know any better, it is the most GORGEOUS place I could imagine. Summer here is absolutely spectacular and I would live here through any winter to get to experience the amazement of summer. I love getting to go to the lake on a summer weekday, look out and see NO ONE. It was my salvation last summer and I cannot wait for this summer! :)
