Ketchikan Alaska

   

We moved to Ketchikan a little over a year ago, and with now having gone through each season (and hunting/fishing seasons :), a school year, and all the holidays - we can now provide our conclusive perspective on this residence for our family. The jury is - favorable!

This place is unique for sure, the first picture above depicts the departure after we had two friends from church over for the day who live on a separate island across the 1 mile ocean channel. When I brought them back to the dock as instructed, their dad told me to just drop them off, they'll take the skiff over by themselves! So I watched this 12 and 8 yr old boy unhitch and start up this boat beneath the shadow of a mammoth cruise ship and motor on over to their home on the the neighboring island. Wow!

 

Ketchikan has all the harvest of southeast Alaska, and did not disappoint in the variety of wild delicacies. We have a little to learn to max out our limit on some of the ocean critters, but with our new addition of scallops, oysters, rockfish, and black cod - we are certainly satisfied. 
  

  

Ketchikan's limit on Sitka black-tailed deer is 4 per person, so with Cyrus now hunting our limit was 12. We got 8 total, which our backs and knees can attest to, and finished them off already by May. These deer are smaller but the meat is much milder than lower 48 corn fed white-tailed deer and we use it for all of our red meat through the year. 

    

 Mushrooms are ubiquitous in southeast Alaska. They are a unique harvest due to the risk of mis-identifying them. So we are very gradually expanding our harvest. This year we found a bounty of chantarelles that were delicious fried in butter. 

Our kids are creating some beautiful friendships, and Addy is likely the most popular. She has a little possie of friends in the neighborhood who skip from house to house playing gymnastics or creating 'potions' with flower petals and spruce tips. I believe I see Addy less during the summer than I do during the school year with all her gallivanting at friends' houses. 

True to our history, we purchased another home with excellent profit potential. The first 3 weeks we gutted the entire interior while staying in a VRBO. That was followed by grating and re-graveling the driveway, replacing the shop roof, digging a water drainage ditch, raising the sinking foundation, and now remodeling the attached dirt floor garage into a master suite, mud room, and utility room. It's a family affair but of course Chadd is the head hauncho. His carpentry and ability to learn a new skill astounds me. Remodels are never easy on him or the rest of us but I think we all learn and grow through the process. Cyrus has become quite the handy helper and is an important part of working with Chadd, especially after I broke my ankle in softball and was of no assistance in carrying lumber. 

Water drainage is a constant concern in southeast Alaska

 

Our kids have also thoroughly enjoyed all of the sports and activities this larger island has to offer, one of the reasons for our moving to Ketchikan. Darius is a beast in long distance running, and he loves it. He won 6 metals in the school track meet. He also joined in summer soccer on their nice turf field and enjoyed playing goalie. But track and cross country are his passion.

 

Addy played indoor soccer last winter and boy, did we see her competitive nature come out! When I asked what she liked most about soccer she said emphatically, "stealing the ball from someone!"

Her choice sport however is gymnastics, which she is so incredibly talented in she astounds anyone who watches. Her tiny little body can already to back walkovers, round offs and backward rolls around the bar at 6 years old!

Cyrus is a wrestling champion. He wrestled in both the local and Craig (on Prince of Wales) tournaments and won first place in each, winning undefeated. He will have a lot more competition this year in middle school wrestling but he has ready for it. 

He was also in running club and participated in the track meet. But his main sport is all available soccer teams including rec, indoor rec, travel indoor, and summer travel soccer which has a tournament in Seattle next month. His determined heart and hard work has made up for his missed years of skill and he has learned an immense amount. The team and practices have been a wonderful avenue for his energy and determination.

 Chadd and I have also picked up playing adult soft ball, which has been a blast! Even though our team has lost every game... :)  It's nice to actually have something to engage in that is not just for the kids or 'productive'.  The league plays rain or shine, and sideways rain makes for quite the interesting fielding, but that doesn't keep Alaskans from showing up and playing their heart out.

Addy's First grade"Beach Day" field trip.

 Yes, we experienced another mud slide--- TWO in fact. The first one did affect several houses and took the life of a father and husband who was driving to work. The second one blocked off the one road and only access from everyone who lives on the north side of the island to town - including us. Thankfully there was a lot more big machinery and man-power in Ketchikan than there was in Wrangell and they managed to get a diversion path for vehicle traffic opened up fairly quickly. 

Family work day splitting firewood

The winter freeze-thaw made for some spectacular icicles!

  

Oh yes, and our beloved goldendoodle Isa had 8 goldendoodle puppies which we raised and sold successfully and we got 16 ducks for eggs, which Darius has bonded with as his pets. Never a dull moment on the Alaskan Yoder estate!

Our kids have continued their mini-business called Wagon Wheels Wood Working selling their whares to eager tourists. Cyrus is a natural entrepreneur and Darius and Addy sell via cuteness. Cyrus is saving up for a drum set, Darius for a scooter and Addy for who knows what, probably another dragon toy. The tourism in Ketchikan is copious. We get an average of 5 huge cruise ships per day all docked at once. A couple weeks ago there were 19,000 tourists roaming our streets in one day! (As a reminder, the population of Ketchikan is 8,079). I believe nearly all locals get frustrated with the vacationer who stops in the middle of the road to look up at something, but at least if we can make a profit off of them and stay on the north side of town it's tolerable. Tourisms is definitely a robust part of Ketchikan's commerce so it does benefit the town. And I actually enjoy talking to people from other parts of the world who are excited about the place I live. 

We did get a decent winter this year, but most of Southeast AK winter is wet and slushy or icy.

  

Ketchikan's fourth of July (not as cool as Wrangell's ;)

Summer fun on the lake with friends

All in all it has been a good move for us. Chadd is thoroughly enjoying his job with colleagues and co-workers instead of being a one-man trooper post. He travels a small amount for work but get's paid for boating, four-wheeling, hiking and driving around in this temperate rainforest. 

I am still working in the same capacity seeing patients via telehealth under Mat-Su Midwifery and Family Health with a few trips traveling back to Wasilla for work per year. 

The 229 rainy days per year are less than Wrangell, but the wind and rain together is the worst. No one really enjoys the unending cloudy relentless water falling from the sky, but when the sun comes out- you wouldn't want to be anywhere else. So for now this is where we're planted and we have no plans to change!