Whale of a Good Time

On Monday Sept. 12th Tommy Mulleneaux came to visit and go fishing. The hopes for his stay was to take some fish home and get to see a little bit of South East Alaska. He arrived after an all day trip that involved driving from Thatcher Arizona to Phoenix, flying to Seattle then on to Ketchikan. It was after dark when he arrived so he didn't get the chance to see anything until the next day.

I got a call early in the morning from a co-worker that invited us to go fishing. Tommy and I rushed out to Walmart to get our licenses then met with Byron at his boat. The three of us headed Southeast about twenty miles to one of Byron's favorite spots. We caught Halibut, Snapper and Rock fish. There were also pesky Dog Sharks. The Dog shark is about 2 feet long and loves the same bait as the Halibut.

After a pretty successful day we headed back. About five miles south of Ketchikan we ran into a pod of Killer Whales. Some of them surfaced less than one hundred yards from the boat. This, I will tell you is very exciting.

The following morning we went fishing with the Fitzgeralds. We left in the early morning fog and ran into the same pod of whales (I think) and had some come within 25 yards of the boat. It happened so quick that we didn't get any pictures. We had a successful day fishing taking home ten large Halibut, several Rock fish and a good sized Snapper.

The following few days We went on several hikes around the area, showing Tommy the sights, and discovering some for ourselves. Tommy instantly fell in love with the area and I wouldn't be surprised to see if he returns in the future to stay here.

I am having trouble with my picture software and will add more pictures later.

Getting Out in Ketchikan

On Labor Day September 3rd, after sleeping for a few hours we got our first chance to get out and see the island. We went to a sale at Tongass, the local outfitter and bought some rain gear for Maren and Collin. We then headed south along the highway that goes through Saxman and Herring Cove. Twelve miles south of Ketchikan we hit the end of the road. Here is where Ketchikan gets it's power. Water drains through what looked like a 48 inch pipe from a lake up the mountain and runs a hydroelectric generator and this is where we get our power.

On the way back we spotted this waterfall, just a sample of the amount of rain that Ketchikan gets. Since our arrival last week he have not seen a day where we didn't get at least some rain.

From there we drove north of town and went hiking up Brown Mountain trail.

(The picture shows us coming down)

We walked to the end of he board walk, which is not the top. From there the trail became muddy and we weren't prepared with the proper foot wear. I would like to return since the view, so I was told, is amazing.

I did shoot this picture from the board walk. It is hard to believe that we are on an island

Steeper Than I Imagined

Monday evening we met at the church for a multi-family FHE. Someone asked Maren how she like Ketchikan and she replied, "It is steeper than I imagined." The next day as we drove around and I took her up some of the steeper hills, trying to put some of the other hills she had previously been up in perspective.

Our container was delivered Tuesday morning and we went about unloading some of the items we really wanted, for instance, chairs to sit on and our card table dinning room table. Most important of all, to Collin and Connor, was our new 37 inch HDTV so they could play X-Box.

Our house is towards the end of Tower road and is the upper portion of a duplex that also includes the garage. The first two nights Maren and I slept on a air mattress while the boys slept on the floor, or where every they could.

On Wednesday we went to the DMV because our temporary permit for Arizona was about to expire. We have some advice for you if headed for the DMV in Ketchikan. Before you leave, let someone know where you are going and how long you expect to be gone. That way, if they don't hear from you at the scheduled time they will know where to come look for you. After a wait of more than 2 1/2 hours we finally got our car registered. The sad part is we still need to get our Drivers license and register the truck when it gets here.

The Journey Continues

We arrived in Prince Rupert on Sunday August the 26th around 4:30, having had driven over 1000 miles since leaving Seattle. We stayed in a older overpriced hotel not too far from the ferry terminal. Since the ferry was leaving at 7:15 we had to get up at 3:45 to check in. This amounted to little more than waiting in line, in the car for over two hours. We had enjoyed the drive through British Columbia but next time I would rather sit on the ferry for two days. We were a little exhausted by the time we got on the ferry so we tried to get a little more sleep in the lounge area.

Collin moved to the corner and put on his ear phones, Connor slept on either I or Maren. I leaned my head against Maren's seat and slept until my arms went numb. When I awoke I looked out the window to see a barge being pulled by a tug. The green and yellow containers were unmistakable those of Alaska Marine Lines. We had passed our belongings in the inland passage!

We arrived in Ketchikan a little after 12:30. We got off and went immediately to the address printed on the 1 year lease I had signed but we had not yet seen. (no pictures yet)

We arranged to have our container delivered to the house, ate lunch and met with the landlord to get the keys. We are now officially residents of Ketchikan. Well not entirely. We stopped by the high school to get Collin registered, since Tuesday was to be Freshman orientation. I turned into the high school to face an insurmountable amount of on coming traffic. One man started yelling at me and telling me to turn around. I had entered a one-way street the wrong way. As a struggled to turn the car around and get out of every one's way he commented after taking one look at the back end of the car, "You must be from Arizona?" Now I really felt like I had just gotten off of the ferry.

Many Questions

Aug. 28, 2007
We sit in a small motel room in Burns Lake British Columbia on our way to Prince Rupert to catch a ferry. Our ulitmate destination, Ketchikan Alaska. Over the last several months the most common question that I have been asked is 'why are you moving to Alaska'? This is a question I can't easily answer. But I will try.

I have wanted to move to Alaska for many years, but since getting married and having children, this made it impractical. But in recent years I have become increasingly disillusioned with my job and my career, I was reaching burnout. As my interest in writing continues to develop I am seeking a quiet, slower pace in which to write. These coupled with the traffic and over population of Pheonix helped solidify my decision. Maren and I have been wanting to move from the Phoenix area for some time but couldn't decide on a place. So when I found the job in Ketchikan I convinced my family to give it a try.

So now we are on our way to a new adventure. For those of you who want to move to Alaska, it is no easy task. The move is more than normal and alot of planning has gone into it.






After spending Sunday evening and Monday until nearly three in the afternoon heat loading our 16 foot Budget truck with our belongings. We left Phoenix on Monday the 20th and headed for my sister's house in Monrovia. After spending the night we caught I-5 headed for Seattle. After a stop Tuesday in Yrueka, CA we reached Seattle on Wednesday. Thursday we moved the contents of our truck into a 20 foot shipping container that was to be loaded on a barge and leave for Southwest Alaska on Friday.
On Friday we struck out for Canada and entered the country sometime in the afternoon. We drove through a beautiful canyon called Hell's gate on Hwy 1 until we reached Hwy 97 in Cache Creek and spent the night in Williams Lake. The drive from Williams Lake to Burns Lake is some of the most beautiful land I have ever seen.


We have been busy for the last six days moving and driving so I haven't taken many pictures. I will try to change that in the future.

Tomorrow on to Prince Rupert and then to Ketchikan.