The father of one of my local computer clients lives in Alaska and wants to move down here.  So, he is selling his house and offered me a great price for it.  I had always wanted to see Alaska and even had wanted to live up there when I was a kid.  I flew up there for a few days to see part of the great north and to see this house.

Joe lives on Prince of Wales Island (POW), and there are only two ways to get there:  by boat or by plane.  The ferry runs only once a day at this time of year, and so I had to layover one night in Ketchikan after my flight from home arrived.  My CS Host in Ketchikan was Daniel, and he and his mother made me feel very much at home.  They live at the end of a culdesac way up on the hill, and there are fifty six steps from the street to their home.  That's quite a hike with a loaded pack.

My layover day gave me time to wander the streets of Ketchikan and to see a real live Alaska city (fourth largest in the state, population 12,000).  I walked about three miles that day and hiked up and down six hundred stairs.  See more photos of Ketchikan.

Then it was onto the ferry for the three hour ride to POW.  The night ride was very rough, the worst rocking boat I have ever been on.  It was so bad that I decided to FLY back from POW to Ketchikan when I left.  But the fog rolled in that morning and forced me to the ferry.  The ride back, though, was as calm as could possibly be.  yay.

Joe was a great host.  He drove me all over his town of Klawock and even much of the island to show me his home.  He introduced me to several people.  We talked for hours and hours about life in Alaska, including living off the land, something I would like to do again.  See more photos of POW.

See evcn more photos of my trip.