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misty fjords... for 6 years i lived in ketchikan, alaska. it was a cool and fun place to live. part of me still longs to live in small town alaska again. i do enjoy the convenience of a bigger city. anchorage is over 250,000 people so having grown up in the big city of los angeles..really that still feels pretty small. ketchikan and southeast alaska in general are beautiful...when it isn't raining that is. actually, i love the rain and found it all quite amazing. there were so many rainbows and when the sun finally found a way to pop out...it was spectacular.
totem poles are so southeast alaska. i found i was forgetting the names of trails from 7 years ago that i frequented each day. i could tell which trail it was by the pictures...but the names...must be part of this lovely aging process.
a friend from ketchikan was in town these past few days. she actually has lived in homer for over 10 years now. alaska is a vast space, but also a small place. you cross paths with people.
the above totem house is at totem bight park. lots of tourists stop here as part of their cruise ship tour, this picture is taken in the winter. not many tourists come to ketchikan that time of year.
anyway, was thinking of ketchikan seeing my friend cathy and thought i'd scan a few more pictures.
cathy is headed back to homer, but we stopped for a little mini meal and chat before they headed off. she also got to meet up with scott, another friend from ketchikan that later moved here and worked with me at prov and now is living in cordova. he's in town this week working at the hospital across town.
the totems are beautiful and quite a sight to see anytime of year. i had another picture, but i guess it didn't get saved. i'll have to try again later. the totems all tell stories. i'm never good with details so i can't recall how one knows the stories, but always interesting. above was a morning picture while out boat camping. a boyfriend at the time had a live-a-board boat and we occasionally took it out for fishing/camping adventures. this one morning was just so flat calm and peaceful. not sure you ever capture landscape...how do you take something so big and translate it on film. some can, occasionally i get lucky. so i love that this picture showed the tranquility of the morning.
i recall the tranquility changed later in the trip and i nearly smashed that boat into a million pieces along with possibly killing us all in an afternoon of bad weather heading back to ketchikan. the water and wind were sucking us into a big island/rock and i couldn't pull hard enough at the wheel to get us out. luckily, we were saved at the last minute (not by my hand) and i never drove that boat again. i guess it does give one a feeling of how difficult it can be to handle those boats in rough seas. the rest of these pictures are in misty fjords national park. i was lucky to be able to visit it the place several times. my first kayak trip was out to walker cove. i believe that was also my friend scotts first kayak trek. after we'd finished our paddle the boat came to pick us all up and it was so lovely out it was decided to just go ahead and make the journey back to ketchikan by going around the back side of the island that ketchikan is on. that island is called revillagigedo island.
i also was able to hop on board a few float planes and see misty fjords from the sky. i love a good float plane ride. my parents came up one summer and we all went on a trip out. i think my father especially enjoyed his adventure. i didn't connect with my dad much growing up. as i've gotten older i've come to see that my dad really was a brilliant father, where he lacked for me was in his "daddy" skills. a father provides for his family, doesn't drink away or gamble away the money he works hard to earn. a father is an example of responsibility. he gave up his life as it were so that he could support and provide for his family of 7 kids. we never went hungry, we were never without a roof over our heads. we were safe.
there were times, many, when i really would have liked it if he'd been able to be a "daddy" to me. a "daddy" cherishes his kids and is fun and silly and always treats you like you shine. i guess that seems silly now, but it would have been nice to hear words like "i love you" from the man who provided. it would have been nice to see him relax more and have fun.
so for all the times we struggled, my move to alaska and before that south dakota brought us closer. i know he was excited to see me venture out even as he was disappointed that the path i chose was not the one that they had wanted for me. we finally had something to talk about on the phone.
i remember the day he stood on the float on some remote lake in alaska...wow...you could tell he was on top of the world in the moment. such pristine beauty. finally, we understood each other for a moment.
after i moved to alaska my dad bought me binoculars. such thought had never gone into a gift for me before. i wish he could have been healthier and able to do more on that trip up. the parkinsons was already making life difficult for him. the picture below as taken as we stood on the float on that remote lake in misty. below are back to flying in misty. i loved how you can see the lake above with the water fall dropping away. when i kayak i don't get that vantage ever and it's pretty dang amazing. you can see the wing got in the picture...as is the case in many of my float plane pictures. they tend to keep tipping the plane and turning so you can see misty from all angles. below is a picture headed into misty. the little island at the bottom of the picture is actually a volcanic plug. the rest of the mountain top has eroded away. it's called eddystone rock. i have pictures of if from boats which i'll have to scan in one of these days. below is taken from the kayak in walker cove of misty. those cliffs go straight up and there isn't any place to stop for several miles at times. it was a pretty amazing place to first paddle. i guess it's officially solstice. it gets cloudy and rainy off and on, but then every day seems to clear up and it's beautiful out. i actually prefer a few clouds over a cloudless sky. they really make the landscape pop. i've had a few nice walks. went with friend jill to buggy kincaid. and up to prospect heights with kelly. i'm looking forward to upcoming trips. kelly and i are going to drive the denali highway. my brother, tom, gave me a gift card to rei for my birthday. i really could use one of those thule? car topper things for these road trips. he'd mentioned those cool new soft ones, but i'm in bear country so that won't work.
petra is on the cover of alaska magazine. i started reading the article. who is petra? she is a 15 year old who was mauled by a grizzley bear a few miles from my house. she's doing quite well. those scars will start some conversations over the course of her life. how many people can say they've been mauled by a grizzley and lived to tell about it. i'll pass if give the option, as i'm sure she would as well. (i mean skip the attack, not the living part).
i'm off for a few days. will have to try and do some day tripping around here. we'll see what turns up. i also have some stuff to do...did get the massive amounts of recyling in and attempted to trade in some books that i recieved as gifts. actually 2 friends gave me the same book, and i've already read it. kinda funny really. it was a really good book.."like water for elephants". i'll have a load of books that i should take to our big used book store, tidal wave books. i guess you can trade them in for credit. i'll have to check on that.
some work drama. my first night back i worked in peds icu...but we only had peds patients back there so not too rough..tonsils and diarrhea. pretty exciting. then they floated me back to icu thurs as they are crazy. it was a little drama as the house supervisors decided that they no longer need to check with me to see if it's okay to float out of turn. i like knowing where i'm going and besides i think it's good for them to be reminded that i do this, but i'm not really required to do it. the house supervisors said that the two managers had made the decision. i was pretty annoyed. my adult icu manager was in being charge and we ended up having a little talk later, which went well. i think everyone feels badly for the hell that the idiot cardiac surgeon put me through. this just sort of topped the week. she said no conversation took place. i had two vented patients but neither was too stressful. for my ot shift i was moved to the east side and it was crazy busy over there. we all worked well together and had nice doctors to work with. in the am we got a dude that was bike vs suv. he went through the windshield with no helmet. he had quite a bit of alcohol on board....don't drink and bike!
no residents for a week or two, rumor was that one of them had the swine flu so they were all quaranteened. mostly swine flu seems to be a bad flu. i'm not too worried, but i do hate wearing those awful n95 masks.
letterman ticked off our govenor. i saw the show and found it pretty funny actually. she really didn't do anything but improve his ratings. obama ticked off peta. killing a fly...whatever! can't these people find better things to freak about.
two climbing docs were roped together and fell to thier deaths, in searching for a missing denali hiker..or was it them. i can't recall...anyway, they found the bodies of two japanese climbers from last year. they will stay put.
i stupidly put blossoms frisbee on the roof of the element as i loaded up the dogs. i realized this as i was out to dinner, then i went to borders, and two pet stores (rio needs her glucosamine treats) and thought i'd swing by the dog park...as if...well, there it was on the road leading into the dog park. strange that it would still be there after several hours,but i was all happy...as was blossom.
i have rambled more than usual. hope i do not bore...off so sleep and finish a movie from netflix "happy go lucky" which so far doesn't impress....

Posted by Betsy Palfreyman at 10:34 PM