It's hard to believe we've been to Alaska and back again, and now we're back to the daily routine in Newberg. Time and space are different there. Days are not only longer physically with more daylight, but they take longer. Time passes more slowly. In the evening, memories of the morning's activities seem ages ago. I wonder if it's connected to the tides and the latitude and the moon and sun and all that.
Ketchikan. Memories everywhere - houses we lived in, restaurants and bars and businesses not there anymore. We couldn't even quite figure out where the Ben Franklin store used to be. It was Oliver's favorite store when he was 2 - 3 years old. And we had a wonderful visit with our old friends Heather and Eric.
The town is sad now. We realized how lucky we were to have lived there when we did - the age that we were and the time in history. When we lived there it was bustling and booming and kind of wild and crazy and always something happening. There were 50 bars in town, some with live music every night. Dancing until 5:00 am. Now there are about 3 or 4 bars and there are 50 jewelry stores staffed by cruise ship company employees from the Caribbean. Wearing suits and ties.
Setting the record straight on #5 Creek Street - Star House:
If you read this sign that is inside the Star House building, #5 Creek Street, you will see that it says that Thelma converted it to apartments after the Creek Street brothels were shut down in 1954. Then it says there was a fire in 1972 in which Thelma and her dog died. And then it was empty and boarded up until 1991. NOT TRUE!
When I moved to Ketchikan in September 1975 with Jose, to work at the Children's Home, we rented a small apartment on the second floor of #5 Creek Street. In the building at that time was a two bedroom apartment on the south end, our 2 room apartment on the back side, a one room apartment on the front north side, and the downstairs apartment on the south side, where the star is inlaid in the floor. Sometime in the spring of 1976, when Jose and I separated, I moved into the two bedroom apartment upstairs, shared with Jamie Bushnell. I lived there until the fall of 1976 when I moved to 648 Main Street with Rich, Phyllis, and Jude. Jamie continued to live at #5 for quite awhile, and it's possible that other people lived there after her. It certainly wasn't boarded up! When we lived there, it was the center of Ketchikan's social life. Because we were right across the street from the post office, all our friends would check their mail, then come visit. Always a party going on in our living room! Hard to do in a boarded up building. But we managed!
Anyway, now Ketchikan is sad. Economy dependent on cruise ships. Not much going on. Still beautiful country.
Then we went to Petersburg. The Alaska Marine Highway is still there for the benefit of the employees of the Alaska Marine Highway. Customers are incidental.
Petersburg is almost exactly as it was 2o some years ago.
We celebrated Little Norway Festival. We got to kayak up Petersburg Creek and saw two bears. (Didn't have the camera along but hopefully Diane will have gotten some good photos.)
Our photos of Ketchikan and Petersburg and the ferry trip are posted on Picasa
