It is nearly spring here in secluded, beautiful Ketchikan. Of course, with the giant piles of heavy snow everywhere you would never know it. That's right, folks, we got hit with over a foot of snow this past weekend. While this does not mean much to my family and friends in middle America, it is a huge problem for those of us living up the mountainside without a massive, environment-killing pickup truck or other heavy vehicle. My poor little Kia has had trouble all winter, even with 4WD. Ketchikan is drop dead gorgeous, and the snow is picture perfect from my living room window over the narrows and onto the mountains surrounding us on all sides. But navigating up and down the hills (yikes!) will be an acquired taste, I'm afraid.
I leave for another non-contiguous state, Hawaii, in a few days. We are off to Maui and Kauai to enjoy hot weather, warmer ocean water and adventures with my sister and our husbands. It will be my first time leaving Alaska since I moved here. The old saying around these parts is that if you can make it here to the one year mark, you will never want to leave. Coming from L.A., people never expected me to make it here one year. But with the one year mark fast approaching, I know that I have no intentions of leaving this quirky, wonderful town for more than a week or two at a time. The picture below was taken from my bedroom window last weekend:
