Ketchikan

I'm in Ketchikan now as I write, having found the first spot where I could get internet access since I left Wasilla five days ago, so be sure to check the other 4 or so posts I've updated today. I took these pics as we pulled in to Ketchikan today. You can see the Tongass narrows between the ferry terminal and the airport in the second pic. This is the location of the proposed and infamous "Bridge to Nowhere" - a misnomer really, because the residents of Ketchikan (pop. 14,000), one of the major cities of SE Alaska, have no road access to the airport, they have to take the ferry to get from town to the airport - which is more than an inconvenience, and could cost lives if someone needed to be rushed to larger medical facilities by air far away. I don't think a bridge in Ketchikan would have been such a bad idea - costly, yes - but better than most of the pork our government wastes money on. You can never go wrong investing in infrastructure, IMO. The other pics show the other Alaska Marine Highway ferries at the pier and one pic of the little local Ketchikan ferry taking residents to the airport. You can also see the M/V Susitna in the next to last picture - it is a new catamaran bought by the Mat-su borough which will eventually be based at Pt. McKenzie on Cook Inlet (Knik Arm, up by where we live), and will run from there into Anchorage...it's smaller than I had envisioned. In the first pic, you can see flowers from The Landing just off the pier where I ate lunch. In SC Alaska, April (snow) showers bring more May snowshowers...but I guess in SE Alaska, they bring flowers.