Tunnel Vision

The word to many, means some magnifiscant pipe dream.  The vacation of a lifetime.  A once in a life trip.  You see it once.  Its gone.  Its this place that at night they go to bed dreaming about, and wake up, still dreaming for it.  They work a lifetime to see it, and many, never have seen it.  Its a place that most consider to NOT be a part of the US, but IS infact.   Most think its cold and dark and frozen  6 months, and for the other 6 months, its light 24/7.  Some also think people live in igloos (which, igloo means house, then yes, we do)

But here, in the part I live in, which is not to speek for the whole state of Alaska, because further north, there are spurts where its light a lot, and sometimes also dark a lot.  Here, in Ketchikan, Its a turist town.  Which means in the summer months, the docks are chocked full of GIGANTIC boats that are bigger than our tallest building, and we get about 3, sometimes 4 or 5, of these suckers in a day, all carrying about our popluation or more (between 8 and 10,000) people.  Which means in the summer time, our small little Island is bursting forth with many many many MANY little and big folk, all wandering the streets like disney land.  Which unfourntuatly for them, it is NOT disney land, and there are real cars with a lot of….umm….Ketchikan-y drivers in them.  Which means to watch out people!

I wont bother you with the story of how a unsuspection tourist lost there life this year because in all honesty, was terrible thing to hear, and I dont want to comicalize that.  That said just to warn you Alaskan dreamers….There ARE roads here, with cars, and not so smart people behind the wheel.  Anyways, when Summer ariveth, there is hardly a day that goes by without rain.  Ok, we get maybe 2 or 3 weeks of sun during the summer, not all at once, but creativly spread out over the course of two maybe three months.

Chances are, your gonna get rained on here.  Our overpopulated, wet little town in teh summer expands, with more than twice our population during the day.  Like I mentioned, the roads are filled with twice as many crazy drivers and people, and all the little men and women who travel over seas with there overpriced trinkets to sell off as ‘alaskan made jewelry’.

Quite the change of scenery when fall/winter hits.  The last crew ship has arrived and left.  The shops are boarded up (the very same day) and the people vanish.  The cars dwindle down to the 20 maybe 30 crazy drivers we have here, and life returns to normal, our little Island is put to bed for the winter.  How do we tell its fall here?  When the weather changes?  No.  When the population dwindles down and the shops board up and you can walk the streets without having to worry about seeing a mob of 400.

Its usually still raining.

That being said.  Our fall comes in, in a matter of….3 days.  One, a big storm arrives, complete with high winds and rain.  Nothing new.  The next day a really REALLY big wind.  All the leaves dissapear.  (no raking involved!  Plus, the leaves on the groud…are wet…still raining) Then the weather returns to either rain.  Or….We snap into winter.  Winter here can be interesting.  Right now, we have a mountain.  Of course, yes…..we have many of mountains.  One mountain in particular…either deer….or brown mountain…I cant remember….anyways…they fill up with snow really quickly.  Theres usually about a week of really really low clouds and rain here, then the clouds lift and the mountains are covered.

We…however.  Are not.  Its still raining.

Then, we either go full fledge into the rainy/snow mixture.  Or we freeze.  This year, it chsoe to go from the comfortable high 40’s to the vetty vetty low 20s and 10s and even……9.  Gulp.  So there you have it.  Our tiny little island.  The one I call home.  The one that has more crime rate than New York.  The one that has a gallizion different personalities, and no one, NO ONE is the same. The one where you bump into the same person at the P.O. The store, the office, the coffee shop, and one might think they are being stalked, which might accumulate to the crime rate.  People see each other too much?

The things here are really ….taken for grantint.  The cold, The rain, the mountains, the water…..everything.  There are some days when I wake up to say “What the hell am I doing in this damn little islans!” Because…honestly, sometimes, the feeling of being trapped on nothing but 30 miles of road with the same 8,000 psycos and not being able to leave unless you have about 6-800 in your wallet, gets rather…..depressing sometimes.  But then there are days when you wake, and the sun is shinning in through the frozen window, and the water is frozen and there is frost on everything, or the rain is pelleting sideways, and theres no end in sight, and your car wipers wont go fast enough, and you think “Yes….yes…this IS home.  This IS why im here.  Because im slightly crazy and I just wouldnt fit in….anywhere else.”

{side note: that picture is NOT my taking.  It was taken from a local news place.  Also found at sitnews[dot]com