Ketchikan Film Festival update

9/7/18 So this is just an update. There were over 1700 entries in the Ketchikan Film festival this year. They showed 16 videos at the festival. This one was one of them, though it did not when, the audience seemed pleased with it.

Hello, Ketchikan has many artist and photographers. recently they decided to conduct a search of creative videos/films that display Ketchikan. This is my first entry. Hope you like it. Some on the entries will be shown downtown at the Discovery Center on Friday Aug. 24th of this year.

https://filmfreeway.com/TheworldofKetchikan

Alaska wild animal Sancutary

So if you get to Anchorage Alaska, and want to go for a drive and possibly see some wildlife, take highway 1 south about 30 miles and right across from Whittier. It’s at mile marker 79. There is an amazing wildlife sanctuary.

They have almost any animal that you may see in the wild parts of Alaska, moose, brown bears, reindeer, elk and many others. During the summer I believe they are open every day and during the winter they are open on weekends. You can drive around the area or I suggest to see the animals the best and to get some incredible pictures park your car and walk around the area. The animals are behind fences, but nothing like a zoo.

This is definitely a place to take the kids, and they will enjoy it. If you go let me know what you thought. Then when your done you could drive to the Portage Glacier which is very close and also worth seeing.

Their web site is: https://www.alaskawildlife.org/

Crab Boat Tour Ketchikan AK

One of the tours that many people go on, while in Ketchikan is the crab boat tour. It’s about a 3.5 to 4 hour tour. I have been on it 4 or 5 times, usually taking someone who is visiting us. The ship is the Aleutian Ballad. The crew takes you out, shows you how crab pots work, they have some preset ones that they pull you for you. They show you different types of crab also from small ones to kings. The tour is very informative and the crew is very friendly.

At one point they attract some bald eagles. I have seen over 30 flying around the ship and feeding from the water, but toward the end of the season I have seen less than 10. They give you the opportunity to hold various sea creatures, if you want. This is a rain or shine tour. Best place is on top deck to get some good eagle pictures, on the bottom deck if you want to handle stuff. I believe that there are age restrictions for small kids.

Shrine of St Therese, Juneau AK

So a year ago my wife and I went to Juneau AK, so that i could take my drone license test and become a certified drone pilot, which I did. While there we went for a drive north of Juneau, and came across “The Shrine of St. Therese”. We are not Catholic but decided to check out the place, especially after we read some reviews of the place on-line. The atmosphere was very peaceful, though there were a lot of birds squawking ,trying to divert of attention away from the peace that God had in store for us.

There was a path that we had to follow to get to the shrine. It was raining lightly, however the tree coverage kept us mostly dry. My wife had hurt her leg and it was hard for her to walk very far. We were impressed and thankful that they had a few free wheelchairs that people could use while they visited. This really helped a lot.

There were several monuments that you could spend time at.

Here also was an interesting rock garden.

This was a very peaceful area, and I believe that you can rent out the area for events, lie maybe weddings. If you get to Juneau Alaska, then stop by here and get relaxed.

Black Bears

Living in Alaska, on a remote island, in the second largest rain Forrest in the world (I believe), one might expect to see some animals. Well here in Ketchikan, one of those animals is black bears. From spring until fall there are a few locations where you can see bears in the wild, not in a cage or in a zoo. But real live, untrained, sometimes uncaring bears. We have lived here 10 years and it never gets old. We have had them in our front yard, just passing on through several times. Sometimes we just go and watch them fish.

Often about this time you can see mama bear with a cub or two.

if you get a chance to make it to Alaska and see the bears, just remember they are not pets, this isn’t a zoo, they are not trained. Don’t go near them if you have food. A bear will do what a bear will do. Don’t get between mama and her cubs. Enjoy the beauty, thank God that you get a chance to see nature and wild animals, take pictures and memories, just don’t ruin it for those who live here.

Mountian Village Alaska

There are several small villages through-out remote Alaska most people never see nor visit if they make it to Alaska. Mountain Village is one of them. Last count of population was about 813. The village is located on the Yukon river near the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. The village is mostly Yupik Eskimo. The people are very friendly and out going. We lived there for a year. There is one road that connects to St. Marys, another village about 18 miles away. The local rely on fish a lot so most have fish camps where they dry the fish.

The winter sunrises are incredible there.

Fireweed is used for many purposes including jam.

And being on the Yukon winter breakup is also something noteworthy.

There are several Youtube videos showing this place and some of the people there. The only way to get there is to fly a bigger plane from Anchorage to Bethel then a small plane from there. Unless you live in the area then you can get there by boat during the summer or by snow machine (snowmobile) or 4 wheeler during the winter.

A Day in Ketchikan

So living in a tourist is nice in some ways, and not so in others. If you take an Alaskan inside passage cruise usually Ketchikan is one of your stops, either your first stop if your going North or your last if your going South. I made a DVD a few years ago, because it was something I really wanted to do. The DVD, “A day in Ketchikan”, displays several of the local sites and places to go. I sold some at a yearly craft fair called the Blueberry Festival. Others I sold in a few of the local shops for up to $15 each. Below are a few of the sections from it, one about bears and the other about eagles. Both contain some pictures that I took here. I just uploaded a digital cop of the DVD for only $4.99. If your interested please click the link below. Thank you.