Ship leaving Ketchikan

This pictures were taken early evening off our deck. It has rained all day and the fog is very heavy. Carey saw the ship going by so I got the camera and took these pictures. Tomorrow the last ship will dock and the tourist will visit Ketchikan for the last time this season. Most of the shops in downtown will close until next spring when the ships start coming back. Thank goodness for Wal-Mart and the local stores that stay open for the winter. The stores have already posted their new winter hours. When the time changes in October the days will become a lot shorter. I'm already dreading it but will find something to keep me busy. I will send more pictures and news from Ketchikan later. Until then closing for now.

love vicki

Poor Poor Salmon

Well, today is Friday, September 26 and it has been a cloudy cool day. I took these pictures yesterday on one of our sunny days in Ketchikan. We have had sunny nice days since last Saturday. In the pictures you will see the many many salmon who have come back to their birth place to lay their eggs and die. Seems like a very sad life to me. Their average life span is 5 to 7 years. These pictures were taken downtown Ketchikan where the cruise ships dock. As you will see in the pictures there are shops and restaurants all around this area. The smell of dying fish is just terrible now, but they say it will only last a few more weeks. I have joined a yoga class in one of the buildings upstairs from the water so when we exercise and the windows are open the smell is just sickening. Yes, I did say joined a yoga class. Believe it or not I'm trying to get in better shape. I was invited by Kathy(lady I met on the ferry)and didn't have anything else to do so I paid for 10 classes to see how things go. Because of my hand surgeries I can't do some of the moves but I will give it a try.

Yesterday I had to go and fill out an application at the sanitation department so we could get trash pick up where we live. They will only allow a 32 gallon can with two handles and a lid so I spent the afternoon looking for two trash cans that meet their requirements. Today was trash pickup and I laughed at Carey because he rolled the cans back to the house thinking the trash had been picked up but the cans were still full, so back to the street he went.

Carey is off this weekend and we are going into the forest to look for a small tree to plant in a pot on the deck. I want a small spruce, it looks just like a Christmas tree and they are everywhere.

Hope you enjoy the pictures and the salmon story. Will send more pictures later, maybe we will see a bear this weekend before they hibernate.

love vicki

One more day of sunshine

Today is Wednesday, September 24 and we had another sunny day. The pictures were taken about 7:00pm. We unpacked the last box today and now I'm trying to get everything put away.

We have cable,internet and DVR. The only thing ,I can't figure out if you can watch one channel and record another. Guess I will have to call the cable company. I need my Jeff, he always helps me with my technical problems.

I will try to send more interesting pictures next time. We saw seals yesterday eating the salmon who had returned to their birth place to lay eggs and die. What a sad life. More later on the life and death of salmon. I didn't have my camera or you would have seen all the dead salmon, boy did they stink.

Love, vicki

love vicki,

Sunny Weather

Just thought I would post two pictures of a sunny day from our porch. We have a wrap around deck and this is our view. The view from the owners deck above us is unbelievable. We had a beautiful day Saturday,Sunday and most of today but of course Carey was on call. We spent Sunday walking on the dock next to one of the cruise ships just sightseeing on the streets of downtown Ketchikan and enjoyed fresh fried halibut for lunch. I'm having a hard time with baked fish. We bought a small gas grill at Wal-Mart and now we will try grilling the fish. We have frozen salmon Carey caught last Sat. and will try it this week on the grill. I'm slowly unpacking boxes and trying to decide how to decorate the apt. Carey and I have our plane tickets to come home for Christmas. We will leave here Friday night December 19 and return to Ketchikan Saturday, Jan. 10. We are looking forward to spending time with the grand darlings and of course their parents. Better go and get this posted.

love to all

vicki

In our new home

Just thought I would show a few pictures of our new place in Ketchikan. We are renting the bottom portion of this home perched on a mountain looking out at the water. The lady and her 22 year old daughter live in the upper part of the house. Her husband died ab out 3 years ago and she turned the bottom of the house into an apartment. She did this so they could afford to stay in the house. We have 3 bedroom, 2 bath, living,dining and small kitchen. When we have all the boxes out of the way I will send pictures of the inside. We are south of town and about 10 or 12 miles from the hospital. Wal-Mart is on the north side of town so I have a nice long drive to shop. ha ha ha We are now at the new address as of today. More later better run, Carey and I are going out to eat and then to the scuba diving club meeting. I think they are crazy for diving in the freezing water.

love vicki

Carey's big fish

As most fish stories go, Carey wanted to post this picture of the fish he caught because it makes it look larger than the first picture I posted. You know how men are about their fish, they want everyone to think they have the largest one. hahahahaaaaa

love vicki

p.s. he is still looking for the motorcycle keys

Carey's 1st fish in Ketchikan

This is Carey with the 18 pound silver salmon he caught yesterday off the waters of Ketchikan. We had a glorious day, the weather was beautiful and we were on a 46 foot yacht with a couple we met from Ketchikan. Things can't get much better than this.

love to all

vicki and carey

Arrived in Ketchikan

We arrived in Ketchikan Thursday afternoon on the ferry from Prince Rupert, BC. Our furniture has also arrived and will be delivered to our new apartment on Monday, September 15. Carey starts work at the hospital on Monday. We met a very nice couple on the ferry ride from Ketchikan. They have lived here 39 years ,have three grown children. They took us out fishing yesterday on their 46 foot yacht. Carey caught his first fish, a silver salmon weighing about 18 pounds. We have pictures I will attempt to post. The weather was absolutely beautiful yesterday but a front has moved in today. Sorry to say this will be our weather most of the time.

Carey can't find his keys to the motorcycle so he has unloaded the trailer and going through everything looking for the keys. Wish him good luck.


I tried to upload pictures of the silver salmon Carey caught but can't figure out if they are on the blog or not.

I will sign off for now. Love to all that read this.
vicki

we are finally here!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally after 3300 miles we are in Prince Rupert, BC. We arrived early evening yesterday one day ahead of schedule,and would you believe they didn't have any rooms available at the nice hotels. We finally found a room at an okay clean but very old motel with turquoise old old appliances in the rooms. I had a hard time falling asleep, afraid someone or something would get us. Today we moved over to the nice hotel and even upgraded to a suite with fireplace,jacuzzi big glass walk in shower with rain shower head and a beautiful big picture window looking out at the water. We are on the second floor and an Eagle flew by our window and landed on the huge tree outside. Today is a preview of what the weather will be in Ketchikan. We woke up to rain and it has rained all day. I'm trying to prepare myself for this. We get up early tomorrow morning and catch the ferry for Ketchikan. It will take about 6 hours. We have to be in line at 6:45am.

I know most of you were hoping to here all about our adventures and you will when we get settled. I have been to tired at night to type or like last night the cheap old motel didn't have the Internet. I'm still trying to type and learn about my new laptop. I should have taken lessons before we left. Carey and I are still talking, but just barely. One more day in the car driving mile after mile after mile and I might have left him in the Rockie mountains. I'm sure the animals would have left him alone.

Our new email address is vickiandcareymartin@gmail.com please start using this I can't wait to start getting mail again.

love to all
Vicki and Carey

still on the road

Sorry the blog is so behind. We are so tired at night I haven't had the energy to type. We are in Prince George BC tonight at a Casino/Hotel and have already lost the $10.00 we got when we checked in. I wanted to keep going and Carey made me come to the room. When we stop at night feels like I need to pull the leather seat off my backside. I sure hope this doesn't make my butt get bigger. I had two beers with dinner and so no telling what I might say in the blog.

We drove through the Canadian Rockies today and what a beautiful sight. I saw millions of Christmas trees. I wanted to stop and chop one down but couldn't make up my mind, besides we didn't want to get arrested. I saw a bear today on the side of the road and of course Carey blames me because he didn't see it. We never saw one wild animal in the Rockies but finally saw one after we left the forest. Carey was looking something up for me in the atlas and missed the bear on the side of the road. I was driving and didn't have time to stop and let him see it. This of course caused a little problem in the car between the driver(me) and the passenger(carey). I prayed all day to see a moose,antelope,bear,mountain goat,carabou,wolf or any animal they show you on the signs. I'm beginning to think all the animals are just make believe in the Rockies. I will attempt to download pictures tonight and if it works will send later.

Better go and get my bath. We are hoping to be in Prince Rupert,BC tomorrow night. We would like to have a day to rest before getting on the ferry for Ketchikan on Thursday.

Good night everyone from CANADA our time is 2 hours behind central time and when we arrive in Ketchikan it will be 3 hours behind central time. It has been so nice and cool here. I'm loving every minute of it.

Wagon's HO signing off

we are still talking to each other

To my surprise we were late leaving on Wednesday, I know you are all shocked. We drove until about 10:30pm and stayed about 50 miles south of Wichita, KS. We got up Thursday morning and headed for Walden, CO to see old Navy friends we were stationed with in Virginia in the early 1980's. They live in the middle of a valley near the Co. and Wyoming border. It was down in the 30's last night. We left their house about 12:40 today and drove to Sheridan, WY. We have had a long hot shower and will sleep in tomorrow.

Carey and I are still speaking but don't how much longer this will last. He is finally learning how to back the trailer. Today on our drive to Sheridan we saw a moose,antelope,dear,elk,cows,rabbits,fox,skunk of course the skunk and rabbits were smashed on the road. The country side is just beautiful and we saw thousands of horses and cows.

better go and get some sleep
love to all vicki and carey