Here's a question?
If Capetown has 20, Glasgow has 49. Reykjavik 31 and New York 35. Beijing 22 and Paris 25. Poor Jeff out in Mykonos gets only 6.
Ok, so I am talking about rainfall (average in inches per year ) so maybe we should not feel so sorry for Jeff and spare a thought for those hardy but sodden folks who live in Ketchikan, Alaska. A massive 160 inches of rain per year.
It is the rainfall capital of the world.
This week here is a soggy flaneur of Ketchikan. Next week I will tell you the story of the famous murders that took place here, because as we know......murder is everywhere!!!
Famous statue on the pier to those frontiersmen who made the town as it is today.
Beautiful detail . The statue is called the Rock.
And very welcoming it was. This was about 10.30 AM. light drizzle only.
The pavements are slightly grooved to let the rain drain away
The very famous Dolly's house, a place for working ladies...
The guide to Creek Street. It says 'where fish and fisherman come up the creek to spawn!'
'
Famous Chilli cafe. Couldn't work out if chilli was a euphemism. Either way, the ladies of Creek Street were hot stuff!
Transport is amphibian.
Diamonds are forever and a girls best friend. And a huge industry here.
We saw this chair sitting on a hill above the creek. Nobody was about.
This type of scene is what gets a crime writers brain whirring.
It's about 12 noon now, rain getting a bit serious.
The stairs up the creek, note non slip matting on the wooden stairs
Rain getting heavy now. Even in our hillwalking gear, we were soaked.
View across the bay.
Creek street
Chatting to a local. He was waiting for his dinner, in the dry.
The famous Creek Street
Water everywhere. Houses on stilts
Dolly's home to world's oldest profession.
Totems and mist.
Deadly quiet.
Just the sound of the rain.
Oh greased lightening, burning up the quarter mile...
The view from the top!
Note the cruise boats lined up. The biggest industry in Alaska is Government. The second biggest
is now tourism. They have it well managed and very controlled. All of Alaska is a rainforest and they work hard to preserve it and it's natural, wild beauty. There was no sense, to quote Charlie Brown, of us 'getting jam on it.'
Long may that last.
Today it is 22 degrees in Ketchikan. 15 in Glasgow. Raining in both.
Caro Ramsay 22nd Aug 2014
Posts
We get a bit moss-covered here with our paltry 40-50 inches per year. 160? Shiver me timbers! But welcome to my general neck of the woods, ain't the Pacific Northwest grand? :-)
ReplyDeleteSunshine girl that I am, I would like to spend one day in such weather. But what a lovely day it would be. Have a wonderful time in the gorgeous 50th state. Book reco re Alaska: Coming into the Country by the GREAT John McPhee.
ReplyDeleteYou just knew you'd draw me in with this didn't you, Caro? Okay, here goes.
ReplyDeleteHi, it's Jeff over here in six-inch land where at this time in the season poor Dolly would have a hard time plying her trade for any number of reasons.
Your pictorial essay has convinced me that the only way to see Alaska is by sea. A few years back close friends made the trip via the AlCan Highway and all they brought back fro me was a tee-shirt emblazoned with the slogan of the place they'd stopped mid-way in their journey: "Skinny Dick's Half-Way Inn."
Do you think perchance there's a theme running through this magnificent 49th State?
Flaneur is obviously in in word. Caro texted me last night from outside my B&B that she was doing (being?) a flaneur while waiting for me. Notwithstanding that, we had a great meal and spectacular views at the Lodge at Loch Lomond and plenty of writer talk and appropriate whinging about publishers.
ReplyDeleteAnd Stan survived. I enjoyed my flaneur and tend to do more of it, nobody can stop me and there is no law against it. ( although I do take the point that the French language might have something to say ) It can be habit forming, as a famous nun once said.
ReplyDeleteI am imagining Jeff having a flaneur in his T shirt....
In that garb, Caro, I think it would be called "cruising." :)
DeleteI really want to go there!
ReplyDelete