What Sitkans Say About Sitka

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Then there's my husband, Kaye Dethridge, who always wanted to go to Alaska, even as a child. After high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Signal Corps and was assigned to the Alaska Communications System in Juneau. In 1977 he came to Sitka as a lineman on a construction project: "I like the fact that in ten minutes you can be in the wilderness. The fishing is great. From my living-room window I can watch ducks, geese, gulls, shorebirds, eagles (maybe 15 or 20 at a time), the mink on the woodpile and the otters, herons and other wildlife. I like the climate, too. It's amusing, in the middle of winter, to see that the southern United States is knee-deep in snow and we're having 45° weather."

Foods from the forests and oceans grace the tables of most Sitkan families.

Of course, not everyone is an enthusiast. "You can't drive anywhere. I miss the highways," you hear. "If you don't hunt and fish, go boating or hike, there's nothing to do," they say. "My kids can't play out in the rain," one mother lamented. (She's moving to Tennessee.) "I can't wait to get somewhere where the sun shines," another young mother says.

Personally, the rain doesn't bother me. If you're going to be out in it, you merely don a wool jacket, boots and a raincoat. And though I understand some become depressed by a lack of sun, when I look out the window on a wet spring day, the many shades of green are vibrant and put a lie to the idea that rainy days are dull and colorless.

I also like Sitka's fresh food. Gathering it is an important aspect of many people's lives. We particularly enjoy the seafood. Last week, we luxuriated in the first razor clams of the season from a beach on a nearby island. Our guests also enjoy the canned smoked red king salmon that we put up last summer, and greens picked from the beach 50 feet from the house.

But I guess the thing I like most is that, as in all of Alaska, the people are individualists. They enjoy being able to live life their way, while still being a part of the fabric of this special place.

Irene Shuler moved to Sitka in 1956 at the age of seventeen.

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