Eric in Thorne Bay Alaska

[Nomad Willy]

#1. Our house. Called "the castle" around town. Way too big for the two of us but we sure enjoyed it. Had in floor heat fired by a boiler. Worked well. With over 5 baths and that many bedrooms we always had room for whatever.
#2. The wonderful garage I had built. Held 7 vehicles. The picture was taken just as we were selling.
#3. At "The Port". A store, PO and float plane dock. A favorite gathering place. Chris is in purple on the left.
#4. Inside at one of the parties.
#5. House w blanket of snow.
#6. Garage. Wonderful to have a place for all the vehicles.
#7. One of six or so 14' Christmas trees in the LR.
#8. Building the garage. Was actually a fun project.

 

[Al]

Eric, Had to be something powerful to draw you away from Thorne Bay. I sure wish I had the opportunity to have met you. All the times I walked the floats and viewing your boat at the Yacht float when you visited and we never connected. What are the odds?
Very impressive abode and to the effort you put into making it a home.
I know it would be very hard to pull away from our Tongass Narrows waterfront log home. Cant imiagn not having the wood stove stoked, coffee mug in hand gazing out on the water,be it calm as it is now as I look out, or with a good old fashion SE'ster at around 35-50 kts.
Thanks for sharing a bit of your history, look forward to the retelling of your voyages either South or North.

Regards,
Al

 

[BruceK]

Beautiful house Eric, but as you say, a large house for 2. The snow is so far outside my experience of climate, it is beautiful, but there are the practicalities to consider. Sometimes we have to adjust to change, but leaving there or any home with good memories would be hard. The barn/garage/carport reminds me of a traditional Vermont covered bridge.

 

[Insequent]

Very nice house Eric! I think I would have needed the garage enclosed though, and have a nice workshop for tinkering etc. But maybe your house catered for that as well.

The issue I have with remote towns and island locations is fast access to high quality healthcare resources. Sure, not needed yet but eventually it becomes important.

 

[sunchaser]

On several occasions we stopped in Thorne Bay and spent time with Mr and Missus Eric. Wonderful folks and a great PoW Island tour guide. For selfish reasons I wish he still lived there.

 

[Nomad Willy]

Thanks all very much.

HaHa I didn’t know you were a floathouse dweller Al. Where do you get your wood? Bring it in on a skiff I spoze. We considered a floathouse and a very interesting one was available. We also were strongly drawn to a little cabin well down in the South Arm. Couldn’t drive to it but one could get close. Nice beach even .. for SE.
Al when we came to town w/o the boat we’d stay at the NewYork Hotel. They had a great coffee house/restaurant at street level. HaHa we prolly rubbed shoulders in some other place that would surprise us if we knew. Liked to get breakfast at the Pioneer too.

Bruce the snow is beautiful indeed but there’s much more to it that that. The sounds (or lack of sound (snow sucks up most sound)). And in SE there are the huge ice sickles on roof eves. 2-3” in dia. And 2-3’ long. And the downside of dealing with it. But personally I couldn’t get into shoveling as long as one could easily walk through it. Maybe that came from my young boy days in Juneau. Interesting your comment about the NE US covered bridges. They looked so romantic but it was just to keep the wood bridge from rotting.

Brian I was going to make the inside garage into a shop but I took my old 73 Buick up there and kept in in 1/2 of the garage.
The health care issue is much more real for me now. But in many ways it was better up north. Doctors were much more accessible and it was cheaper. Perhaps because of the oil royalties. Big turnover in doctors .. like school teachers.

Thanks very much for your warm words sunchaser. Shared
Yes I still wish we lived in Juneau or Sitka. Preferably Sitka.
Not so cheap to live in Alaska anymore now that the oil money is so much less. Fracking killed a lot of money related things in Alaska.

 

[Pack Mule]

Beautiful home Eric. Love the open air carports. Visiting the PNW is on our bucket list.

 

[Nomad Willy]

Marty do look us up if you have the time. Please do. Come to our B&B haha. Soon?

Here's another pic of the carport. I designed it but only built about 15% of it.
Here you can see it's all closed in in the back. I wanted to avoid building a dark cave so used clear plastic to let in a lot of light. Sure wish I had that garage down here.

 

[Rebel112r]

Willy? Is Old Salt a fellow from Sechelt area, named Roger, who has poked his and his boats nose in a good deal is SE and BC coastlines.

 

[OldDan1943]

Snow and exterior teak are, to me, on the same list and it aint the 'good list'.

 

[Nomad Willy]

Yes Dan,
Didn’t see you in TB ....

Reb,
Yes I’m quite sure you’re right. Haven’t met him but he’s been in TB. Took pics of boats on the float and he’s a member on TF.
There’s only a small handful of skippers here w more helm time or miles run on the coast. Haven’t seen a post by him in years.

 

[Al]

Thanks all very much.

HaHa I didn’t know you were a floathouse dweller Al. Where do you get your wood? Bring it in on a skiff I spoze. We considered a floathouse and a very interesting one was available. We also were strongly drawn to a little cabin well down in the South Arm. Couldn’t drive to it but one could get close. Nice beach even .. for SE.
Al when we came to town w/o the boat we’d stay at the NewYork Hotel. They had a great coffee house/restaurant at street level. HaHa we prolly rubbed shoulders in some other place that would surprise us if we knew. Liked to get breakfast at the Pioneer too.

Sorry Eric, No,we live in a log home ON the hard. Logs came from Happy Harbor in Kassan Bay. (1953) The New York still remains. It is the gathering spot for the Arts folk, matter of fact, the arts are now one of the economic drivers of Ketchikan. Tells you the status of timber industry loss. Pioneer Cafe remains the place for the locals to chow down. Have a fixed Friday date for lunch and waitress harassment.
Thanks for the comeback.
Al