The Town of Sitka

A few Coasties from the Sitka Air Station were waiting at the ferry terminal when we arrived on Tuesday afternoon.  We checked into a hotel & then Kolt had to go to the base to check in.  That evening we drove around town, Kolt showed me the base & we ate at a good Mexican & pizza restaurant that someone suggested.  Sitka is VERY small but there is more than what I was expecting.  There are a couple grocery stores, a few restaurants & pubs, a McDonald’s, & a Subway.  Kolt & I decided to have a “cheap” lunch one day so we went to Subway & we were a little surprised when our total was $24, about $10 more than it would have been in the lower 48.  There is a cruise ship port & Sitka is one of the scheduled stops for the Alaska Cruise Line.  There is quite a bit of Russian culture & history here so there are historic land marks & a few gift & souvenir shops for the tourists.  There is only 1 stop light in the entire town & Monday thru Saturday most everything opens at 9am & closes at 6pm.  The few stores that are open on Sundays, close early around 4pm.  The restaurants, pubs, movie rental store, & movie theater are usually the only thing open after 6pm.  Yes, we do have a movie theater, we actually have 2.  However, they each only have one screen & each theater only shows 2 different movies.  Shockingly, there are 5 banks in town, 1 of which is a credit union.  There are also a few hotels, an elementary school, middle school, & 2 different high schools.  There are some small clothing stores that sell mostly cold weather clothing & gear, & a True Value hardware store which also serves as somewhat of a small walmart type store carrying common household goods.  There is also a library & a book store, & a few other specialty stores.  We are still exploring & learning about what else is here.  Most stores share a building with other stores & can be somewhat hidden as there is not a whole lot of advertising here.  Most things are within walking distance & since there are only 21 miles of paved local roads, it is a bicycle friendly community. 


                                                                     A view of Sitka