Kodiak Stories

Wow! Our trip was so fun and went by so fast! I really appreciated our vacation there this time... island life is really laid back and relaxed. It was so hard for me to get used to! Life in the city is so busy and go-go-go and it was really refreshing to leave that behind for two weeks. We arrived in Kodiak the day before Thanksgiving and rushed to get everything prepared for the next day. We had Thanksgiving with family and friends of Kevin's from the Coast Guard. The food was really yummy, but unfortunately I was under the weather and didn't take any pictures. I actually slept most of the day! But thankfully, that only lasted a day or so, and I was able to join everyone else on some fun hikes and sight-seeing! Kevin & Jen took us to Pillar Mountain, which has some really amazing views of the area. The photo above is us on Pillar Mountain, overlooking the airport and Coast Guard base (to the left of me).

The Girls on Pillar Mountain: Jen (who lives in Kodiak), Chels, Heather, Mom Smith

One place we got to go was Fossil Beach, otherwise known as the End of the Road. It was about a 45 minute drive, the longest drive on the island! It was a blustery day and I chose to stay in the car while everyone else braved the cold and wet weather. Jon, his brother Jason, and Dad Smith hiked up to the top of this bluff and there were some really cool WW2 bunkers that they explored. Then on the way back home, we ran into some wildlife! A fox that we coaxed out of the brush with some string cheese and grapes... and a free-ranging buffalo... and a free-ranging cow!

Another fun experience on the island is playing broom ball. It's a variation of hockey, but wearing shoes instead of skates and using those sticks in the photo above instead of hockey sticks. It was so crazy running around on the ice with shoes, trying to balance yourself and hit the ball at the same time! I was not very good, but neither were very many other people! It was a great atmosphere where everyone had lots of fun.

The photo above is one of my favorite! I had the best opportunity to get some knitting projects out of the way on this trip, as Jen and Mom Smith are avid knitters. It was great, because I was able to get help from them! And little Aleya (Heather's daughter) was such a great help too! I actually knitted her the cutest hat while I was up there and I will post it next time...

So, Jon and I had a really great time... we got lots of cool, local pottery and were able to get lots of fish and crab, too! Alaska is really beautiful and we can't wait to visit in the summer!

Lots of other pictures are posted on our Flickr page... check 'em out!