Kodiak

Fun facts about Kodiak for your next beer trivia night….

Kodiak Island is the second largest island in the United States, but the town of Kodiak has only 6,000 residents.  The island is home to 2300 Kodiak (duh!) bears.  That makes one bear for every 3 residents…..makes you think twice before going off on that little unescorted hike through the woods.

It’s called “Alaska’s Emerald Isle”  because the near-constant summer rain makes everything incredibly green.

It is home to one of North America’s largest fishing ports. Nearby are halibut, trout, steelhead and all five species of salmon. 

Holy mackerel!!! er…..salmon?

And speaking of holy, Kodiak has a large and thriving Russian Orthodox congregation.

I had a lovely walk around- checked out the hardware store (some know how I LOVE a hardware store).

I scored some Smartwool socks at 75% off an end-of-summer sale. 

Win.

At the suggestion of my Cousin Merrill Bob, went to Henry's for a Reuben, but also had to try the fresh fish (again...)

Bought some local cookbooks, because one can NEVER have too many salmon recipes..

And fell in love, for some unexplainable reason, with this cute bean bag chicken.

My new mascot and cabin mate.

Her name is Daisy.

I walked past Tony's Bar- which bills itself as "The Biggest Navigational Hazzard on Kodiak Island"... 

(yes, "Hazzard" with 2 z's)

This just tickled me for some reason...

And this sculpture made by students made me think....

Oh, the crap we throw in the ocean!!

And, as Crystal Shore Excursion's brochure likes to say "All too soon" we were off to Dutch Harbor, and "The Deadliest Catch".

Qiviut- My Idea of Heaven

My first stop in my day in Anchorage was to the Oomingmak Collective.  

Knitters reading this, please take a moment to wipe the drool away before you mess up your keyboards.  For muggles (knitterspeak for a non-knitter), Oomingmak is the Musk Ox Producers’ Co-Operative.  They make hand knits with the underwool  of the musk ox.

I know--cute little sucker, right?

Musk ox down, or “qiviut” as it is called, is the lightest, warmest natural fiber on the planet.  It is also the rarest (the down is harvested by untangling it from fences after the musk ox rubs against it….do you think your really wanna COMB one of those suckers???) and therefore the most expensive.

And I mean EXPENSIVE.  To try to explain to you muggles, the cost of fine merino yarn to make a scarf would average somewhere around $30.  For a scarf of qiviut, it would be around $250.

I've only knit with it once. And I waited a long time to decide what to make of it.  Sometimes, I would just take the skein of qiviut out and pet it. (It’s something only a knitter will understand…..)

But I digress.

The ONLY thing I promised myself on this trip would be that I would buy myself a nachaq, or cowl,  made of qiviut.  At Oomingmak, one can only purchase finished pieces- no actual yarn is sold.  The proceeds go back into the process of gathering the qiviut and preserving the heritage of the native Alaskan peoples who have gathered and spun this yarn for hundreds of years.

With the help of the staff, I picked the pattern that would most suit my Louisiana winters (translation- the lace with the most holes!).

The nachaq also came with detailed information on the history of the pattern (based on a 1200 year-old carved ivory harpoon head), the area where the pattern came from (Mekoryuk) and even the name of the knitter and her photo (Margaret Hobbs).

I am BESOTTED by it.  

Truly.

And, when I get old- very old- it will be an heirloom.

Sometimes, it's the simplest things that make me smile.........

North To Alaska

Well, Peeps, this is my view as I write this…

I’m off Kodiak Island in Alaska, but let’s go back a few days, shall we???

I left Shreveport in the middle of a typical August heat and humidity wave.  And of course, that means the occasional pop-up thunderstorms over the plains… which means the occasional delayed flight into Denver (yes, Shreveporters- you read that right- a direct flight to Denver from  Hooterville-on-Red.  United.  No DFW.  No Atlanta. There was much rejoicing)…which means the occasional “I’ve got nine minutes before my connecting flight closes the door” sprint from one end of Denver International Airport to the other.

Kudos to my trainer Eric Murphy for those incline treadmill bursts and walks at Norton with weights. I know I complain, but THANK YOU.  I made it.

I arrived in Anchorage at 10:30pm and it messed with my mind to find it still light. 

 You know the feeling- you get in a big metal tube for 5 hours and you really have no idea what the latitude or longitude is going to bring you. 

But it was 55 degrees.

Alaska for the win!!!

Monday was just a running around and getting acclimated day.  I acclimatized quite well, thankyouverymuch. There is nothing like the glee of  a Southerner in August debating whether to take a sweater or a fleece out walking…..

Let’s just say that Anchorage’s flowers are stunning…

I was told by the Trolley Tour driver that it’s because of all the summer sun.

Lots of sampling of local beers and fish!

Took my opera buddy Steve Aiken’s advice on dinner at Humpy’s 

it’s named for WHALES, dearies…WHALES!

No, I did NOT try the Man vs. Food challenge.

Tuesday was all about the transfer to the ship in Seward.  It’s a three hour trip along the coast and through the passes to get to the Kenai Peninsula. 

On the Turnagain Arm of the Cook Inlet, surfers can ride the bore tide for miles.  Bore tides occur when an incoming high tide collides with the outgoing tide.  The tides in this area are second only to the Bay of Fundy- they can drop almost 30 feet every 6 hours.

 Absolutely beautiful.

You will be seeing those words a great deal over the next few weeks, I imagine.

And, arriving at the ship, I found my Northwest Passage Parka waiting for me.

It's one of two things.  Either whoever okayed the parkas has one HELLUVA sense of humor.....or more likely, they have never seen South Park.