Kodiak Kayaking

So two weeks ago I got to go kayaking in Kodiak! It was a Sunday afternoon and the wonderful lady who hired me, Shelly, texted Liz & I asking if we wanted to go kayaking with her. We went to Ft. Abercrombie to kayak in Monashka Bay. Shelly had 2 kayaks so Liz & her went to get a third one from a friend and dropped me off so I could paddle around for a bit till they got back. So I was paddling around enjoying the view and the peacefulness when all of a sudden I hear a loud exhale... I turned my head to see a sea lion a little ways away from me. He was just swimming along then he stopped and looked at me.... then starts swimming towards me! I had no idea what to do because I was by myself, the sea lion was huge, and I had heard stories of them bothering fishing boats so I just paddled as fast as I could to shore. Sure enough he followed me but only for a little bit, thankfully. Soon after Liz & Shelly showed up and we all went out on the water together! The water was so calm and it was wonderful to be out. Plus we were able to see more sea lions (from a distance), puffins, jelly fish, and sea otters.  It was amazing!

Myself & Liz

Here I am with Shelly!

So you can't see him that well but this is a sea otter poking his head out at us. It's hard to get a good pic of these guys.

Liz took this great pic of the jelly fish

Liz out on the water!

I love kayaking!



Here's Liz & me... being ourselves.

So I didn't get too many pics but you can get the general idea. We had a great time and it was so gorgeous!!! It was a wonderful evening and I'm glad I could get another thing checked off my bucket list for Kodiak!

On a side note there is a family who takes me to church and are so sweet to me. I had told Alan, who happens to be in the Coast Guard, that we were going kayaking and he told me to tell him when I got back just so he knew I made it back safely. Well we ended up going out on the water later then what I had told him and by the time we got back and I was able to call him I think he was one call away from getting the Coast Guard out to go look for me. I apologized thoroughly but am glad I got people looking out for me.. and so is my mom! 



The Randoms of Kodiak

In my time at Kodiak, AK I've came across some very interesting things and I have had some very random moments. If my camera is handy... I take a picture (or two)! I am going to start with the one that made me laugh the hardest. My friend Adia here is on the mountain goat research crew and is also a talented knitter. Therefore she decided that while she was out on her hitches that she would collect goat fur so she could make a hat out of it. So one day I come home to Adia out on the deck carding goat fur... and not only was she carding the fur but she was carding it with cat combs since it was something available for her to buy and cheaper. So I grabbed my camera to capture this wonderful moment! Hahahaha! You gotta love her!

Adia!

The lovely goat fur she collected.

The next adventure I want to share with you happened just a few weeks ago and it's kind of hard to explain since it's so ridiculous. A Russian ship called the Pallada was visiting so there was a surplus of Russian cadets pursuing the town of Kodiak. Since Kodiak actually has a rich Russian history, the Russian community invited them with a live band and music. So Liz, Adia, and myself stopped by and stood awkardly against the wall, like at a Jr. High dance, while we watched Russians do Russian dances to Russian music. It was just a bit too Russian for us. 

The Pallada

Russian dancing

Liz & Adia at the Russian dance... absolutely love it!

Here I am with my campers while on a tour of the Russian ship.

So this I meant to blog about this awhile ago but it can go in this blog and it is.... the 4th of July!!! Liz & I planned a refuge 4th of July potluck party where everyone was supposed to wear red, white, & blue and Liz made a radiant playlist consisting of only patriotic music. We also only had American food at the potluck so the main dish was.... hot dogs! Everyone had a blast!

Happy 4th!







Since the only place you can buy clothes here is pretty much Walmart.. there were a couple repeats on the patriotic shirts.

Myself & Adia looking fierce!

With my dear friend Liz =)

 Lexie with her wonderful USA dish she made!

And here are just random pics I've snapped around town....

Kayaks for sale in Walmart

Boat on fire...

Tim dancing at the Lady Gaga costume party.

Survivor suit team races.

And last but not least.. the random Oklahoma car I found in the Walmart parking lot!



That's all the randoms of Kodiak that I have for now... I hope you can enjoy them just as I did!



Another Village Trip and a Farewell :(

This past Tuesday was another village trip. This one was a bit different however because normally the Salmon Camp crew splits up into pairs and each pair goes to a separate village. Well Liz & Mike were supposed to be heading to Karluk while Karen and I were supposed to go to Akhiok. It turned out that Akhiok had another camp there that week so we may be going there in two weeks instead and Karen had part of this week off to move. Soooo Liz, Mike, & myself were all to go to Karluk plus there was a lady from Kenai Refuge visiting, Leah, so she went with us to help out as well. So we arrive at the airport at 7AM, Tuesday for our flight at 8AM and end up waiting 2 hours before we actually leave due to weather. We were crammed on a tiny plane and for the most of the way we flew closer to the ground then normal due to low cloud coverage. We were just about to turn around but the pilot felt he could land us okay. Sure enough he did... but I was thinking maybe we shouldn't be going if we won't be able to leave the next day. There's always the possibility of the weather clearing up... but it never did the whole time we were there. So Karluk, I believe, is the smallest village on the island with a population of about 40. So we were glad to have 11 kids show up to our educational program. It went well, however some kids had a hard time listening which is a big pet peeve of my mine and caused me to about lose it one day after trying to explain a game about 8 times, but thankfully Liz stepped in for me. The kids had a great time though! We stayed in the school where the maintenance men were staying as well to fix the hot water and heat.The school had 3 classrooms, bathrooms, a miniature gym/cafeteria, and a kitchen. We had fun in there though, we played basketball and watched Sandlot (classic). It rained the whole time so we stayed inside a lot. So on Wednesday we were supposed to leave at 5:30PM but it wasn't looking like we were gonna make it out, because the maintenance men were supposed to leave that morning and were still there. After I accepted the fact that I was going to stay in Karluk for another night (if not forever) we got the call that the plane was coming for us a little after 6.. and sure enough it did!I did freak out a bit because there were times we were flying straight through clouds and couldn't see a thing but we made it back safely! And I had never been so happy to see Kodiak!

This is what Karluk looked like the whole time we were there. Too bad we couldn't see the sun shining.



All the wonderful kiddos we had... they had a fun time!

Mike & Liz crammed in the back of the plane before we left.

Here's the handy dandy map so you can see where exactly Karluk is located at.



The second part of this blog is for my friend Stacey. She was here from Canada on a murrelet research crew consisting of her and our other Canadian friend, Jenna. Liz & I have become good friends with the Canadians (even though they are from Canada and sometimes crack jokes about their Canadian-ness) and had some spectacular bonding times with them. So the night before Stacey left we did karaoke, which she did so bravely for the first time and was a singing fool by the time we left, and got to say bye at the airport the next morning when she left. I'm going to miss her and am so glad to have had met such a great friend. I'll see her again someday though, she's amazing!

Myself & Stacey doing the Alaska throw-down

Mike, Fran, Stacey, Liz, Jenna, & myself before we left for karaoke! Love this group!

Myself, Liz, Stacey, & Jenna at the airport before Stacey's departure :(

Well it was a fun yet interesting week. Next week we have a full week of camp with Jr. High kids and will be going on a camping adventure. After that it's wrap up! I can't believe how fast time is flying here. But I've loved every moment here and am so glad I was given this opportunity to see what I saw, meet the people I've met, and learn all the wonderful things I've learned. But the fun is not over yet! :)