Alaska Vacation 2011: part 10

Well this is the last post about our Alaska vacation.

As I write this, we are packed and the suitcases are in the car. We are just waiting for Kya to wake up from her nap and then we'll go to an early dinner and then to the airport. We fly from Kodiak to Anchorage tonight. We'll stay with Corey's aunt and uncle tonight. Tomorrow at 6 am we depart for Minneapolis. We're on a late afternoon flight into Bismarck.

Ahhh ... I'm not ready to leave yet. This was an amazing vacation.
Say a few prayers for us and our trip home. We have a very spunky and often ornery little Kya and a very long flight home.

Tuesday, June 14

Pilar Mountain in Kodiak



Kya LOVES being outside. She is like a puppy and will whine by the door until someone takes her outside. This little girl would spend every minute outside if she could.


Looking down at Kodiak.


Kya really enjoys walking in the grass

All the rest of the photos in this post are from Fort Abercrombie State Park.
The park is just a few miles from my parent's house and is a really great place to hike.


Looking at the Gulf of Alaska.


Relaxing on the beach (taking a hiking break).




Giving rocks to daddy to skip.


"catch me if you can"




Walking with Grandpa Z



















... Kya is awake and we're on our way ...

Alaska Vacation 2011: part 9

Monday, June 13

Kya let us all sleep in on Monday (which we all needed) so we didn't get out on the boat until 10:45 am. Our fishing buddy Ted joined us once again.

The plan:
- Lay two long lines out by triple humps (a 45 minute boat ride from Kodiak)
- Fish for salmon the "old fashioned way" with fishing pole and lures
- Pull into the bay at Long Island and take the skiff raft to shore for hiking on Long Island
- After hiking, get back to the boat and pull in the long lines
- Return home by dinner time


After we left the long lines ...
Corey caught his "old fashioned" salmon! It is a red/sockeye salmon. Congratulations Corey!
This has been Corey's goal since we arrived on Kodiak.


We rafted to Long Island and Kya was once again happy as a little clam out in nature.

Long Island is uninhabited (that we know of) and was a WWII base.


There is a very cool primitive campsite and swings on the island.


Long Island, AK




Long Island is like no place I've ever been. I felt like an elf while walking in the mossy forest.


My parents and Ted have been there many times before so they took us inside this old bunker. Corey and I were not sure it was safe but we're happy to report we make it out in one piece. There is no electricity, so it was pitch black. These is lots of leftover "stuff" in the bunker.


We were told that this base was "blown up" when the troops pulled out of the island ... and there it sat.






These Quonsets were everywhere (old WWII housing). Many many of them ... and each as creepy as the next.


Great place to film a horror movie.




Heading back to the boat.


We arrived back at the boat and then headed out to triple humps to check the long lines.

The first long line came up great - we caught a few small (but keeper) halibut. From the start, the second long line was very heavy. This long lone was the one we made last week and this was the first trip for the new line. Corey and Ted took turns puling it in. We caught a few more halibut and few ugly fish. After about a third of the hooks were up, we started to wonder why it was so darn heavy. The guys slowly pulled the rope in, inch by inch, with lots of grunting. They had to tie it off to keep the tension and to keep the line from being pulled back in the water. This was like no other long line Ted or my dad had seen. It was SO heavy. The hooks were about 10 feet apart, and most of them had a fish (halibut or junk fish), so that kept us excited.  It was soooo unbelievably heavy. While pulling it in, the guys wore life jackets and were very careful not to get the rope tangled around them ... but I was still nervous. Ted was thinking that since we were able to pull the line in (albeit very slowly) that we had a huge fish on the line. So ... slowly, slowly, one inch at a time, we kept pulling the line in.

After about two thirds of the hooks were up, we had to use the boat to help us pull in the line. We'd have my Dad back up or slowly drive forward to give us the right angle for pulling. We'd count each hook to figure out exactly how much line we had left in the ocean. We figured that we still had a little line on the bottom of the ocean. At one point, we thought the best plan was to drive the boat back to Kodiak, while the rope was tied off (on two of the tie-off hooks) in hopes that it would tire the fish and/or dislodge the rope. When we tried this plan, the boat started to tip. Not a good plan. Back to pulling. After another hour of pulling, they got a little bit more line up. At that point, they deemed the best plan was to cut the line. The line was cut, and we shall never know how big the fish was ... and/or how stuck the rope was.

All in all, we caught about 12 halibut. Plus, Corey's salmon. And lots of ugly fish and a few star fish (which we threw back to the ocean).


We got back to the Kodiak harbor after 10 pm  ... very late for dinner ... and the sky was still very bright.

Alaska Vacation 2011: part 8

Sunday, June 12
Sunday morning we had brunch at Mill Bay Coffee - delicious crepes and seafood eggs benedict. After we filled our tummies, we drove south out of town to Kalsin Bay and Kalsin River for fishing and hiking. My parent's friends Ted and Kathy joined us for the adventure.


We saw this bison along the road. No fence at all. Must be a roaming free-range fellow.


This is the Kalsin Bay Inn. Another place that looks like it is straight out of the Goonies.


Corey wore waders and went into Kalsin River to look for fish.


Kya thought he was pretty funny walking in the river.


We got out to explore.


... and saw sea lions in the river


Kya LOVES the beach.


I think she'd sit here for days.


Happy beach bum. Corey didn't see any fish at Kalsin River, so we decided to drive back toward town to the Buskin River.


Corey had this Buskin River fishing spot all to himself.


The ocean is just around the bend.


Grandma ReNay got to cary Kya in the Ergo while we hiked around the fishing spot.


We found these fish leftovers ... must be from an eagle's lunch.

Corey didn't catch any fish, but we had a fun and relaxing Sunday in Kodiak.

Vacation update #1

Well it's already Wednesday night and we're in Kalispell, MT, at my grandma's house.

So far our trip has been amazingly wonderful and exciting.

I'll try and post a few photos here to recap the first part of our journey but we've seen so much, done so much, and taken so many photographs, it's hard to narrow it down.

So here it goes ...

We departed Bismarck, ND, before sunrise on Saturday. The sun rose behind us over the prairie as we drove across North Dakota.


The sun was barely up as we drove through the badlands.

By Saturday afternoon we met up with the Haskins and made it to their cabin, just outside of Gardiner, MT, and very very close to Yellowstone National Park.

The cabin has a great location on the Yellowstone River. The power lines behind us are the park borders.

Here are the Haskins - they were great hosts, cooks and tour guides!

On Sunday we ventured into Yellowstone and went on a few hikes. Their daughter Sophia was a great hiker. And super cute.

The sights were amazing. This is below Lower Falls.

There were some neat rainbows below Lower Falls.

We took so many more neat photos but I'm short on time tonight so what I have up will have to do :)

On Monday morning we drove north and west to Glacier National Park. We met my parents en route. This cute black bear scurried across the road in front of us. We weren't quite fast enough to get a full body photo of him.

Monday and Tuesday night we stayed at Many Glacier Hotel, in the northwest corner of Glacier Park.

The hotel has some of the most majestic views I've ever seen. And the restaurants were delicious!

Our balcony was the perfect spot for a relaxing drink, snack, or wildlife spotting.

The hotel sits on Swiftcurrent Lake.

On Monday, after we arrived at the hotel, we stretched out our legs on a hike to Appekunny Falls.

Ironically, when we got to the top of the falls, Corey realized he'd been on the same hike before, when in high school, with his family. He knew how to get to the top, by the big pool.

Corey couldn't resist getting his feet wet.

The next day we took a boat to the opposite end of the lake, hiked over to the next lake, got on another boat, sailed across that lake, and went on two more hikes. Stay tuned for photos from our Tuesday adventure ... Corey had a run-in with a moose!