Kodiak Here We Come

Friday, 13 August

It’s 6:45a and we’re halfway to Kodiak, the main island in an archipelago by the same name.

We’re flying above a bed of clouds at the moment. When we first broke through the cloud deck after taking off from Anchorage, we were privileged to see the rising sun bathing the clouds a warm, golden hue. We had some blue skies too, but now not so much. One of the flight attendants we were chatting with earlier told us that this flight had to return to Anchorage yesterday, because poor weather and visibility made it impossible to land in Kodiak. Keeping fingers crossed that we don’t follow suit.

Could this sunrise be the sign of good things to come?

Not much I can do about the weather in Kodiak, so I’ll focus on something I have control over — the blog.

For the second day in a row, we had an early morning call for a flight. I can’t say that we welcomed the 3:30a alarm when it rang, but at least we felt a bit more rested for having slept a few hours. We had no bags to speak of (just our carry-ons with camera/video gear), so it took almost no time to get ready for the day ahead. By 4:15a we were on the hotel shuttle to the airport — a short five-minute drive.

A cozy fire would feel real good just about now.
(comfort suites lobby)

There was a “gulp!” moment when the easy check-in kiosk at the airport didn’t recognize either our name, or our reservation code. The problem was quickly resolved at the Alaska Airlines service counter, however. As a bonus, we walked away with exit row seats at no additional cost.

Unlike when we arrived last night, the terminal was quiet this morning. Most of the gates were empty; ours was not that crowded either. We barely had time to sip our beverages and eat the scone and muffin that Mui had picked up from Starbucks before our flight was called. The plane was only half full and it didn’t take long for boarding to be completed. By 6:15a, Flight 47 was making its way up through the thick cloud deck over Anchorage.

The aircraft makes a turn over Cook Inlet to head South to Kodiak.
(that’s point Woronzof and the Anchorage airport in the distance)

And that’s all I have to write for now; we’re descending into Kodiak. The pilot says that the conditions are marginal, but we’ll be able to land. More later …

… Later: Best Western Kodiak Inn (9:00p)

We’re here. And what’s more — our luggage is here too. Thank you United and Alaska Airlines for not leaving us stranded; those bags have some essential items for the next phase of our trip.

The Kodiak Islands website describes the archipelago as follows:

Twenty thousand years ago most of the 5,000 square mile [13,000 km²] Kodiak Archipelago was covered by glaciers that scored and carved the landscape. Jagged peaks, fjord-like bays, and wide U-shaped valleys were left by the glacial retreat.

We saw none of that as we descended into Kodiak. No jagged peaks, no bays, no valleys; just a few ghostly outlines of islands in the distance. The whole area was blanketed with thick, low-lying clouds that hid almost everything from our inquiring eyes.

Welcome to misty Kodiak!

Despite the marginal landing conditions, we were safely on the ground a few minutes ahead of the 7:12a ETA. Deplaning onto the tarmac, we hurried through the light rain into the small terminal that was chock-a-block with passengers who were lined up and crowding the door. Understandably, they were anxious to board the aircraft that had brought us here and take off for Anchorage before visibility worsened.

A colorful paint scheme adds a bit of brightness to a dreary day!

Welcome to Kodiak indeed!

When we landed in Anchorage last night, we were told that our bags would be arriving in Kodiak sometime today. “File a claim when you land there and they’ll deliver them to your hotel,” was the advice we received. So, while Mui took care of getting the rental car, I went in search of the baggage claim desk.

No fishing or hunting for us!
(Check out the warning on the right side of the panel on the wall)

As I was looking hither and yon for the claim desk that didn’t exist (remember, this is a very small airport), what should my weary eyes alight on but a black duffel that looked remarkably like one of ours. Even the luggage tag looked similar. Could it be? I rushed forward to what passes for a luggage carousel here. When I saw my name on the bag, I couldn’t stop a gleeful “Yeah!” from escaping my lips. Passengers standing nearby looked around and smiled at my pleasure with an understanding nod. Even as I was pulling the bag off the belt, the second duffel was being flung onto it; then the third. It turns out that Alaska Airlines had re-routed the bags from Chicago to Seattle to Anchorage and they had arrived a bit after us last night. So they actually traveled with us to Kodiak on AS 47. Another good omen for what lies ahead I say!

Our bags are here!

Soon our bags were loaded into a brand new Nissan — “It just arrived in Kodiak yesterday,” the beaming AVIS clerk had commented as Mui was signing the rental agreement. We programmed the Garmin to take us to our hotel and put the car in drive. Not so fast! The poor GPS unit was going nuts, giving us directions to turn right here, left there, make a U-turn, no make another U-turn. The usual magenta path was clearly visible on the display, but the little car icon was driving on a parallel road that didn’t exist. I pulled out the map I had printed before leaving home. There was just one road leading into downtown, so I told Mui to turn off the GPS and just follow the road. Sometimes you just have to go back to basics (wink, wink).

It didn’t take us long to drive into the town of Kodiak. Located where Rezanof Drive East enters downtown, the hotel couldn’t have been easier to find. Hoping against hope that our room would be ready, we hurried into the lobby. Nope; the current occupant had not checked out yet.

the Best Western Kodiak Inn is very convenient to downtown.

We unloaded our bags, unpacked our rain pants and jackets, and found an empty conference room to use as a dressing room. Thus, properly attired, we headed out to explore the town despite the now heavy rain falling from gray skies.

How we spent our day is best left to another blog entry. I’ll just wrap this one up by saying that we returned to the hotel wet, tired, and hungry around 6:00p. Our room was ready. Pulling our bags out of the storage room where we’d left them, we settled into Room 206.

I’ll admit that our choice of hotel was dictated by its convenience to downtown. That there was free wi-fi didn’t hurt either. The best description I can come up with for our room is “underwhelming.” Though clean, the furnishings could use some updating. In fact, that goes for the entire facility in general. Better lighting would do wonders, too.

Good enough for a short stay.

When we returned to the hotel after dinner, loud band music was emanating from the lounge. At first we thought our room was far enough that it would not matter. We were wrong, so we asked to have our room changed. “Sure, but you’ll have to pay extra for the upgrade,” they said. We get inconvenienced and we have to pay more? I don't think so! At least they were accurate when they said the music would end at 10:00p. We did want to stay up until a normal bedtime to continue adjusting to the four-hour time difference, so I've decided to just consider the music a silver lining. OK, yes ... I'm really reaching with that last statement.

We’re checking out tomorrow, so we’ll survive for one night, I’m sure. For a longer stay, I’d look for a quaint and cozy B&B instead.