Dearest Rachel –
It wasn’t until I was going through my news feed after over breakfast that I realized that yesterday was the anniversary of D-day. Now, far be it from me to trivialize the day by comparing it anything I do, but it did so happen that we were finally ‘hitting the beach,’ if you will, after so long at sea – although it should be pointed out that there was no beach to speak of for us to wade through, thankfully. Our experience wasn’t nearly as treacherous as the boys of Pont du Hoc had to endure and fight through, either (as it better well not have been, or cruise lines would go out of business in a hurry).
Even that whole issue with the visa I was fretting about the other day turned out to be a non-issue, as that was something that a non-American would have to worry about, not us. All we had to present was our passport and room card, and we were good to go. Welcome back, and enjoy Kodiak, fellow citizen.
In fact, it was that much more amusing than that; despite the fact that our ‘excursion’ wasn’t scheduled to leave the ship until 11:15, I’d brought my camera with, just in case we might be allowed to leave the ship directly from going through customs (especially since the gangway was located on the same deck as the theater where we were doing these face-to-face interviews with the local inspectors). To be honest, I wasn’t actually expecting to be allowed to go anywhere, since it wasn’t a simple matter of stepping off the ship and being in town or anything.
But when we got to the gangway, we were simply waved on through, much to my surprise. Apparently, if we had been on anything other than “Kodiak On Your Own,” we would have had to wait for our specific transport, but as it was, if we were willing to walk into town rather than wait for our specifically numbered bus, more power to us, it would seem.
And so, that’s what we did; walking first uphill and then downhill along Rezanof Drive, as we made our way to a couple of visitors’ centers (most of which would ordinarily have been closed on a Saturday, but which, when facing a ship full of tourists arriving today, were more than willing to make an exception). It was only a mile or two, and while there was basically only the shoulder for us to walk on (and I had to pull Daniel further off the road every now and again as I heard one vehicle or another – you know how everything’s supposedly bigger in Texas? Yeah, that seems to go for Alaska, too, particularly when is comes to their vehicles. Not that either of us would win an argument with even a Smart Car, but still, when a truck blows past you at speed, it’s a little unnerving).
Ironically, once we were in town, there wasn’t as much concern about traffic, since there were now sidewalks we could walk on. At the same time, walking on those streets, safe as it was, proved to not be where we wanted to be, in order to cross the bridge to Near Island. We’re spoiled by the flat land and grid layout of the streets we have back home. But really, there wasn’t anything for us to do once we realized where we were and where the bridge was; whether we retraced our steps or kept moving forward, it was pretty much the same distance. So we kept advancing, since at least we would be seeing different scenery on our way.
That scenery, particularly the houses, prompted Daniel to suggest that Kodiak looks a lot like South Bass in some ways. And I suppose if you set the terrain aside, he’s not wrong; I do wonder what you would say about his assertion.
Anyway, after first finding a shortcut back to the same main road we’d taken into town and walking back toward town – now from the opposite direction as we’d taken when we’d first gotten off the ship – we finally found the bridge, and crossed over it, only to find ourselves about to deal with rain and no visible shelter nearby. We retreated rather quickly – which I understand now to have been a mistake, as the rain wasn’t going to get any worse than a few drops, and the harbor at the opposite end of the island was actually very nice. But at the moment, with nothing but a coffee shop built out of a shipping container (and with no room to enter and sit down, as it seemed to be built for drive-up service only) in view, we didn’t know that. And to be fair, we just aren’t much for nature views. I get that we may have missed out on the sight of sea lions and possibly puffins, but I don’t know if that would have gotten either of our blood racing. Frankly, the marina on the main island already got a reaction out of Daniel, but it wasn’t an enthusiastic one, thanks to the smell of fish.
We made our way back to the museum we’d passed on our way out – and for which our excursion ticket served as admission. It was an interesting place, but fairly small, and easily covered in a few minutes. Granted, not all the footage wound up in my video, but I didn’t talk all that much about it as we were leaving.
In fact, “small” is definitely a word to describe the whole town, which feels weird for such a big place as Alaska (and the U.S. in general). The shopping center we walked through felt tiny compared to the one in Nuuk, for example; it wasn’t until we sat around and looked it up that we realized how much smaller this place was compared to the capital of Greenland. Then again, this is the tenth-largest city in Alaska, whereas Nuuk is by far the largest one in Greenland; there will likely be larger destinations along our way.
Anyway, here were our impressions as we were making our way through in real life, if you’re interested…
Today, we’re about to visit Homer – which got a mention while we were out and about, but I’ll explain about that later – so we’ve got to go. Keep an eye on us, honey, and wish us well, as we’re going to need it.
Letters to Rachel 