Taking the ferry (take 2)

About three weeks ago, we tried to combine business and pleasure by taking a trip to the mainland to take Rainbow to an allergy specialist in Anchorage and to visit T's parents in Anchor Point. This meant taking the ferry again, something I was not looking forward to. My already fairly strong sense of foreboding increased when, the day before we were scheduled to leave, I was struck by an illness so awful that I thought I must have The Flu. (I didn't. At times I thought I had something worse.)

However, thanks to frequent and generous doses of acetaminophen, calm seas, and a selfless husband (he shared a tiny bunk with Rainbow who was so excited to be sleeping "next to Dada! Next to Dada!" that it took over two hours of squirming, talking, and singing before she fell asleep), this ferry trip was much, much better than the last. Once she was asleep, Rainbow slept fairly well on the nighttime ferry to Homer, and she was in good spirits during the day time ferry on the way back to Kodiak at the end of our trip. We even saw a few sea otters and several humpback whales.

While I spent the first half of our vacation sick in bed, T and Rainbow got to spend some quality time with Grandma and "Paka." T went halibut fishing with his dad twice and, as a result, filled our freezer with fish.

Rainbow and Farley were fascinated by each other.

 Once I was better, we did a little exploring of the beach at Anchor Point and some of the sights in nearby Homer.

Beach view in Anchor Point

Rainbow posing with a life-sized sea lion statue at the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center in Homer

Walking through the Beluga Wetlands on the edge of Homer

Sandhill crane--a bird that links my home state, Nebraska, to my new state. We also saw several moose and a porcupine on the mainland--animals that we don't have in Kodiak.

While in Anchorage, we did two very important things--got some specialty medical services that we can't get in Kodiak (maybe that deserves its own blog post) and went shopping. We hate shopping, but the absence of sales tax combined with a large number of big stores (Super Wal-Mart! Target! And Cabela's! Oh, my!) compelled us to spend a chunk of our vacation pushing carts down aisles.

Sunset in Anchor Point

I love Kodiak and still think it's one of the the most beautiful places in the world, but it was nice to have a change of scenery for a while.  We're already discussing our next "escape." But every means of it--boat, kayak, ferry, plane, four-wheeler, etc.--costs money, something that has been in somewhat short supply for us these last few years (yes, because of choices we have made).   

T and I still don't know how we will handle the challenge of island life long term. A lot of people--even those who have money to get off-island regularly--can't handle it. But we remain determined to enjoy life in Alaska as fully as we can and hopeful that we can keep calling it home for quite a while. 

On eating things

One of the things I love about living in Alaska is the opportunity to gather foods from the wild, or to engage in "subsistence activities," the term used to describe various hunting and gathering activities of Native and rural Alaskans. I haven't gotten into it nearly as much as I've wanted to, although I was downright giddy last fall when we went berry picking. 

The breathtakingly beautiful Monashka Bay

Rainbow and her new favorite possession--a dessicated starfish

More recently, I became aware that fiddleheads, the curled up fronds of young spring plants, are edible. So a couple of weeks ago, on what was pretty much our first warm sunny day in Kodiak, I collected some fiddleheads during a hike at Monashka Bay. I had just enough for a side dish at dinner and yes, it was somewhat time-consuming to wash them, and no, my toddler didn't really eat any, but I felt very proud of myself for providing an interesting--and free!--component to the evening's meal.

I also have grand plans for harvesting seaweed and plan on some serious gathering of salmonberries, blueberries, cranberries, and maybe even mossberries (a.k.a. crowberries). 

More significantly, I have recently made the decision to eat fish. This is a big, big deal for me. I have been vegetarian since I was 12 years old. But I had a freezer filled with salmon and halibut caught my father-in-law in Alaska, a husband willing and able to catch more fish, and a toddler who demonstrated willingness to eat fish, and I had to make a decision. A couple of weeks ago, when we took a trip to the mainland, my husband caught three halibut, and I have to admit I am experiencing an intense sense of satisfaction at the thought that my freezer is full of sustainable, healthy, and hypoallergic (oh, yeah--we also discovered last week that Rainbow has a bunch of food allergies) protein. 

I've never lived any place before where sustainable gathering of wild foods was so possible and common. It was a bit of a surprise that I should come to Alaska--it's the land of igloos, and dog sleds, right? (ha, ha)--for that to happen.