Update #2!! Finally!!
Hey everyone...it's my turn to update the blog, yes it's me Zach, and yes I do know how to type and use a computator. It's just been extremely busy at the Airsta but that's a different post. I was told by my lovely wife that I was to share our experience in Cordova.
Well it all started off with me having to fly the helo to Cordova and she had to ride the Herc with 2 kids. Ok...totally do-able. That is until we both get diverted to a SAR (Search & Rescue) case up in the Cook Inlet. So Beth gets to ride in the Herc as it yanks and banks and makes all the passengers airsick and I get to conduct a 6 hour search. We never found anything. I'm not totally convinced anything was there to begin with but I just get paid to drive. So long story short I finally make it to Cordova and meet up with Beth. She has already gotten the rental car and checked into our lodging. The Bear Country Lodges are by far the best place to stay in Cordova. Follow the link to check them out but we really had a great time there...right on the Eyak Lake. Gabriel and I would wake up before Beth and Donavyn and just sit in front of the picture window and look at the lake. This of course would be at around 6 am but I didn't mind. We got to see some ducks and geese and eagles.
I had duty every other day so I normally had a flight and was confined to the base during those days but Beth would bring the kids out and we would play and have some dinner. When I was off duty though we were gone. We drove down the road to see Child's Glacier. When we pulled up there was a big "reserved" sign and a TON of people having a BBQ. We thought it was some sort of private party so we parked in one of the outer parking lots and ate our picnic lunch and watched the glacier. It was SO active! We must have seen at least 6 calvings and heard about a dozen more!! Back to the people, we come to find out after we've been in the car for a while that it's Cordova's annual city picnic and everyone's invited!!! So we walk around a bit more but it was raining pretty steady that day so we didn't stay terribly long. We did get some awesome pictures of the kids with the glacier in the background. I'm really looking forward to looking at them again in the future when they are able to appreciate them more.
It all kinds of runs together since it happened a while a go so my times might be off but one day we went and hiked Haystack Trail. It's a very well maintained trail and the kids loved it. They would squeel and scream just to hear their echo. Beth and I joked when we saw another couple walking with Bear Bells that we didn't need those because our kids scared off all the bears for miles around.
I got to take Beth our hiking on a glacier, yes you heard me right I took her out to walk around on top of an actual glacier. It was a pretty tough hike with lots of hills to get to where you could actually get to the ice but we did it!! The down side is we tromped through a bunch of active Cottonwood and Beth lost her voice because of it. (At least that's what the lady at the health food store said).
Not all of our adventures involved hiking and being outdoors. Going to breakfast was an adventure in itself one morning. We asked around where the best place for breakfast was and she said "Well if you want atmosphere go to the Orca Cafe but if you want really good breakfast go to the Cordova Hotel". We wanted good breakfast so we braved the Cordova Hotel. It's really the Cordova Hotel and Bar and we had to walk through this metal door with broken glass in it and down a bare hallway with a single uncovered flourescent light and plywood on the floor. Then around the corner to another bare door with a paper sign on it that said "OPEN". I thought I would need a tetnus shot just walking into the place but the people were right it was really good breakfast!!
After the week was over I put Beth back onto the Herc. She'll never get on a Herc without me again. This time her box lunch that I requested was eaten by somebody else before they ever started engines and we didn't have time to get anything else to eat. One of the pilots heard about this though and made everyone give something out of their box lunches so Beth and the kids could have something to eat. I guess not all Herc drivers are bad-guys.
Then they had to go to Anchorage to pick up the Air Force Band so they could play during CG Day in Kodiak. It was only supposed to be a stop, pick up and go but they ended up being there for a few hours. Then when they finally made it back to Kodiak it was super foggy and they couldn't land. They had to circle for an indeterminate amount of time before they were finally able to land. And then to top everything off when Beth got the kids home our dogsitter had locked all the doors and taken the only key!!! So my neighbor who was deployed with me and rode on the Herc back with Beth came over and broke into the house so Beth could finally end the madness!!!
And that was our Cordova Adventure!!! Enjoy the pictures!!!
ps: Slide show up tomorrow cause Photobucket is down for maintenance.
***A note from Beth: Whew...okay, finally. It took me a LOT longer to do this than it should have due to problems with photobucket last night and then the html code not being right to just embed the slideshow. Alas, it is finally here. YAY! I wanted to say that I was lucky enough to meet some of my friends from coastiechicks that I have known through the forums for a few years. It was so nice to put faces with names now. I just wish I had remembered to take a picture. I had my camera with me even! Kristy and Mel, thanks so much for meeting me for lunch. I had a great time.
Well it all started off with me having to fly the helo to Cordova and she had to ride the Herc with 2 kids. Ok...totally do-able. That is until we both get diverted to a SAR (Search & Rescue) case up in the Cook Inlet. So Beth gets to ride in the Herc as it yanks and banks and makes all the passengers airsick and I get to conduct a 6 hour search. We never found anything. I'm not totally convinced anything was there to begin with but I just get paid to drive. So long story short I finally make it to Cordova and meet up with Beth. She has already gotten the rental car and checked into our lodging. The Bear Country Lodges are by far the best place to stay in Cordova. Follow the link to check them out but we really had a great time there...right on the Eyak Lake. Gabriel and I would wake up before Beth and Donavyn and just sit in front of the picture window and look at the lake. This of course would be at around 6 am but I didn't mind. We got to see some ducks and geese and eagles.
I had duty every other day so I normally had a flight and was confined to the base during those days but Beth would bring the kids out and we would play and have some dinner. When I was off duty though we were gone. We drove down the road to see Child's Glacier. When we pulled up there was a big "reserved" sign and a TON of people having a BBQ. We thought it was some sort of private party so we parked in one of the outer parking lots and ate our picnic lunch and watched the glacier. It was SO active! We must have seen at least 6 calvings and heard about a dozen more!! Back to the people, we come to find out after we've been in the car for a while that it's Cordova's annual city picnic and everyone's invited!!! So we walk around a bit more but it was raining pretty steady that day so we didn't stay terribly long. We did get some awesome pictures of the kids with the glacier in the background. I'm really looking forward to looking at them again in the future when they are able to appreciate them more.
It all kinds of runs together since it happened a while a go so my times might be off but one day we went and hiked Haystack Trail. It's a very well maintained trail and the kids loved it. They would squeel and scream just to hear their echo. Beth and I joked when we saw another couple walking with Bear Bells that we didn't need those because our kids scared off all the bears for miles around.
I got to take Beth our hiking on a glacier, yes you heard me right I took her out to walk around on top of an actual glacier. It was a pretty tough hike with lots of hills to get to where you could actually get to the ice but we did it!! The down side is we tromped through a bunch of active Cottonwood and Beth lost her voice because of it. (At least that's what the lady at the health food store said).
Not all of our adventures involved hiking and being outdoors. Going to breakfast was an adventure in itself one morning. We asked around where the best place for breakfast was and she said "Well if you want atmosphere go to the Orca Cafe but if you want really good breakfast go to the Cordova Hotel". We wanted good breakfast so we braved the Cordova Hotel. It's really the Cordova Hotel and Bar and we had to walk through this metal door with broken glass in it and down a bare hallway with a single uncovered flourescent light and plywood on the floor. Then around the corner to another bare door with a paper sign on it that said "OPEN". I thought I would need a tetnus shot just walking into the place but the people were right it was really good breakfast!!
After the week was over I put Beth back onto the Herc. She'll never get on a Herc without me again. This time her box lunch that I requested was eaten by somebody else before they ever started engines and we didn't have time to get anything else to eat. One of the pilots heard about this though and made everyone give something out of their box lunches so Beth and the kids could have something to eat. I guess not all Herc drivers are bad-guys.
Then they had to go to Anchorage to pick up the Air Force Band so they could play during CG Day in Kodiak. It was only supposed to be a stop, pick up and go but they ended up being there for a few hours. Then when they finally made it back to Kodiak it was super foggy and they couldn't land. They had to circle for an indeterminate amount of time before they were finally able to land. And then to top everything off when Beth got the kids home our dogsitter had locked all the doors and taken the only key!!! So my neighbor who was deployed with me and rode on the Herc back with Beth came over and broke into the house so Beth could finally end the madness!!!
And that was our Cordova Adventure!!! Enjoy the pictures!!!
ps: Slide show up tomorrow cause Photobucket is down for maintenance.
***A note from Beth: Whew...okay, finally. It took me a LOT longer to do this than it should have due to problems with photobucket last night and then the html code not being right to just embed the slideshow. Alas, it is finally here. YAY! I wanted to say that I was lucky enough to meet some of my friends from coastiechicks that I have known through the forums for a few years. It was so nice to put faces with names now. I just wish I had remembered to take a picture. I had my camera with me even! Kristy and Mel, thanks so much for meeting me for lunch. I had a great time.
Comments
S.
I must admit, every once in a while I miss Alaska.