James Miller Photography: Alaska Brown Bears

Day 1 – Sat July 25

Today is a full day of travel, having to catch a flight from Seattle to Anchorage and then after about a 1.5-hour layover, flying from Anchorage to Kodiak. Before the trip ever got started though, I had to go get a test for COVID in order to be allowed into the state of Alaska without having to quarantine for my entire time there. The test had to be done within 72 hours of arriving in Alaska and with how slow some of the testing sites have been in getting results back, I was a little nervous that I might run into a roadblock there. Luckily, I found a location that told me they can get rapid results back to me in about 24-48 hours so I went and got tested and then waited to get my results. I wasn’t too worried since I have been socially isolating since March and really only came into contact with anyone at the grocery store or the gas station. I got my negative results back on Friday and was good to go!

The flights were pretty smooth and the only real hiccup on the trip was the process to verify that I’d been tested and my test results were negative. There was a long line as everyone arriving in Anchorage had to go through this process, and I was a little worried I could miss my next flight since it looked like it was moving super slow. Luckily one of the people directing everyone where to go, told me she could check me in since I was catching a connecting flight and didn’t have all day to stand in line.

The flight to Kodiak was really short. In fact, I think we hit cruising altitude and only stayed up there for 10 minutes before starting our decent into what had to be the smallest airport I’ve ever been to. The baggage claim is in the same room as the ticket counter and the line for security and everyone was kind of stuffed in there all at one. Those of us waiting for bags, and people trying to get out of town on the plane we’d just arrived in. If you’re claustrophobic, you’d not have had a good time waiting for your bags.

The next problem with a small place like this, is that there is almost no taxi service either. Getting a cab to go to the hotel took a lot longer than expected since there were only a few cars servicing the island it seemed, but since we weren’t in a rush we just hung out until the owner of the cab company finally came and picked us up himself. He was a funny guy and kept us entertained all the way into town.

We got all checked in, and then walked around a bit. There are only a few places open for food right now, so we grabbed a quick dinner at one of them, and then wandered around one of the marinas before calling it a night.