Alaska - Week 4

 

Gone Fishin'

With our off street parking secured at the Bear Claw, we’ve gained even more confidence in running down to Valdez for sightseeing, dining and fun.  I mention the ride as a short one, but it’s actually about two hours on a mostly deserted highway, over a mountain pass and a full time watch for both driver and copilot keeping a lookout for wildlife on the roadway.  Sunday night we encountered three moose and had to creep through heavy fog going over the pass.

Last week, we braved the trip to take a small ship out to view Columbia Glacier. We parked Wanda at the Bear Paw for $5 and felt good about the plates being off the street.  I had expected the glacier tour to be my big news of the day, but the late afternoon brought a much bigger story.

We had dinner at a Thai food truck and decided it was the best Thai in town.  It’s the only Thai in town.  Jared, the company driver, met us briefly for a chat, then we spotted two young ladies from the Lodge we call the “Alabama Girls”.  The pair, Sayleen and Tawny, might weigh in at 160 pounds if both were on the scale.  They are lanky ladies, thin as rails, have deep southern accents and came to the show with two equally scrawny young rebels to keep them warm and entertained.  We were surprised to see any of them galavanting around Valdez, knowing none had transportation.  That mystery was resolved when we bumped into the whole gang, plus a few hangers-on partying heartily in the back of a U-Haul truck in the Safeway parking lot.  The group had chipped in to rent the truck, threw some chairs in the back from the lodge and scooted down to Valdez for a night (ok, day) on the town.  Four had crammed in on the big front seat; the rest of the gang apparently hung on for dear life, dodging sliding restaurant chairs in the back of the truck for the wild and bumpy ride over Thompson Pass and into Valdez.  Oh to be young!

But two days later, our Alabama girls and their Bama Boys were on the way to Anchorage, escorted by the company security officer.  Apparently they had been playing hooky in Valdez and the party continued back at the lodge until early the next morning. of the rowdy revelers found their way to work for their shifts.

Susan and I climbed into the truck briefly and learned that word had spread that our Lodge would be closing for the season in just two weeks. The reason given at the meeting we missed, was that we were too far removed from medical facilities on the chance we might be overwhelmed with covid positives.  Susan and I know the occupancy rate, can guess at the costs of being open and know our arithmetic.  Our night auditor friend said she was called in out of bed on the first of the month to get the final numbers up to corporate.  The shut down notice was received the very next morning.  We’ve concluded the official line to be a line.  Looks like we will be out of work on the 16th unless we take them up on moving to another lodge, and we are not inclined toward that direction.

We drove back to Valdez Sunday night and were on a fishing boat before six the next morning.  It took over three hours for the captain to get us out to his fishing spots in the Gulf of Alaska.  We fished for six hours and both of us caught our limit of two halibut and four rockfish.  We also snagged some other fish that did not count toward our quota and tossed back some yummy looking cod, unable to bring them onboard as they are out of season.  Susan’s grin was as big as I’ve ever seen it.  I think I had more fun watching her than catching fish.  Another three hours back crashing and banging over every wave back to Valdez were followed by visiting the “cutters” and packing house.  We are shipping 40 pounds of fish home.

Back from the trip, we resolved that we will return home rather than go to another lodge.  We signed up specifically and only for this location due to its remote location and small footprint.

Besides that, we’ve had our kicks.  It's a long flight home.  That's plenty of time to cook up a new adventure.