TRAVEL TIPS |
BEAR-WATCHING |
| With a few more days and a lot more dollars, we would have enjoyed flying in to the Kodiak Island Wildlife Refuge (comprising two-thirds of the island) for a chance to see bears in their element. More than 25 wilderness lodges offer fishing, hunting, photography or just plain sitting around, at rates that run all the way into the thousands of dollars for a week of remote adventure.
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| The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service holds annual lotteries for the chance to rent one of seven remote rustic cabins for just $30 a night. During peak season, these "public use cabins" are rented to the lottery winners for up to seven nights. If you'd like to stay while the bears are hibernating, you can hang out for up to 30 nights between January and March. Lottery drawings are held four times a year, roughly four to six months before the requested dates. You still have to provide your own transportation to and from the cabin, which means a floatplane or boat.
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WHERE TO EAT |
| Most of Kodiak Island's 15,000 residents live in the town of Kodiak, where tourist accommodations are generally modest. We had a fine halibut dinner at the Chart Room, located in the Best Western Kodiak Inn. The Inn's decor includes an 11-foot-tall grizzly, standing in an "I'm going to eat you" pose -- stuffed, of course. Our best meal may have been at a small deli called Fairwind Café southwest of town. The sandwiches featured homemade sunflower bread, and a gourmet pizza was just that. We stuffed our carry-on bags with fare from Fairwind before boarding the Alaska State Ferry for our three-day voyage to the Aleutian Islands. We're glad we did.
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