Crab Fest 2010

Jonathan and I experienced our first Kodiak Crab Festival this last weekend! Jonathan helped a friend, Tom, build and decorate two bed/karts for the annual Crab Fest bed race. Jonathan ran in the race with several other guys and WON! His team won Kodiak sweatshirts. Jonathan and I are also "official" Alaskans now because we own the "Alaskan Tennis Shoe" known as the "Xtra Tuff Boot". They are rubber boots that everyone wears around here with everything from jeans to church clothes! We also had to buy rain coats because nothing we had in MT even remotely blocked the rain. People could tell we were "out of towners" because we were always soaked. Now that we were outfitted with our rain gear, the new fun can start!

On Saturday, Jonathan and I were in the Crab Fest Parade. We pushed a bed/kart in the parade. It was really fun! Here are some pictures of us with the one bed/kart and our friend Tom pushing the Queen of Hearts bed/kart.




After the parade, Jonathan and I went to the Crab Fest and checked out the booths, etc. We figured out that the kids play on the rides and the adults eat! We had some yummy halibut fish tacos and awesome king crab by the plate!

On Sunday, I ran in the Pillar Mountain Race with a friend and some other nurses at the hospital.

Here's a little description of the race and terrain.

Pillar Mountain Race. The traditional Pillar Mountain course starts on Marine Way in front of the Harbormaster building, goes up Mill Bay Road, down Birch, up Pillar Mountain Road, follows the trail west along the top, goes down a rugged trail into Swampy Acres, and back on Rezanof to the finish at the starting line.

In reality, the course went from the Harbormaster building, through town, and up a GIANT mountain! And once we reached the top of the mountain, we trekked down a creek (I'm not even exaggerating, it was an actual creek) to the main road and dodged traffic all the way back to the Harbormaster building. I think the total route was 9.5 miles but it seemed way longer. Plus, the weather was rainy, foggy, and misty all day which made for crappy pictures that didn't even turn out. I plan to run next year's race and now know what type of jacket, shoes, etc to wear. It was a blast overall! Tomorrow will be a day of recuperation and checking out the white sandy beach in Kodiak. We heard there was one on the island and will hopefully post more pics of it tomorrow. Jonathan starts his police job on Tuesday so I will also post a picture of him in his uniform. He's excited to start his job and we have been meeting alot of the officers who have been great! We hope you all are doing well!

Love,

Jonathan, Jessica, & Kitties