Kodiak, Part 1

On another one of my (Brent) Census trips, I was sent to Kodiak, home of the Kodiak bear. "Kodiak bears are the largest bears in the world. A large male can stand over 10' tall when on his hind legs. They weigh up to 1,500 pounds." http://www.wc.adfg.state.ak.us/index.cfm?adfg=bears.trivia. Unfortunately, I did not get to see any Kodiak bears on this trip. What I did see, especially for the first half of my trip, was plenty of fog and rain. At one point, I thought to myself, "I need to take some pictures, even if it is raining. If I wait till the rain stops or the fog clears, I may not get any pictures" (see the resulting picture above).

Fortunately, about half way through my time there, the sun came out, and I became awestruck at the beauty of this island archipelago (large body of water with many islands).

On Sunday, I attended Kodiak Bible Chapel. When I walked in, I was surprised to be greeted by assistant pastor, Matt Jensen. Not only did Matt and I attend Messiah College together, but we lived in the same dorm, on the same half of the same floor. What a small world! After church, Matt and his wife Suzanne (above), invited me over for lunch with a group of friends and family. What an awesome time. Liz and I plan to visit them together at some point in the future.

For much of the remainder of my time in Kodiak, the weather was great. Following the advice of a local, I drove to the top of the Island, where the view is something I'll remember for some time.

While there, I felt dwarf-like in the presence of three 1.5 MW wind turbines. According to a press release by the Kodiak Electric Association, these turbines enabled Kodiak to use 930,000 fewer gallons of diesel fuel for power generation during their first year of operation. The turbines have provided about 9% of the island's electric. Kodiak desires to by powered by 95% renewable resources by 2020.