Cordova City

Cordova is Alaska's "hidden treasure." Every guidebook and website will make sure you know this fact. It is a true fact. The cruise ships are too big to fit in the port, and there is no road to it. You have to fly or take the ferry to get there. In any event, it lives up to the hype. Right off the bat we saw deer, otters, and this hungry little black bear munching away on the town's massive salmonberry stockpile.

We stayed at Skater's Cabin, an old CCC cabin on Lake Eyak recently restored and within walking distance to town. Fortunately we didn't ever have to walk. Being good Americans, we drove. Somebody's got to keep those oil companies in business, right? Anyway, Skater's is awesome. Basically, a covered roof and a big wood stove is all it is, but it can't be beat for $25. It actually gets more expensive each night if you stay longer. (It's an effort to let more people enjoy it.)

We enjoyed a warm welcome to Cordova right off the bat. When we were trying to figure out how to get our surfboards and all our gear and all of us into our super sexy mini-van rental, the Alaska Air ticket agent kindly gave our surfboards a ride to town in her truck, and also showed us all around. Thank you nice Alaska Air ticket agent!

After that, we met the only grumpy person in Cordova, at Cordova's famous Baja Taco buscabin. She was not pumped about Paxson Revel climbing on her bus. Incidentally, she was not pumped about a lot of things. Customer service, for example. Even Sam and Carey, who also ate there once, had a similar experience. It is odd, as the place comes so highly recommended. At least by the guide book writing types. "Best fish taco north of San Diego." We're more apt to say, "One of the best fish tacos across the street from the AC in Cordova, Alaska." We never went back for seconds.

In any event, she was in no way reflective of the rest of the town's population, who all seemed quite pumped, and were very friendly to us tourist folks.

"You should surf the glacier." It was the same advice everybody gave us as soon as they saw the surfboards. Everybody wanted to tell us about the dudes who wandered into Cordova last year and surfed the wave (caution, adult language) created by a calving glacier. That, in fact, was a much more complicated mission than it seems from the Outside magazine articles. Basically, they had to sit around in the river - which has quite a fast current, waiting hours and hours until a big enough chunk fell. Then, the surfer was towed in by jetski. Kind of a gear intensive operation. We ourselves hung out for hours at the glacier waiting to see a chunk big enough to create a surfable wave. We can assure you, it takes a while. But it's a highly pleasant afternoon activity. And if you get tired of the spectacle, you can always wander around picking salmon berries and trying not to step in Grizzly poop. Better yet, trying not to become grizzly poop. Lots of bears at the glacier. According to the campground hosts, they are becoming a bit too comfortable with humans. We all know what happened the last time that happened!

On the way back from glacier viewing, we ran in to Sam and Carey, who were catching tasty silver salmon. Mmmm. We were inspired to get fish poles and give it a shot ourselves, after a lovely sunset stroll of the docks and a restful night at our fine abode, the King's Chamber.