Dutch Harbor Trip

Last year, in October, Dave and I flew out to Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands. Our daughter has been living out there for most of the past 5 years and we have been wanting to see it and visit with her, her husband and her son. It is so remote! It is also a very expensive flight so we were super grateful to our friend, Steve, who gave us guest passes on Alaska Airlines. 

Most people know the area from the popular TV show, Deadliest Catch. It is also known for its role in World War II. 

There are no trees and it is windy. It is farther south on the globe than you might imagine and it is so far west. Dave kept saying "You go to Hawaii then turn right." The views are magnificent. The town has 4,500 residents who are mostly young people and the population swells with the fishing season. Our daughter and her husband are both teachers and they leave the island in the summer to fish in Bristol Bay. 

We were scheduled to be there for 5 days but there was an incident at the airport that really tangled everything up. A landing plane ran off the end of the runway, a man was killed and Alaska Airlines pulled their service, effective immediately. Even now, the only way in and out of Dutch Harbor is on a charter, in very small planes. There is no alternative transportation - no ferry, no bus or train, no road. We stayed for 2 weeks before we could get seats on a flight to Anchorage.