I spent a good part of my Monday afternoon mangling a pound of cooked crab and sending shards of exoskeleton flying at random unsuspecting fair-goers who had decided to sit next to me at the picnic table beside the crab booth. Some decided to leave, some decided to suggest scissors and other utensils, and a nice old couple just teased me for my methodology as they started their meal, finished it, and left. There have been few times that I have felt so incompetent -- but it's okay, because my first self-shucked crab was at Kodiak's very own Crab Fest, and it was a delicious cap to an exciting week and lazy Memorial Day.
My work week centered around preparing for the Crab Fest parade and Salmon Camp, which starts the first full week of June. As the week unfolded, the multipurpose room in the Visitor Center where we work slowly become more and more or a mess, as scraps of papers and crafts and posters and signs and paint and markers and glue and notebooks accumulated on tables, chairs, and in corners and piles on the floor. The week's work culminated on Saturday, when the two other Salmon Camp interns and I put on costumes and joined many other employees and volunteers on the USFWS' float celebrating the refuge's 75th anniversary. We won the grand prize, and the blue goose, crab and I, the bear, danced our hearts out on the back of the float.
I spent the afternoon docked in the harbor, giving boat tours on the refuge's boat. Seeing the glee in kids faces as they pretended to steer, or played hide-and-seek, made me even more excited for Salmon Camp. I felt like a child, too, as I watched a sea otter drift past the boat while crunching on a Tanner crab. Somehow, the locals were not as in awe as I was. Maybe sometime this summer I'll reach that point, but I doubt it. In the evening, we met up with a new friend and hung out at her place, and watched whales from the hot tub. I thought the evening couldn't get any better. As we drove past the beach on the way back, however, we quickly stopped to watch the sunset and, to our surprise, we're greeted with calls and waving hands. A closer investigation revealed that some frisbee folk we're having a bonfire, and they had an adorable puppy. A perfect night.
Sunday was lazy. Most people were out of the house, fishing or at work. I took a walk down to the beach and went tidepooling, and found some bear tracks on the trails behind the bunkhouse. Later that evening, I sat outside with binoculars and a pen and paper, and wrote some while I looked at the wildlife around me. After a long spell of seeing no birds besides bald eagles, I saw a bright yellow warbler flitting around in the trees. Excited, I mentioned it to a friend, who thought it could be a Wilson's warbler. We looked for it for an hour or so, and eventually found another down by the beach. It was probably my first notable birding experience, and it was super fun to share it.
Today was super lazy -- my sole goal was to find and eat crab at Crab Fest. The perfect end to a great week. After a long sleep, I found my booth, bought a pound of crab, and got to work.
Crab is pretty good, and I can officially say that all the time and effort that goes into enjoying it is worth it.
