Nome (part 4)

Nome's Safeway aka Hanson Trading Co.

Thursday morning Mr. X had more meetings and I had a few pictures to take, so we agreed to meet at the airport at noon.

This is a scoop from a dredge. They are everywhere. They are used to mark property boundaries and as a bit of a fence around the city center.

Museum/Library

Pt. Barrow in the frozen boat harbor. The fish processor closed the crab catch because the water was too slushy

Norton Sound Seafood Center dock

Northland Services is who barged our goods to Juneau. I've got a special place in my heart for them.

School bus shelter

I spent some time taking pictures in the cemetary



How about that frozen mud puddle.

Mr. X showed up at the the airport late enough that I was worried about him. The Nome airport does not have a waiting room after security. We all waited in the airport lobby, then an Alaska Airline's attendant checked our boarding passes and we then went through TSA screening. From there we walked out to the tamac and on to our plane.

This time we headed over the Arctic Circle for a stop in Kotzebue.

We dropped off several passengers and then turned toward Anchorage. After a 3 hour layover there we headed for home, arriving about 10 pm.

I had a fantastic time in Nome. Everyone we talk to are a little skeptical about that, but really it's the truth. I cannot think of the circumstances that took me to Nome or the feelings I had while hiking on Anvil Mountain, without thinking that I was supposed to go to Nome. For whatever reason, I was supposed to be there and also I am doing what I'm supposed to be doing, living the life I should be. It's a wonderful feeling to know that.

Nome (part 3)

Wednesday dawned early. Mr. X carpooled over to the processing plant where he'd be teaching Nome and Savoonga processors as well as ADF&G staff how to use the software he's been developing.

I packed my bag for the day and headed out the door at 8:30 with my eye set on Anvil Mountain. I walked out of town and the sidewalk ended. Spotting a walking trail just off the highway, I dropped down away from the road. I got maybe 1/4 mile when a dog sat up and barked at me. Realizing I was in his yard and grateful he was chained up, I made my way back up to the highway only to discover I wasn't being watched by a single dog, but an entire dog sled team. They howled when I paused to take their picture.

About a 1/2 mile later I approached a small neighborhood. If I remembered correctly the LDS church was here somewhere. Heaven smiled upon me, because I walked straight to the church. It's a former duplex with a steeple stuck on the top. I also noticed that the houses in the neighborhood were off the ground. They were on pilings to prevent them from melting the ground and sinking into the tundra.

I paused occasionally on my walk to watch ptarmagin wearing their winter feathers. Eventually, I could see rocks on the mountain that looked like musk-oxen. I turned down the Dexter Cutoff road and saw five musk-oxen grazing in the willows.

I continued to hike and after asking some guys for directions (who looked like Lance Mackey at the end of the iditarod) started up the mountain. About halfway up the 1065 foot ridgeline, there were 12 musk-oxen. They all appeared to be enjoying the sunshine. Though they definitely noticed I was coming through.

At the top of the first peak is Nome's White Alice antenna and radio link. Constructed during the cold war, these towers were essential for communication throughout Alaska. They are no longer needed because of new technologies, like satilites. The area is now a toxic waste site due to the lead, asbestos and other materials used to build the antennae, but the towers are used for navigation by both ships and planes, so the community of Nome does not want the government to completely remove them.

I ventured along the ridgeline, looking at animal tracks as I went. There were some obvious oxen track and a variety of dog tracks that could have been domesticated dog, wolf and fox. I snapped this picture of scat on the tundra 'cause it looked so pretty.

Finally I reached the rock that gives the mountain its name. It looks like an anvil. I looked over the edge and was shocked to see a larger herd of musk-oxen. A cow and yearling calf glared up at me and then ran to join the rest of the herd. A red fox worked its way through the herd and over to a rock, where he turned around and looked up at me. Training my binoculars on the fox, I realized he was standing not on a rock but a dead musk-ox. He was uncomfortable with me watching, so he took off across the front of the mountain. I sat down in the spongy moss and counted the musk-oxen: 39. Then I called my mom. We've come a long way from the day when only a single call could get out to Fairbanks at a time.

After about 20 minutes at the top, I'm shivering pretty hard and decide I better get moving. By the time I'm down the mountain, I wish I would have written down the number for a taxi. On my walk back to town, I keep myself moving with marching songs. Of course the only ones I know are, "Zippidee-do dah" and "Popcorn Popping".

I made it back to town by 3 pm and go to the library to read until 5 (we only had one key to the hotel, a metal key not a plastic card).

Mr. X and I met halfway back to the hotel and he took me out to Subway for dinner. While eating we were able to gaze out over the Bering Sea, because Subway has large picture windows and an unobstructed view. Over dinner he tells me that he was treated to a (very tiny, but fish oily) piece of Bowhead whale during the training.

After Mr. X took a two hour nap, we set out to drive around. Someone had loaned Mr. X a truck! We tried the road to Teller but found it unmaintained relatively quickly. We did see some dog teams and musk-oxen out that way. Next we took the Dexter Cut-off road.

In Nome they don't keep the roads passible in the winter. If you want to go somewhere, you use your snowmachine. So the snow hasn't be plowed all winter, but they recently went through and cut open some parts of the road.

On the road back into Nome, we spotted three moose in the willows and stopped for a quick peek. We had also been told to get a good look at breakup, we had to head toward Safety. We could really see open water from the Dexter Road. By now it was after 10 pm so we headed back to the hotel for the night.

Nome (part 2)

Early Tuesday morning, Mr. X and I packed up some groceries and called a cab to take us to the airport.

We arrived at the airport and walked right up to the TSA security podium...only to discover that I had left my license at home. The TSA agent offered to accept other i.d., but worried I wouldn't be able to get back to Juneau, so I hurried out to the parking lot to hail another cab.

The driver got me home and back to the airport within 15 minutes. The poor guy got his tip in quarters.

We had an uneventful flight to Anchorage and after a short layover we were on our way to Nome.

Anchorage airport

Our plane to Nome was a 737-400. The front of the plane is for cargo and rows 16 - 27 accomodate passengers. Mr. X and I sat next to Dawn Weyiouanna who regaled us with stories of living in Nome, Shishmaref, and Barrow. Her husband is an itinerant art teacher for the Barrow school district. She's a retired math teacher who taught 13 years in Shish. She and her husband Dick were on their way to his home village for a funeral.

Dawn told us about her mother-in-law who grew up as the daughter of a reindeer herder. When the Mother-in-Law came to visit them in Fairbanks one winter, she commented that the lights of the city reminded her of the glistening light reflected in the eyes of the reindeer at night. She had never before seen city lights.

We landed in Nome and quickly met with Mr. X's local contact who took us to the hotel and out to lunch at Airport Pizza. Afterward Rich dropped me off on Front street for some sightseeing while Mr. X went to meetings.

I visited the Nome Visitor's Center, library and city museum. Mr. X found me checking out displays on dog sledding, the northwest passage and gold mining. After a dinner of Mountain House spaghetti, we went for a walk along the frozen, but breaking up Bering Sea. We stopped to look at a gold dredger.

Everywhere we went people told us this summer should be crazy with everyone out looking for gold dust on the beach. Several stretches of land specifically excluded mining.

In case you were wondering. We took these pictures of Nome at 9 pm. The sun didn't set until after 11 pm. We had light snow in the afternoon and then brilliant (i.e. blinding) sun all evening.

Nome (Part 1): Dorothy, hand me those ruby slippers...

cause 'there' no place like Nome'.

A couple months ago, I decided I was going to Nome. I hadn't decided if I was going for next March's Iditrod finish or whether I wanted a summer birdwatching excursion. When Mr. X heard my intentions, his reaction was, "uhh, okay".

Two days later, I'd started researching Iditarod volunteer opportunities as well as birding websites, and Mr. X emailed me,

Hey Sarah,
G said that a processor doesn't want to come to [Anchorage] training because it is the middle of whaling season. They need the training so we may be going to Nome around May 4th (it is very tentative at this point). Do you want to try to come? Might not work but might be fun."

[Mr. X]

I called him right back and said, "I'm coming!"

"Tentative" turned in to definite within a week.

Tickets
Obviously, Mr. X's airfare, hotel and food were covered so, we were looking at tickets for just me. Getting to Nome is not cheap: $650 - $725 for a rountrip ticket from Juneau. Except I knew that Alaska Air was holding an air mile sale. If I bought miles for a trip to Nome, the ticket would only be $330. Not bad, but I already a had some miles, so my price came in at $187. Very doable. When Mr. X's exact flights showed up for 15k miles, I pounced. I was going to Nome.

Easter: Mendenhall Wetlands

Our friends went on a 10 day excusion and asked us to watch their dogs and stay at their house. We jumped at the chance to play with three dogs (and stay in a place with internet, netflix, piano, a shorter commute, etc.)

First there's D - she's an old gal. Our instructions were to walk her to the mailbox and back. She did not get to enjoy the mud flats with us.





Easter morning (actually both Saturdays and Sundays), we walked Willie and Bella the block to the Wildlife game refuge/Mud flats to play catch and chase birds.

Willie's ready to play. Can you see how well Bella is camoflauged?

Oh, there's Bella. She'd like the ball too.

It's so fun I'm gonna jump over you.

It was sunny and warm and the dogs had a blast. They chased sticks and tennis balls, watched for bald eagles, sand pipers, stellar's jays, marsh hawks, and juncos, and splashed in the streams. It was a nice relaxing morning.

Flashback: Car Fire

Remember the car that crashed into the church? Well, the next day I was reading the news and saw that a car had burst into flames on our corner just ten minutes after we left for seminary. When we got home that evening we looked around and sure enough there was a charred vehicle across the street. I was glad that I wasn't home when it happened, the fire was pretty bad, it sent the owner to the hospital.

Seward's Day at Blue Mussel Cabin

The last day in March is Seward's Day. We had the day off and our friend asked to be invited to our plans. We didn't have plans, so we made some up, "How about the Blue Mussel Cabin?"

The sky threatened rain and we know that the trail is typically muddy so we dressed for success, hiking in boots and rain gear. Rather than mud however we found snow and ice and after lunch the sun appeared.

We looked at sea anenomes and crabs in tide pools and crunched through the mounds of blue mussels piled along the beach.

Mr. X taught our friend to sling rocks in front of the cabin while I explored the 15 - 20 foot ice slides on the cliffs.

The cabin was a mess, so we gathered up the junk, washed windows and attempted to repair the windows in the loft.


Rather than taking the trail back to the car Mr. X wanted to bushwack. So we made our way through leaf-less Devil's Club. Eventually, I decided I was finished getting stung by the prolific, prickly bush, so I took off toward the road. Mr. X and our friend had no other choice but to follow.

It was an easy but enjoyable hike. Perfect for starting out the hiking season.