December photos

So much for coming up with some deep, thought-provoking, reflective Christmas post like I'd planned to do last week. But I have no complaints -- I've been having too much fun and staying too busy to philosophize lately. And besides, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, so I'll let the photos do most of the talking. :)

Winter Solstice

It's incredible how much more the "winter solstice" means when you only have 3 hours and 56 minutes of daylight. I don't really mind the darkness too much, but yesterday I was filled with an overwhelming feeling of hope and relief, knowing that this was as short as the days would get, and hereafter I would have only longer days to look forward to (even if it will only be 4 hours and 10 minutes of sunlight by New Years!). 

More winter photos and snowshoeing

This week I've gotten out to explore a couple times since we still don't have enough snow to close off all the roads, so I thought I'd post some pictures.

Yep. That's a negative-20.

Heading west out of town

These signs are on all the roads out of town

Fox (?) tracks found while snowshoeing

On a -17 degree day, frozen rivers were steaming!

Sunset over the outskirts of town

Less-frozen parts of the sea ice were steaming

On Friday I got to go with one of the rangers to the elementary school to help out with a program. Originally the plan was to take the kids snowshoeing since most children here have never done it before (go figure!), if it was warm enough. In Nome, "warm enough" is defined as -20 degrees or above. Ha! Well, Friday turned out to be one of the coldest days of the week so we brought the snowshoes just in case but assumed we would be staying inside. I didn't even bother to put on my snow gear.

However, when we arrived, the temperature had risen to about -17, deemed safe to go outdoors. The kids all had their snow gear and were stoked to get outside, so after a briefing on snowshoe etiquette, we got them prepped and braved the cold, ourselves, to take them out to a nearby field.

5th Graders trying out their snowshoes for the first time

Two lessons learned: 1) It takes about a half hour to get sixteen 10-year-olds in snowshoes, and 2) always be prepared!  I ended up standing out in the tundra in -17 degrees just wearing my hiking shoes, jeans, and a coat for about 45 minutes. Both my legs were completely numb on the walk back and it took me the entire rest of the day and night to finally feel warm again.

A really great group of kids!

The kids absolutely loved it though, and they were a great group. It was very interesting to see what it's like to be a kid out here; there was a very broad spectrum of abilities, experience, and personalities in the class, but they were all quite smart and had a lot of local knowledge. Hopefully we'll be able to take them  out again in the spring when it warms up above 0 again! :)

Ice Adventures

Yesterday a group of us decided to brave the sub-zero temperatures and enjoy our still snow-free weather and drive out to Dorothy Falls, a fun hiking location we'd been to over the summer. The falls are about 25 miles from Nome and a 2 mile hike from the road. We headed out at sunrise around noon, to make the most of the daylight. 

Before starting our hike though, we stopped at Salmon Lake to see how it was doing in the cold. We found it almost completely frozen over, the ice at least a foot and a half thick. I've never seen anything like it before. Some of the ice was totally clear, with bubbles frozen in place!

Frozen bubbles under the ice!

You could see all the way down to the bottom with air bubbles and leaves frozen in place. It was totally surreal.

S'no place like Nome for the Holidays...

Despite the mild melancholy of not being home for the holidays, so far December has been bit more exciting than November, which I will get to momentarily. 

To begin, there is still almost no snow; today the newspaper reported an all-time record low snowfall last month, as we received only 0.2 inches instead of the average 12.1 inches! Climate change in action, I tell you! In addition, the air temps averaged about 14 degrees F last month, as opposed to the usual 16 degrees.

On gratitude, love, and a village

This Thanksgiving, I am thankful to be alone. And I don't mean it ironically, but most sincerely from the bottom of my heart. I am alone because I am fortunate. I am alone because I am loved enough for my family and friends to let me go off and reach my own stars. I am alone because I love my family and friends enough to be able to leave and come back, knowing I still have a home and a community.

I am thankful to be alone because it allows me to reflect on these things and realize that not only am I comfortable enough with myself to enjoy a Thanksgiving in solitude, but that I also have so much to be thankful for.

Wintry Wanderings

I've actually managed to have an incredibly busy weekend, filled with lots of cooking, exploring, and fun with the few friends that are left in town. Today we headed out around 10:30 to drive and hike around the road that heads east out of town, and watched the sun rise over the almost-frozen Bering Sea.

Safety Sound bridge

Alapaa! (It's cold!)

The colder it gets, the more Alaskan I'm beginning to feel. That's not to say I'm "becoming" Alaskan, but this place is definitely beginning to fill more of the stereotypes than it even did in the summer. As winter moves in, most of the summer seasonal visitors have moved out and Nome seems to be taking on a more rural, bush town-like vibe. Most of the people I see now are the year-round Nomeites and villagers, all wearing their beautiful fur parkas and colorful kuspuks, though some of the kids are still running around in shorts.

Continuation of Life in the Arctic

10:30am sunrise

From a near 24 hours of daylight to now under 8 hours a day, the winter season is quickly setting in. The sky is pitch black and glittering with billions of stars well into the morning when I go to work. When the sun finally does rise at around 10:30am now, it comes in brilliant oranges, yellows, and pastel pinks, illuminating the white-blanketed buildings of town in a soft glow.

Pictures from down south

South Alaska, that is. Two weekends ago now, I met up with my family in Anchorage -- it was cheaper for them than flying all the way to Nome, and more fun for me since I got to see a new part of the state. Needless to say, south central Alaska compared to the northwest is like night and day. It was a blast though, and I definitely foresee myself moving there someday soon.

For the most part, it was a lot of good old fashion family road tripping, even after 4 months of being a part and 3 years since our last vacation together. We kept south of Anchorage and explored the towns of Seward, Kenai, and Girdwood, where we were staying. It was fun to be with Ellie and Chris when they saw their first snow, and great to catch up with everyone. It was a good time for reflection as well, to try and figure out where I fit in with my family now that I'm out of school and leading my own life.

So without further ado, here are some of my better pictures from the trip. Enjoy!

The Seward Highway

Turnagain Arm, high tide

Heading south towards Seward

Frosty morning (26 degrees F) 

Tundra swans... not in the tundra

Driving in a winter wonderland

Lion's Mane Jellyfish outside Alaska SeaLife Center

Murre diving underwater at ASLC

Murre underwater

Happy duck is happy

Historic Mile Zero marker of the Iditarod

 (Quite fitting, since I just came from the Iditarod's finish line!)

Town of Seward. I could live here.

Resurrection Bay

Seward and Resurrection Bay

Seward Harbor

So Alaska

Bad picture of Exit Glacier

Picturesque

MOOOOOSSSEE

Reflections

Snowstorm 

Glacier spilling into the water

Mt. Redoubt

Juvenile-ish bald eagle

Alyeska Ski Resort

The trailhead

The fam

Blurry picture of Dad and Mom

Snowy reflections

Misty forest

Chris and I riding the hand tram over Glacier Creek Gorge

Glacier Creek

Snowy trail

Last but not least, love to the family. :)

Thank you all for a wonderful weekend, and for re-energizing me for another 5 months out here. I love you!

Aurora Borealis

Last week I got to experience for the second time in my life, the most beautiful phenomenon on the planet: the Northern Lights, or the Aurora Borealis. I usually track the aurora forecast on the Geophysical Institute website, which rates the aurora activity level on a scale of 1-9; this night, it spiked suddenly to 7 (even though it was only predicted to be a 3), almost the highest you can ever hope to see it. Even better, the sky was totally clear.

Photo and Film Montage

Although I have several posts backlogged that I need to finish, I thought I'd share a rough photo and film montage that I threw together this week. You've probably seen most of the photos by now, but hey, everything's better when put to music. :) Enjoy! 

Nome Rocks!

Nome does rock, but it also has rocks -- and lots of them! This week I signed up for a geology workshop through University of Alaska Fairbanks, which has a small campus here in town. It was being taught by a grad student who is currently working for one of the gold mining companies, and consisted of an evening in-class session followed by a full-day field trip around Nome.

Through the lens: Winter's coming

On Sunday my housemate and I rented a car from an extremely generous local in town (she wanted to let us use it for free, but finally accepted a few bucks!), which afforded us an opportunity to spend the day in the mountains. The forecast called for freezing temperatures and rain, but once we got out of town the precipitation turned to snow flurries and we found ourselves cruising through an early winter wonderland. 

The art of staying busy (and the interesting things that happen when you do)

Post-college life is an interesting force to be reckoned with. I thought it would be hard to get used to not having any homework or big responsibilities to contend with at the end of each day, but in fact I've hardly thought anything of it. And the little thought I have given to the matter has been more along the lines of: Oh hey, I can do whatever the hell I want right now!

So far this summer, that mindset has translated itself into a number of various pursuits: salmon fishing; hiking; biking in the mountains; berry picking; cooking; baking; walking on the beach; drawing; watercolor painting; writing; learning harmonica; reading; photography; and working out and running.

Incredible weekend at Serpentine

Alaskan native tradition says the valley of Serpentine Hot Springs is the home of powerful spirits. I could see how those beliefs came about last time I visited in July, but the 3 days I spent there this past weekend were perhaps some of the most beautiful days I have ever been lucky enough to experience.

Beaver lodge and dam

Update and lots of pics

This week was relatively uneventful, so I'm taking it as an opportunity to post a backlog of random photos that don't really fit anywhere else. 

As you may have guessed, the rest of my trip into the field totally fell through and I ended up staying in Nome. My trip for next week has been postponed too -- I was supposed to go out to Serpentine again on Monday for the week, but yesterday we found out that we're not allowed to go because it would mean working on Labor Day! Yay government. 

Rained in at Kuzitrin

The week started out promising. By noon on Monday my supervisor and I were suited up in our flight gear and walking across the tarmac behind the Bering Air hangar for our first helicopter trip out to Kuzitrin and Imuruk Lakes. It was partly cloudy, but the ceiling was high with a vivid blue sky above. 

My view

When I saw the chopper we were flying in, I couldn't help but laugh -- it was smaller than the car we had driven to get here, with a big bubble window around the cockpit, giving the two front seats a wide view all around. As the photographer, I got copilot's seat.

It takes a village ...to gain perspective

When you hear the word "village," if you're anything like me, America is probably not the first thing that comes to mind. Yet in the Seward Peninsula, villages are almost the only form of community that exists here, aside from the bush towns of Nome and Kotzebue. 

A taste of success

Whole wheat, no-milk, fresh-picked-blueberry muffins

Okay, I gotta brag just a little here, mostly because I've totally surprised myself. So if you know me at all, you probably know I'm terrible in the kitchen. I have yet to master the art of cookie-baking, or even venture into much creativity with my regular meals.

But the 48 oz. tupperware of blueberries sitting in my fridge has been burning a hole in the shelf, so tonight I figured it was time to do something about it.