A Whale of a Time

It started with a report on the local radio station: "Whales sighted just offshore, east beach."

"Wanna go look for whales??" My supervisor asked, as she came out of her office, pulling on a jacket and grabbing the car keys. 

"Chyeah!"

Half of Nome turned out to watch

Catching up

So much catching up to do! My failure to keep this blog update is not for lack of trying. In fact, I have tried nearly half a dozen times, gotten entire posts written and pictures uploaded, only to have the internet crash and all my work swept away into the abyss of cyberspace. This time it seems to be working though, so here we go again!

Midnight Sun Parade

Work and Play

First order of business: I'm now officially a park ranger. Uniform arrived yesterday in all its oddly-proportioned glory. Apparently female park rangers are expected to have ginormous butts and 3-inch waists, according to the size trousers I received, but alas, it'll have to work over the summer. Go ahead, have your laughs. :)

Fellow park ranger and I, ready to serve America

Bipolar weather and end of training

I've been trying to update this blog for about 3 days now, but the internet is so slow it keeps failing to save or post. So here we go again -- fingers crossed. 

Looks almost like a painting!

Springtime in Northwest Alaska

This week has kept me busy with training at work, but on Thursday we got to get out on the road system for a little excursion and to deliver a 55 gallon barrel of aviation fuel to the airstrip at the end. It was cold and foggy in town, but as soon as we crossed over the mountains, it was beautiful and sunny, although the spring landscape remains pretty brown.

Coming down out of the mountains

My first few days

Somehow, although totally sleep deprived, I managed to go on a hike up Anvil Mountain on Saturday after I arrived in Nome. Around 8pm a bunch of us piled in a friend's truck and drove up to the local peak so we could all catch up again and enjoy the late night sun shining high in the sky.

GoProing in the truck bed

Begin Chapter Two

The view out my window, winter and today

After 23 hour of flights, a couple hours of sleep, and one lost bag (yet to be found -- I may be wearing this same shirt for a while..), I've made it to Nome for a second summer of arctic adventure. It's a perfect day, 55 degrees, dry and sunny. Way better than when I got here last year in mid-June when it was 40 degrees and rained for a week straight.