About this Blog

Good news! They got a strike...

Thu, 14 Sep 2006 11:59:47 -0700

Nuiqsut (noo ick sit) village is all a buzz. The Nukapigak crew is hauling in the first strike of the season, a bowhead whale. They will bring it onto Cross Island instead of the village to cut it up. Boy I would like to see that... but they say its a pretty smelly experience. It takes at least 3 hours to get from Cross Island back to the Nuiqsut once the meat is cut up enough to transport. Tonight the family that made the strike will bring in some meat to cook up for everyone. The whole community is invited. The rest of the meat is saved for other events... one section for Thanksgiving, one for Christmas, and one for blanket toss - which is a picnic type event in the summer. Of course the captain’s family gets the choice cuts as well.

When the boats arrive with the meat, the captain (or a younger surrogate) will run through the village holding their crew flag and everyone cheers and follows to their home where the cooking begins. Of course nowadays the following is done in 4X4’s and pickups. They will be serving uunnaalik (oo na lik) - boiled muktuk (raw whale meat). They tell me the meat is black and white and that you must eat both together. If you eat just the white or just the black you can get sick.

See the photos of Life in Nuiqsut

I’m excited and nervous to see the event. HM does not care for fat. As I get closer to the party, I begin to smell the fatty cooking and fishy scraps. I’m torn... I want to partake in the event, but I haven’t been introduced to these people yet and the stench is too overwhelming. Finally, I wimp out. Maybe I’ll get to hear the stories before I leave tomorrow...

But then, a knock at my door. Alice and Emily brought me a taste. Little did I know that it took until 10:00pm before the meat was even ready. Cooking for 300 + people does take awhile. Alice and Emily brought a taste of everything. I tried the cook meat first... I gagged - it tasted too fishy for HM. Just the thought of trying the uunnaalik was making me gag, but Alice kept coaxing me. Since I don’t like fat, she said to eat just the dark part (skin). What about getting sick I asked??? Oh that’s just a silly story... “like the Europeans telling you not to drink water with fruit.” Emily said.

And you know, it was pretty good. Then I tried it together the white (fat) and the dark. Not bad. I even tried a piece of the heart. Beside the fishiness it was pretty tender - like most organ meat.

Thanks guys! You made my North Slope adventure complete.

A hop, skip... hop skip...

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 19:09:15 -0700

It takes two days of traveling to get to the ‘top of the world.’ That’s a lot of big and little plane rides. Mostly, I’m stuck in this Beechcraft B1900 where you can’t stand up. Can you say claustrophobic? I’m starting to hyperventilate just thinking about it. And with each leg, weather closes in. We get peaks...snippets of what’s below... for a while. We land for 10 or 20 minutes - get a leg stretch (not even bathrooms at Barter Island), then onward we go...

When we stopped at Barter Island (Kaktovik), I couldn’t see much. Low fog and a cold mist covered quite a site - polar bears scavenging a whale carcass. Only Mike, the basketball camp coach, was lucky enough to see it a few days later on an unusually warm and clear day... I had to settle for my first iceburgs in the mist.

Who is this guy on the tail...?

Sun, 10 Sep 2006 14:35:47 -0700

When I was a teenager, I took my first flight on Alaska Airlines into Burbank, CA. For some reason, I always thought the guy on the tail was Admiral Byrd. Now where did I ever get that idea? Did Admiral Byrd ever explore anything in Alaska? I asked the gate attendant, “who is the guy?” What do you think he said...? He did tell me all the other strange guesses people thought... Johnny Cash... Abe Lincoln [I can kinda see that one]...

OK I’m taking a poll... who do you think this guy is? Add your thoughts in the comments below...

The gate attendant and I got to chatting and he wanted to make sure I got some pictures of the other airplane tails sitting at the gates. “We’re the only airlines with a Mickey Mouse on the tail. Painted especially by Disney. And to commemorate their 50th anniversary - is Tinkerbell and her iridescent fairy dust another plane.”

The best flight path...

Sun, 10 Sep 2006 09:57:46 -0700

In all my travels, I don’t think there is a better flight then the leg from San Francisco to Seattle. They flight right over the Cascade Mountains. Its a rare flight when it’s not clear, at least my luck has proven it so. Its starts with Mount Shasta in California and ends with Mount Rainier in Washington. But my fav is , of course Crater Lake. Now maybe I’m partial - I did live there for 5 summers. But staring down into that blue, blue water from 30,000 feet... it makes you want to leap off the plane in a swan dive. OK, maybe that’s a bit of an overstatement, but check out these photos flying over the Cascades..

Now the real adventure begins...

Fri, 1 Sep 2006 16:20:53 -0700

10 Sep 06 - Sunday
Lv San Francisco 1100a 02hr 11min
Ar Seattle Tacoma 111p
Lv Seattle Tacoma 240p 03hr 39min
Ar Anchorage 519p
Hotel Captain Cook

11 Sep 06 - Monday
Air Frontier Flying Svc Flt:780
Lv Anchorage 640a 01hr 05min
Ar Fairbanks Intl 745a
Lv Fairbanks Intl 845a 02hr 15min
Ar Deadhorse 1100a
Via Barter Island
Lv Deadhorse 1145a 30min
Ar Nuiqsut 1215p

District housing: what does that mean when its the top of the world????

15 Sep 06 - Friday
Air Frontier Flying Svc Flt:576
Lv Nuiqsut 1230p 40min
Ar Barrow 110p
Lv Barrow 145p 01hr 55min
Ar Fairbanks Intl 340p
Lv Fairbanks Intl 645p 01hr 10min
Ar Anchorage 755p
Hotel Captain Cook

16 Sep 06 - Saturday
Alaska Airlines
Lv Anchorage 830a 03hr 28min
Ar Seattle Tacoma 1258p
Lv Seattle Tacoma 216p 01hr 57min
Ar San Francisco 413p HOME!!!!!

An act of god... again

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 12:02:10 -0700

Is August the ‘Act of God’ month? Does god want to punish me by prolonging all my travels? It seems like it. This trip has been a long one like most of this summer. No chance to go home between gigs. And then the delays... At the onset it was 4 hours in SFO missing my connections in Phoenix forcing us to overnight in Flagstaff. It turned out for the best because the dirt road into the Navajo reservation was covered with mudholes. At one spot the mud flew up onto the car and enveloped us. I felt like we were inside a chocolate bar. And Jane continued driving with no visibility and no wipers on. Thank goodness it was she not me.

And now its happening again. Stuck in Philadelphia due to rain. How long will they hold us this time? Will we sit in the airport all night before they finally cancel the flight? I’ve been here 5 hours already. Having thought I might make an earlier flight I raced here from Wilmington, Delaware and missed the deadline to check luggage by 5 minutes, dang! So close to 9 days off the road .... now make that 8 ;-{

When we all get together....

Fri, 11 Aug 2006 14:38:45 -0700

It seems rare in this job to work with colleagues. Especially this summer. And to have six of us together for 1 week was a treat. “What would we have done if we had to do this one alone?”, we kept saying. The Lakota reservation is an interesting place, but desolate. The grassland goes on and on... the food a bit lacking, but the fun... we can make it if we try...

We manage to spend our few open hours roaming the prairie. Those silly boys are making up names for everyone as we cruise through the Badlands.... Chief peesalot - who was that? Does HM stand for ‘high maintenance’ or ‘her majesty?’ Depends who you ask.

Check out the photos that Jordy, Paul, and Chuck took.

No work, no work... you jerk

Fri, 26 May 2006 15:48:18 -0700

March, April, May... I know they are usually slow. Schools are about to have spring break, testing, then the close of the school year. No teacher wants to attend training. The kids have exhausted them and its time just to maintain and finish the year. OK, what better time to schedule a vacation? And after 5 years of no worldly adventures, its time...

Those five years have been good to me. I can afford to live in one of the most expensive cities in the country. I’m careful with my money, but I enjoy my life. I manage to put away a bit and I know work will improve... so go to Africa ...grab the moment... OK so its a well planned trip, organized since October. Just go... and enjoy...

Who new that work would dry up to this degree? Nothing much in November, December, January? December - OK its the holidays, but the rest are good months for work, aren’t they? This is when life as an independent contractor can really suck.

Check out our African adventure

Tango Alaska

Wed, 22 Feb 2006 15:32:00 -0800

If you have to take 4 days to get to the gig, you better try to take a friend. Especially if it can be an adventure. Who would think that February in Alaska could be sooo beautiful? We managed to meet in Seattle and catch the plane together. That was Thursday. I was already on the road, traveling from Chicago to Seattle the night before. Waking up in Juneau and catching the 4 hour ferry to Haines was only part of the amazing journey. It wasn’t the cold Alaskan temperature that took our breathe away but azure blue sky against the waters of the inside passage. The weather was freakishly warm for most of our time there. And Haines has its own unique charm after all the tourists disappear.

Peter loved the only restaurant in town. What could be better than the same meal over and over - breakfast, lunch, and dinner - day after day. It was nice of the locals to finally tell us their was another choice - a day before we left.

The views, the eagle reserve, drive up the pass to Canada - this is how we spent our time waiting for the Monday gig to begin. Check it out.

Until our last free day... a pleasant drive through the surrounds.... oops.... a bit of a mishap....

Ok, so I knew the road was closed... and it was covered in ice... but I just wanted to see for how far... and what was down in the State Park. I had a feeling it was nice. I should have just kept driving, but I got nervous and decided to turn around. Oops - so I don’t remember that a road of sheet ice doesn’t let the tires of a rear wheel drive car go anywhere. They just spin and spin. Who knew that below the grassy edge was mud, digging our tires in even more. We were smart enough to know we need action and attempted to put dry grass and floor mats under the tires. And this is the time the weather decides to close in... who knew???

No one is in sight, no one home at the nearby houses... what about that corner house? If it wasn’t for this eccentric artist, John we might have been walking for days... or not. He lends us his phone, but the tow truck is busy. Call back in an hour. John tells us his tale of moving to Alaska in the 70’s and life in Haines as an artist. He lends us a ski pole to walk over ice and we start down the road looking for someone with a truck to help.

Its a sweet walk in the mist down to the river and back. And as we arrive back at John’s house, he waves us down. He didn’t realize the car was so close to his place. We walk back and try to rock the car free from the muddy ruts we created. And voilá - it works. Phew - now it turns into a story of local color instead of frozen corpses.

Did you catch the TangoAlaska movie?