I think it might be safe to finally say that I've made it over the hump of my recent work frenzy. I spent so many extra hours but successfully accomplished everything that needed to be done. Education supply room beautifully organized and ready for use by seasonal employees...check. Seasonal training...check. First Junior Ranger program...check. I'm more ahead at this point than I have been the last two summers, so I'm hoping that translates into a more regulated work schedule and more time to get out and about. It's a short season, so just like the plants and ground squirrels, I want to take full advantage of it!
There was a fair bit of time scheduled into our seasonal training in Nome for sightseeing. I also made it out to jog most of the mornings I was there, so I covered more of the town than I ever had before. Here are some shots of this-n-that from this trip. Most of these were taken on my iPod, so sorry for the crummy resolution.
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Chukotka-Alaska Inc., 514 Lomen, Nome AK
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One place you have to go when in Nome is to the Chukotka bookstore. There are probably millions of things crammed into this little trailer. It's so tight in there you have to suck in your gut before you turn around so you don't swipe something off of the shelf behind you! The proprietor is somewhat illusive about his own story -- especially once he finds out you're a fed -- but he was either born in Russia or in AK to a Russian family. Everything in the store is either Alaskan or Russian. He has books, native crafts, furs, beads, collector pins...you name it. The truly special thing about the store, though, is the proprietor himself. From the time you walk in, he starts talking and stops when you walk out the door. He'll find out who you are and what you're doing in Nome first. If you're just looking around, he'll start talking about random things, the latest news or some story of his own. As he sees what things you pick up or inspect, he'll start telling you stories about that item. Everything has a story. You can be absolutely quiet, and he'll fill in the whole space with stories. It's a fun experience. I've visited this place each time I've been to Nome. He has acquired a new, more central and spacious location, so I wonder if the next visit will have as much charm. I get the feeling, though, that if he has extra space, he'll just fill it up too.
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| Driftwood trees with cool burls |
Nome is as treeless as Kotzebue, actually more so. They do have a great supply of driftwood on the beaches, however. This person who has a fish camp somewhere near Safety Sound east of Nome has found some driftwood trees with very cool burls and made a sort of lined driveway from them. It probably looks better in person.
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| Those little brown dots are muskoxen |
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| Itchy muskoxen |
Again, I apologize for the poor resolution in these photos. I kept forgetting to charge and/or carry my real camera, and the iPod doesn't have a great one. Each time I've gone to Nome I've seen muskoxen. They're fun to watch no matter how often you get to see them. This time of year they're getting hot and trying to get rid of their bottom layer of hair -- called qiviut -- by rubbing on anything they can find. Utility poles make good scratching posts! It's fun to see them walk around. The long guard hairs that make up their top coat sway back and forth as if they're wearing a skirt. Beautiful creatures. The calves are possibly the cutest baby animals ever.
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| Wooly lousewort |
Touted as another ice age relic, the wooly lousewort.
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| Just a pretty view |
What does Nome have that Kotzebue doesn't? Among other things, topographic relief. They have mountains nearby and three roads that take you up to about 60 (I think) miles out of town. They don't connect you to any other place, but you can get closer to some country...places to hike and see things. I like the quirkiness and native history of Kotz, but I'd love to have this landscape nearby.
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| Anvil Mountain |
Training finished on Saturday, but we travelled on Bering Air which has no service between Kotzebue and Nome on the weekend, so Sunday was just a day off in Nome. That afternoon, four of us on the Kotz staff went for a little hike up a hill just outside of town. It was about 1000 feet up, and we covered a good horizontal distance, but I don't know how far. It was a good little hike, but it was the perfect day for it. Amazingly, just the day before, the temperature had reached around 80! This day, however, was just slightly foggy and down in the 40's.
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| A view from the anvil |
It was a foggy day, so not a great picture, but this is a view of Nome from the top of Anvil Mountain -- looking south towards the Bering Sea.
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| White Alice |
These structures are part of the White Alice communications system set up in the 1950s to improve communication in Alaska, and they were integrated into the Cold War early warning system. There's also a White Alice structure in Kotzebue (different than these -- I don't understand the specific function of them) that is in operation of some sorts. It's locally called "the golf ball" because that's what it looks like from a distance. These in Nome are, I believe, not used, and it looks like they may be starting to take them down.
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| White Alice |
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| Sacred gravesite |
Between the anvil and White Alice, I saw these grave markers. I wondered why and how someone would be buried at the top of this hill...then I saw the fresh marker. It says, "Hoppy the Frog." I'm sure it was a sad, solemn ceremony for some child that took place at this site, but I had to smile.
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| Wood stave pipe |
Back at the bottom of Anvil Mountain, I spotted this piece of pipe running across a stretch of ground. I had never seen a pipe made like an ice cream freezer! I briefly looked into it, and apparently there were quite a few places that used wood stave pipes in the early 1900's. These would usually carry water, sometimes sewer. What I don't know is if this pipe was carrying drinking water down to Nome or if it was part of some mining irrigation. I thought it was pretty intriguing.
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