Inservice

The time at home was much too short but inservice was upon me and I had to be back in King Salmon, AK in time for it.  Flying home on my birthday wasn't really my idea of fun but it allowed me the most time with my loved ones.  Flying back into Alaska provided me with some wonderful views of the mountains from my single seat and I enjoyed the scenery even while my thoughts were of home and of those that I had left behind.  Turning those thoughts around to what lie ahead; inservice, friends that I had made but not seen for almost 3 months and a bed that was not a SAVEC but at what would prove to be a beautiful lodge!  The water however would prove to be something of a different story.

Bear Trail Lodge reminded me of home.   One glance at the windows from the back area at night and I'm sure those of you who know Mom's house can see why.  The crisp blue sky and the warm glow from the inside show the lodge in some of it's glory.  What you see here is the main portion of the lodge. On the right is the kitchen area, the center is the main gathering room and to the left is the dining area.  Down below are some rooms (mine) and I am standing on the hot tub deck that over looks the water.

My room that I shared with 3 other ladies was named the Wolf Den.  I was already missing my puppies and I thought it was kinda funny that I got a canine inspired room!

During my time there I spent quite some time watching Bald Eagles fly but only got one opportunity during the daylight to get a picture.  Of course it was a bit blurry and by the time I got the camera stable, it was gone, but the picture is still here as it's the closest I've ever been to a wild one!  The wingspans are just insane and it does make you humble as you watch them fly.

The water out the back deck of Bear Trail Lodge

Accommodations at the lodge were great.  The food was wonderful and the company was wonderful.  The water however was a bit stinky.  Not drinkable as they were having issues but they did provide us with bottled water.  Showering in it was weird but you do what you gotta do right?  Getting to know the staff in the district is nice and through the inservice times I'm finally starting to feel like I know some people's names!  I think that is one part of working in such rural sites where you don't move around that I really miss, getting to know more people and the interaction with others.  It's alright though, it's still nice to come back and have my solitude too.

Part of inservice was a memorial run/walk for a teacher in the district who passed while experiencing her own adventure in Alaska.  Near the start line, all bundled up as we headed down to the beach for the 3K+ beach walk I couldn't help but have my photo taken by the perfectly-named boat!  Oh, it was cold, by the end of it I think my legs were purple from the wind but I was warm from the blood flow!




Once inservice was over and I had gotten some good comments about my iMovie presentation, it was time to head home.  A very frosty morning greeted us on at Pen-Air.  As Arimie and I sat in the plane they de-iced it.  It was pretty cool to watch the chemicals just melt it away as if it had never been there and we were ready to go.  De-icing at the airport should never slow things down.  Well, at least for small planes.  The big ones probably take some time!!  I guess it comes out of the trucks at like 140°, or so I was told.

Frosty plane-Heavy frost!

Surprises at home

I came home to see my hubby.   More than two months away has been hard on us both.  I also have never spent a birthday away from home and I know that Mom was a little heartbroken that it was about to happen.  Well fine then, we'll just make it not happen.  I wanted to see everyone and I knew they'd be happy to see me.  Or so I thought.

My flight home takes awhile because of the village flight so by the time I touched down in Portland, I was already exhausted.  It was alright as I was running on excitement and adrenaline.  A nice big hot chocolate from the Daily Buzz started the morning and Mom and I were off on our morning shuffle from place to place to surprise a few people.

The first person was Theresa, my dog grooming friend who, if she had springs for shoes, would have jumped over her counter when she saw me.  We had Mom go in and "try" to shut the door but fail as she talked to her about a fake appointment as I slid in the already open door.  It was great to see her reaction and Mom going to see the delight in her face when she saw me.  She had work to do though and I had more people to see.  While I said I'd get to see her again the weekend took over and I didn't get to see her before leaving.  :(  I guess we'll have to spend a bit of time at Christmas when I'll be home for a couple of weeks instead of a couple of days!

We then moved onto surprising Charlene.  As we drove up, I knew that she would still be asleep.  I was hoping she'd had forgotten to lock her doors and I could just walk in and surprise her but it wasn't my luck.  I also told Mom that if she did lock her doors, she'd wake up when I knock, peek through her blinds before going to the door and see her car.  I knew she'd think something was wrong with me and come shuffling out real quick in her robe.  HA.....only to find me at the door!  I'm not sure she really believed it but she did meet me with a huge hug and decided that since I was home, we had to immediately hit the doughnut shop.  So, we did.  *Yummy*

After that, I knew I needed a nap before the rest of the day continued.  I had been up for over 24 hours and before I saw the hubby, I wanted to be a little more awake and able to deal with the rest of the day.  A quick nap at Mom's house began with me on the couch and her starting to go into the other room to sit in her chair and "leave me alone."  Uh, no, please sit in here and keep me company, I've been alone for almost 3 months.  I don't care if you are just silent and reading a paper while I'm trying to fall asleep, just another breathing body in the room is good.  I almost called the dog up on the couch with me.  That would have been better than no one else again!

Phew, a quick nap and then onto surprise the hubby.  He didn't take it so well because he was caught so off guard.  He was very happy that I was home once the shock wore off.  I also think that he was happy when I was able to clean the house while he finished up his homework.  He got to focus and I got a little bit of therapy cleaning my own house.  Sounds weird I know, however, it was kinda nice.  A part of me liked it and a part of me didn't.  Now, coming home at Christmas, he knows I'm coming and I won't want to clean, I'll want to enjoy the festivities!  He's well aware!

Let's see.  So later that night we knew that a dinner with the whole family had been scheduled already.  I figured that I would just surprise my sister there.  It didn't really work out that way.  You see, I hid around the corner when I saw the lights pull into the driveway so I could walk up behind her and give her a hug.  I was expecting a pretty big jump and surprised reaction from her.  I kinda felt like it was like....ho, hum.  Ok, well whatever.  She held out an envelope from the picture people and told us that they had gotten new pictures taken.  Ok, I'll look.
*thinking*  "Man, ok, more pictures?  Didn't you guys just get some?"
-opens the envelope-
"OMG!"
*thinks* "Oh no, what  if Mom doesn't know yet"

Shopping ensued

-pulls it together and hands envelope to Mom.  Turns to sister and hugs her some more.

Picture inside envelope

So, shock and awe part of the weekend was over.  A few stops to see people happened.   I met a few babies that were born or came home from the hospitals while I was up here in Alaska and they are beautiful/handsome!  I enjoyed some quality time with the husband and some shopping time with the sissy.  She horsed around a bit though.  I'm sure she'll turn out to be a great role model for a soon to be son/daughter.  Well, we can hope at least!  Progress at this point seems to be about 9 weeks with a due date of May 29th.  I should be home from Alaska on their 10 year wedding anniversary.  May 20th.  Let's hope that little one stays in there long enough!

My how things can change

A trip home starts with a little tiny flight.  A flight you wait for in the village.  Be ready by 9:30 they say but we all know that the plane doesn't normally come until about noon.  It's ok, I could have been ready by 8am for a flight at 5pm if that's what they wanted.  I was stoked!  Pen-Air is the only place that does the flights around here and so we wait (patiently) for them to arrive.  Folks around here have a pet name for them, "when-air", whenever they get here - air.  That's pretty much the way it goes though they try to be on time.

9:30.....are you ready?  Yes.    Ok, I'll call you at 10:30 and we'll see where we are at.   

10:30....are you ready?  Yes, all ready to go.  Just call me when you know the plane is coming.

11:40...Dick is headed your way.  Ok, I'll be outside waiting!

11:45...Dick shows up, I'm outside waiting, toss my cargo into the van and we go to pick up the other travelers.  (6 of us flying out that day!)

12:05....on the plane headed out of town.  PHEW

Pen-Air in King Salmon

First stop...King Salmon, AK   Layover....7 hours....extended by an hour to 8 hours but it's ok I got one heck of a story out of a hunting guide.  He was working out in the area and his two co-workers left to retrieve something.  He walked along this ridge right into a bears bed area.  Opps!  Attacked.  Survivied with the scars to prove it.  He still wears the same watch from the 15 years or so ago with the teeth marks.  Pretty cool story, I won't go into much detail, it's much better if you saw the scars and I didn't take pictures of the guy.  Kinda figured that would be rude.  He did show me pictures from his most recent guides though and there were some fantastic looking bears.  The other gal sitting there with me just got the #2 in the books Dahl Sheep and it was day number 60 of drying time!  She was pretty stoked!

Second Stop.....Anchorage, AK.  Layover about 3.5 hours.  I was super excited for this one as I had not been in Anchorage since the beginning of August and I wanted to see some pretty mountains.  They were fabulous and though I only saw them from the air and from the windows of the airport, it's amazing how much things can change in the span of a few months!  The other part to this layover was that I got to see a dear friend of mine, Jaci.  We spent some time just chatting, catching up, learning about past guys, new guys, and new jobs.  As the evening hours slipped away, I checked in for my flight and she checked out for the evening.  I'll be back though, Christmas time will allow us a few days for some more friend time...and maybe some ice-skating!!!  Maybe we should do that AFTER the shopping trips so I don't kill myself before having to shop for the last 4 months up here.

Last stop......PDX  Portland, OR.....Home  (close enough to it that as soon as you see the lights, the city and hit the runway, you know you are home)  The red-eye flight was a bit to handle.  I was excited but oh so tired.  I think I got about half hour or so of sleep.  The exit row doesn't recline but I like the extra leg room.  I'm not sure even with a reclining seat it would have helped honestly.  First class might though....

Ah, then a nice hug and a car ride the rest of the way home.   Surprises begin.....with the next blog post!

The day before..

Did the village know I was leaving?  It sure put on a show.  Frost and fire it seemed like.  A wonderful sunrise as I look past the school staircase.  It's those wonderful pictures that make you feel like you could watch this every day.  (even though they don't happen every day)  Did the village want to make sure I remembered what I was leaving behind, to make sure I'd return?  Well, I was coming back like it or not, I had a return ticket in hand (well, on the web - common, it's 2011!) and I'd be back soon enough.

Almost all packed and ready to go, there are other things to attend to in the village.  Shooting practice was arranged before I wasn't all packed.  I was close and I knew that I'd have all night.  (Lord knows sleeping probably wasn't on the agenda anyhow!)  Excitement has the funny ability to keep you up when you know something good is coming!

So, a student of mine took me out shooting.  We took his gun and mine, headed out to hand out some punishment on an old metal chair and experience a little time at the gravel pit.  That poor chair.  It seems to have been a target for many a shooter.  So many holes already, I just had to add a few of my own.I must say, that M1A has quite the accuracy!  It looks pretty bad-A too!

I had to make sure I got a picture too, maybe it's just a "show everyone what I've done" or maybe it's because I'll never own a gun like this but it was fun.  I know I don't play the shooting games or go out hunting for animals to kill, however it was fun to shoot!

After the beautiful sunrise and the shooting, packing was in order.  I had already gotten the frozen container pre-packed and then back in the freezer so it was basically a dump and run in the morning.  My clothes were almost dry and ready for folding.  I had to sleep on my pillows but they were the last thing to go in.  Making sure that everything was there, I headed for bed, ready to be ready to go whenever Mr. Pen-Air showed up for me the next morning.  I had a lot to do first thing but where was I going? 

Home.

On the map

I've been all over the map since my last post.  So much has happened I'm going to have to post a few in short order to catch everyone up.  It seems like time flew by so quickly and I had a BIG secret to keep so I couldn't say much anywhere.

The short of it:  Egegik to King Salmon to Anchorage to Portland to HOME.   Then Home to Portland to Seattle to Anchorage to King Salmon to Naknek to Egegik.

The long of it:  To follow but only Mom knew I was coming home.  More posts to follow.

Off the map

7:45am

Ever see a town just disappear?  I see it all the time.  In the blink of an eye our tiny little town vanishes from sight.  Not even Google Earth or the strongest satellite would see us right now.  We are off the map.  I’d like to know some morning when it’s going to happen so I could watch it from the sky, or at least from the highest point in town.  Just watch the town go dark, watch it disappear.

That’s what it feels like right now though, and every morning that the beeping continues.  What do I see when I peer out the window?  Nothing but darkness surrounds the eyes, yet I know what I’m supposed to be seeing.  The street lights the speckle the gravel road, the safety light from the school and the little house lights up and down the coastline.  They are gone, if only for now. 

The first thought that came to my mind this morning, but not any of the others that this has happened was:  “We’re invisible!”  No one could see us even if they wanted to.  I doubt that my flashlight would even grab someone’s attention if it needed to.  Invisibility is cool, Harry Potter showed us that, but ours is temporary at best.  When the sun rises and gives us the natural light we’ll lose that cloak of darkness and become part of the modern world again but for now, it’s kind of cool to think about.

All is not lost in the world of power, we have a generator that can be switched on.  It’s just loud, it’s raining out and quite frankly, I don’t know how to turn it on yet.  I can get ready by flashlight and the head teacher here, she isn’t a “morning person.”  Since I’m good getting ready for school in the dark, there’s really not a need for it now that I have the earplugs.  The beeping is about 10 minutes away from being over with now.  (It goes for about an hour)  The Internet only lasted for about 35 minutes this time around. (Sorry about the Skype session Sister, it went out just as you asked!)  So now it’s off to get ready for school by flashlight and have a bowl of cereal before heading to a dark classroom to begin my day.

Invisibility, darkness, adaptation, it’s the Alaskan experience!

7:56 am

Cross Country Meet

A short athletic season in Alaska is something that is regular for each sport they play.  When I was asked if I would like to be the Cross Country coach, I thought (inaccurately) that it would be for the entire fall and there might be multiple meets.  Ha, I was so wrong!  One meet at the end of a month of training.

The season started off with 4 students saying they would participate.  That diminished quickly when one of them quickly made a trip to Anchorage for a medical issue.  Shortly after that two more were gone for two weeks to Anchorage and then I was down to one student.  She put in a great amount of work throughout the season and took the coach's trainings well.

Having a new coach isn't the easiest thing in the world.  I'm not the easiest coach to have either.  I have high expectations and I admit willingly that when I know that there is more left in the athletes, I'm a little like Jillian and Bob from the Biggest Loser.  (Just not THAT intense)  Now, I can't run as far as the Cross Country kids can, but there is a bicycle around that I can ride just that far.  It's nice be able to carry water for my athlete and a stopwatch along with some other provisions just in case.  She took the coaching well and even made me proud when showing me some heart during a few of the trainings when I asked more of her than I ever had.  Knowing that the one and only meet was fast approaching and that I would not see her for 4 days before the meet was a bit daunting but we tried to be ready.

When we met back up in Nondalton, AK and began to walk the course I really felt like she was going to do well.  We knew what the goal was and that it might be a bit difficult because there were quite a few more hills than we have here at home.  She ran through some huge blisters on her heels after a tape job and not only did she reach that goal, she exceeded it!  I couldn't have been more proud of her when I found out her time, I think I might have run through the halls to tell her how fast she ran.

What was I doing then besides being at the finish line?  Why did I have to wait to find out the time?  I was out on the course making sure that runners turned around at the right spot.  How was the weather while I was out there?  It was great, a bit warm, no breeze and I had all the time in the world to wait for runners.  Wait.  Wait just one minute.  Warm, no breeze weather in rural Alaska means one thing though.  Bugs.  Not just a few bugs.  Swarms of bugs.  Mosquitos the size of hummingbirds and flocks of them.  You look up in the sky and I swear I could count a "little" flock of 40 of them just above my head.  Oh my goodness!  The little bugs that accompany them were dotting the sky ever so much more prevalent than the stars and so much more annoying too!  There were times between the races that I had nothing to do but wait so I would pull my hoodie over my face as far as I could and my sleeves over my hands and just sit there in the "dark" so I wouldn't get bit or annoyed by the bugs.  I had a ton of fun cheering on all of the student-athletes as they came past my station however I think my favorite time might have been when I got to run back down to the school when that last runner came jogging by.  Phew, bugs over!

So, the other great parts about going somewhere else is getting to see what the other sites are like.  Nondalton is beautiful.  Not only do they have some beautiful scenery but we also got to see a cool piece of history in the form of a plane wreck.  The lake and the mountains around it were stunning and I can't even imagine how beautiful they must be covered in snow!  The plane went down many years ago when the lake was frozen and they just drug it off to the side.  It still sits there now and you can visit the wreckage site.

Service Project- Filling in Potholes

We also had some fun seeing some Native Youth Olympics (NYO) events being demonstrated and I think my mouth dropped open a few times.  Yes, I've tried them here at home now and I'm sure I look like a dork doing them.  They are fun though!  Besides all these things, there were leadership activities, many school meals and a dance to partake in.  I'm not sure who danced more though; the teachers/coaches or the students.  Fun was had by all though and I'm glad that I've gotten you all updated on at least this portion of my adventure!

Beautiful log house

While out walking the course- Trees and Mountains!

Down by the lake

Nice little trail along the lake