There's No Place Like Nome

Last weekend my Dad and I ventured to the northwest part of the state, and landed in Nome. There are so many inaccessible places in Alaska that I have always wanted to check out, so I am taking every opportunity I can to explore those remote places (before my airline travel benefits expire next month). I realize that Nome is not your typical tourist destination. In fact, we didn't meet a single other tourist...it was great.

There couldn't have been a better adventure buddy for this trip than my Dad. He can identify flora and fauna by common, scientific, and often Yup'ik names, and he knows the edibility of the tundra plants, how to cook them, and how they tast. He can decipher bird species solely by their calls, flight patterns, or silhouettes while in flight. I wish my brain was a sponge, so I could remember everything.

Dad could also explain all the Eskimo "stuff". The tipi looking stack of wood in the second picture is so that the wood can easily dry before being burned as fuel for heat. The boat (behind the cement guy and I) is stored high on the rack to keep dry and above snow accumulation and could be used for ocean travel if it were covered with walrus or bearded-seal skin. The gigantic sled in front of the water storage tank below is similar to one of the sleds we had when we lived in Kwigillingok (="The Village of No River"). Dad used to carry huge ice chunks from the lake back to our home in that type of sled so we could have fresh drinking water in the winter.

Nome (founded in 1901) was once Alaska's largest city and was booming with gold miners and European settlers (just ask Donovan or Brennan Walsh!) The old sluice boxes, dredges, and really old cars are still laying around up there and probably will never leave. Nome is very old Alaska style-- without trying to be.

The Last Train to Nowhere.

The people we met in Nome were unreal. The man I sat next to on the plane saw that my Dad and I were trying to take a taxi into town, so he offered us a ride with him and his girlfriend. His girlfriend, Ann, wanted to show us around town before dropping us off at the rental car place. Next, she said she had a freshly caught silver salmon in the oven and convinced us to come to her house for breakfast. Before we knew it, she kept insisting that we take her jeep for the weekend since she would we working the rest of the weekend and would walk down the street to work. She was pretty sure the rental car place was closed anyway. Ann also offered to us a place to stay at her house for the weekend...all of this from a person whom we had just met.

Of course, camping is more our style. Here's where Dad slept while I went running. Like Kolemenos from The Long Walk, Dad has the preternatural ability to relax in almost any situation.

Now you are going to think my Dad and I are crazy, but we did actually end up using Ann's jeep for the weekend. It was one of those "only in Nome" type of situations. To show our appreciation we took them out to dinner, gave them a sack of blueberries, and let them borrow our fishing poles. Ann is planning to stay with us when she comes to shop in Anchorage this fall. I sent them a package of vegetables from Mom's garden (vegis are expensive up there), along with some chocolate and coffee (that...umm...might have appeared on my doorstep).
Dad in blueberry heaven on Anvil Mountain. We saw some musk ox up there too!