Driving the ice highway, frozen rivers

 Peter called and said he needed to go into Bethel and asked if we would like to drive in with him. We jumped at the chance to see this area from a warm interior....So, we all dressed as though we were going by snowmobile and took a pack with survival gear. If we broke down, we'd be in the same position, stuck out in the cold boonies.

 The ice thickness on the Atmau River varies from 2-5 feet thick, so people say. They know where the thinner sections are. When we approached the mouth of the Johnson River feeding into the Kuskokwim, the tidal influence was obvious. Overflows discolored the snow, and large heaves in the middle of the "road" had us weaving in and around.

 Caribou tracks! Near Napakiak we came across them. Two came out of one willow thicket, crossed the river and moved into the next one. Hunters were saying the herd wasn't far from Bethel, south towards Eek. The weekend before four hunters went out and came back with four caribou. They estimated the herd to be about 300 animals.

Heading into the back of the village of Napakiak. We took their road to avoid a dangerous slough. A lot of upheavals due to the tides. This particular slough is often closed when a warm spell occurs because there is so much water action.

 

Bethel river front comes into view. It took us an hour to get there. On the way home it was a little less. We came across a flock (murder??) of Ravens, at least a hundred of them. They are fascinating, as I'm not yet sure how they survive out here.

The holidays

 Nothing better than Hershy's Kisses. No cookies and milk for Santa, Lily came up with this one. They were gone by morning.....

     We've always been partial to Charlie Brown Christmas trees...

Puppy sitting again.



Yakking with Grandma and Grandpa.

Cone Heads!

Mom says we need a tree....

 Everybody is bundling up. Our winter is not unusually cold, but the length of days of cold is. We have been having temps of 10-20 below ambient. Throw in some breeze and it drops to 30 real quick.

We head off across the river to the willow thicket. There are numerous tracks as the rabbits, ptarmigans and fox are there.We find our "tree" and head back quickly. It is cold.

       



                      Ptarmigan

 That's the one. Lily is just in her own world....

Nanook of the North

   






                                                  Get-me-out-a-here

 Mom has her tree.

 "I can't see," Lily shouts. "I think my eyelashes have frozen together!"

Perfect.

Off to Bethel by plane

 We needed to get to Bethel to sign some refinance papers, but weren't sure how to make that happen. It was too cold to snowmobile in on our own. I was too uncomfortable to fly with Bruce and leave the kids behind. So we ended up chartering a 207 to get us all in. This is Mary, the village airline agent with her sled. She is hired to meet all the planes that carry mail and deliver the bags and boxes to the post office. She also is hired to give rides to whomever has bought a ticket on the air service that she represents. She can be out meeting planes 3-5  times a day if need be.

Bruce and MaryAlice, two of the veteran teachers at the site, high school teachers, are waiting on the snowmobile. She is getting a ride into Bethel with us as she is heading out for the holiday vacation.

 Ernie heads southeast and takes us in. Lily is copilot on this one.

This is a traditional Yu'pik mask that was hung in the bank. I use to find them at Qwantana's, a gallery in Portland. Sometimes they would have the very old ones. Nick Charles made this one. The color comes from the clay on the coast, the design one from Nunivak Island.  The concentric rings represent the universe. Often an Inua spirit is seen in the middle of the mask, a little face tucked away.

  When we get back Lily finally gets to head off for a ride with her dad.

The magic of Santa

 

This little one could not get enough of Santa. She left and got her list for Santa and proceeded to read it to him. She felt she had been nice and not naughty and deserved everything that she'd asked for.