Settling In

We made it Bethel and are slowly getting settled in.  For those who don't know or haven't already looked it up, Bethel is a small rural town in southwest Alaska.  There are no roads in or out; it's only accessible by plane and for a few months in the summer, by boat.  The closest Walmart is in Anchorage, 400 miles away.  There's no McDonalds, no mall.  The hospital is by far the biggest employer and Yup'pik Eskimos make up the majority of the population.
We are in the tundra.  For the most part its flat and marshy.  Walking anywhere off road is like walking on a sponge and requires tall water-proof boots.  It's not the gorgeous, majestic mountains and glaciers so many people associate with Alaska, but it is beautiful in its own right.  

View out our back window

There are a lot of changes we have to make in order to prosper here.  Only a few houses in town have piped water - we are not one of them.  We get 1,000 gallons delivered to our holding tank once a week.  If we run out of water before the week is up, there is a gargantuan fee for early delivery.  We have to think about how much water we are using every time we turn on the faucet.  Cleaning, bathing, cooking... 1,000 gallons adds up real quick.  
Meal planning is another small area we need to work on.  Until our car arrives on the barge, 3-4 weeks, we must rely on the taxis.  The cost, per person, round trip to go to the grocery store is $20.  We've been here for one week and have already spent $100 on taxis.  Speaking of the grocery store, yes, everything is more expensive.  A gallon of milk is $7, a can of soup, $3.25, juice, $11, salad dressing is double what we paid in the lower 48.  Come July though, we will be able to place a barge order, where non-perishable items can be purchased at prices closer to normal, and delivered in September before the river freezes.  But, we are talking about serious bulk, the smallest size you can order is a half pallet!  
Another difference is no mail delivery to houses in Bethel.  There is one post office in town, and every Bethel resident gets a PO box.  As far as we can tell, no UPS or FedEx either.
Grocery bills and water conservation might all take some getting used to, but they are nothing compared to the long day light hours.  The sun officially dips below the horizon somewhere around 1:00 am and pops back up a little after 4:00 but it never gets completely dark.  Two in the morning looks more like 7:00 at night.

Midnight on the Tundra

But the weather has been beautiful!  A nice heat wave has had the last few days in the low 70s.  We best drink it up now, because it won't be long before the weather everyone associates Alaska with will be here.