Musk Ox

One of my biggest disappointments with Bethel has been the lack of wildlife.  I came out here fully expecting to see moose, bears, eagles...  This is Alaska after all!  We read up on what to do if a moose is blocking your driveway and how to avoid getting eaten by a bear; neither animals of which have I even seen since moving to Alaska.  Don't get me wrong, Bethel is in the middle of a wildlife refuge, the wildlife is out there, it just avoids Bethel.  Even our trash dumpsters lack animal deterrents.  On the exceptionally rare occasion that something more than a fox or a raven is spotted, the news travels like wildfire!  In the year and a half we have been here I have only heard of 2 such occasions.  Once was a cow moose, once a bull musk ox.  Both sightings were fleeting, for as soon as the animals realized they had ventured so close to civilization they turned back to the refuge of the tundra, seen only by a few. 

But I wouldn't be writing about this today if something hadn't changed.  About a week after Thanksgiving, a small group of about 11 musk ox took up residence across the river and grazed there for nearly 2 weeks.  It was all people were talking about.  No one could remember such animals ever coming so close to Bethel, not to mention sticking around for awhile.  The primary musk ox heard resides just outside of Toksook Bay, along the Bering Coast, 115 miles West of Bethel.

Musk ox are native to the Alaskan tundra, however, the herds were hunted to depletion in the 19th century.  As a means to help maintain the native culture, a herd was reintroduced to the tundra in 1935.  Additional herds have been introduced to other parts of Alaska, but no documented herds have ever come this far east.  After the herd was reintroduced to Alaska in 1935 it grew rapidly enough that hunting was allowed by 1975.  True to the native culture, every part of the hunted animal is used for something.  The meat of course for food, the horns I have seen made into beautiful jewelry, and the underwool woven into truly amazing articles of clothing and accessories.  

The musk ox meat I have tasted is delicious, tender yet lean.  My favorite pair of earrings are a combination of musk ox horn and ivory.  But my absolute favorite part of the musk ox is the underwool, or qiviut.  Softer than cashmere and 80% warmer than wool, yet light and will not shrink in any temperature of water.  I only own 2 small pieces.  A beret and a smoke ring (small infinity scarf).  Together the two pieces cost just under $500!  Musk ox yarn is unbelievably expensive, but worth every penny. 

I don't know where the Bethel musk ox moved onto; if they rejoined the Toksook herd or if they will grow in number and form their own herd.  I hope we get to see them again, maybe they will return in the spring with a few little calves added to their number.      

Fairbanks

There is always something new to explore in Alaska.  This year for Thanksgiving we decided to explore a little bit of interior Alaska and spend the holiday in Fairbanks.  We found a great little suite hotel with a full kitchen so we could home cook all our favorite Thanksgiving fixings.  And don't think for a second that just because we were tucked in the middle of frozen Alaska that we weren't surrounded by family and friends.  Both my parents joined us, one of my best friends from Charleston and her little girl joined us and Mark's mom and brother also made the long trip out!  
Thanksgiving day of course was all about the food.  We stayed snuggled in the hotel utilizing every oven we had access to in order to bring together a little piece of Thanksgiving goodness from everyone's traditions.  Fat and happy we called it an early night as the next day we planned to make the icy drive to Chena Hot Springs.  

Chena Hot Springs is a natural thermal hot spring located a bit over 55 miles northeast of Fairbanks.  Dad white knuckled most of the 1.5 hour drive, but it was well worth it.  The kids thoroughly enjoyed the naturally heated indoor pool and hot tubs, while the adults took kid watching shifts to enjoy the outdoor natural rock pool.  I don't know how hot the outdoor pool gets, but I can tell you there were areas of the pool that were too hot for me.  With outside temperatures that day around -25 degrees, it didn't take long for our wet hair to freeze above water while our bodies stayed nice and toasty in the pool.  Once everyone was hungry and pruned to the max we said goodbye to the pools and made our way next to the Ice Museum and Hotel.  Although smaller than I was expecting, the highlight was definitely the appletinis poured and served in a glass made entirely out of ice at the ice bar.  Don't worry, I didn't drink mine, but I couldn't pass up the photo opportunity!  

The next day, refusing to let the frigid -24 degrees keep us tucked inside, we ventured to a well known sledding hill on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus.  Again the kids had a blast (the adults did too).  I think Luke would have stayed until his face mask froze to his face if we let him.  

Later that day we walked with the reindeer at the Running Reindeer Ranch.  Amazing how the animals just fell into line with our group as if we were each a reindeer in their herd, even nudging those who were moving too slow to either speed it up or move aside.  

That night, for me anyway, was the highlight of the trip!  The clouds cleared away late in the day and even though the Aurora Borealis forecast was low, we decided to take our chances and drive out to Cleary Summit.  A worthwhile decision for sure!  We were not disappointed!  I had rented a special camera lens (one I couldn't dream of affording right now) specifically for capturing the Northern Lights should we get the opportunity to see them.  We didn't get back to the hotel till after 2:00 am, but the pictures speak for themselves as to how worth the loss of sleep was!

Day 4 was the highlight of the trip for the kids... the North Pole to see Santa.  Only about 15 minutes outside of Fairbanks, Luke could hardly contain himself with excitement to be able to see Santa at Santa's home!  Next to Santa's home was a small park with numerous slides all made out of ice.  The two younger kids and a couple of the colder adults sat this venture out and stayed nestled in the toasty car.  The rest of us however grabbed a sled and hit the ice.  We played till our eyelashes became icicles and we couldn't feel our fingers.  

















On our last day, we wrapped up our trip with a visit to the Museum of the North at UAF.  The museum had such a great kid play area that they all cried when it was time to go.  I cried when I saw my grand total come up on the gift shop cash register; but mostly everyone just enjoyed the museum's exhibits, giving us all a little closer look at the culture and history of native Alaska.

The whole trip was such a wonderful way to spend Thanksgiving.  I don't think any of us will ever forget the unique experiences we shared.  As for me, I would return in a heartbeat.  With any luck, we'll get a chance to experience Fairbanks in the summer as well.  

Sundogs

I know people probably think I'm crazy to love winter here so much, but I really do.  I will never fall out of love with the sound fresh fallen snow makes when you walk on it.  Winter in Alaska is the time of year that I always seem to experience the most firsts.  Last year was the first time I had experienced extreme cold, frozen eye lashes and that feeling where you know the inside of your nose is freezing.  Winter is just beginning here this year.  The snow seems to have finally arrived to stay and temperatures have dropped to single and negative digits.  I've officially pulled my heavy Canada Goose winter coat out of hibernation - although, I don't know how long I will be able to wear it for.  Already it's getting difficult to zip around my quickly expanding belly.  I had forgotten how difficult it is to drive wearing my bulky snow boots.  
One of the things that I love about winter here is the diamond dust.  When temperatures drop low enough and the sky is clear enough the moisture in the air freezes; the ice crystals reflect the sun and create a shimmering effect.  At first you think it is snowing, but then you realize that there are no clouds and what you think is snow is too fine and never actually falls to the ground.
A few nights ago I experienced a couple of new firsts. Working in fast track I get off much later than I used to with outpatient clinic.  This one particular night I unplugged the car and fought and fought with the completely frozen 25 foot extension cord.  I gave up trying to unplug the end attached to my car, it wasn't budging.  I spent close to 15 minutes forcing the frozen cord to wrap around my side mirror.  Not an easy task I assure you when your hands are as frozen as the cord is!  Once the cord was finally secure I next set about scraping my windows.  I scraped until my arms were sore but the windows weren't clearing up.  After a few choice words not appropriate for this blog, I realized the reason was because the frost was on the inside of the windows!!
My most recent first new experience was an atmospheric phenomenon called a parhelion or sundog.  There have been many occasions living in Bethel where I have wondered if I was still in the United States, but this experience left me wondering if I was still on planet earth!  Sundogs occur when the temperatures are cold enough that the light reflects off ice crystals in the air (diamond dust).  It gives the illusion of more than 1 sun.  On this particular day the diamond dust was everywhere giving everything a sparkly, shimmery look, and the sundogs gave the appearance of there being not 1, but 3 suns.  I was half expecting a dragon or pegasus to fly over me because surely I was either dreaming or had somehow walked into another world.
The pictures below are exactly how the sun appeared.  They are not Photoshopped,and it is not a trick of a special lens or filter.  The only thing the camera didn't pick up was the shimmering of the diamond dust.        

Our Disastrous Date

The opportunities for a date night are few and far between here in Bethel.  We have no movie theater, no bars, no clubs, no mini golf courses.  The few restaurants we have all pretty much serve the same expensive food.  
Every few months the Cultural Center hosts a "community" event.  Tickets to these events aren't the cheapest, but usually a nice dinner is served (something you won't find in the local restaurants) and various items, depending on the theme of the event, are auctioned and raffled off.  
This year we decided to attend one of the events we did not get a chance to go to last year, the NRA dinner.  (Yes, NRA, as in National Rifle Association)  Mark laughed at me saying only in Bethel would I ever consider an NRA event to be a date night!  So true!  But I was really looking forward to this night.  Mark and I hadn't been out without the kids since our Hawaii trip in April and we were due some adult time.  Plus, I had heard really good things about the prime rib dinner.  
As our date night approached I got more and more excited.  The doors to the Cultural Center opened at 5:00 but dinner wasn't served till 6:30.  We knew we wanted to get there at a decent time so we could get good seats.  Don't get me wrong, this isn't a restaurant style dinner with quaint little private tables reserved for ticket holders.  It's long tables in rows so you can sit next to your loved one and all your closest Bethel friends.  
The babysitter arrived a little before 5:30 and just as we were getting ready to walk out the door Luke throws up!  In desperate hopes that it was too much Halloween candy and running around we did a quick clean up and left.  The babysitter promised to call if he got sick again.  
So we got to the Cultural Center later than hoped and we paid the price for it.  There wasn't a single seat!  We lapped the room twice without any luck finding 2 seats together.  The event coordinators advised us to get in line for dinner and assured us they would get 2 seats together for us once we got our food.  No sooner did we get in line and my phone rang... Yep, it was the babysitter, Luke had gotten sick again!  I promised to eat quick and then hurry home.  
We got our food and again tried to find seats.  No coordinators could be found to help us (they were probably all enjoying their food together at seats reserved just for them).  I found a single seat between two groups of people I didn't know who didn't say a single word to me the entire time I ate.  Mark ended up on the other end of the room sitting on a piano bench.  I tried not to worry too much about the fact that our date night was being cut short and we weren't even able to eat a quick dinner together.  At least I would get a nice prime rib dinner before I left...  So much for wishful thinking.  The meat was dry, the baked potato was burnt beyond edibleness, and the salad consisted of just lettuce.  I ate what I could and left Mark with some friends (at least one of us should be able to enjoy a night without kids) and went home to a sick child.  
When all was said and done, between dinner and raffle tickets and the babysitter we spent about $200 for barely edible food, no raffle wins and not even being able to eat next to each other for the short time I was there.  The joys of being a parent, and the limitations of living in Bethel.  Lesson learned: wait to have date night till we are back in the lower 48 and $200 will pay for good food and a private table!  Can't wait till our visit home in February!  

Winter is almost here

All the signs are there.  The wind is picking up and coming more out of the north, we regularly have to scrap our car windows in the morning before work, thin sheets of ice are forming on the tundra ponds, ravens are quickly becoming the only birds left, and the sun is finally setting at a reasonable time.  

I often wonder how this winter will be for us.  Not only have I heard murmurs of a longer colder winter than last year, but last year everyday was a novelty.  Our first ALASKAN winter!  It was easy to laugh at -55 degrees when you had never before experienced anything that cold.  This year however... it's old news.  (Not to mention, this year I may not be able to zip my coat over my belly.)  

Regardless of all the things there are to dread about winter here (and their are many) I'm still excited.  How in the world could I possibly be excited about only 4 hours of sun light, temperatures so cold your eyelashes freeze and snow drifts that can swallow a car whole?  Easy.  Winter is the only time of year that I get the chance to view the most amazing light show on earth!  There is just something about the Aurora Borealis that fascinates me.  I don't know if it's my desire to get that perfect Northern Lights picture, or if it's just the simple fact that rainbows can streak across the night sky, but I can't get enough of them.  

Last night my longing for the darkness of winter was renewed.  Completely unexpected, as I drove home from work a little after 11:00pm I noticed a strange grey to part of the sky.  Once I parked my car and my eyes adjusted to the dark it hit me that I was looking at the Northern Lights.  At the time they weren't doing much and didn't have much color to them.  But as I walked out into the dark tundra, away from the house lights and street lights the colors became more visible.  The longer I waited the more active they became.  It was totally worth it to stand out in the cold wind with nothing but a pair of scrubs on and a thin jacket.  Last year we only saw the lights in Bethel once, and only green.  Last night however, the show included not just the typical greens, but reds as well!  It was beautiful!  Time again to freshen up my review of how to photograph the Northern Lights and work on getting that perfect picture!

Babies in the YK Delta

Expectations for pregnant women living in the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta are above and beyond anything I have ever come across in the lower 48.  But that shouldn't surprise anybody who has been reading this blog and has even the slightest understanding of how different medical care out here can be.  Most pregnant women anywhere have their ideal birth plan.  For some it's a scheduled induction with an epidural surrounded by their closest family.  For others it's a natural birth, dad holding her hand speaking words of encouragement, and family and friends waiting close by for news of when they can see mom and meet baby.  Most women fall somewhere in between the above two scenarios.  Never though, have I met a pregnant woman (although I'm sure a few are out there) who said her ideal birth plan is to be alone in a strange town miles away from family and friends, with a doctor and staff they have never met.  But that's the reality for pregnant women living in one of our 58 villages.  As Bethel is the only hospital within a 58,000 square mile area, it is the safest place to deliver a baby.  Now I know some of you are thinking, why not use midwives?  Believe me, I am all for midwives.  Having had my second child delivered in a birthing center by a midwife, I think the profession is very valuable.  However, I was only minutes away from a hospital.  If, God forbid, something had started to go wrong with my labor and delivery I would have been whisked away to the hospital and the more advanced medical care I was in need of.  But out here, for most of the villages, Bethel (the nearest hospital) is hours away, days if the weather is bad and the planes aren't flying; when minutes can sometimes mean the difference between life and death of mom and baby, it's just not worth taking the chance.  So every pregnant woman at her first prenatal appointment is asked to sign the "Be in Bethel" paperwork.  This is an agreement between the hospital and mom that she will leave her home, other children, husband and support system, travel to Bethel at 36 weeks and remain here till she delivers her baby.  Wow!  I couldn't imagine if my doctor told me that a month before my baby was even due I had to leave my entire comfort zone and support system, and live in a hotel in a strange city until I had my baby.  On top of that, I couldn't imagine my husband not being there to witness the birth of his child.  But that's how it is out here, and for good reason.  Moms and babies who tried to stay home and deliver in their village have suffered terrible consequences.  In fact, the "Be in Bethel" agreement came into effect some 40 years ago when a mom started having complications during delivery in a village.  The health aide (who was trained in child birth) needed more advanced medical help.  A medevac team with a labor and delivery nurse was sent to bring mom to Bethel.  Sadly the plane crashed and all on board were killed.  

The hospital here is set up to act more like a birthing center.  Perhaps the main difference is that epidurals are NOT offered.  That's right, unless an emergency c-section is needed, all our women deliver their babies naturally.  Women who strongly desire an epidural must pay their own way to Anchorage and deliver there.  As a result, our nurses are excellent in helping women work through the pain of labor, rather than so many other labor and delivery nurses I have met who are quick to offer epidurals or other pain medications.

You may be wondering where all this talk of babies is coming from.  Why write about this now?  Although I will thankfully not have to experience leaving my family and traveling to another city; I will get to experience having a baby in Bethel.  We are expecting our third little bundle of joy March 30th 2014.  

 

Home

Kids with Grandma and
Great Granddaddy

A couple weeks ago we all went home for the first time since moving to Alaska.  It was really nice being back home, even though it was a very short trip (4 days of travel for 4 days of home time).  It was great getting to see family we haven’t seen since our move, and it was such a pleasure getting Chick-fil-A (3 times!!).  We learned a lot from this trip though, and will most definitely do things a little different next time.

Mark and Gianna with his
brother and dad

Lesson 1:

Alaska Airline is the ONLY airline worth flying.  I have flown a lot over this last year and each time was with a different airline.  This trip we flew mostly Delta, which I thought would be fine.  In the past I remembered having good experiences on Delta.  But… in the past I didn't fly with kids.  The customer service and courtesy with Alaska just can’t be touched by these other airlines.  When did every other airline stop boarding families traveling with small children first?!  I know not everyone would find this a big deal, but we do, and on the days we were flying, so did everyone around us!

Luke helping himself before the
party starts

Lesson 2:

NEVER sit in the row in front of the exit row!  Those seats don’t recline.  Imagine, seat pockets are full of sippy cups, coloring books, games and other various items of entertainment bulging them forward to their max, a baby on your lap and then the lady in front of you reclines all the way back.  My knees were practically bruised by the end of the flight and I think if I had hit my forehead on the back of her seat leaning forward to talk to Mark or Luke one more time I was going to scream.

Little Miss Thing with her cookie

Lesson 3:

The more lay overs the better!  This lesson I wasn't expecting.  On our way over we went from Anchorage to Portland, Portland to LA, LA to Nashville.  The longest leg was 3 and half hours.  On the way back we flew from Atlanta to Anchorage, 7 and half hours (which by the way is when we learned lesson 2).  I thought for sure they would offer an in flight meal (they did on our 7 ½ hour flight to Ireland), but I was wrong.  The only food they had was one expensive packaged sandwich and some little snacks.  Of course Luke had no interest in the sandwich, so all we heard for the last 3 hours of the flight was about how hungry he was. 

Lesson 4:  The most important lesson

Stay longer!  4 days was just nowhere near enough time to truly relax and enjoy our family and friends.  We should have stayed at least twice as long as that.  And it wasn't just the relaxation factor, I was not expecting it to be as hard as it was to say good bye to everyone again.  Some will come visit us up here, others we won’t see till our next trip home.  It actually made me tearful to say goodbye again, which was strange for me as I've never been the type to get homesick. 

Catching a nap with Uncle Quint

Daddy and his little girl