Un-be-lievable!

She did it. Fair and square! Danette sold ice to an Eskimo. There's a group of pastor's wives at the lodge this weekend, and three of them are Eskimos. I was joking with Danette earlier today that she should get one of them to just pose with a bag of ice to pretend she had sold it to them. But trust Danette... She was visiting with Sandra at dinner when suddenly she asked, "Hey, do you want some ice?"

"Sure!" Sandra said without thinking twice.

"How many cubes?"

"Oh. Ten!"

"How much money do you have?"

"... a quarter..."

"Great! I'll take that!"

As Danette walked off to get the ice, Sandra looked at her neighbor and said, "I just paid her to get me ice cubes!"

I got a quick shot as Danette delivered the ice. Sold. Ten cubes for a quarter. We laughed so hard, I still have a headache! The Yup'ik ladies asked that I clarify that Sandra is a Chup'ik (two different sub-groups of the Eskimo peoples). They say neither of them would've fallen for it. :)

Salesperson par excellence!

And that after my friend and I had just walked around on a glacier. No kidding. We were told we might be able to go along with Paul and Chris (a glaciologist) when Chris had to go and measure some glaciers today. That didn't pan out due to foul weather. But Paul took us across the river and into the Wrangell Mountains. We saw glacier after glacier, even saw some mountain goats (no bears or moose today), and then Paul asked, "Have you ever stood on a glacier?"

"What?! We've never seen glaciers this close!" Danette replied.

Before we knew it, we were down on the ice! This is NOT something the average pilot can do. Paul's flown more than 23,000 hours, and this is his valley, so he touched down without as much as a bump.

We hopped out to take some photos and walk on the crunchy ice. It's crunchy because of the glacier dust which makes it like a bread crust, kind of. It's the most incredible sound when you walk on the ice! And it is c-c-c-cold!


After playing on the ice a little and drinking a bit of the glacier water, we took off again. To our right (north?) was Bagley ice valley (an ice field), which combines with Bering Glacier to form the longest mountain glacier in the world!


We flew across more glaciers and were mesmerized by the colors...


One of the many incredible scenes was the ogives. This is simply another side of the glaciers. They look like ice terraces. Each line, Chris tells me, represents one year in the life of the glacier. This ogive would be almost as old as I am!


Quite honestly, I was ready to be on solid ground for a bit by the time we landed. But this is an adventure I'd never forget. And the cherry on the top? My friend's sales deal!

Flightseeing (Wednesday)

Ready to fly.jpg, originally uploaded by Boyznberry.

Click on the photo to see more pictures from Alaska

This morning, we were about to set out for a hike with Ellie when George offered to take us for a flightseeing trip instead. (George and his wife Dorothea are in their 80s, perhaps, and live in a town not too far away. They had decided to stop by for a day or two. They often just fly around and camp at different places, explore, hunt, you name it!)

After making some adjustments to his plane (i.e. putting a sleeping bag and a mattress in the back for me to sit on since the back seat had been taken out for their golden retriever, Fellar), George, Danette and I took off, simply to see the area. George has been flying for 42 years (15,000-some flight hours) so it was no big deal putting our lives in his hands. But at times, when the little plane his a bit of an air pocket and you feel your intestines shifting, I was thankful not to be afraid of dying... :) Not that I thought we would, though.

We flew over a bald eagle, past the most magnificent waterfalls with frozen stalagmites at the foot of the falls, past the glaciers and then landed at a little air strip called Peavine Bar. It used to be a cabin for explorers who'd come panning for copper in these rivers! We saw some wild rabbits (huge ones! OK, not like deer-sized, but bigger than what I'm used to seeing) and putzed around the cabin. Many of the journal entries were from campers who had been hiking in the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, some even in the winter! Some talked of seeing bears.

After walking around the area, we decided to take a last shot at the plane.

As we're standing there, waiting for George to take the picture, both Danette and I heard a loud sound, almost like a short roar. Well, George hadn't heard a thing. He's hard of hearing. As we looked over our shoulder, one of the rabbits had come back out of the bush onto the trail and stood frozen, staring into the direction from where the sound came.

Rrrrraf! We heard it again. At this time, the rabbit made a beeline, and George thought he'd go check it out. He didn't see anything. But we heard it a third time!

I was trying to rack my brain making sure I remember what frequency Ellie said they're on, just in case we had to radio them. We were very happy when George came back to the plane and we took off.

On the way home, we passed the glaciers again, and three herds of mountain sheep. From a distance, they simply look like specks of show on the mountains. We landed back at the lodge just in time for a wonderful lunch, followed by an afternoon and evening of reading, relaxing, visiting, listening to Glacier Scientist Chris tell about his explorations of the day, and looking at photos.

(Thursday) Not sure what's up for today, but I do believe Ellie will be taking her new gun along to ward off any uninvited friends. :)

Flying into the Rainbow

I'm sitting in the main lodge at Ultima Thule Lodge, and this is the view I'm seeing right now...

This place is incredible! Donna - matriarch - commented yesterday that this is God's most beautiful creation. I believe it's true. This place is remarkably remote. The nearest people from here are 50 air miles away - over 2 mountains and 3 major rivers, a 1-month hike, if you dare.

We drove the 5 hours from Anchorage to Chitina yesterday afternoon with a huge trailer in tow, filled with some of the supplies for the lodge for the summer. The season opens soon, and everything they need out here has to be flown in. Hence all the boxes with us in the Otter. With us are Amy and Kevin. Amy's a friend of the family, and Kevin's one of the staff at the lodge.

Paul, Ellie's dad, has the reputation for being the best bush pilot in Alaska. I believe that! It's been interesting listening to some of his stories. He's been a captain of a commercial fishing boat, climbed Mt. Everest, and the list goes on.

Flying to the lodge...
As we flew, mesmerized by the views on all sides, Ellie turned around from her seat next to her dad, and over the humming of the engine, shouted, "Have you ever seen a complete rainbow?"

At 7,000 ft above the valley, the rainbow had no end. We flew right into it!

About 45 minutes after take-off, the lodge was visible on our left. This will be our home for about a week. The river is low right now, but as the snow and glaciers continues to melt throughout the summer, it will fill up.

Danette and my cabin is the one to the far left. In that same cluster of buildings, the smallest building is called "Ultima Stoolie." It's a loo with a view. Though our cabins have restrooms, the water hasn't been connected for the season yet. (It will be connected today.) The door on the restroom is a split door, in other words, you can leave the top half open for the most magnificent view of the mountains while you do what you've got to do. :)

The other small building to the left in the same cluster of buildings is the sauna. We'll indulge later in the day.

Not sure what all is lying ahead this week. Whatever we do, I know it will be unforgettable!

Oh. My. Word!

We just got back from Jon van Zyle's studio. He and his wife are neighbors to the Claus family. Wonderful people. Jon and Jona showed us their huskies. The dogs are all work dogs. Sled dogs. Incredible animals. Right now, they have 16. I neglected to take my camera. Can't believe it! We hope to go back next Sunday to take photos before we head back to the lower 48.

The Van Zyles are an amazing couple. We had a delightful time visiting, were at their place from perhaps 8 till 10:30! Jon even blessed us with some of his prints, signed by him. I'm still blown away by it! Jona's art is equally amazing, but she does mostly beading and leather work, not as many paintings as Jon. If ever you're around Anchorage, plan to visit their kennel and art studio. You will not only love their dogs and their art; you'll love the couple, too.

The visit to the kennels and studio was the cherry on top of an already-wonderful day. Grandpa and Grandma were assigned to show us around a bit, and boy, did we have fun! They took us to all kinds of interesting towns and places in the area--even a wildlife park--while entertaining us with stories of adventures. Then we stopped at their other daughter's house to visit with that family. Seriously, it was simply great visiting all day long.

Right now, it's almost midnight here, and the sun as just setting a bit. It's dusk, really. I should go to bed. Danette and I will most likely both be out on the deck by 5:30 again for coffee and quiet time, and by 8, we're supposed to run around town to pick up the last supplies. After that, Ellie is driving us 5 hours to something like "Chitna," the last town toward their place. From there, Paul will fly us in the Otter to the lodge. I think. Who knows.

The journey continues.

What fun.

If you don't see an update for a while, it's because there's no Internet access out in the boonies.

Greetings from Anchorage

We're heading out with "Pops" and "Granny" to see Anchorage while the other Clauses run errands in town. Tomorrow, we're heading to the lodge, so there're lots of things that need to be picked up for the season.

Alaska is breathtakingly beautiful! Below are just a few photos. More will follow.


Flying in over the mountains. You can't help but keep staring!

After picking us up from the airport, grabbing some lunch and chatting with the family, Ellie and her mom Donna took us up to where Anchorage's water comes from, high in the mountains.

Had THE BEST sushi ever at about 9 pm. That'll be midnight Iowa time... Danette and I were both a bit out of it thanks to the time difference, but the food was amazing. All the fish comes straight from Anchorage's waters, so it's the freshest fresh you can imagine! Front right (next to Danette) is Logan, Ellie's little sister. Ellie's in the front left. If you've been watching "The Alaskan Experiment" on Discovery Channel, you'll recognize Paul, Ellie's dad, to Danette's right.

OK, off to see Anchorage!

Oh, before I forget: By the time we went to bed (around 11), the sun was still up! And when we woke up at 5, the sun was already shining beautifully. In fact, we had quiet time out on the porch at 5:30 while Granny was in the kitchen baking choc chip cookies and making the most amazing sourdough waffles. I know, everything's "the best" so far, but honestly, it is.

Good times. Great people. Incredible place. And it's supposed to just get better...