From Fairbanks to Anchorage, by way of Denali

Some times, you just have to let the pictures speak for themselves.

But I have to be completely and totally honest here. Of all the truly beautiful and magnificent sights we saw this day, the most beautiful things I saw were these:

My beloved Lithus

And after four months in the Interior and the bush...The city of Anchorage. :)

Deadhorse - Prudhoe Bay

The previous pictures of Brooks Range were taken en route to Deadhorse - Prudhoe Bay. Where is Deadhorse - Prudhoe Bay? It's here:

Yep. That's very very north-ish. And no, I don't know why it's called Deadhorse sometimes and Prudhoe Bay others. The town itself was best described to me as a large work camp, rather than an actual town. This makes sense once you've been there. We had some time the day we got there so asked at the desk of the hotel what there was to do in town and were told, after a very long pause, "well, you don't have to be staying here to use our pool table so lots of people come in for that." In fairness, there are a couple other hotels in town. And the one where we were staying had a lobby coffee shop. So, without further ado, Deadhorse:

The Alaskan Pipeline itself. For real and up close.

Our Hotel

Town, as we walked out the hotel door

The hotel in context of town

Same spot, different direction

Smurf shoes, worn inside the hotel at the request of management and housekeeping to avoid muddiness.

 

 

The Brooks Range

The Brooks Range is the northern-most mountain range on the continent. We flew over it. :)

There are 2 little dots about 5 o'clock. They are bears. :)

Then there is the view of the helicopter, from the helicopter:

With apologies, this is a little more obscene than I'd intended.

Looking down from my seat

Lithus being all studly. Most pilots use white helmets. I like that he wears a yellow one; I know him when I see him.

Potlatch Take 2

We're backing up in time here (this won't be the last time it happens, either; you still haven't heard anything about last summer) and heading back to Galena. Remember earlier in the season I wrote about Potlatch? Well, my friends Dee Dee and Shirley invited us. We only made it one night out of the three but it was beautiful, emotional, and I would imagine, healing. 

It starts with a community dinner. And it is a community event. The elders are given the best seats. The adults have organized and prepared the food. The teens and tweens serve, dim sum style. Very small portions of huge amounts of food and everyone gets plenty. Several macaroni salads, soups and bear ribs. Yep. Bear ribs.

After cleaning up, the mourning ritual starts. The families come out, bound together by material and furs ~ bear, moose, and wolf furs are most common. The singers stand in the middle of the circle and/or sit just outside of it. They sing the songs for the dead; the families form the circle, dancing round. This continues for two nights. On the third night, the material and furs are sewn together and the families give gifts to the people in the community who have attended the potlatch.

I was honored to be there.

My friend, Dee Dee

Me, in traditional dress (from Shirley), filming for Dee Dee