Caribou Hunting

I have wanted to write this post for over a month and I just have not had the time. That's what happens when you half to travel for a month straight. My life is sooooo tough. <--- sarcasm. I love my job and I LOVE that I get to travel for my job. Happy girl, party of one.

This spring I finally got to go caribou hunting. It was super late in the season, so we weren't even sure if there were going to be caribou but I wanted to go anyways. The drive up was gorgeous. It was a beautiful blue sky day. We stopped quite a bit a long the way to chat and look around. It was almost all new territory to me. The first 13 miles or so I'd driven a lot for the trap line. The sun brought out the seals. Here's an oogruk (bearded seal) that decided to work on his tan.

There were a couple really long stretches of just flat... stuff. Tundra. Ice. Really not exciting and the ice had some funky wind drifts that were miserable for my little machine. Gregg's rig is pretty much a cadillac to my beater. Okay so that map is really rough but you get the general idea of where we went to find caribou. The ice and the little spit of land were the flat parts that I was talking about.

We got to the hot springs cabin in the evening. It was still light enough to see caribou through our binoculars up over on the hillside, but we decided we were pooped and wanted to get into the hot springs and soak our aching bones instead of wrastlin' with caribou. Not the best idea. But we couldn't really predict the weather. The next morning it was white out. We could barely see to the other side of the hot springs. So we spent a whole day pretty much in the cabin. We napped 3 times, went into the hot springs and tried to go out twice but were so afraid of getting lost that we didn't really get far. The hot springs were nice and toasty though.

mah sleeping bag

This is what Gregg looks like when he's been stuck in a cabin with me for two days.

I look considerably more cheery. Yes there's whiskey and water in that cup.

The next morning was kind of the same. We still ventured out, trying our luck. The wind was brutal and had the ground storm going strong. We were about to give up when we found a little valley that was clear! Whaa?!?! It was raging all around everywhere else except for this one area. And lo and behold there was a teensy herd of caribou. They were way up on a ridge but if that was the only caribou I was gonna see I was gonna shoot and hike if I had to. I shot. I missed. The herd came down off the ridge through the valley and up the other side which was a hill that we could drive on. We followed them up and I shot this guy:

Right in the butt. Not a great first shot but at least I got him. Then I shot him in the head, but it was a little too low. :( So I had to walk up to him and ping him with my .22. He was a tough bull. I'll spare you the pictures of him in pieces.

Here's Gregg on his cadillac. The fox up near Koyuk are much more tame than the fox around Unalakleet, probably because people aren't out trying to shoot and skin them all the time. This little fellow came right up and hunkered down by us. He even let me walk back to my rig and grab my camera and walk back. I took a bunch of pictures of his cute little self. He was quite blonde from all the spring sunshine. This was my favorite:

Home and the first run (<- see what I did there?)

in hiking shoes no less because my lovely running shoes are still in Anchorage with all of my lovely stuff. Hopefully the 30+ bags left in Anchorage will make it out here today. Word on the street is around 4:30 p.m. I ran about 2.6 miles. I was NOT fast, but I was steady and didn't stop. The first hill killed me, the second hill was just fine, how does that work? Granted they're not big hills, neither should kill me.

It was a little chilly. I still ended up sweating. Yup, that's my life. I physically exert myself, even a minute bit and then I sweat. It's great. I have less than two months before the AK Run for Women. I really wish that there was an inside track here. I'm too much of a pansy to run outside during the winter, even though there are brave tough souls that do it. I am not one of them. So in the Spring it's not exactly like starting from ground zero but it feels like it. Still, I started. Yay me!

Missing in action

Because well... I was in Jamaica having a blast and celebrating my thirtieth!

Sashimi spring rolls

One of my favorite places to get sushi in anchorage is this place. I love the atmosphere and the food is phenomenal. My friend Shauntel and I go whenever we're not stuffing our face at Crush. True story. It's one of our places in Anchorage. Anyways, on the menu they have sashimi spring rolls. And I freaking love them. This was my attempt to make them at home.

Chop, chop. Slice, slice.

Plop, plop.

Mix, mix. Yes that's a snoopy spoon.

Yum.

Skinning like a champ.

Deboning

Final step? Devour. I made some with fresh king crab too, but didn't take any pictures of those because I was starving and wanted to eat already. I shared with my Momma too.

Ketchikan day 3: More training

I think out of the three days of the training the second day was the longest. I'm not really sure why. I was most tired today due to the amount of wine consumed the evening before. There was a lot of hands on activities today that made it fly by. Plus, you know, free pizza which makes everything better.

Warm enough for a skirt!

Meet bunny. Isn't she freaking cute?

This would be my bar outfit

Pedro and I partied last night

I don't really have a whole lot to say. I head to Juneau tomorrow for a 12 hour layover. Which means I get to visit and catch up with Melissa in person! I'm super excited, even though this means I'm gonna suffer from some lack of sleep.

Ketchikan Day 2: First day of training

I got a good nights sleep and woke up at 7 bells. I made a cup of the worst coffee that I've drank in a long while and then went in search of some actual coffee. Which was not to be found. It was a tragedy. The coffee place in the lobby was closed. There wasn't a coffee place open on the way to the building. I was about to start crying when I came across coffee in the building where the training was being held. Saved.

Daaaang, sleepy eyes.

The training instructor is amazing. Everyone has spoke up and participated. (To me this is the sign of a great instructor.) He's interesting and speaks clearly and well, is prepared, and is passionate about what he's teaching us. It's truly a wonderful thing to behold. I'm getting a lot out of it. I'm just hoping that I get to let my General Manager position go and put the knowledge into action. This is where I want to make a difference. Well, not indoor air quality specifically but the environmental scene.

Slightly more open

This. This was strange. I'm not going to elaborate too much on why. I don't think I can. I'd like to though. I just wouldn't know where to start. Or where to go. Definitely no clue where to end. Maybe there is no ending.

Surreal

My ride to work. I think it's creepy. All trams are creepy.

Ketchikan, AK

I love my job because it brings me to places like this:

This is the view from my hotel room

This is where the tram comes down

There was one little flower, a sign of spring.

I'm here until Friday. Training starts at 8 am tomorrow so I better get some good sleep. Oh! And a huge bonus, I have friends here and they've already had me over to dinner.