Back to UNK

Well, I’ve been back in Unalakleet for almost a week now.  I’ve been doing some consulting work for the Bering Strait School District which kept me pretty busy all of last week.  Over the weekend however I had some time to do a little playing.  First off before I get started.  Many of you may have heard about the dead walrus’s washed up on shore between Unalakleet and Elim.  Well if you haven’t there are a reported 80 of them one being right out in front of the house I’m staying in.

All of them are missing their heads which leads many to believe they were being hunted/poached just for their ivory.  This is a very sad deal.  I truly do not have any problems with the hunting of marine mammals or any other animal for that matter as long as they are being used for food.  To just kill these huge animals for their ivory alone is just a shame.

So as you can probably guess its a bit smelly on the beach right now.  So back to the fun filled weekend.  Saturday morning Randy and his two kids Jamie and Kendra went up river to do a little salmon fishing.  I’ll post a little video hopefully tomorrow that I edited up last year showing what its like to go up river.

Fishing went pretty well.  It wasn’t as amazing as it usually is on the Unalakleet river since the water was pretty high making the silt level in the water to increase which makes the water very murky.  We were able to catch 12 salmon and two trout in our little trip which makes for some tasty dinner this winter.  I am looking forward to Erins delicious salmon chowder.

That evening Greg and Kim Johnson invited a few of us over for a BBQ at their house.  The weather was beautiful so spending time outside with freinds was very nice.  Greg cooked up all the food on the grill and we ate and visited throughout the evening.  On the way home from that social gathering I stopped by Vanessa Nasset’s place.  She had invited me over for dinner there as well as a few other friends from town.  I was able to catch up with her and her husband John, Conrad and Jasmine, and Jason and Deb.  It was fun to spend time with all of them.

Today Gary and I borrowed Kim and Greg’s car and headed out the road in search of some ripe blue berries.  It was so nice of Kim and Greg to let us borrow their vehicle.  It cuts down on the noise and the dust you normally encounter riding on a honda (4-wheeler) up the gravel road.  We found some berries.  Here is Gary picking way like crazy.

Aside from the tasty blue berries we had some spectacular views.  The sun was out and everything is green right now.  Its fun to be up on top of some of these ridges looking out over the valleys below.

We ran across some pretty fresh moose tracks while we were out but weren’t lucky enough to run into him.  Maybe since I missed the one today it will raise my chances for getting one on Friday or Saturday.

The only downside to being out in the countryside was the little bugs that kept flying into our noses, ears, and eyes and crawling all over us.  I didn’t notice them biting me until I looked down to find blood spots all over my legs.  Sneaky little guys.  So we retreated to the car with about a half a gallon of berries.

Tomorrow I may be flying to St. Michale to shoot some video.  If I do I will be able to spend a little time with Dan Eidie the principal out there.

More on that adventure to come.