1 Month later, Ned posts.

I've been in Alaska for about 6 weeks now, and I haven't posted since nearly the beginning. That's because all the internet here is by satellite: it's slow, and a privilege. I'm only supposed to get email once a week, but the tech guy(Mark) has been nice to me when I've had needs for arranging important stuff for Korea/Australia etc. Blog posting has been off-limits most of the summer, but I asked him to post about a week ago and this is the first time I've gotten Blogger to load right since. So here I am. What's new? Well, I like Alaska. The past weeks since I posted have been filled with counseling(lots of work), a break week, and this week I'm on Work Crew leading a team. Counseling is pretty much what you'd imagine- being 4-5 campers parent for a week. I don't really know how I ended up at a children's camp, as I'm not especially fond of children. They're too irrational, at least to an engineer type such as myself. Break week was nice, we spent 2 days cleaning up camp then the rest relaxing- this involved a 2-night camping trip up the lake(15 miles=1hr by skiff) That was neat. There are bald eagles around here, I've taken some pictures. (Can't upload but one, must keep bandwidth use low) Around 800 pictures total so far.

I got my passport in the mail today, that was nice. I was heaps-big worried about that.

Not sure what else to say- living in bush Alaska is a much different lifestyle than the lower 48. The people are different. I like it better than the lower 48 in that way, everything is very practical here- it's the antithesis of liberal Massachusetts. It's a nice place.

To all my friends from LETU: continue to rock. Sorry I can't respond individually, but I miss you all and think about you more than you might think.

Family: I love you, and I'll see most of you before too long down under.

Assorted others: Thanks for reading my blog, I'm glad you care.

Mark: I knew you'd check up on me. I like you anyway.


Leave a comment!

This picture is from where the mis-named Dry Creek meets Lake Clark at the far end of the old runway here. During the younger camps, we picnic here once a week. This is a small version of about 16 high-res pictures stitched together into a 360.

A small village in Alaska

I am finally in Port Alsworth. It's a small village of 100 or so people, which may triple during tourist season. It's bordered by mountains and lakes, and it absolutely beautiful. The only way to get here is by small plane. Everything is flown in, from building materials to vehicles to toilet paper. There are more ATVs here than vehicles, because they're more practical and easier to fly in. Large vehicles aren't really needed, anyway. It hovers around 60* F here during the day and gets cold at night. The biggest thing is that it never gets dark, just dim. It remains light enough to see without a flashlight all night long. Even at 11:00PM, it's a twilight-ish light. It's been sort of hazy and cloudy since I've gotten here too, so it isn't super bright either.

I won't have a whole lot of internet access and no cell phone service while I'm here. I've been helping out at the camp, working on whatever needs doing. I'm actually the first of the summer staff to arrive, whereas I thought I'd be a latecomer. I'm glad to be here. For now I'm getting to know the Walshes(who run the camp/church) and eating all my meals with them since the camp staff is just them and I. Anyway, I'm having lots of fun. Here are some pics I took:

http://www.maj.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=143633

There aren't very many(or very big) because the satellite internet here is metered and I don't want to eat into anyone's limit.