The Ultimate Adventure

A few of the guys on a great adventure

Have you heard the name Dallas Seavey? He was last year’s Iditarod winner - the youngest musher to ever have won the longest dog sled race. On our way back from an inservice we met him at the bush airport in Bethel, along with a group of world-renown adventures! Talk about an inspirational encounter! I don’t remember their names, but one was a world famous mountain climber, and a group of national geographic adventurists who were actually flying out to Mekoryuk, a village in our district on Nunivak Island. At first when we asked what they were going to do out there (you don’t often see white people traveling to villages up here) they said they weren’t exactly sure yet. But as we continued chatting, they opened up a little more.

The mountain climber was asking us all kinds of questions about life in the village, and he let us in on their secret: they were part of a “game” - they were dropped off in the middle of nowhere in Alaska and had to survive; when we ran into them, they had already made a log raft, rafted down the Kuskokwim River, and now were headed out to this island to continue their adventure. They had never been to an Eskimo village or even this side of Alaska before, and he was picking our brains. He asked what they would be looking for there - for food, shelter, anything really. We told them about the moose and muskox they might find, that there were plenty of birds they could hunt. It was really awesome to be a part of helping them out, and I can’t tell you how bad I wanted to get on that plane with them!

The Aurora Borealis in Bethel

I know I don’t have many readers, so I don’t mind telling yall their big secret! He said they would be on the Discovery Channel, but I don’t know when. They had their little meeting as a group and we overheard them talking about setting up base camp, then spreading out to hunt for birds towards a west camp, and something about caribou. You could tell they were weathered outdoorsmen just by looking at them. One guy was even carrying a huge bow and arrow. If Grant would have let me, I would have gone with them in a heart beat! I would have learned all kinds of cool stuff!

We saw some extraordinary northern lights the other night. They were neon green and danced across the sky, and we ran and told Boo so he could see them for the first time. It was cold and clear out, and the sky was awe-inspiring! If you haven’t seen them, check out my facebook page. The lights weren’t as bright in Newtok as they were in other areas across Alaska, but they were still beautiful.