Unalakleet, Part 1

This morning was my last in Unalakleet. We spent a total of nine days there. Currently, I am in Nome. We will do more grocery shopping, and we will eat out a lot since it will be our last chance. Normally, we would fly to Diomede via helicopter, but from what I am told, new regulations require passenger-service helicopters to have two engines. Therein lies our problem. We anticipate finding a two-engine helicopter by Christmas time, so hopefully our holiday travels will be much quicker. So, since we cannot go by helicopter this year, the Diomede crew will travel by sea. Last year Diomede staff traveled by crab boat as well. If you haven't read the story, check it out here. As you know, fellow teacher Adrienne and I are new to the Diomede staff, but thankfully, the rest of the staff have traveled by crab boat before. They can help us get through it. The nice thing about going by boat is that I can buy all the food I want in Nome and get free shipping. Pretty nice deal, if you ask me.

Since my boat adventure isn't till Friday, I'll leave you with some pictures of beautiful Unalakleet. I thoroughly enjoyed walking around this town and getting to know the Unalakleet staff. Kira, Tim, and Derek generously opened their apartment to us so that we didn't have to spend all our free time at the school. Even the tech guys are friendly and don't hate helping computer-illiterate people with their computer problems. We had several people offer their washer and dryer to us Diomede teachers too. (Unlike the other school sites, we did not get to fly to our site for the weekend nor could we go to our site before new teacher training or inservice; thus, we had to say a lot longer in Unalakleet than most.) Everyone has been very friendly and hospitable. I think though one of my favorite things about Alaska so far is how everyone waves to you when they drive by on their ATVs.

fireweed

The beautiful new high school in Unalakleet...

musk oxe

native style

Kira's $800 parka....

My new friends -- Sonia from L.A., Jessie from Cleveland, TN, (yay!), and Kira from Vermont!

This is one of two restaurants in Unalakleet, Peace on Earth. A pizza was around $35, so we decided to go to the Igloo, another restaurant in town, which sold bowling alley food. A burger & fries was approximately $15.

I have a lot more pictures of Unalakleet, but the Internet is really slow here in Nome. So, they will have to wait...or you can just check Facebook.