The past few weeks

It has been a while since the last blog and a lot has been going on. There is continuing progress on the cabin, although momentum has slowed down due to the nature of the jobs left. Red and I have been making hand peeled railings for the deck and loft, it is not the best job in the world, mostly just really frustrating. Two weeks or so ago we went to the World Eskimo Indian Olympics, which is held every year in Fairbanks. That was really interesting, and while we only saw a couple of events there was lots of music and dancing and craft stalls. We got to see a performance of the Haida and Tlingit people of south east Alaska, which I really enjoyed because I find there art and craft so beautiful, all those button blankets were stunning and made me really happy that I brought a version of one for myself in Juneau. There were a few other groups, one from Barrow I think and one a mixture of different native people from the lower 48. We got to see the Alaskan high kick, the blanket toss (which Jeremy helped toss) and a baby contest as well. The baby contest was really adorable as it was based on the native costumes the babies were wearing. There were three categories, fabric, skin and fur, and they were all so cute, if very very very hot and so a tad grumpy.
The day after that we set off on a four day rafting trip on the Gulkana which was amazing. The river was 45 miles, about 11 of which were class II rapids. The water level was quite low which parts of it hard work, but it was lovely just drifting along, listening to the water and the birds. We got to see quite a bit of wildlife, moose, eagles, owls, arctic loons, beavers and a muskrat. It is really well set up with lots of beautiful campsites along the way, all very basic, with only a firepit to confirm its a campsite, but set right be the river, mostly all in a spruce grove. There were 6 of us all together and we were in a kayak, a canoe and a rubber dinghy (which was dubbed the rubber duckie). Both the canoe and the rubber dingie got holes so the last day was interesting. We did 23 miles, with a head on wind (so bad that if we stopped paddling in the rubber duckie we would go back upstream..), two boats with holes and wet food (did I mention that the canoe capsized at one point, putting all our food in the river?). But we did it, and already the horror of that last day is fading, and all I can think of it was what a great experience it was.
Straight after that trip we drove to the Copper River, where Simon went dip netting to get his yearly allowance of Salmon. Only Alaskan residents are allowed to dip net so we were really lucky to go along and watch him in action. Managed to got 9 salmon, with only about 8 or 9 hours fishing. The copper river was a lot different to the Gulkana, much more wild and intimidating.
All in all we were a way for 6 days, and it was really good to get off the beaten Alaskan tourist track. To be outdoors, on the water, amongst the wilderness, I will never forget those 6 days and am incredibly thankful to Chris and Simon for taking us along.

Sarah