Unfortunately for me… this is the Bush. My 4:30 flight time came and went. 5:30 came and went. Finally at 6, the community agent knocked on the door of the school and let me know that it was about to land. I grabbed my things, threw them in the back of the truck and we headed for the airport. For those of you who don’t know, airports in the Bush aren’t anything like airports in the Lower-48. You know those pesky TSA agents that inspect your baggage? We don’t have them here. That comfortable, warm terminal you sit in while waiting? We don’t have that here. You sit at the end of the road, wait for the plane to stop moving and shut its engine off and then walk up to the door. You shove your baggage into the nose, belly or back of the plane and climb in. No flight attendants, the safety speech consists of the pilot looking over his shoulder and asking, “Everyone find their seat belts?”

I strapped myself into the only empty seat on this 4-seater Cesena, shoved my laptop bag between my feet and let the pilot know that a mutual friend asked me to say hello. Then… away we went, climbing to about 1,000 feet, flying at about 160 mph following the coast west to Koyuk. Twenty minutes later, I landed, hitched a ride down to the teacher housing and picked up Erika along the road.

The next morning, we stuffed some gear into a backpack, headed to the beach and along with the majority of the Koyuk teaching staff, took a boat ride to the cabin of Dumma and Rosemary Otton along the Inglutalik River (pronounced Igloo Delak). It’s amazing how calm Norton Sound is; it’s part of the ocean and conceptually I know that it’s sheltered, but I’m still astounded every time I’m on the water, or even looking out my window and I see 2 inch waves or less.

To be honest, one of the nicest things about this trip was the ability to get out and actually experience the tundra. In Shaktoolik, I’ve been keeping myself so busy that I haven’t really had the time to explore as much as I want to. That’s a shame and something that I need to rectify. There’s so much to see and do here that I simply have to make the time or I’ll regret it. As luck would have it, it turns out that I’m something of a charmer and I convinced Erika to hold still long enough to let me take a few pictures. (And came up with a great idea for a photo to take later, which she also consented to.)

After a bit of blueberry and cranberry picking (the blueberries never made it into a bag, but some cranberries did) we fulfilled what for me was one of the primary purposes of the hike: teaching Erika how to shoot a gun. For those of you back home, I know it’s hard to imagine. A twenty-two year old woman who doesn’t know how to shoot a gun. Have no fear though, by the time I finish my tale of the weekend, you’ll be proud of this former East-coast girl. (I keep joking with her that she’s quickly moving away from being a liberal hippie.)

Having successfully fired a few rounds from a .22 long rifle and a .357 pistol (she preferred the rifle) and even hitting what she was aiming at once – not bad for the first time shooting – we headed back to find what everyone else was up to. A few people had gone off to hunt ducks, the rest were hanging out at the camp, and we quickly found that Rosemary is an excellent cook and host. While sitting around and discussing the Inupiat culture and finding out things that we need to know, a call comes in on the CB – there’s a seal headed upriver and Sam is headed back to get it – Rosemary has been wanting a seal since she’s running out of seal oil. (Don’t ask me what all it’s used for, I’m still not entirely sure, but I think it’s eaten, a condiment perhaps.)

Three shots from the rifle later, Sam and Dumma are able to harpoon it and bring it onto the boat. A short ride back up the river and it’s being brought up onto the beach so that it can be skinned.

Excited already by seeing my first seal (and the prospect of learning how it is skinned and butchered) Rosemary offered to teach everyone how to skin the seal (I declined, I’d like to work on my first seal in Shaktoolik) but everyone else who hadn’t already partook. Quite frankly, it’s simply amazing how much fat is on these creatures.

Needless to say, it was an amazing experience, but a lot of work. Rosemary put several hours into the process – it’s no small task butchering a seal, that’s for sure. The rest of the evening was rounded out by paddling on the river in an inflatable raft, eating muktuk and musk ox, guitar playing, singing and a gorgeous sunset. It was truly a night that will stick with me for quite a while.

Sunday around noon we headed back and the rest of the weekend turned into a blur. Laundry in an attempt to get the stink of seal out of our clothes, showering in the school because the boiler was out in the teacher housing, exploring town, heading onto the tundra to try my photo idea. (Erika was an awfully good sport about that, I know I wouldn’t have stood on the tundra with mosquitoes biting in a dress.)

And then, all of a sudden it was Monday morning and the Frontier Airways agent was knocking on the door to pick me up and take me back to Shaktoolik, where a mound of planning awaited me. Despite the mound of work and the fun I had though, Shak is home and it’s good to be back.

I visited 8 National Parks and 5 National Monuments stopping at countless other places along the way. Spending two minutes thinking about it, I actually spent longer than half an hour in the following places:

I’ve also come up with a list of figures:

And kept track of when I rolled over every 1,000 miles:

It wasn’t long before I was in Illinois, which is probably one of my least favorite states. It’s boring and the drivers education system there leaves much to desire in Illinois drivers; especially around Chicago. And then… a few hundred miles or so left to drive through Michigan to make it to my parents house, where I will promptly collapse in bed from what I think was a mild case of food poisoning from a Wendy’s along the way. Not too much exciting happened during the 12 hours of traveling today.

And that brings my trip to a close… forty-five days of vacation and I’ll have 16 days to get all my affairs in order before I fly to Alaska. Hopefully I’ll make it to Houghton one last time and down to see Rae in Ohio. Tomorrow, I’ll put up a post with all the statistics for my trip.

Travel Distance: 628 miles

After that, we watched one of our favorite movies, Bad Boys II and sat around catching up with another friend of ours Betsy.

I’ve decided to stay one more day and head back to MI on Saturday.

Down into the Badlands and through the scenic highway. I think I liked it better before I headed out west and saw Arches and Zion. It’s still amazing and awe inspiring, but a little less so than before. And it was definitely hotter; I didn’t feel like hiking nearly as much, though the low elevation definitely makes it easier.

We hit the road around 2:30pm for a long haul across South Dakota, through Minnesota and down into Iowa. it’s a bit rough when your directions include, “Stay on I-90 for 430 miles.” We finally pulled in at nearly 1am after a time zone change lost an hour. Oh well, not too much father back to MI now.

Travel Distance: 717 miles

We pulled out this morning around 9am, after getting coffee in a small coffee shop visited by Michael Keaton and breakfast at a small general store/restaurant in Shawmut, MT and headed for Billings.

After a quick search of my GPS for “western wear” clothing stores in Billings, MT and directions from that hit to another store two blocks further down the street, I’m now the owner of a real belt buckle. Not just a plain old buckle, but a fancy one with some whitetail deer on it. I can check off another item off my list of things I wanted to do/get this summer.

From Billings, it was on to Devil’s Tower National Monument about an hour and a half from Rapid City, SD. Honestly… I’m not too impressed by the place. It features a mediocre visitor center that doesn’t really educate you about too much and a trail around the base of the rock. Granted, it’s a pretty cool and large rock in the middle of nowhere and it looks like it would be an awesome climb… but, after coming from Glacier and the bigger parks, it wasn’t all that exciting. Perhaps if I’d stopped on my way out west it would have seemed more impressive.

From there, it was a straight shot into Rapid City and a pain in the butt to get a hotel room. My first thought was to stay at the Motel 6 that Kevin and I had seen on our previous trip through the area when we got a room at the world’s most expensive Super 8. Well… the road construction made it tough to find. So, we headed across the road to the Econo Lodge; they were booked up. In their parking lot, I hopped on the internet (my cell phone data plan has been a lifesaver) and checked on the Motel 6′s availability. Their website said there was a non-smoking room with dual full-size beds available. We booked it over there and I was told nothing was left but smoking rooms. A trip back out to the parking lot and a confirmation number led to the discovery of a flaw in their booking system – I hadn’t been assigned a room number. They made a call for me, and found a room for a bit more an exit down the road. Whatever… I just wanted a bed and a shower in the morning.

And I rediscovered why I hate Rapid City. Confusing roads, streets that apparently turn into one way roads after 9pm (why else can you not make a left turn onto certain roads between 9pm and 3am?), and let’s not forget the badly timed stop lights. And yet… we braved it and went to see Get Smart, which was actually a really good movie in my mind; it reminded me a lot of the old TV show.

Tomorrow: the Badlands, maybe a trip to Wall Drug and showing up at Kevin’s apartment in Cedar Rapids, hopefully not at an ungodly hour of the night.

Travel Distance: 493 miles

Have I mentioned before that Montana was a huge state? It really is. Two hundred and ninety-two miles driven today and we’re not even close to the border. I love it! The entire state is gorgeous, with the exception of Great Falls which has a very urban sprawl feel to it. I’m a bit used to that feeling near a military base though.

Come to find out, that my uncle’s father and sister decided to come visit over the weekend, so we were greeted to a pretty full house, which was fantastic. Lots of catching up, lots of good conversation, and of course, lots of good food. Tomorrow morning, everyone clears out, and we’ll be hitting the road shortly after the big group so we can get in a much needed shower (we haven’t had showers since Thursday morning and although we’ve been taking “field showers” they aren’t nearly as nice and don’t do much for the hair.

Travel Distance: 292 miles, plus 7.2 miles on foot

We broke camp and headed to the Many Glaciers district of the park to hike to Ptarmigan Falls and Iceberg Lake. Total round trip, 9.8 miles. It was an absolutely gorgeous hike, I’d recommend it to anyone. There wasn’t a great viewing platform for the falls, but Iceberg Lake made up for it. Iceberg Lake is situated in the middle of a semi-circular group of mountains and it’s contents comes from glacial runoff. This time of the year, it’s still mostly frozen and the last half mile of our hike to the lake was over snow covered fields. It was an awe-inspiring sight.

After our hike back, we piled into the car and exhausted, drove to the Two Medicine district to set up camp in preparation of tomorrow’s hike. Highway 49 along the eastern border of the park is a blast to drive but not quite so much fun as a passenger apparently. The speed limit never drops from 70 mph, but almost every half a minute your onto a new set of curves with a recommended speed of anywhere between 25 and 45. Plus, there’s no guardrails and the valley floor appeared to be as much as 1,000 feet below us at times. I loved it, Sarah later remarked to me that she was terrified the whole time.

And… the funny story for the evening. After we had our tent pitched, Sarah was making dinner, spaghetti actually. I was absolutely out of it, half reading a book, half falling asleep at the end of the picnic table while she manned the stove. She apparently asked me, “Is it all right to put the glass jar of spaghetti sauce on the camp stove?” and I, in a voice that any man with sisters, a wife or even a mother will recognize, grunt a noise that means in effect, “I didn’t hear you, but in an effort not to get in trouble, I’m making a noncommittal noise.”

Two minutes later, I hear a boom come from the stove and look up confusedly to find spaghetti sauce everywhere. So, we had plain spaghetti for dinner and one burner on the camp stove still only lights halfway because of the spaghetti sauce residue in it.

Fun times!

Travel Distance: 78 miles, plus 9.8 miles on foot

We popped back onto the road and drove through the mountains; Going-to-the-Sun Road is described as one of the most beautiful scenic highways in the world, and I will completely agree with that. The road through Rocky Mountain National Park doesn’t even come close. In one section, four or five waterfalls are right at the side of the road and your car gets sprayed as you drive by. It is absolutely amazing.

We also hiked down to Baring Falls, where Sarah left me to hike to St. Mary Falls and Virginia Falls while I set up my picture, waited for people to clear out and the right light to hit the scene. After I had a few shots I was reasonably satisfied with, I hiked back up the path and took a few shots of Sunrift Gorge before heading to the St. Mary Falls trailhead to wait around and pick Sarah up.

Then we headed down what was left of the highway, swinging by Sun Point for some pictures (I’ll be going back there to shoot sunrise). Now… camp is set up, food has been eaten and I’m headed to bed.

Travel Distance: 50 miles, plus 5.5 on foot