It has taken me a bit to get all of my thoughts together and to sift through and upload some of my pictures, choosing images that will hopefully give you a good idea of what it was like there. As always, I tend to overshoot, so there are pictures in here that the post could probably do without. And I still can't seem to figure out why my vertical pictures aren't posting vertically. Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks for reading...
---
Many people have asked me how it went and really the only thing I can say is that it was "interesting".
In my five days spent in the old gold rush town of Nome, Alaska, I was flown in a four-seater airplane, saw the frozen tundra of sea ice on Norton Sound of the Bering Sea, been driven along the All-Alaska Sweepstakes sled dog race trail on a snow "machine", seen the "Nome National Forest", smelled the locals who were wow'd to be seeing our reporter getting ready for a live shot in their little town, and I ate a $16 cheeseburger - not because it was a high-class restaurant, but because it is Nome and because you are on the edge of a very cold and isolated section of North America.
-----
My first spoken words as I step foot into the Nome Airport Terminal: "This is it"?
Folks, you walk down the stairs off of the plane to the ground, walk across the pavement to the building, walk through two doors and there you are...it took me several seconds to realize I was looking at the baggage claim/check-in counter/gate-waiting area. All of that in about a 30x30 square foot room. There ain't much there.
---
Nome, Alaska:
Born of the gold rush. I believe there may have been an Eskimo settlement there beforehand, but modern day Nome is the leftovers of a gold rush in the late 1800's/early 1900's. The town currently has around 3500 residents and a rich history of sled dog races. It is the finish line for the Iditarod and the home of the All-Alaska Sweepstakes. The residents here are very proud of Nome's history.
This is the church that one of my co-workers was married at. She grew up in Nome.
---
The Cessna 206:
...wow. I have never been in a smaller airplane. Pretty smooth ride and our pilot was a real gem. Super nice guy who's been flying for 30 some-odd years. The pictures really tell it all!
The second day of the race we were supposed to fly up near Candle, the halfway point of the race. The clouds were too much that day, however. After awhile of flying around and trying to fly above the clouds, our pilot decided that it wasn't going to clear up and we had to turn around to head back to the airport.
On the third day of the race the weather cleared up for us. We were able to fly up to Council - a checkpoint along the trail.
This is where we landed in order to reach the checkpoint of Council. We landed on a river bed and hiked uphill and down a "road" about a half mile, with all our gear and in thick snow...since experiencing my lack of ability to handle that hike as well as I was expecting, I've joined a gym here in Anchorage to whip myself back into shape.
This is the river bed behind where we landed, and those markers tell the mushers which way to be turning.
This is the road leading to the checkpoint.
This is the view of the river from the checkpoint. You can barely see our plane in the distance.
Word got around that Council was the party checkpoint... And they weren't kidding!! The people there were having a blast - drinking plenty and getting rides on the couch, being pulled by a snowmobile. I wish I had taken pictures when everyone was outside milling around. When this photograph was taken, just about everyone was inside eating. Lance Mackey had just arrived, finished taking care of his dogs and was inside taking a break. Mitch Seavey was also at the checkpoint inside, getting ready to take off.
This is how deep the snow was there. What that wooden sled is next to is a picnic table...
Back to Nome to work on our story.
---
Norton Sound/Bering Sea:
Ice - Icy - Iced - Frozen - Sea Ice.
For miles, and miles, and miles, and miles... I saw someone out there walking on it the night I was taking pictures of the sunset (which was at about 9:15pm at the time!!)...going outbound, by themselves. Don't know where they were headed, or why. Especially at sundown.
This is Norton Sound, behind me.
I couldn't tell when or if I was stepping on the rocks, unless I could actually see them. A couple of times I missed the rocks entirely and ended up standing/sinking into holes that were filled with snow well above my waist.
This is the Aurora Hotel, where we stayed and worked from for the five days we were there. Our live shots were conducted out front on the sidewalk, with downtown Nome at the reporters back.
This is the view we had from the suite where we worked out of. We had to have this particular location so that the transmitter could reach the satellite. And again, the great expanse of white that you see there is Norton Sound.
---
Snow machines:
Never been on a snow machine (i.e. snowmobile) before in my life. And my first time was a rough one. I had the camera packed in a big, thickly padded, black backpack strapped to my back and the tripod was bungee corded in behind me. Let me tell you, I clung to our reporter for dear life. He was whipping along the trail at speeds up to 40mph, trying to drive past some of the mushers in order for us to get video of them sledding by. Every time we hit a bump, which was quite often, I'd be jumping around all over the place. And of course, if I'm being flung around back there, so is the camera that is strapped on my back. That was a rough ride. Memorable. But rough. I wish I had pictures of us getting around on that thing. This is the only picture I have, shot from our hotel room window. We rented the machine from a local.
---
The Nome National Forest:
Wow. I think this was the most interesting I saw there. Apparently the "Nomites", if that's what they're called, dispose of their Christmas trees by standing them up on the sea ice after the holiday season, along with some of Walt Disney's favorite characters and memorable wooden cutouts comparable to the likes of the Edaville Railroad kiddie engineers, and a sign proudly making the announcement that Nome has a National Forest. Wow.
This last pictures was shot through a dirty window from inside "Fat Freddies".
Fat Freddie's itself, was an interesting restaurant. Check out the dumpsters right underneath their sign. It was a classy place.
---
The locals:
Let me preface this by saying that this experience by no means represents the majority of people who live in Nome. While the reporter and I were hanging outside in the cold, waiting for our ten o'clock live shot, a local vagabond inebriate decided to introduce himself. You could smell the alcohol on him from four feet away, no lie. Luckily for us, in his state he could not tell that great of time nor could he see that we were trying to dissuade him from sticking around for too long, or, long enough for him to be there while we did our live-shot. The reporter I was with is a celebrity to many Alaskans, just as many of the station's other reporters and anchors are. We received A LOT of attention from people. Well, not me (thank goodness!!), or our satellite operator, but definitely the reporter!
---
Some Random Pictures:
An unfocused shot of the finish line of the All-Alaska Sweepstakes. This is on Front Street, the main street of the city.
Sun sets on Nome.
These pictures are of the flight home. Nothing too special or outrageous. Our flight took off at 9:22pm. The pictures of us above the clouds are of the sun settings at about, I'm guessing, just after 10pm.
Temperature update: 28 degrees and mostly cloudy in Anchorage. Temperature in Nome: 7 degrees and cloudy (feels like -6 degrees).
Alaska trivia: Nome is home to Alaska's oldest newspaper, the "Nome Nugget".
Posts
