Pulled out the Milepost and we started driving! Took awhile to get to that point though.
Let me backtrack to Jamie and the Auction. Antarctica (yes, i've just jumped to the other side of the globe) has a bi-yearly auction of things that are still serviceable but not really useful anymore in Antarctica. This years lot included a skid-loader, a few snow mobiles, brand-new in-package kitchen knives, kitchen shelving, Big Red Canada Goose Jackets, bunny boots, and what Jamie was looking at- inverters, radio stuff and scientific equipment. And he won it on auction! That part, while nerve-wracking as it was an auction, was easy. The next part - getting it - was less so. Once won it meant there's 8 pallets of things that he's got to ship back to the east coast and house somewhere. Figuring out large scale shipping for the first time was a little nerve racking. Ultimately he went with UPS but some of the vagaries included a $6,000 price jump from the online quote, unbelievably rude and unhelpful people on the UPS service line (multiple), finding a place to leave the items for an extended period of time and generally, worrying that all the "i's" had been dotted and "t's" crossed and that you had made the best choice at the least cost.
So, while I had indeed pulled out the Milepost, the reality is that I spent about 3 hours looking at it before we started driving.
While waiting, Jeremy and I took a fun trip to get coffee! Kaladi Brothers is a local coffee roasting company and as Jams had worked on the North Slope he gets a 50% discount. Thank God as 4 pounds cost 35 dollars (with the discount). When we were there they were getting ready to send out the first shipment of coffee to the Red Dog Mine, the largest Zinc mine in the world. 14,000 lbs as the initial batch. They provide coffee to the North Slope employees (oil) and have little coffee shops all over Anchorage. The woman, Margaret, that we visited yesterday made us Kaladi Bros Coffee and then told us that this company was one of the factors in their decision to move to Anchorage.
As we were finishing up that chore Jamie messaged to say he was finished, had done a headspace meditation to mentally step away from the stress and was ready for road-tripping!
Jams and I returned home, we loaded up the car and were on our way!
Our first stop was 10 miles away but still inside the city limits of Anchorage (bigger then Rhode island, remember?). We stopped at Potter Marsh Boardwalk. An accidentally manmade marsh that is now home to all sorts of nesting and migratory birds. We assume. It is, admittedly, a little early in the season. We saw some mallards, a tern and a little bird that Jamie was trying to talk to but he must have offended it because it flew right off. Most exciting thing at the marsh was a big dead animal that I'm looking forward to watching disintegrate as the season progresses.
How was it manmade you ask? In 1917 an embankment was built for the railroad along the edge of the Turnigan arm. There were, however, streams that emptied into the arm and with the embankment, No where to go and Viola! Marsh!
Our next stop was a Beluga point and, while beautiful, there were no Beluga's to be seen. A bit early. They come in chasing the salmon and it's not quite the right season for that. We also bust with the Dall Sheep which we had been promised were always at Mile marker 106.6. But, no.
We continued on our merry way surrounded by steep snow covered mountains and following the water. It was spectacular.
We are currently in Hope, AK. About 1.5 hours from Anchorage in a swanky cabin being built by friends of Jams in the first Gold Rush Town in AK. The people that live here (totaling 125ish) still live in the old goldrushers log cabins built at the turn of the century (one before last) and this place truly looks like a scene from "Paint your Wagon" (without the selling off of women and whore houses, of course). As it's a bit outside the tourist season, nothing is open but I'm excited to see the contrast in the coming months.
I'll tell you about the cabin we're staying in tomorrow. Hope all is well with everyone.
Potters March Boardwalk
Hope, AK
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