October 6 - “Moose? Nah”

Breakfast became a fun time of sharing Northern lights photos. Imagine that. Our guide Ryan who was born here regaled us with some stories and videos of things he has experienced. And we thought our videos were impressive. Pretty amazing stuff. Larry shared about how he stepped outside his room early in the morning and heard some of the sled dogs barking and howling. (They are based just a half mile from here). But no sightings of the mythical moose just yet. Don’t plan on seeing one, either, since they don’t really exist. 

But speaking of something ACTUALLY existing … we found out that we get to visit North Pole on Friday. And there is a good chance Mrs. Santa will be there. Now that’s something to really anticipate. 

After a stop at the famous (or infamous) Alaskan pipeline, where Ryan gave an extensive speech on its history and construction (and after Aimee may or may not have led us to a spot where we could “legally” climb on top of the pipeline in spite of numerous warning signs), we went to the Chowder House for lunch. Let me start out by establishing … great food. Now. Cary and I were confused (dumbfounded, discombobulated) with what we ordered. Not at all what we expected. Let me just say we each had two hot dog sized rolls full of king crab meat … that we had to take to go. We thought we were ordering appetizers. Panko shrimp, a cup of clam chowder, half a BLT. Wouldn’t a crab roll listed as an appetizer be one of those little rolled up things? Nope. The hot dog buns were bigger than the few appetizer shrimp we had. I mean each bun was bigger. Gotta be more careful at dinner, I guess. 

Next we stopped at a bowl making store called, amazingly, the Bowl Factory. Actually it was a wood crafting place that specialized in bowls. Chris found a wooden nativity scene to add  to her collection. I found … well, the closest thing to a moose I have scene here. Except it was made out of wood. And it looked a lot like Bullwinkle. 

Daniel was our guide at the Morris Thompson Cultural Center. He is a native Alaskan from the village that is the farthest north in the United States. He calls the lower 48, “The Down States.”

Daniel was a most amazing story teller. Some of his tales:

1. The Bogey Man - As a child he was told that the Aurora Borealis would float down majestically like a leaf. Then it will cut your head off, and kick it all around if you don’t go to sleep. As an adult, however, the story has changed. Now the lights are a window to your dead ancestors. So when you see them, think of your loved ones who have passed. 
2. The Carrington event. A few rare times in the past, the lights’ magnetic fields were so strong that they wreaked havoc on telegraph lines. 
3. The word for goose in his language is Ngalick. It sounds like the noise geese make. When said in a high voice over and over it serves as a perfect goose call. 
4. Daniel is, by the way, the world’s foremost authority on polar bears. And he has written a book. The name of it sounds something like “Nuvook”

From the Museum we were shuttled over to Fred Meyers. It’s Alaska’s answer to Kroger’s. We just grabbed some popcorn, hot chocolate and sweet tea. I did get to talk with the crew of one of the Fairbanks fire stations. Saw their truck outside. All three of them looked like they were about 12 years old. Great kids, though. Hey, the fire department family includes all ages. 

The Chena Pump House was our dinner destination. Very classy joint. You know, the kind with things to eat that you can’t pronounce. I had fish and chips. Figured I’d keep it simple. I did order a dessert of chocolate moose cake. They’re trying to trick me again. 

We got ready for bed and hit the sack right away. Before nine, if you can believe that. Prospects for the lights to show up weren’t so great. It was raining and supposed to be cloudy all night. 

We did get an alarm around eleven from Laurie the Lights Lady.  Not much to speak of, though, in the way of light shows. We went back to bed pretty quickly. 

‭‭Jude‬ ‭1‬:‭22‬ says, Have mercy on those who waver.

Father, thank you for the way our extended group seems to be coming together a little better. And bless those fire fighters I met. Amen.