Alaska lives on....

A two-week journey takes a much longer time to write. It's not always about the obvious; it's just as much about the nuances and the things you remember days down the road that make you laugh to yourself.

Therefore, I've decided to keep writing little stories here and there to keep the trip going, even if we're not all physically in Alaska. I've sent the blog on to my teammates, and may reference their own writings at some point too (if they'll let me). Keep looking out, and I'll post some more stories as I get to them.

Cheers,

-E-

What an amazing journey.

Well, the two and a half weeks are over, the building and sightseeing is done, and I am (mostly) recovered from a red-eye flight back Saturday night into Austin (getting back Sunday morning around 10:30AM). All of the lack of sleep, the laughter, the pics, the memories... it was all worth it.

Pictures for your viewing pleasure will be up at the following locations:


Group albums: http://picasaweb.google.com/GV9014

My flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/Bendini

I'd also like to take one last time to thank all of the sponsors on my trip - they were what made this trip possible...

• Ottica Veneta


• Jennifer Idol


• Jessie Dawson


• Marshall Wright


• Myles Rose


• John Bender


• Don Roach


• Marie Perrone


• Timothy Chow


• Michelle Kaehler


• Janice Bender


• David J. Tozlosky


• Riley Dallas


• Amy Lee


• Betta Kaufmann


• Eleanor Tozlosky


• J. Jordan Bruns


• Brian Sharp


• Bryan and Lisa Rollins


• Ann Diegelman


• Chad Huff


• Jill Runyon


• Cristina De La Fuente


• Chris Wooster


• Christy Brewer


• Colin Campbell


• Nick Munro


• Kara Mccoy


• Amanda Jahnke


• Kate Morrill


• Kate Plows


• Rich Malley


• Susan Shaw


• Michael Bucklin


• Michele Arceo


• Kristine Coco


• Jen Faber


• Gabe Neila-Chapa


• Jean Wilsher

Official hairstyle of the trip: the French braid.

Jenny has become our ladies' hairstylist. Along with Maureen, she has managed to braid all of our heads at least once. For my particular style, she'll French braid pigtails into my hair. (She even says they work very well on me.) It has become a ritual post-shower at the Alaska Club, and by the last day of the trip, we all had our hair braided for the flight home. I am looking at it as a bit of a souvenir, or something to take back with us.

You think you have it bad...

You think you have it bad...
Originally uploaded by Bendini

R&R weekend: Seward, AK

Seward, AK
Originally uploaded by Bendini

On Friday morning, our group drove to Seward, Alaska for our final R&R trip. Seward is a small tourist town (used to be much smaller) that sits along Resurrection Bay and the Kenai Fjords area. The town is only about 6 streets deep, with a harbor/pier for boats and a few souvenir shops and bars downtown. Our planned trip was to go on the Kenai Fjords dinner cruise, a 6-hour tour of the bay/ocean and see some of the nature and wildlife.

The local Methodist church downtown was nice enough to let us stay in their church that night so we wouldn't have to drive another 2.5 hours back to Anchorage.

Before the tour, we were able to grab some lunch downtown and check out some of the shops. A few of us went to a small restaurant called Yoky's, where we enjoyed their Alaskan Clam chowder and bread. At 3PM, we met at the E dock to board our boat.

The boat itself was probably about 90', with three levels to sit/stand. We chose to take half of the bottom deck, as some were concerned about seasickness and getting a little dizzy. As the boat took off from the port, we had no idea what we were in for.

Once we got past Fox Island, the skies cleared up and the Pacific Ocean swells started to come in. Standing out on deck, it was no problem, but inside the cabin was a bit disorienting. We were only a minute or two out before we saw our first wild animal: a sea otter, floating on its back, eating some sort of fish. All of the tourists shoved to one side of the boat to snap photos. Once we got into the ocean, the wildlife started to increase; three humpback whales within a cove, horned and tufted puffins all over the place, stellar sea lions along the rocks of a fjord... all before dinner. It was amazing to see the humpbacks in the water; Lena was looking forward to seeing humpback whales her entire life. Puffins are much smaller than they look in pictures, but they're definitely high in numbers. The sea lions are pretty calm, chiling on rocks and barking every now and then.

Dinner was, of course, salmon... with wild rice, corn, and salad. As we were eating, the boat pulled up onto this massive ice wall, right on the edge of Harding Ice Field, that was nearly 300 feet tall. Ice chunks were floating by us over a mile from the glacier. As I went out on the deck to take pictures, I could hear these loud sounds - the ice was cracking on top. We didn't get to see any ice sheets fall, but we were able to hear it (and feel the coldness of it where we were).

Pulling away from the glacier, Dahl porpoises started swarming underneath the boat, flying by at fast speeds. Dahl porpoises are often mistaken for baby orcas because of their black color on top and white on bottom, but they're about the normal size of a porpoise. People started going out on deck just to cheer them along. They played around the sides of the boat for about 10 minutes before retreating.

The last treat of the night before heading back into Seward was another set of humpback whales near the Bear Glacier, which dove deep enough to let us see their tails out of the water. What an amazing sight to see these creatures.

Chili pepper and hot chocolate

Amy, having a little more knowledge of the town, had found an excellent tea shop on the south side of town called the Summit Spice Tea Company. A good number of the group wanted to hike Flat Top Mountain after our build the other day, but some of us were too tired to go up another hill (believe it or not). Instead, our little group went to this tea shop to check out they selection of loose teas (Yas is a big fan of tea, and was impressed to find they had clotted cream at this store, so she had to check it out firsthand).

Once we were there, the sense of smell took over. Not only was there all sorts of loose tea, there was also a large variety of chocolates, spices, olive oils, and gourmet popcorns. And they had samples.

Laura came with us and knew exactly what she was looking for. After her purchase, she found their drink bar with two varieties of hot chocolate - one plain, one with a dash of New Mexico chile powder. Intrigued by the choice, she purchased one while waiting and couldn't get the smile off of her face for the next 10 minutes. Now having us all curious about what was making her smile so much, we all had to get one for ourselves. After all, how often can you get a 20oz hot chocolate, handmade with chile pepper, for $1.75?

It doesn't sound good to everyone (and not everyone will like it), but it's actually kind of nice. The chile powder isn't spicy at first, but the afterburn is lightly warm on the back of your throat as you drink it. It's definitely a good drink for a place that gets to 20 below on occasion. Considering that chile powder is in no shortage in Austin, I might have to try it on a 'cool' day sometime.

I almost forgot about the Iditarod dinner.

On Wednesday night, we had dinner with the official Iditarod artist Jon Van Zyle and his wife at their
home in Eagle Creek. Although the two are both retired Iditarod racers, each with at least 30 years of Iditarod experience, they still keep the sled dogs in the back of their house... All 14 of them now. Each of the dogs are friendly and happy, and they all have their own individual markings, muscle builds, and personalities. Before dinner, the team was introduced to the dogs (all huskies) inside of their pen area. He commanded the dogs to sit on top of their houses (and most of them did) before letting us in.

After a dinner of croissant sandwiches, cheese, fruit, cookies, and drinks, Jon let us into his studio to see some of his original works and artists' prints whose subject matter spanned from Iditarod racing to cabins in the mountains to the Northern Lights. All are things he feels he has the knowledge to paint. "You have to have the experience of your subject matter," he said. "Anyone can say they're a good painter, but having the experience of what you're painting makes all the difference." Agreed, but knowing color theory and proportions doesn't hurt, either. ;)

That night was another night of ping pong, cards, and a quick game of Chubby Bunny. For those that don't know the game of Chubby Bunny, it involves putting as many marshmallows in your mouth as you can while still being able to say 'Chubby Bunny' out loud... And you can't eat the marshmallows in the process. Mary Claire ended up being the winner with somewhere around 8... I can say I came in at second place. After all, second place is the first loser, right?... ;)

Just like home cookin'.

Our last hosted dinner of the trip was in the hills of South Anchorage, at Belinda Breaux's home. Belinda is the president of the board for the Anchorage HFH chapter. A very gracious woman, Belinda and her husband actually moved to Anchorage 16 years ago in 1992 for what was supposed to be a 2-year term for a job. Like most people's stories, they just ended up staying.

We all got to the house and were greeted by Belinda, her husband, and their two poodles Jezebel and Jackson. Their house overlooked the Knik Arm and Cook Inlet, with a chance of seeing Mt. McKinley on a clear day from their porch. (Keep in mind, Mt. McKinley is outside of Denali, a 4-5 hour drive, and nearly 400 miles away... to be able to see a 20,000 foot peak from that far away is quite amazing.) Inside, the house was very inviting, with a fireplace ahead and huge midbeams running at angles above the living room. Jorge, Margaret, Amy, Phyl, and some of the other HFH Anchorage volunteers and board members joined us at dinner as well, so it was a full house.

In conversation, I quickly realized that they were originally from the Houston area. After all of the years of being in the cold, her husband said, they couldn't bear to be in the heat foe long stretches anymore.

The icing on the cake came when we found out what we were having for dinner that night: fish tacos with mango salsa. And boy, were they good. They made them with halibut, which is definitely not in short supply up in this part of the country, and they were complimented with black beans and mexican rice. It felt like I was back eating in the small taco places in Austin all over again.

At the end of the dinner, we took one of our final group shots and said our thank yous and goodbyes to the HFH volunteers. Pretty sad to leave the bunch of them, as all of them were so patient and supportive (Brad and Lena, our team leaders, admitted that Margaret was really what made it easy to come back and do it again). People were sad, but it was a good way to end the build.

Thursday: our last (washout) day of building

Thursday was our final building day on the site. The last week and a half seemed like a blur, and it definitely didn't feel like we were two days away from leaving Anchorage. Our luck had been good with the weather so far, but this morning, we woke up to the first real rainy morning since we've been here. Maybe it was a bit symbolic for the moment. Either way, we're a team of troopers, and all of us went out, rain gear on, to pick up where we left off.

Of course, my team was finishing the decking on the roof, so we had to be a bit careful walking on slippery plywood sheets that were positioned at inclines. Four of us still went up, determined to try and finish the roof (or at least get as far as we could) before we had to call it quits. We hammered away and lifted 40-on sheets up a brace on the roof slowly and surely, and by lunchtime, we'd nearly finished the last corner of the main roof, except for the fact that we missed a cut on one sheet of decking by an inch (oops). It was around this time that the executive decision came to call it off after lunch anyway, so in a matter of four hours, that was it.

Before we left, we had a closing circle that included thank you's to the community volunteers, contractors, and site supervisors that helped out. We presented Jorge (the site supervisor) with a team picture that included all of our signatures around the mat. Thao, Marlena's brother, thanked us all for working on his sister's house and said if we were ever in Anchorage passing through, we were always welcome to visit.

Our final blessing on the house was to take a sharpie marker and sign our names on the house walls. Underneath the walls, when the house is built, we will have our secret blessings for the family.

So a final summary of the main house (we worked on three houses in pieces): we managed to take a wooden slab with most of the exterior walls up, finished the last exterior wall, built stairs on the front and back porches, constructed and raised every single interior stud wall, framed the closets, nailed up the roof trusses, installed the fascia around the perimeter of the roof, and laid decking on almost the entire roof... all in a matter of eight days of building. I think it's incredible, especially when I saw pictures of the house on the first day, and looked at it on the last day.

We literally put a roof over this family's heads.

Catching up again

Wireless access is spotty in some of the more remote areas we're traveling through, so often times I save time to write on here, just to find I have no signal. So for the next two days, I'll be playing catchup again on the last three days... bear with me. :)

Stamps (or lack thereof).

The group needed to get postcard stamps in Anchorage.

We gave money to pick some up, but they weren't able to. No biggie.

So we checked the supermarket to see if they sold any... No luck. We got to the post office thirty minutes too late to get into the self service area.

The next morning, three of us had our cards written (or for days already). We got back from the site build to find that somehow, another person in our group had stamps (and only had 10 left). We went back to the post office while it was open, just to realize that their stamp machine was removed from the lobby due to people stealing money out of the machines and we'd have to stand in line with the other 10 people (holding 3 boxes each on average) to get some. We tried the FedEx/Kinko's down the street from the church, only to find they didn't sell them, either.

All we wanted to do was get postcard stamps...

Mo finds his calling... via racquetball.

Since we've been showering for the last week and a half at the local athletic club, some of us take the opportunity to utilize the actual workout equipment and get exercise ( I can't say that I'm one of them). However, there have been two days where we've used the facilities on another side of town. This club (called The Alaska Club) is nice... But the one across town is particularly nice, since my first thought was that it's built for the long winters. It has just about every type of sports court available, including tennis, basketball, racquetball, swimming, and more. The first day, Kevin and I played tennis for a few points using rented gear (we ended up calling it an even match because we forgot to sign up for a court and got kicked off by more responsible people). Mo and I tried to play tennis the second time, but they were full with league play, so we decided to play racquetball instead.

As a caveat, neither of us actually play racquetball. The closest thing I had to a true racquetball experience was using a racquetball racquet and balls on half of a tennis court in Toms River, NJ. Mo had never played in his life.

We stepped into the large white boarded room, wearing our work clothes and sneakers, the cluelessness set in. "Why do we have to wear these safety glasses?" Mo asks. All we know is that we have to serve the ball, more like ping pong style, it has to hit the front wall on the serve, and all walls are considered in from there on out. First one to 11 wins.

Mo hit the first ball timidly and the rubber ball springed quickly back towards us. Like little kids, the giddiness about flying objects and running around aimlessly came back and we were all over the court in minutes. Half an hour later, all of the nervous energy was gone.

I think I've found a new sport myself... At least when tennis friends are scarce. Cheers to trying new things. :)

Spending time in high places (and more).

Proof I am working on a house.
Originally uploaded by Bendini

After all of these great times, we just finished the second to last day of building. It's amazing how time flies...

For the last two days, I've spent all of my time helping the team get scaffolding, roof decking, and fascia finished. Tomorrow, we just have a small amount of decking to do before they can cover the roof and shingle it. Unfortunately, we won't be around to work on the shingling because we're headed for our last R&R to Seward on Friday morning... but I've managed to come out of the whole roof experience mostly unscathed. Just a few bruises and sore muscles... although, that's been most of the trip. ;)

The team of 17 has been split up on two different sites, and at this point in the trip, it seems as if people are starting to get just a little antsy to go home/see family/get a shower somewhere other than a gym locker room. It's not really a bad thing; it's just what happens when 17 strangers are in close quarters for two weeks. Still, everyone talks about meeting up outside of the trip at some point, finding a 'reunion spot,' exchanging the over 2,000 pics that are going to come out of the experience from multiple people, and more. This group has become a fresh new family since we started here in Anchorage; we're singing The Sound of Music songs in the van on the way home from McCarthy, working on crossword puzzles and sudoku, and laughing at each other's jokes so hard that we have tears in our eyes and our sides hurt. The end of this trip will definitely be a bit sad for all of us.

R&R weekend, Part 3

Still working on Sunday's stories...

After the glacier hike, we were able to go on a mill tour at Kennicott. The mill itself is the oldest standing wooden structure in the country, standing at 14 stories high. The mill was used as a copper and ore mill from 1911 until it was abandoned in 1938. There is a lot of history behind the mill itself (and the town that surrounded it).

Some important things to know, rather than the whole story: it had taken Mr. Stephen Birch nearly 6 years to get approval to build a mine in the location. In order to claim his stake on the land, Mr. Birch built a small log cabin on the site, and promised the investors (and state officials) that the first train out of Kennicott would include a full car worth of copper... and it did.

A town was eventually built around the mine, with a hospital, school, bunkhouses, general store, sawmill, and lodge (now the current lodge where we stayed). Kids played baseball on the baseball diamonds, the rec center included a basketball court, the whole town had electricity, and the railroad finally came through Kennicott early in its existence (at the time, it already cost $25 million dollars to build... quite expensive when you do the conversions to today's standards). It should also be noted, everything in the town was funded by the profits of the mill and was very high-tech for its day.

Its most profitable year came in 1916, when a experimental ammonia leeching plant was built to extract leftover copper from the remains of the crushing machines. They could take what was around .01% copper and make it into a 70% copper ore. Afterwards, however, profits began to dwindle, and in 1938, it was decided the mill was no longer profitable for the state, and the people living there were given 48 hours notice to vacate the premises on the last train out from Kennicott; otherwise, they would not be responsible for their well-being. Because of this, many goods were left behind, and it was said that the people who revisited the mine area decades later came back to find china set up in place on tables, canned foods still in cupboards, and more. It was like a true ghost town.

The mill tour took us into the 14 floors, where we got to see the machines used for the milling process. Everything from the ore crusher to the shakers were all still in place... Even the oil in one of the machines was still there. All of the machines were high-tech enough that only 20 to 30 men were needed to control the entire mill process; all they had to do was set up and align the machines to work and watch them go. Among some of the more interesting things learned on the tour were that the entire process was powered with water somehow; the mill had its own repair center instead of sending parts out, and workers were still segregated in the bunks, this time by white/Asian descent.

All in all, it was quite an interesting place, just to become deserted within two days.

Catching up to Monday morning now. We all decided to go see the Bonanza Mine trail and hike a bit before we had to leave. About 8 of us got up early for breakfast and were able to hit the trail by 8:45am.

Our tour guide Corey had mentioned that the hike was a bit steep, and we should give ourselves at least 3 hours to get to the top and back. He also said black bears had been spotted on the trail, so we should stay in groups. We didn't see any black bears, but man... he wasn't lying about the trail itself. In the hour we hiked up, we managed to book it up a trail that had no flat ground for at least a mile and a half. In fact, the hills in some places were so steep that we had to stop and catch our breath multiple times. In the end, we got to the top of the hill, above the trreline, and were able to get a gorgeous view of the glacier and the surrounding area. We later learned that our hike was probably around 3,000 feet uphill. To think that miners had to do that every time the needed to get to their mine opening... it's amazing.

Anyway, that just about sums up the weekend, minus the salmon fishing wheels we saw on our plane ride back to Chitina. By the time we got home, well, I guess we couldn't say we had rest AND relaxation... but we got a lot of cool sights in.

R&R weekend: Part 2

Standing on the Root Glacier
Originally uploaded by Bendini

For the rest of this weekend, I can say that I've definitely done three things that I don't know that I'll ever do again in my lifetime:

1. Hike a glacier

2. Visit the tallest wooden standing structure in the country

3. Scale a 4,000+ ft. mountain with our group (and not get eaten by any wild animal).

Let's start with #1. The Kennicott and the Root Glaciers are one of quite a few glaciers in the Alaska region, with the latter being the smaller of the two. Just some 100 years ago, the glacier was actually 300 feet taller than where it stands today, partially because of natural occurrence, partially because of global warming. The top is what they call a stairstep formation, highlighted by blue ice. (Fact: blue ice is simply super-compressed ice/snow that only refracts blue light.) At the bottom of this glacier is a wide swath of what looks like dirt hills, masking the glacial ice about two and a half feet under the surface. This layer consists of dirt and rocks carried down the mountain by the ice which gets deposited by the base. That being said, half of what you walk past is actually a glacier, but looks more like a huge construction site.
The glacier hike was pre-planned because it is literally one of the only things you can do when you're in this part of Alaska. It was still something that I was really excited about from the beginning though. The hike/tour started with a 2-mile hike out to the glacier, where we had to put on our crampons (shoe spikes made for ice climbing) before heading onto the ice.

The ice itself was amazing. Once we were given a short tutorial on how to properly walk with our crampons, we were able to bound out onto the ice with little problem. We were introduced to 'moulins,' or deep crevices in the ice that can go down hundreds of feet and are shaped by the running water. There were also waterfalls on top of the glacier to view.

Our team ate lunch on the glacier and took part in a few photo ops before heading the 2 miles back to the lodge. Another interesting thing to know about the glacier: this particular glacier stretches for 25 miles. Crazy.
I promise to write more tomorrow, after a little sleep, but I hope this should be enough for now to take in. Next time: the story of the Kennicott Copper Mine... Which is, surprisingly enough, on the historic register AND also the tallest wooden structure in the country (if not world) at 14 stories high.

View of Kennicott Glacier from the plane

View of Kennicott Glacier from the plane
Originally uploaded by Bendini

R&R weekend: Part 1

Our flight from Chitina to McCarthy, AK
Originally uploaded by Bendini

There's a lot to catch up on, so I'm breaking this down by day.

In Alaska, there's a saying that one of the locals told us: "Anchorage is only 50 miles away from Alaska." In other words, to really understand and appreciate Alaska, well... you can't be in the city.

Chitina was a 5-hour drive from Anchorage. We took two vans to lug ourselves (and a few duffle bags of luggage) up there. Before we went, we were asked to 'pack light,' which seemed to be the story of the trip. It wasn't long before we realized that this was because the planes we were taking to McCarthy needed to be weight-balanced and could only take 180 pounds of luggage at a time, in addition to the passengers.

Before I get to the flying, I want to tell you a little bit about Chitina. Not only does the downtown have its own one-block footpath, it is a town of all of five blocks. Uncle Tom's is the only bar (alcoholism is quite prevalent in a good number of places in Alaska), the general store is the size of a singlewide trailer, and the people who live there won't let their kids out alone because bears run rampant in the area. From Chitina to McCarthy, there is one road that takes about two hours to drive, but the road is built on top of the old railroad tracks, and often times, cars in bad shape will often get a flat tire, or break down from such driving hazards as the railroad spikes that still stick out of the pavement in spots. This is the main reason a lot of people prefer to fly to McCarthy, which is only a half-hour plane ride in a small Cessna plane (not to mention it has a gorgeous view of the Chugach Mountains and the Kennicott/Root Glaciers).

Our team broke into a few planes of 5 people each to make this flight. Some were a bit fearful about getting in such a small aircraft, but the pilots were quite experienced and informative, and once we were in the air and flying above the mountains with our headsets on, we all seemed to relax a bit.

We finally arrived at the Kennicott Glacier Lodge before the 7pm scheduled dinner of Prime Rib and mashed potatoes, which was to die for. Coming from sleeping in a church on sleeping bags and buying snacks to having our own full bed and upscale dinners was definitely a welcome change, even if for another day and a half.

After dinner, most of us had a drink on the porch, which overlooked the hills and glacier and caught up a bit. We stayed up just long enough to realize that the moon doesn't actually 'rise' this time of the year in Alaska; instead, it simply comes up around 10pm, while the sun is still setting, gets about 10% of the way in the sky, and drops back down under the mountains before midnight (yes, while the sun still hasn't set). It's very surreal.

This, and the fact that the portion of the glacier that sat in front of our lodge was buried under two and a half feet of dirt and rock (more to come on this), made us feel like we were literally standing on the edge of another planet. Then again, it was good to know we really were in the middle of nowhere.

2.5 days with no Internet/phone signal = true outback experience.

We're driving back from Chitina right now, coming back from our R&R weekend at the Kennicott Glacier Lodge, and man... what a great place. The lodge has very little connection with the rest of the outside world, so we were thankfully left to do nothing but enjoy the scenery around what was once a booming copper and ore mining city. I plan on catching up on the last three days' adventures today (as I have a connection now), so bear with me. A few pics will be included. :)

Day 9 and 10: Alaska is beautiful.

Glacier in Alaska
Originally uploaded by Bendini

We're currently on the road, driving to Chitina for an R&R weekend, and it's amazing how the landscape around here changes in a matter of minutes. For example, we were following the edge of a tree-filled cliff just to come upon this glacier in the distance. So gorgeous out here... I have a strong feeling that two weeks in 60-degree weather among nearly untouched landscapes is going to spoil me extremely.

Yesterday was the roof day on our build. The roofing company brought their crane to the site to help lift the prebuilt trusses up onto the walls. Once up there, five of us worked on setting the trusses upright over the rest of the afternoon.

That night, the whole group went downtown to enjoy our first dinner out, not hosted by families. We ended up going to this Meditteranean restaurant called Aladdin's, where we spent about two hours dining on moussaka and wine. We then drove to Darwin's Theory, a little hole-in-the-wall bar that serves popcorn and cheap Alaskan beer. A few of us were set on trying some decent Alaskan brews, and through the three places we went (Darwins, Humpy's and Moose's Tooth), we did just fine.

The sun came out for the first time in our entire trip this morning. Mo and I cooked omelettes for the group before we headed off on our six-hour drive. Once we arrive in Chitina, we'll be flying to McCarthy, AK to the Kennicott Glacier Lodge until Monday morning. Lots of traveling, but should be worth it. All the locals have said so, at least.

One week down...

...and one week, two days to go. For those counting--

Picture count: 422.

It's been so much fun up here, and so interesting to hear people's stories. Can't wait for the rest!

FOMO, oosik, and boys

Just about all of our team admits to what Kevin calls FOMO, or "Fear of Missing Out." We've all grown accustomed to waiting it out, staying awake, sticking around... just in case that one funny remark or revelation was about to come around the corner. And most often, it keeps us up until the wee hours of the morning, playing random games. In the end, I went 2-1 in a short tennis match, 2-1 in a bit lengthier ping pong match, but tied for a much lower spot in tonight's dummy rummy match. Granted, we all stayed up, but just to witness those moments of texting Alaskan boys, seeing Mo stuff a whole Oreo in his mouth (and almost laugh it out), hearing Yas say why she dislikes the way the French speak, and throwing fish crackers - all of those firsthand... losing sleep was worth it.

At dinner tonight, our gracious hosts Bob and Claudia Kniefel cooked up a storm of salmon variations - teriyaki, sweet onion and herbed - baked beans, lox bread and crackers and eggplant dip as hors d'ouerves, followed by a spread of dessert bars... we couldn't have asked for more. It's been amazing how much the community opens up to help those around them. Right before dinner, Bob gave us a bit of a history lesson surrounding the art that was in their beautiful home. He handed around what looked like an ivory tusk, which the natives call an 'oosik.' As it went around from person to person, we figured this object came from a walrus... but wasn't aware what it was. An oosik is actually a fossilized walrus penis bone, which the natives sell to tourists and use to make knives and other tools. This one, Bob says, was acquired for $3 in a little bar in Nome, Alaska, where the seats were all dentists' chairs and you would buy souvenirs to help get beer for the natives.

Tomorrow, the roof tresses will be going up on our house. We will also be building the walls on our second house while they're being lifted up by crane. Hopefully the weather will hold up as it did today, with temps in the mid 60's and peeks of sun between the clouds. I'm excited to see the progress.

Back in action.

After over 11 hours of sleep and the start of a Z-Pack (antibiotics) last night, I woke up this morning feeling better, although not completely cured. Nevertheless, I felt it was best that I get out to the site and ease back into work.

I have to admit, I kind of felt guilty for being away from the team yesterday, even if I was justified in doing so. Everyone hung out last night after our dinner (provided by the Prince of Peace Mennonite Church here in Anchorage), and all I wanted to do was sleep. I had a sinus headache, I felt dizzy, and I had very little appetite. So despite the dummy rummy championship game, I went to bed... at 9pm.

Today, the site had me energized again. We were finishing nailing up the top braces for the roof tresses, the back siding, and the tie-downs that are meant to earthquake-proof the house (Anchorage building codes mandate this after the 1964 earthquake that measured a 9.2 on the Richter scale). At the end if the day, we finished all but one board on top. Jorge, our site leader, said "we slayed some dragons today."

We're off to the showers, then to another gracious meal cooked by the church secretary and her husband at their house (the Kniefels). More to come later.

Moose: it's what's for dinner.

I had the chance to try a moose meat sloppy joe sandwich at dinner tonight. Apparently you can't buy moose meat in the stores; you can only sign up to be on a list with other families and nonprofits and other groups. They call you when a moose has been brought in, and when they do, you have an hour to pick it up.

Of course, this was told to us by our hosts after we had all eaten what was actually quite a delicious sandwich. (Don't worry... we were all aware it was moose.) Maybe on to moose jerky next?...

Day 7: so they say...

So today has been kind of a drag. I ended up going to the doctor because I woke up this morning with no voice and heavily congested. The diagnosis ended up being a pretty decent sinus infection, so I'll be on antibiotics for the next 5 days in the hopes that it'll clear it up. I'll save the fun stories about health insurance companies for later. Instead, I'm going to go sit in the steam room and shower for a half an hour or so and try to get rid of the headache, at least.

Hatcher Pass, AK

Hatcher Pass, AK
Originally uploaded by Bendini

First moose and black bear sightings!

First moose sighting!
Originally uploaded by Bendini

All in a matter of five minutes... How awesome. :)

We saw the black bears first, coming back from our Hatcher Pass hike. There was a mom and her baby cub, crossing the road within minutes of us leaving the parking lot. The baby couldn't have been more than a few months old. After they crossed, the cub tried to cross the road again, so we had to stop (rule #1 about bears: don't get between a mother and its cub.). Once the baby got back to the mother safely, we went on our way... just to find the moose in the pic you see here 5 minutes later.

The moose was a young female, grazing by the side of the road. She stayed there for a few minutes before galloping off into the woods... Surprisingly enough, they seem pretty light on their feet for their size. This young one was probably nearing 6ft already.

Day 2 on the site: walls and framing

It was another early start to the day. Unfortunately, I woke up with very little voice. We got out to the site by 8am to continue framing the walls. Since the roof is going up on Thursday, we needed to have all of the walls and top plates up by the end of the day on Wednesday. While half of the group went to the other site to start on the crawl space and foundations on two more houses, the rest of us stayed back and continued to build on the walls we started yesterday. Since we only got one up yesterday, we had a ways to go.

The group was great today. We got to work with the homeowners today, along with her brother and daughter. Some local community volunteers came out to help, and a mother and daughter (Carol and Elizabeth) were nice enough to make us a lunch full of fluffernutter sandwiches, chips, and homemade cookies. After lunch was our second devotional. Brad, our team leader, uses a ten-minute window of time to reflect and balance our thoughts. Today, he read a passage from Khalil Gibran's The Prophet. He asked us to share with the group our thoughts on giving, how we got into giving, and how others inspired us to give. There were some who shared their experiences on why they chose to give to Habitat for Humanity. One group member, Laura, appreciates the fact that the CEO of HFH is the lowest paid CEO in the world. Another member, Yas, talked about an experience with one of her students in Dubai. When they asked the student why she gave so much back to the community, she simply said, "I don't just want to put money in a tin. I want to give something of myself." I shared my experience student-teaching in the East Baltimore community, working with/against Johns Hopkins, and finding that the biggest givers in the community were not those with the money; it was often those with the least to lose. They gave with their hearts, not with their wallets. And not that monetary donations are a bad thing; there is just a different kind of joy in getting into the thick of things with your hands calloused and your muscles sore from a full day of putting up walls. I'd say most everyone selected for this trip came for that reason, even if they couldn't say it themselves.

By the end of the day, our group managed to put up over 75% of the walls in the house. It's great to know where bedrooms sit, where bathrooms will be, and where families will spend their time. Tomorrow should be a good finish to the interior walls.

So our post-work activity today? Hiking around Hatcher Pass, north of Anchorage. From what Kate says (she was on last week's GV trip), we're in for a surprise.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot...

I managed to do the one thing I joked about with coworkers and friends that I really didn't want to do while I was here - get sick. Yep, I managed to pick up a cold that has me sounding a bit hoarse and coughing a bit. I was having chills on Sunday, so I think any sort of fever I had has broken, but the sore throat still remains. In the meantime, I'm nursing myself with tea with honey, rest, and the meds.

I'm blaming it on the 40-plus-degree temperature differential. Either way, I'm hoping the cough will go away soon.

Dinner and Dummy Rummy

Tonight, three of the twelve families were generous enough to make our entire team dinner to help qualify for their homes. Not only did it give us a chance to learn more about their stories, it allowed us to talk to them firsthand about their experiences. One of the families includes a 19-year-old son whose name is going on the mortgage; he is essentially the man of the house, helping to take care of his mom, sister, and her special needs daughter (they all currently live in a 10x40 single-wide trailer). Another family came from Uzbekistan, where the grandmom was a midwife for 45 years, the mom is a pediatrician who has been able to take full classes towards her U.S. Nursing degree after only one year of learning English, and her daughter gets to go to school in the states. The third family has been constantly on the move, and has decided to settle down in Anchorage after a year here. There are some incredible stories already coming from the recipients the more we hear. Some of their pictures are posted in one of my earlier posts.

Tonight, I also attempted to pick up my skills in Dummy Rummy. Cards are played a lot to pass time at night, and while the team has played just about every game you can think of, we've managed to dig up a few more. Needless to say, I ended up getting the worst score, and have now become eligible for our 'consolation bracket.' oh yeah... we're a friendly competitive bunch. Since the game lasted nearly two and a half hours, it's just about time for bed. We need to be up by 6:45 just about every morning from now on. Tomorrow, after our work on the site, we're scheduled to head up to Hatcher Pass to do a little bit of hiking, weather permitting. I'm crossing the fingers. :)

Day 4 and 5: Hiking Alyeska Mountain/first day of building

I have to combine posts because I am starting to realize how little time I'll have (literally and physically) to write posts later, until I get the hang of things.

Sunday, after orientation, all of us ate lunch and took a 5.5 mile hike around Alyeska Mountain in Girdwood, AK. The hike was green and gorgeous... filled with history of the 1964 earthquake that swallowed the town and an avalanche in 1981 that cleaned a whole side of the mountain of trees. At the bottom was a flowing river and a little way up the side of the hill, we got to take a hand tram across the same body of water and catch the view from about 100 feet up.

That night, we had dinner with our first HFH partners, George and Kathy Stewart. They welcomed us into their gorgeous hillside home that had 360-degree views of the hills and glaciers. We were so fortunate to have them cooking for us - dinner included barbecue chicken, pork ribs, and salmon... Potato salad, broccoli with bacon, and black bean and corn salad... and more.

Today (Monday) was our first day on the site. We were picking up again on the house that Kate's group had started. Among some of the accomplishments of today: we got to put up the last exterior wall and the first interior wall, despite some of the toughest wood to work with. No nail guns are used on the site, so we were building all of the walls and framing from scratch with sinkers. The rest of the HFH group we were introduced to today have the patience of saints with all of our bent nails, questions, and goof-ups.

We're on our way to dinners with three of the families that are receiving these homes, so I'll catch you up on more later.

Fact.

It is nearing 11PM here in Anchorage, and the sun is still up as if it were 7PM in Austin. The sun doesn't fully go down until 2am-ish. Crazy.

Day 3: Meeting the team and driving around Cook Inlet

I am standing here right now
Originally uploaded by Bendini

I'll tell you about the driving around a bit later (when I have more sleep behind me... The pic above will have to do.). First, I want to mention the team.

We got to put names to faces today. All of the team is now in Anchorage and staying at the church, which is very nice. The people are great so far - there is a good mix of the quirky, the silly and the more serious/quiet in the bunch. We all got to know each other over pizza, ping pong, and a bunch of card games round one large circular table. Brad and Lena, the hosts, are very nice and laid back people. I'm already seeing how teamwork is going to come naturally to this group, just by the way things have gone so far.
Our team is 16 people: Brad and Lena, Jenny and Emma (mom and daughter team), Yaz, Mary Claire, Laura, Jess, Kevin, Jono, Kailyn, Maureen, David, Ruth, Mary Kate, and me. I'm sure I'll be able to tell you more about them as I go along. Right now, I need some sleep. It's midnight here already (no, it's not fully dark yet) and we are all supposed to be up for breakfast at 7am. There is going to be quite a few more early mornings...

A diverse culture

I had a chance to speak with many people yesterday around town, over a meal, or waiting for fireworks. Anchorage itself is a diverse town with immigrants from all parts of the world. To give you a sampling of how many places I covered in one day through conversation, here's a list:

• Scotland


• U.K.


• Indiana


• Anchorage (born and raised)


• California


• Ukraine


• North Carolina


• Copper Bay, AK

Day 2: The Coastal Trail

Planes at Lake Hood, Anchorage, AK
Originally uploaded by Bendini

Wow, it's been a long day. I suppose I'm justified in saying that as it's nearly 1 in the morning and the sun still hasn't gone down completely.


To make matters worse, I was up at 5:15 this morning. Yes, 5:15. And if you can believe it, the sun was already coming up.

However, I took advantage of the extra hours this morning to plan out my trip for the next day and a half. The first stop today: Pancake breakfast at the Park Strip to benefit the veterans.

And thus began the journey.

Many people had given me tips on places to go and things to see before I left for this trip, and I originally wanted to rent a car to drive around for all days (my decision instead ended up being to rent a car for the last day to see Turnagain Arm, although it's really because the checkout time is at 10am, and I have no other place to store a 28lb. hiking bag). Instead, I decided to take another person's advice, rent a bike, and travel along the Coastal Trail.

The Coastal Trail is a 12-mile paved path that follows the coastline of Anchorage all the way down to Kincaid Park. The trail is lined with gorgeous ferns, evergreens, and wildflowers. It also includes a "planet path" that lets kids learn about each of the planets and their distance from the Sun, to scale (the Sun resides at the Anchorage Performing Arts Center downtown.)

The full ride to the end and back was 24 miles total, but there was an alternate route passing around Lake Hood (another 3 miles extra)... it was a pretty easy decision to take that instead. By the end of the ride, it ended up being one of the best rides I've taken... ever.

Not only could you ride freely without a ton of people to dodge, you could smell the rain in the air and have Mt. McKinley to your side. Aside from the portion that passed the airport, the ride was quiet and serene... it reminded me of what a ride might be like in a glorified Seattle setting, honestly.

One of the pit stops I was sure to make was Lake Hood to see the planes taking off of the water. One thing to note: they're a lot smaller than one might think. It's unbelievable how small the cockpits are in some of them!

The whole ride took about four and a half hours, but mostly because I was stopping along the way to take pics. What a great way to see the city.

In honor of July 4th...

Handoff of the Flag of Honor
Originally uploaded by Bendini

here is a picture of the Flag of Honor ceremony from yesterday. Happy Fourth of July!

Bears.

While hitching a ride to the hostel with three women who were from Dallas and Lancaster County, PA (go figure), I was informed that this morning, a woman was mauled by a large brown bear while riding her bicycle downtown. The fact that she was wearing her helmet saved her life because it kept the bear from crushing her skull.

This is going to make my two-block walk to the cafe tomorrow morning that much more interesting... :).

Austin airport, day one.

Holidays are always hit or miss in Austin-Bergstrom Airport. Either there's no one here, or there are enough people to catch you off-guard and leave you scrambling for the gate. Thankfully, this was not one of those days.

This time, as I made it past security in near-record time (considering I wore lace-up sneakers), I was quickly greeted with two rows of airport guards... and SWAT team members... and quite a few policemen and soldiers. They were flanking both sides of the walkway, facing each other and lightheartedly joking about random acquaintances they both knew. The drug-sniffing dog was further down, and as I drifted past the familiar scent of Schlotszky's and BBQ, the line kept on goin, for about 10 gates. Eventually, as I got closer to my gate, the line stopped with the Honor Guard standing attention at Gate 17.

I quickly found out after talking to a few cameramen and bystanders that the Flag of Honor was about to arrive here, in Austin, where it was to continue its tour through Lakeway and remain for their Fourth of July Celebration. (For those of you who aren't familiar with what the Flag of Honor is, it is the American flag that flew over the US Capitol building on September 11, 2001.)


Pictures to come soon... But it was quite interesting to see how many people traveling through the airport stopped to pay tribute to the flag and those who have fallen. We all stood for a good 20-30 minutes, waiting for it to arrive, and watched a sight not usually seen inside of airport walls.