My family is here!!!! I know that I have been counting down to this visit for awhile. My family visiting me has been a major event for me to look forward to for months. Now that they are here, along with one of my best friends, Alexandra, I have been crazy busy entertaining, giving tours, exploring, driving to villages, eating, playing games, and just enjoying fellowship with my parents, two sisters, Emily and Kathryn, and my friend Alexandra. All this, while still juggling work responsibilities that weren’t conducive to finishing ahead of time! To say that I am extremely, blissfully happy right now would probably be an understatement!
My family arrived last week just in time for Nome’s Midnight Sun Folk Fest, which included several performances by The Caleb Klauder Country Band, a parade, a craft fair, and a bank robbery reenactment, all of which we thoroughly enjoyed! On Sunday, we drove down to Council, six of us in a tiny two door jeep. It was a rainy day, and the trip took about three and a half hours one way, and two hours on the way back. We saw a whole bunch of musk oxen right beside the road.
Wednesday we drove up to the village of Teller, where my family and Alexandra (who is practically family by now!) helped me recruit people to participate in my third Village Detour, which will air the first weekend in August. For the trip to Teller, we were a whole lot more comfortable with the six of us packing into the larger station vehicle, and had great sunny warmish weather to enjoy the 71 mile each way drive in. We saw a lot of wildlife, including muskoxen, bald eagles, a fox, and a still-to-be-decided-what-kind bird of prey! Thursday we took a tour around Nome with local man of all entertainments Richard Benneville, and were able to pan a little bit of gold, (my baby sister was especially enthused about this! I think she thinks we are rich now because of the tiny flakes of gold we found! LOL!!) Today is my 23rd birthday, and it is so nice having my family and friends with me today! They leave on Monday night, which is way too soon (I mean they just got here!) However, while they are still here I will enjoy them, and get caught up on rest and sleep after their plane leaves! And I still have the glorious Alaskan summer to enjoy before I head back to PA myself!
