WEIO!

   This week Fairbanks hosted the World Eskimo Indian Olympics (WEIO).  I had no idea what to expect however when I read that games consist of events like the ear pull, high kick, fish cutting contest, greased pull walk, seal skinning contest, and greased neck pull I quickly realized that this is an event that I probably should check out.  I went on both Thursday and Friday and was able to witness the high kick contest, the ear pull, and that native baby regalia.

First, the high kick contest, not the traditional high kicking that I thought of (and have witnessed Pete and his friends do at bars). This is essentially a modified yoga pose where they have to kick a ball in the air without falling.  Each round the ball is raised higher and the winner this year kicked a ball that was over 8ft in the air!

Valdez

   Now that I am officially done with all of my traveling to the lower 48 for the rest of the summer I can focus on having more 'Northern Exposures' and make more blog entries.  While my vacations were much needed and a nice break from the remoteness of Fairbanks, I am ready to enjoy the rest of the summer in Alaska.
    So, I decided  that I would drive south to Valdez and do some exploring and I can now say that Valdez is my favorite place in Alaska so far.  These are some of the views during the seven hour drive:

This is a Mom and her baby moose!

There isn't much to the town itself in terms of shopping or eating but the scenery is incredible and I was able to check out some of the Alaskan wildlife.  Currently salmon fishing is the thing to do in Alaska, these crazy fish swim upstream ridiculously fast currents in order to spawn.  I was well aware that this is what salmon do but I had no clue just how strong the currents are.  By the time that I saw the fish a lot of them were bloody and pretty mutilated but they were still working on getting upstream.  I can now say that salmon are my new favorite fish, what hard workers they are!

It might be hard to see the fish in this picture but there were literally thousands of them, so many that you could literally just put your hand in the water and grab one if you were so inclined (since Pete is the one in the family responsible for cleaning the fish I decided to leave the fish alone and wait until next summer to stock up on salmon...).  There is a limit that you can only catch six salmon per person, per day.  These poor fish work so hard to swim and then there are people that just snatch them up.  Humans aren't the only things they have to worry about, because there are so many salmon the bears don't have to work very hard to get their food either:

The harbor in Valdez is beautiful as well, this is definitely a fishing town with tons of boats and I can't wait for next summer to finally get out on the water and take in the views from the water

  This was our first solo camping trip (Gatsby and I) and I would say it was a success!  It was nice to get out of Fairbanks and explore a little and start planning all of the things that I want to do when Pete gets home next summer.  I have decided that this is going to be the year of scenic pictures and pictures of Gatsby since most of the things that I have been doing I have been solo and don't have a way to actually be in any of the pictures (this isn't a poor me comment, it is more of a 'I can't wait for Pete to get home so I can have someone to take pictures of again' comment).  Alaska in the summer is incredible and you really can't beat the scenery, the temperature, and the atmosphere.  My goal is to make Alaska sound so incredible so that next year we will have lots of visitors!  I mean who doesn't want to see a bear eating salmon?

Today I miss having you to go camping with, people look at me like I am completely insane when I say that I am going camping solo....also you are the planner/packer and you definitely would have remembered the aerobed!