June 1: SETTLING IN TO BEAUTIFUL ALASKA

I finally have our flag on our campsite; just in time for Memorial Day. I considered myself fortunate to find one in the ONLY hardware store in Willow. You’ve seen these pictures before. But it’s here because of what happened on the night before Memorial Day; Sunday night about 10 p.m. That’s when a 15 yr. old fell down a short water-falls; perhaps 5-10 feet. He somehow injured his leg and or hip and couldn’t

walk out (he, some friends and his mother -a nurse- were all hiking about 3 miles in the “back country”). Our friend, Wayne, a fellow camp host (above) walked in to the incident location (hurrying and sounding out of breath on the radio….because he had no idea at that time how seriously injured the kid was). He assessed the situation; communicating with rangers, EMT’s, etc. and helped develop a plan to back board him, float him across Byer’s Lake (someone had to get a motor and gas for a boat there) and have him

evacuated by ambulance at that point. Another host, Warren, was also participating in this rescue. Hearing the communication going back and forth for hours was riveting….better than watching “Cops” or “ER”….it was our own “Warren and Wayne Show”. Good thing it was light all of that time. Made things easier. Finally turned off the radio and went to bed. We hear that the "drama" lasted until about 3 a.m.

Interesting photo of just what is going through every Alaskan’s mind….getting ready for King Salmon season. This is a REALLY BIG DEAL here. You can only catch one a day; and only 5 per year. These folks are so geared up for this that they haul freezers down to the campground; use generators to keep them going and freeze there fish right away. The King can be as big as 70-80 pounds, but average 30-50 pounds. THAT'S BIG! These salmon feed many folks all winter. We’re hoping to catch some and can them to bring home. Here a lot of people actually can them in tin cans. I don’t really want to mess with that. Just going to buy some canning jars.

I thought these roots were interesting to look at. They are on the bank of Willow Creek, and the dirt has been eroded over the years from flooding, etc. Just an interesting shot…in my little mind, anyway.

Hi-tec fun from the wilderness…Several times a day Chris has to take time out to play “Words with Friends” on my I-phone. It’s a type of scrabble that you can play with another person. He keeps trying to play a game with me, but I don’t think that’s fun if the other person is right here. Here is is playing with Julio. Julio seems to be an expert at this game because he always “skunks” Chris…really slaughters him.

Chris kind of made this work for himself. On our walking tours through the camp when many people were not here, he noticed about 2 dozen of the 113 picnic tables had boards that were in bad condition, rotting, etc. He took it on himself to start replacing boards.

The maintenance yard had boards kept from tables that otherwise had to be pitched. Presto change-o. Chris was busy for a couple of days; not quite done yet; waiting until the people were gone to do the rest. The rangers were very appreciative of him doing this cuz it needed to be done.

This is how things looked over Memorial Day; we were only ½ full. I hear that this is only a shadow of the hectic crowd that will be packing this place during King Season.

Another tidbit. You may know that restaurants always have to have restrooms…at least in the “lower 48”. This is Alaska….things are different. (or so we are told or realize quite often) In my now favorite eating establishment in Willow (one of the only two in the whole town), inquiring about a restroom, I was told that there was an outhouse out back! OOOOOKAAAY…..This is Alaska…..

Until we "connect" again...