Bear!

On Thursday night at 5:30pm, I got a call from the dorm principal wanting to know if I could go to Yakutat as a chaperon for the cross country team.  I definitely wanted to do that!  I had to rearrange my schedule for the next day and Jonathan and Jeremy helped me out with that.  We were leaving the next day at 6am so we had to be at the airport at 4:30am.  That is ridiculously early and pretty much not ok with me.  YUCK.  We left from Sitka and flew to Juneau where we flew to Anchorage for a 6 hour layover then on to Cordova and then finally arriving in Yakutat around 6:30pm Friday night.

Mt. Fairweather

Outside of school building

There is no cell coverage at all in the town of Yakutat or perhaps village might be a better definition.  We are staying in the school here, the girls in one classroom and the boys in another.  That is how all the schools are working it.  I was unaware of the accommodations, so I was woefully unprepared.  I assumed that we were staying in a hotel because that is what they usually do, but not this time.  It was pretty funny.  I was not sure what to do I had no pillow, not sleeping bag, no blanket, no shampoo, no towel (because I thought I would use the hotels.  Oops).  It reminded me of dad's story of arriving at Notre Dame and unprepared- I'm here.  Yeah, that's me.  I'm here!  One of the girls noticed my lack of stuff and offered me one of her blankets so I wasn't freezing to death last night.  That was not the most pleasant night I have ever sent trying to sleep, but it wasn't terrible either.  I used my backpack as a pillow (it is cushioned on the back) and my sweatshirt as a pillowcase.  It was pretty funny.  The whole time I just kept thinking, of course this would happen to me!  It definitely seems like something I would accidentally do.

Friday night, we got in around 6:30ish and they said that they weren't making dinner that night, but would make breakfast and dinner today as well as brunch on Sunday.  So the coach went to the store and got a big thing of spaghetti and sauce and we made spaghetti in the home ec room.  Saturday was the cross country race.  That was way more fun than I thought it would be.  In the morning, after breakfast, we went to the course and they talked about it, ran some of it and plotted strategies.  Afterwards, we came back before the girls race, which was a 2pm and the guys’ race was at 2:45, and most of the girls napped.

 I read some of the book, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer about that man who died in Alaska, gave up his money and left.  I just finished that book, it was really good.  I don't usually like biographies, but I may be forced to change my tune, it was an extremely interesting book with an intriguing approach to the subject of Chris McCandless.

Date on the tank reads 1945

Random tank on the beach.  Totally normal

Anyway, the race was pretty fun, more fun than I had anticipated.  We cheered them on and took pictures.  It was really beautiful out today, blue skies and no rain.  After the race, we drove around a little bit and took team photos in different locations with the ridiculous scenery in the background.  Alaska is so beautiful; I can see why it draws people.  There is a beach in town that is frequented by surfers, so we went to that also for a little bit.  It was a sandy beach, which, apparently, is unusual for Alaska.  There were pieces of drift wood on the beach that were bigger than some trees from back home.  It was amazing!  There was also this old rusty tank by the beach, it had an open back so I guess it was for hauling people, dad would probably know.  There was also this old canon right on the beach.  Pretty cool.  So, we got back from the beach and the team went to take showers before dinner.  After dinner, I went to wash my hair (with borrowed shampoo that is supposed to bring out my blonde highlights) and I noticed that my face was a little red.  Who gets sunburned in Alaska?   I mean, I know that it was sunny out, but come on.  I'm in Alaska.  I should not be getting sunburned in Alaska.  Ridiculous.  Seriously.  There has to be a limit to my whiteness.  So, now I have a sunburn which is stupid.  I didn't even consider sunscreen.  I'm not sure if I have any in Sitka and I think the only store in Yakutat doesn't cater to people who suffer from and extremely European heritage.  I'll be the only sunburned person in Sitka on Monday.  I just know that Laura and Jonathan are going to give me trouble.

Yakutat beach and driftwood longer than my car

 Nevertheless, I am having a great time, the girls are all really sweet, there are 7 of them, and this town is so beautiful.  Yakutat has not had a cross country meet here before, so this was history in the making and this was perhaps the first MEHS team to ever compete in Yakutat.  There are two planes a day, one going north in the morning and one going south in the evening, so our flight leaves at 6 pm Sunday.  I know that sounds like Sitka, but it isn't.  Sitka has more going on at that little airport than Yakutat ever dreamed of.  We disembarked on a flight of stairs, which I was quite please about because I hadn't done that before and it was interesting.  Tomorrow we'll leave from the one small, and I do mean small, airport building and walk up another flight of stairs to return to Sitka.

 On Sunday, we had brunch at the school.  They have been so nice and accommodating to us and all the other schools.  Friday night, there were several schools staying there- Craig, Skagway, Sitka High and Mt. Edgecumbe (go Braves!).  Also, on Saturday morning several teams flew in for the race- two schools from Juneau and one other one I think.  However, most of the students left on the Saturday night flight so on Saturday night and Sunday there was only MEHS and Sitka High left at the school in Yakutat.  After brunch, we decided to go back to the beach because it was yet another beautiful day in Southeast Alaska!

 On our way there the coach drove through the village dump, because when he was in Yakutat 15 years earlier they would come to the dump to see bears.  So, we turned into the dump, which really seems to be a largish area that has been cleared of trees and there are several different sections of pits with trash in them.  We turned slowly and alas, no bears.  But then, one of the students spotted the head of a bear!  So, what did we do?  We parked and the coach told all of us to get out of the van.  Now, here we are outside the van, at the dump in Yakutat taking pictures of a bear.  A really, really big bear.  It was a brown bear.  The coach said that if they are on the coast they are called brown bears, but if they are inland then they are called grizzly bears- but they are the same.  Bears are large.  It was pretty amazing to see this bear just hanging out in Yakutat.  Now I’ve seen a brown bear, a sea lion, some killer whales, a seal and several bald eagles- so cool!

Run away!

 At the beach, a lot of the kids got in the water and some of the Sitka High students had bought little boogie boards and they were playing with those and let some of the MEHS kids use them.  I rolled up my pants and walked in the water, but there was no way you were getting me in it.  It was cold.  Which, of course it is in Alaska, but still quite chilly.  It was a blast though!  I walked down the beach a little bit trying to get the mountains in a picture.  It was such a beautiful sight, there was this long rolling beach and then snow covered mountains in the backdrop.  Really extraordinary.  We spent a few hours at the beach and then went back to the school so the kids could pack and shower before the plane.

Dang! It got me

The coach and I decided to take turns driving one group of the kids to the airport because there was no way we were all going to fit in there with all the luggage that these kids (wisely) brought.  He took the first group, the girls, (because my ladies were ready before the boys- HA!) while the gentlemen and I reheated the spaghetti dinner from the other night so that we could eat before the plane.  Really the boys did everything, the coach said that I should make them do it and so they made it all.  They did a really good job, they did, however, manage to get spaghetti sauce on just about every surface of the room with the exception of the ceiling.  After wee had eaten, the ladies arrived back from checking their luggage and I took the gentlemen to the airport to check their bags.  They are a funny group.  Finally, we were all together at the airport and going through security.  Once through security you sit in a little room that is part of the larger room, only it is walled off in glass.  A tiny glass room.

View (through chain-link) from outside the Yakutat airport.  That's the runway and then wilderness. Ah, Alaska

We had to stop in Juneau and then we were finally back arriving around 11pm.  That was such an amazing trip!