Fall is hanging on by its fingernails. The birch trees have lost their gold, the fireweed has long since fluffed out and turned scarlet, and it’s getting dark at reasonable times. Tonight the temperature is supposed to drop into the teens. The cranes have left and the aurora has returned. All around Fairbanks the foodtrucks are shuttered. The first tentative snow has fallen and the first frazzle ice has appeared in the river. The long dark of winter is nearly upon us.
You’d think I’d be ready for things to slow down. We’ve been running from one thing to another since May; the last several months feel like a lifetime. Still, I’d like to catch up on the summer adventures before I fall any further behind, so I’ll steal some time while everyone else is sleeping and making better lifestyle decisions.
I’ve already covered our trip to Seward, our anniversary hike, and our adventure up the Dalton in other posts, so we’ll skip those and start with Trek. For those of you who aren’t aware, every couple of years local divisions of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints reenact the crossing of the plains to help young men and women understand their pioneer ancestors. This means a bunch of teens 14 and up are stripped of their cellphones and showers, assigned to large “families” with an adult Ma and Pa for three days of bonnets and Dutch-oven meals and long miles pulling heavy handcarts. The only thing missing from the experience is dysentery...but Bren had them covered.
Bren had a great time. She apparently was up early every day and relatively cheerful, even during the hailstorm that pelted them the first day. And, yes, she did give several people dysentery as well as typhoid and various other ailments, the little plague-rat.
Next came Girls’ Camp, which is a week long summer camp that our church puts on every year. Leah and Bren both got to go this year. Leah had been counting down for months and packed a week early, so it was a relief to get her out the door. Originally, I had been drafted to drive all of the girls down since I happen to own a bus. When I dutifully pulled up at 6 a.m., I was informed that I wasn’t necessary and turned loose. The wonderful woman who had taken my kids for the day refused to give them back early, so I puttered around and did Carla things. I wish I could remember what they were. Anyway, the girls had a fantastic time and came home sun-browned and bubbling over with stories to share. They had shot bows and .22 rifles, done a ropes course and lots of canoeing and swimming. One of them holds the dubious honor of being yelled at the most by the lifeguards. Leah’s already counting down to next year.
There were several small adventures. We went to the lake with friends for a lovely morning of kayaks, swimming, and water-bikes, followed by a miserable afternoon of swimmer's itch. For them, anyway.
Jane also had an adventure with a pocket knife that ended with five stitches and proof that, even with the blond hair and blue eyes, she's Rick's daughter.
The solstice is always a great time of year. We did the yearly float early this year because of some scheduling conflicts. It was gorgeous. We ditched the Midnight Sun Festival this year since we’ve gone the last two, but we still had cookies and stayed up late to mark the occasion. Of course, after the longest day of the year, it’s crazy how quickly the darkness seems to come back. Gaining 7 minutes a day doesn’t seem like much, but it adds up faster than you think and all of a sudden it’s getting dark at 9 pm instead of after midnight.
I don't have many pictures, but this is the second year we went to the preliminary rounds of the World Eskimo Indian Olympics. This is an event where competitors participate in native Alaskan tribal sports meant to show strength, agility, endurance, and ability to tolerate pain. This year we watched the ear weight--16 pounds of weights on a piece of twine that is laid on the floor. The competitor loops the twine over their ear and slowly stands, lifting the weight from the ground; if they successfully stand without dropping the weight (and it's harder than it looks), they walk as far as they can around a set track before the weight drops or they quit to save their ear. It's seriously impressive. If you ever get the chance, I recommend you go watch the games, eat some frybread, and look at the authentic crafts. For the curious, go visit https://www.weio.org
A lot of the summer has been darkened by the wildfires. Multiple fires have been burning around the state all summer, and several of them were around Fairbanks so whichever way the wind turned we were smoked in. Several days were so bad that we couldn’t open windows or go outside. Not that something as trivial as hazardous air quality kept Rick from reseeding our lawn or cultivating the woods behind our house. He removed deadfall and made several hugelkultures from the fallen trees. He really found his happy place working in the yard and at the church. Yardwork apparently runs in the Bushman blood.
Watching the annual summer production by our local Shakespeare troupe has become a tradition. This year it was Macbeth, and the three oldest girls came with us. It was really well done, set in a post-apocalyptic setting with lots of blood. I wish I had pictures but copyright laws interfered. The kids really enjoyed it, though, and it really sparked their interest in the Bard.
Rick and I had our last miscalculated adventure on the river. It’s a thing up here to kayak down to one of the restaurants on the river, and I have wanted to do the thing for the last couple of years. We finally pawned off the kids on our long-suffering friends, borrowed our friends’ sit-on double kayak (one of the kind affectionately known as a “Divorce-maker”) and set off down the Chena. A series of miscalculations made this memorable: First, I wasn’t sure how many miles we’d be going. For some reason, it’s challenging to find tables of river distances. Second, the river has been low and sloooooow all summer due to low precipitation, but because no one has air conditioning up here everyone goes to the river when it gets over 70 degrees, which can make for traffic jams. Third, we’re old enough now that adequate back-support is a critical factor in how fun an activity is. A long story shortened, we spent about three hours on a crowded, slow river actively paddling about 8 miles and Rick’s back seized up after the first hour. Getting to the Pumphouse and hauling that kayak to the truck was one of the highlights of the trip. At least I got to check something off my list and got fed afterwards.
During her annual visit, my mother and I took a morning out to Chena Hot Springs to see their ice museum and soak in the hot springs. It was pleasant, as always, and the 20-degree museum sets one up nicely for the springs. That being said, if you ever want to see ice sculptures, just come in February and go to the outdoor parks.
The rains finally came and made up for lost time by breaking several daily accumulation records and flooding the rivers nearly. Between the rainy days, we took every opportunity to enjoy the remaining days of t-shirt weather. We hit the botanical gardens, Creamer’s Field, the Farmer’s Market, and Pioneer Park. Somewhere in the mix Rick and I managed a few dates, including a night out at an escape room--which our group totally escaped. There were plenty of popsicles and books in the hammock and running amuck with friends. It was glorious.
One of my very favorite trees. I love the silver and purple.
This is a homemade camper shell expansion I saw in the Walmart parking lot and just wanted to share with you all. I love Alaskans.
We ended our fall with one last trip to Anchorage to visit the temple. It’s always a beautiful drive, even though this trip was sobering since the burn scar from the summer fire in Willow was still so fresh. There are dozens of signs thanking the fire crews that worked so hard to save structures. The rest of the trip was good. The temple was lovely. We also visited the Anchorage Museum, which had a great section for kids to get hands-on with various geologic, marine, and physical science displays. The ocean tank, air current, and bubble exhibits were strong favorites. Of course we ate all the delicious things and made a brief excursion to the first floor of the mall.
The Anchorage Museum not only had some amazing interactive physical science exhibits, but also participates in the Piano Project, which hosts pianos in public spaces for everyone to enjoy.
There’s more, I’m sure—a thousand small memories and moments lost in the chaos of time, but there isn’t time to mourn. We are now firmly in our pre-winter hibernation period, where we are focusing on school and recuperating from our busy summer. Rick has left on an extended mandatory vacation, and we’ve been working on building our own schedule that isn’t regulated by his comings and goings. I’ve had to get a calendar to keep track of what day it is. Luckily I have some mostly good kids and a exemplary group of people around me. That really makes all the difference.
