Filmed in Panorama-vision

There is a panoramic picture of wet, drizzly Dillingham, Alaska taken from the impressive camera of my new iPhone 5. You cannot imagine how much I appreciate 50's and rain as opposed to the Iowa norm of 80s to 90s and 100% humidity without rain.

As the saying goes, you never have to pay for air conditioning as long as you live in Alaska. ;-)

I should mention that is Little Airport Road. It is called Little Airport Road for two reasons : it's not very big, and it used to be the airport runway for Dillingham back in the day. I wouldn't want to try it today, unless you had hella shock absorbers with about three feet of travel on the plane. Hell, I won't do more than 10 MPH on it in a car.

Pothole-O-Rama!

That brings up another thought. The Dillingham Police are really, really good at spotting drunk drivers. They have to be. They have had years of practice honing that skill by picking out the true drunks from the people swerving to avoid potholes in the road. After all, why fill potholes when nature is going to pack them with snow and ice in another month or so?

First Blizzard

So a real, true blizzard hit us on Monday. This is Friday evening and we are still digging out. Here's a few examples :

It's the first time I have seen a "no parking because of falling snow" sign, but as you can see from the snow almost reaching the sign, they aren't kidding. When it falls, it's not going to be a light dusting. It could be up to a ton of snow falling at once. There's no way to predict how much will fall.

Remember earlier when I said I had never seen it rain for days on end until I hit here? Well, it doesn't rain a whole lot at a time, but it rains and rains and rains in a gentle fashion. Truly, it's like a soft, drenching fog. Well, add in freezing temperatures, and 50-80 MPH winds, and suddenly it's like walking in a snow tornado.

There isn't a lot of snow falling in any one hour, but when you talk about a week's worth of hours you are suddenly talking about metric crap-tons of snow. See that third picture down? That's a shot from our apartment windowand the snow nearly makes it to the bottom of the window... which is about six feet off the ground. That's a lot of snow.

Let us know if you would like to have some, and we will see if we can ship it down your way.

Not More of this Crap!

See what I have to put up with EVERY. SINGLE. MORNING :

Am I a lucky S.O.B., or what?

Photo-Pa-Looza IV

The truck has been a real blessing, enabling us to explore more and newer frontiers. These pictures are a direct result of that freedom.

Think of this as the equivalent of Mad Creek, except it rises
and falls about 12 feet, twice a day. At low tide this is mostly
just mud. 

Ok, let this be proof we really are in Dillingham. :-)

Looking down on Dillingham (part of it) from the hills surrounding it.

Telephoto lenses are amazing tools. They let you take great
pictures from a respectful distance and keeps you out of harm's way.

I would say this is probably the last pay phone in America, except...

It's not a pay phone. It's just a regular phone. Go figure. 

Now that is a fishing boat. 

It's Raining Again

Ok, just so we have a common frame of reference here, let's assume there are quite a few levels to rain :

1. Ah! That's refreshing.
2. Whoops! Better grab the umbrella.
3. It's coming down cats and dogs!
4. It's too wet to walk a duck!
5. Pair 'em up, Noah, one more time!

So what is the rain like in Dillingham? Weird, that's what. It's unlike any rain I have ever been through in my life. See, when it starts raining here it doesn't stop for the better part of a day. No, not just the daylight hours - the entire 24 hour enchilada. But that's not the weird part. The weird part is that it is more soaking than any rain I have ever been in.

Ok, so when we get a thunderstorm in Iowa, the rain may come down hard 'n' heavy for maybe 1/2 hour, then it moves on. I have seen all-day rains, but those were few and far between. No, the difference here is this is the most gentle soaking rain I have ever experienced. It's deceptive. You look out, and you can see it's raining by looking at the puddles, but when you look across the parking lot, you can't see hardly a thing.

Then you step out in it.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Before you know what has hit you, you're soaked. It feels so light, so gentle and so refreshing but it is literally the soaking of a billion drops. I have never seen water so densely packed outside of a swimming pool. It's quite literally like walking into the softest wall of water you can imagine. Now I know why everyone here has a rain suit, and why the rain doesn't bother them : they are dry.

It also explains why everything is always so green and lush here. The flora and fauna get all the water they need when it rains! The best thing about the rain, however, is it keeps the No-See-Ums at bay, which are in season right now.