nome from day 2!! Kougarok road

 the start of the longest day of the year, solstice june 21st, 2013!! after breakfast i headed to drive the kougarok road.  it's the middle road. it was a bit confusing as this is the local name for the road that is officially known as the nome-taylor highway.  it never really makes it out to taylor unless you have a 4 wheeler and are willing to drive those last miles on smallish, bumpy roads i guess.  i never made it back to the stopping point.  it was going uphill and the road was already becoming more rough in patches that got larger and larger.  i was good, had seen some incredible scenery
this is an old bus i saw as i was just starting to head out of nome.  so this old bus isn't like "the bus" from into the wild that i hear more people had to be rescued from again this past week.  no rescues required from this bus...it's right in town.

 the pictures will be mixed up a bit...just how it is since i'm a mixed up sort of girl anyway.  above is the sight i saw anytime i drove back and forth in town.  the various dredge operations out on the water trying to get their gold.

 never made it inside the fancy new hospital in nome. just opened within the past year.  looked pretty sweet.

 old buildings no matter which direction you head.  the most was on the council road though.

 some kind of ducks.

 it actually rained a wee bit, lightly, those first few miles...okay more like it sprinkled a bit.   will be lots more wildflowers

 salmon lake in the distance.  it gets more and more beautiful the further back you go.

 there is a campground out there.  the road was getting sketchy so i turned around rather than get stuck out there.

 beautiful lake though and surprising how much ice was still out there.

 the road goes through the kigluaik range of mountains.  beautiful.  i think i really just had no idea that there were mountains over here.  i know, i'm an idiot.  no idea why i figured the rest of alaska up north would be so flat.

 another lovely camp site.  looks like it's been there for decades, frozen in time.

 a friend messaged me with another possible trip.  it's one i've wanted to go on but would be spendy.  will have to start by seeing if i can change days i work that week to accomadate it. then see how much crazy money i will have to spend.  they are offering a deal that may be too sweet to pass up!!  i love polar bears and we all visited the polar bears of canada together years ago. could be totally cool! the hotel will be even more spendy than nome and even less nice.  texting with another friend about it and she was looking it up.  there are actual toilets and sinks there so that sounds like the ritz compared to what it could be.  hmm....life is too short to pass up amazing opportunities.

 sledge island in the distance.  it's 7 miles off the coast.  i got lucky and saw it several times.  never saw king island which i guess can be seen at times as well.

 sledge island later from a beach walk. took a few beach walks this day.  one was more in town, which i found beach glass and then later i headed out council road to beach comb at midnight...just to say i did.

 work is done for a few days.  i survived night one with rio  but the next night rio let loose in the house.  there was a little note from the kid next door saying a dog had an accident.  he, thankfully, picked up the bulk of it, but there were some walls that needed cleaning. days like that you wish you owned a pomeranian or chihuahua.  haha.

 she seems to be good now.  eating real dog food again.  today i have been totally lazy.  no walk.  been cloudy the last few days so cooler and i've enjoyed the cool down.  there are loads of fires up north so the whole state could use a bit of rain.

 more dredge activities. i also saw folks on the beach digging in sand and going through it looking for gold.  guess they don't have the money for a boat?  or maybe it's like beach combing and is just kind of a relaxing hobby...that sometimes brings in cash.

 i drove around town a bit later in the day.  i took full advantage of the light and great weather.

 there was a hill near the cemetary with loads of dogs and kennels.

 berkowitz, the musher whose dog attacked that kid, is still waiting to see the fate of his dog wizard.  due to the severity of the attack it was decided the dog should probably be put down.  that or the dog will have to live out it's like in a totally enclosed cage.  not sure. anyway, it sounds like he's trying to just get the animal control department to allow him to take the dog to his regular vet to be put to sleep.  it's all pretty sad.  lots of blame going around on both sides of the issue.  what was the mother doing having kids running around a kennel of dogs?  who is responsible? should the dog be put down?  there are no winners in these situations.  i feel badly for all involved.  have no idea really what was up with that dog, that day.  i tend to lean toward putting a dog to sleep if it's prone to an attack like this.  plenty of dogs out there who are sweet and in need of good homes. rather give one of those a chance.

 probably wasn't the smartest thing having kids running around in a kennel though.  not horrible parenting, just  not a great idea.  sometimes shit just happens and nobody really is responsible or needs to be made responsible.  it's too bad our society can't just accept that accidents happen, that we can't control all that happens in this big world we live in.  dogs are dogs and sometimes no matter how much you train them, they will behave like dogs can.

 always love seeing communities attempt to harvest wind or find other ways besides petro to get energy...especially in these more remote areas.

 the crab pots were out by the dog kennels.

 cute puppies!!

 i also drove out the teller road just like 15 miles as it was pretty and i wanted to check out "house rock" in the nice weather, just in case it was never nice again.  cool rock formation.

 there are supposedly these reindeer herds out there.  this is an old corral not used anymore.  caribou are the same basically as reindeer, the reindeer are just captive or owned i guess. caribou are just the wild sort....at least that is the way i understand it.  never saw either in my various drives around and about nome.  just reading this...they are different. reindeer and caribou are both in the deer family.  reindeer are semi-domestic...i always see myself as semi-domestic as well. haha. the reindeer were originally brought over from siberia.

 man i was busy that day.  these are out at the local harbor.  always love a harbor and i always try to get a boat with the community that i am in's name on it.  i did get one eventually, but this is a boat out of unalakleet.

 there are different names for stuff that from a distance looks the same as it would in the lower 48.  tundra ponds/meadows. the clumps of grass are called tussocks. they do look quite walkable in the distance, but they are these uneven clumps often with water or wetness between tussocks.  very spongy and very mosquito friendly.  higher up on the mountains you have dwarf tundra.  much drier, tiny flowers . whatever can grow on top of the permafrost in the winds and other weather changes.

 above is a building by the docks, below was on the drive back to the hotel from beach at maybe 1am.

 just liked the light and the reflections

 random bird house out there.

 more dusk reflections

 gas was a bit spendy out there.

 fishing....5 species of salmon, it can be confusing as they can be called different things.
CHINOOK-  also called king, tyee or blackmouth.  i've only heard chinook or king though
CHUM- dog fish, keta or calico.
SOCKEYES- can be called reds
COHOS- silver
PINKS-humpies

 more houses in town.

 me on the higher altitude tundra.

 i lingered several times out on the tundra taking photos of flowers and stuff. there as so many and by walking a few feet you can run into several more you may have missed if you didn't walk a bit.

 was a bit stressed at work one morning when i discovered stuff that wasn't being done that was pretty basic.   the patients condition improved after i helped out and it didn't change the ultimate outcome, but still sad and frustrating to see that new nurses can often be left without someone to give them guidance.  felt badly for the nurse, but have to remind myself that it is also the new nurses responsibility to ask questions sooner than later if something isn't familiar to them.  i'm still a bit sick over it.

 there is a big difference between working in the icu level of nursing and working on the floor.  i don't in any way want to belittle floor nurses, it's just that there is a different expectation when you work in an icu.  you have to learn to think at a different level. you have a different level of responsibility.  it can be hard to transition and learn what your new role is exactly.   your nurse and the training of that nurse can make a huge difference in your outcome or the outcome of a loved one.

 loved all these purple flowers with the scenery.  so pretty!!

 another self portrait out at  salmon lake.

 i suppose i could have done a cheaper trip by camping out here or on the beaches if i had gotten pre-permitted to do so.

 just some shots from the road.  the skies opened up, the sprinkles stopped and it was really quite beautiful.  i really had great weather out there.

 don't think i'll be up too late tonight.  may pop a movie in and chill.

 this week was adults, pediatrics and then back to adults...all in the icu's.  my last night i kept fairly steady..got a patient at 3am from the rapid response team.  helped get her all lined up, intubated and off to surgery. the docs are great there. the daughter of the patient was a bit of a nut...mostly i think she was frustrated and freaked out.  poor ciji got the bulk of it. i ran into the family on the way out this morning and they kept thanking me and giving me hugs and apologizing for the behaviour that got taken out on ciji, one of my co-workers.  my co-workers were totally great and helped out tons...so cool of them!

 tomorrow will probably be more flowers!  maybe i'll even bring my wildflower book down and see if i can identify any.

well, i guess i shall go! enjoy your day.