The wedding of Rainey and B-III, part 1: getting there - I almost miss my flight; smiles, laughter and good food abound

I almost missed the wedding. At 3:23 AM on May 31, shortly after I arrived home in Wasilla from Arizona, I put up a post in which I noted that a spider had just bitten me and that I planned to go to bed for four hours, then get up, go pick up some distressed kitty cats, take care of some tasks, and afterward drive to Anchorage to catch a 1:00 PM Alaska Airlines flight that would begin my trip north, to Anaktuvuk Pass.

I arose at 7:40 and sat down at my computer at 7:50 to check my emails. I then decided to double-check my flight itinerary, just to be safe.

I opened it and damn near suffered a heart-attack. My Alaska Airlines flight out of Anchorage was scheduled not for 1:00 PM, but for 10:15 AM. It was my Wright Air flight out of Fairbanks to Anaktuvuk that was scheduled for 1:00 PM.

I dropped everything, grabbed my suitcase, still fully packed from Arizona, jumped into the car, made a quick stop at the place where the kitties were, gave them a pat on the head and told them not to worry, that Caleb would pick them up later in the day and then I would see them in just a couple of days more.

I then dashed off to Anchorage. I checked in for my 10:15 flight at exactly 9:15 - pretty much the last minute, if you have luggage.

Here I am, sitting in my seat, looking out the window at Denali, enroute to Fairbanks. Given the cloud cover, tourists down on the ground would not be able to see our great mountain.

I caught a cab from the main terminal at Fairbanks International to Wright Air on the other side of the airport and it cost $20. The driver turned out to be James Albert, the little brother of my friend, Rose Albert.

At 1:00 PM, I boarded the Wright Air flight along with half-a-dozen other passengers - everyone of whom was on their way to the wedding.

Those seen here in front of me as they pay rapt attention to the pilot's preflight briefing include Rainey's friends, Beth Marino, Joe Hickman and Neva Hickman.

I was kind of wishing that I had been the first passenger to board, so that I could have taken the right-hand seat. That way, if the pilot passed out or something, I could have flown the plane.

I really wanted to fly the plane.

I thought about asking, but then the pilot would have told me, "no!"

I would have felt silly and embarrassed.

Payuk Nay, cousin to B-III, was ready with his in-flight Wonder Classic White Sandwich Bread.

Soon, Payuk pulled out his harmonica and provided us with some in-flight entertainment. Elvira Gueco of Barrow grins from the next seat.

Beth Marino, a friend of Rainey's from college, looks out the window at what little she can see of Alaska's great interior.

She couldn't see much, because many wildfires were burning. As we flew north, it only got worse - so bad that we could not see the ground, not even the Yukon River.

After about an hour-and-a-half, the pilot flew into the pattern in preparation to land at the AKP airport.

The pilot brings us down on final.

After the wedding guests exit the airplane, Rainey hugs her friend, Beth Marino

Elvira Gueco gives an enthusiastic hug to the groom to be, Ben Hopson, III, who also goes by "B-3" and "B-III," both of which are pronounced exactly the same. Elvira is originally from the Philippines, but lives in Barrow now. She and her husband Ralph have befriended many Iñupiat. She is well-known for her cooking skills and would bring a touch of Asian to the wedding feast.

I should know the name of this little character welcoming Payuk home, but you know, my brain gets older every day.

The groom to be - B-III.

Just like Payuk, we all caught rides to our destinations in eight-wheeled Argos, the main form of summer transportation in Anaktuvuk Pass and countryside. 

The road system in Anaktuvuk Pass is pretty short - to the north, it reaches for approximately two to three miles to the dump and to the south it follows the runway and ends maybe a bit more than a mile from the village.

Even so, on a windy, 50 below day, a ride in a car, even just for a few blocks, is welcome.

Soon, I enter the house of Rainey and B-III, where I will spend my two nights in Anaktuvuk. That's Rainey's younger sister, Angela, to the right. Angela works out of Anchorage for the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation and used her frequent flyer miles to get me to Anaktuvuk. Thank you, Angela!

The fellow standing in the background is Rainey's brother, Sonny. Altough she occupies but a tiny spot at the left side of the screen, Casey Nay had done and would do a great deal of work and cooking to help make this wedding a success.

Payuk stirs come caribou stew. Soon, I would have a bowl. Superb, par excellence, exquisite. Not even in the finest restaurants of New York City can one find cuisine such as this.

Some readers may think that I exaggerate, but I don't.

No food is better than natural, wild, food, prepared right - and this was prepared right.

At this wedding, there would be no fancy, multi-tiered skyscraper cake with a plastic bride and groom standing in the frosting at the top. Instead, there would be wild salmonberry cakes, with salmonberry glaze, being made here by Sonny and Angela.

Even with all this cooking going on, there were war games to be played.

Rainey got out a pile of my old Uiñiq magazines to show me. The one on top is an issue I did in 1991 on Point Hope, the village where she was born and raised. Both she and B-3 were living in Barrow six years ago, when Rainey found herself pursued by many suitors.

One day, B-3 showed up at her house with two caribou that he had just shot. Then he took her for a snowmachine ride on the tundra. It was no contest after that. B-III was her man.

A year ago, they moved here to Anaktuvuk Pass, B-3's home village.

I should have used this picture in yesterday's post, when I explained what I see as the rather amazing connections that have brought Rainey, Dustinn and the family of Vincent Craig and myself all together as friends.

Just before 5:00 PM, we all left to walk to the cemetery to take part in the village Memorial Day service and feast.

Please do not suspect that I exaggerate the happiness that everyone felt this day. This is how it truly was. Smiles and laughter abounded. I saw no one get angry, I saw not one scowl nor sour face.

Life is not always this good, anywhere, but today, here in Anaktuvuk Pass, it was.

It would be tomorrow as well - despite the fact that Mother Nature would not exactly cooperate with the original wedding plan.

Later that evening - the two sisters, Rainey and Angela.

The wedding of Nasuġraq Rainey Higbee to B-III would take place the next day. If all goes according to my plan, readers can view that wedding tomorrow, right here.

Cora Ann, her Aapa Max and a cat named Siqñiq

This is baby Cora Ann, sleeping soundly on a love seat in the home of her Aapa Max Akpik and Aaka Cora Akpik in Wainwright. Aapa and aaka = grandfather and grandmother. The hand that rests so reassuringly upon her little leg belongs to her Aapa Max.

Here they are - Cora Ann and Aapa Max. 

But where is Siqniq? Siqñiq the cat?

Well, I needed to take a little break from this blog to give Grahamn Kracker a chance to put a post on his and he wanted Siqñiq all to himself. You can find his post here:

No Cats Allowed - The Kracker Cat Blog.

And if by chance you have come upon this post at a later time and you go there and find the site but cannot find Siqñiq, then here is the direct link:

Siqñiq - with her around, the Arctic is always a sunny, warm, place