If you live in Point Lay, Anchorage is like a mad rush; hoar-frost at 65 mph (maybe just a little bit faster than that); Kalib begins the day at the end

This is Thomas Nukpagigak of Point Lay, and he is musing about the madness and rush of traffic and people swarming about in Anchorage. Thomas is the whaling captain whose crew I followed in 2008 and I might have been with them again this year, if I hadn't injured my shoulder and then gone to India. The day I left the Arctic Slope for India was the same day Point Lay caught its first bowhead in 72 years.

As for today, I picked Thomas up at the Embassy Suites in Anchorage and as we drove through the streets, he commented on the insanity and rush of traffic in the city. "The people never stop," he mused. "They just keep going and going and going. Always in a hurry to get to the next place. Point Lay is nice and quiet. That's how I like it."

Some of you who live in the country down in the Lower 48 might be nodding your heads knowingly, but, unless you have been to place like Point Lay - and there is no such place in the Lower 48 - you still can't grasp it. 

Point Lay has a population of about 300 people, maybe a bit less. If you go Northeast up the coast, the nearest village is Wainwright, population about 700, well over 100 miles away. If you go southwest, the nearest village is Point Hope, also about 700 and about the same distance. No roads link the villages. You travel between them either by airplane, snowmachine, or boat - sometimes, someone still makes the journey by dog team, but not very often.

When I followed his crew whaling, we set camp out on the ice 36 miles to the northeast, as measured by GPS. When you live like that for awhile, even Barrow, with its 4500 or so people, comes to seem like a big, bustling, city and when you first get there, you long for the quiet of the camp and the village.

So Thomas and I headed to Ray's Vietnamese Restaurant. We had a good lunch together and reviewed some material I had put together. He strongly urged me to come back to Point Lay for next spring's whale hunt. I felt a great desire to do just that.

Of course, my day did not begin in Anchorage. It began in Wasilla. And here I am, in my car, leaving Wasilla at about 11:50 AM.

The air has been foggy and still for the past couple of days, so there is hoarfrost on everything.

More hoarfrost.

The Alaska Railroad bridge that spans one braid of the Knik River.

About 30 miles still to go.

A car passes me on the Glenn Highway. It was speeding, but the driver did not get caught.

Shortly after I arrived in Anchorage, just before I picked Thomas up. I wish I had more money in that place. You can count every dollar that I have there now with just three figures.

Afterward, I dropped Thomas off at Wal-Mart by Diamond Center.

From there, I headed over to the Alaska Regional Hospital, to see a friend from Wainwright who was badly injured in a snowmachine accident last month. I found him in his room, alone, asleep. I called his niece and she said, go ahead, wake him up.

So I spoke his name, but he did not wake up. I placed my hand upon his shoulder - how thin and frail it felt, and he, always such a strong and vigorous man. I gave him a gentle shake. Still, he did not wake up. So I stood there at his bedside for awhile and then left. The first time that I went to see him he was still at the Alaska Native Medical Center. I could not see him because, due to fears of swine flu, they were only allowing two members of his immediate family to visit.

The second time, he was also asleep.

I might be in town again tomorrow. If so, I will try a fourth time.

Next, I headed over to the Captain Cook Hotel, to see my Iñupiaq sister, Mary Ellen Ahmaogak, of Wainwright. I was happy to find her daughter, Krystle, there, too. I had something in my computer that I wanted both of them to review, so that's what Krystle is doing here.

And in case you wonder about the little one...

...he is the youngest of her three children - Jonathan.

Krystle, Jesse, and Jonathan. Jesse was raised in Point Hope and that is where they all live, now.

I had meant to get Mary Ellen in a picture, too, but I devoted all my photographic attention to these three and forgot.

Remember how I said I felt a great desire to return to Point Lay next whaling season? When I see or talk to or even just think of any of the Ahmaogak's, I also feel a great desire to return to Wainwright next whaling season and to go back out with Iceberg 14, which Mary Ellen now co-captains with Jason and Robert.

And then speaking of Point Hope - yeah, I feel that same desire to go out there, too.

And then just a couple of weeks ago, a captain in Barrow invited me to get out of the south, come up north and go out with him and crew next spring.

The thought felt wonderful - tough - but wonderful. That's how it is. It is always tough. It is always wonderful.

Life gets very confusing, sometimes.

Who knows what will happen, come next spring?

And here I am, on my way back home to Wasilla, crossing the Palmer Hay Flats. People in vehicles are forever smacking moose on this stretch of highway and that is why they put in these fog lights.

Here is Kalib and Caleb, back at the computer, looking at dinosaurs. This is the very first picture I took today. 

You know what it says in the Bible: the first shall be last, and the last shall be first.

Well, the last wasn't first, but the first is last.

The Bible got it part right.

Point Lay Nalukatak: Motion dances and finale (part 10b of 10)

Willard Neakok motion dances.

Lloyd and Bertha Tazruk motion dancing, # 1.

Lloyd and Bertha Tazruk motion dancing, # 2.

Lloyd and Bertha Tazruk motion dancing, # 3.

Lloyd and Bertha Tazruk motion dancing, # 4.

At three years of age, little Elmo is already one of the most popular dancers on the Slope.

The young women perform.

Chester Upicksoun,

John Stalker, Willard Neakok and Elmo.

Drums are raised to signal the final dance. In just a few more beats, Point Lay's historic Nalukatak will be over.

Point Lay Nalukatak: Fun and lively dance brings the celebration to an end (part 10a of 10)

Not long before midnight, the blanket was brought into the high school gym for the dance. They had thought about doing it outside, but the wind was very cold and the dancers wanted the Elders to be comfortable and enjoy themselves.

Julius Rexford was the first to step onto the blanket and then the Atkaan crew followed. The dance had begun.

The Atkaan crew.

Then came Thomas and the Nukapigak crew.

The Nukapigak crew. The fun dancing would continue for awhile, and then there would be motion dancing - which will be the subject of my next post, which ought to be up within half-an-hour after this one.

The drummers.

During the dance, I was called up and given a high award - because it came from the heart of my good friends in Point Lay. Julius presented and as he did, Thomas grabbed my camera with the wide angle lens and photographed me.

I was not going to toot my own horn here, but Mary Sage of Barrow put a message on Facebook last night and told me I had better post this picture. So here it is. Mary received such an award herself, as did several others who had contributed to the success of Point Lay's first Nalukatak in 72 years.

Point Lay Nalukatak: Candy flies at the blanket toss, harpooner misses the blanket (part 9b of 10)

Christina Lane, daughter of Captain Julius and Marie, distributes candy to the crowd in rather exciting manner.

Christina on her way down.

Christina hits the blanket in perfect form.

It is so much fun to toss people high into the air.

Brenton, who harpooned the Atkaan whale, shows some style.

Things go wrong for Brenton. He's going down - and he has passed over the edge of the blanket. Now the pullers become spotters. It is their job to break his fall. If they fail... well, there is an ambulance standing by.

The spotters succeed. Brenton does not need an ambulance. He gets up undamaged. No one will leave the Point Lay Nalukatak in an ambulance.

Up she goes.

Martha waves to the crowd.

There is one more event - the traditional dance. It had been my plan to post it tonight as well, but I think this is enough for now. I will post the dance, probably in two sections, tomorrow.

Point Lay Nalukatak: Cakes - dedicated to graduates and whalers; oil's watermelon gift... getting ready for blanket toss (part 7 of 10)

The first cake presented at the first was dedicated to Kali High School Class of '09, of whom there were ten. Eight, whalers all, came to feast. Several plan to attend college. Above is Daniel Pikok, John Stalker, Rhoda Rexford (daughter of Julius) Kuoiqsik Curtis, Dorothy Pikok, Christian Young, Melva Sampson and Lloyd Curtis.

The second cake presented was that for the Atkaan crew.

To make certain that there was enough for everybody, the decorated cakes were supplemented by the plain in appearance but delicious in taste. Harpooner Brenton Rexford, younger brother to Julius, prepares to serve.

I fear that, immediately after I took this picture, I grabbed a piece for myself.

And then there was watermelon. Shell Oil, Incorporated, who hopes to drill in the home of the bowhead, gave fruit and other gifts at various whale celebrations on the Slope.

The suckers are from candy thrown to the crowd during the blanket toss - which will be posted shortly after this.

But this was a whale feast. Patrick Tukrok uses a pick axe to separate chunks of quaq, frozen whale meat, from each other.

Having eaten her fill, Jamie takes a quiet moment for herself as she waits for the adult blanket toss to begin. After it begins, she will have a rather exciting moment, as you will soon see.

Four girls pass beneath the outer edge of the blanket as they play "Follow the Leader" behind Bill Tracey. Traditionally, the blanket is made from the skins of the umiak manned by the crew that caught the whale. In Point Lay, they hunt with motor boats, so the skins for this blanket came from the umiaq of the Little Kupaaq Crew captained by Harry Brower, Jr., of Barrow.

Very soon, this blanket will be put into action.

And that will be the subject of my next post, which go up almost immediately after this one.