Chris & Amanda Up North

Christmas Pictures

2010-12-30T16:21:00.001-09:00

2010-08-12T16:37:00.001-08:00

34 states, 4 Canadian provinces, and the District of Columbia

2010-07-23T15:05:00.000-08:00

Man, it's good to be home. Well, almost home.

National Parks Tour

2010-07-18T15:35:00.000-08:00

Grand Teton, Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks

2010-07-18T15:25:00.001-08:00

Heading to Glacier National Park, then on to Canada!

2010-07-17T08:38:00.001-08:00

Summer Road Trip Pictures- 2nd Try

2010-06-18T18:12:00.001-08:00

Click the links below:

first batch

second batch

Did I ever tell you about the time...

2010-01-11T15:35:00.002-09:00

when a pod of beluga whales came through Chevak and someone caught one? We went down to the river to see it, but this was all that remained.

Our Morning Brew

2010-01-10T14:45:00.001-09:00

Just trying out my new camera on our artistic coffee creations, displayed in my new latte cups I got for Christmas. Made with Stumptown Coffee, of course! Not bad for being out in the bush.

Fireworks on New Year's Eve

2010-01-10T14:44:00.001-09:00

Images of Chevak

2010-01-10T14:40:00.001-09:00

Reflections

2010-01-10T14:27:00.000-09:00

It seems like the end of a decade is a good time to reflect on where we’ve been and what we’ve done with our lives. Chris and I, it seems, have gotten around.

2000 was ushered in at a house in the suburbs, surrounded by friends we had known and loved for years. We played pool and drank champagne. We were in college and not sure what our 20’s were going to bring with them.

2005 was welcomed from a tiny house in the bush on a little island in Ha’apai. This time, we were with new friends and fellow Peace Corps volunteers. We were hiding from the hours of sitting in church that accompanies most folks New Year’s Eve in Tonga. We drank ‘Ikale beer and set off firecrackers on the fence post under palm trees. It was hot and sticky, the air thick with the smell of mosquito coils.

We rang in 2010 standing in the snow. No trees this time, just the frozen tundra. We played a little Wii and drank fancy soda with our friends and teaching colleagues. Midnight brought the sound of gunfire. A bonfire was lit on the ice. Adults and students came out on snow machines and 4-wheelers and parked in a semi-circle around the rim of the lake. Soon, fireworks lit the sky over our village in the Alaskan bush.

I wonder where we will spend the New Years of our 30’s. Will we continue to move and travel to more and more remote locations? Or will settling down be the next adventure?

2009-11-24T16:10:00.002-09:00

Bangkok - Day 1 (continued)

2009-05-30T15:21:00.002-08:00

Ahhhhhh....Coffee and free WiFi...how I love thee....

So, after trekking through another neighborhood and trying to follow our maps, we finally made it to the block that is the Grand Palace grounds. Now, at the Grand Palace, they are very strict about dress code - no shorts, no tank tops, and nothing that the sorority-set wears for "Girls Gone Wild." So, of course, Chris was out of compliance. But, no fear, we knew that they would let you borrow clothes inside. What we hadn't counted on was the local scam artists dressed in official looking clothes standing on the corner and trying to force you to go to their tailor shops to purchase another outfit OR yelling at you that the Grand Palace was closed but they could take you to this amazing standing Buddha. Thankfully, we knew enough to just keep walking to the actual entrance. We figured if there was really a problem the men with machine guns would let us know.

We got in, Chris borrowed some pants, and we began exploring the amazing complex. For anyone who has never been, it is impossible to imagine just how big and shiny this place is. The biggest draw for most people is the Emerald Buddha. I really appreciated how peaceful the temple here was, despite being full of tourists and practitioners. We wandered for quite awhile before deciding it was time for lunch and a dose of a/c. Thankfully, there was an Au Bon Pair across the street. I realize that it sounds crazy to eat at an american chain while in Bangkok, but you can never underestimate the draw of a/c on a sweltering day. (OK - time for breakfast...I'll finish later :-)

Bangkok - Day 1

2009-05-30T05:01:00.002-08:00

Of course, the first order of the day was to find some coffee. One of the only nice things about staying in a really touristy place is that you know finding a latte will be easy. For us, it was painless. Just outside our hotel lobby is a place called Coffee World. They serve great drinks and have free wifi. Perfect. Buddy Lodge provides breakfast tickets for its guests, so we decided to give it a try. We were a little surprised to find the breakfast set up in an Irish pub, but what have you got lose from free food? It was much better than we anticipated. Once we were caffeinated and fed, we set out to find ourselves a wat. We had a decent map in our travel books and a touristy map, so, really, how hard could it be? I mean, everything looks so close! And that was our first mistake...

Turns out, the English names for Thai streets vary widely, traffic is a nightmare with crosswalks holding no sway over the drivers, and climate acclimation is not something to sneeze at. After a year on the tundra, Bangkok is hot! We meandered down the streets that seemed right and found a neighborhood school and temple. It was very peaceful seeing the monks in their saffron robes going about their duties or gathered in classes. This was the first place someone mentioned the "Standing Buddha" that we just had to see. We hadn't heard of it, so we just kept on wandering. We finally found a main road and were able to get our bearings. We looked into the National Gallery, but we decided to move across the street to the National Museum, instead (artifacts instead of paintings). Of course, crossing the street meant walking a block and going under the main road. Here, we were stopped by a tuk-tuk driver and offered a ride to this amazing standing Buddha. We just kept walking. We made it to the museum and took full advantage of the air conditioned gift shop as our first stop. Once we were cooled down, we wandered. The museum was a great intro to Thailand's history and culture. Unfortunately, most of the exhibit halls merely used fans to circulate hot air. On the upside, an air conditioned Hagen-Dahz stand was waiting for us at the exit.

Once we spent a little more quality time with our map, we plodded on to the Grand Palace. (To be continued...after I've bought more internet time :-)

Thailand - Arrival

2009-05-30T04:50:00.006-08:00

After a 13 hour flight, a 4 hour layover in Tokyo, and another 6 1/2 hour flight, we finally made it in to Bangkok around midnight. We took a shuttle from the plane to the terminal (a first for us), and quickly made our way through immigration and customs. A short cab ride brought us to the infamous Khao San Road and our hotel - Buddy Lodge. The road is closed off to cars most of the time, so we were all grateful that we packed lightly. The trek to the other end of the road and our destination was the stereotypical Thailand backpacker scene. Lots of dreadlocked hippies, drunken frat daddys and scantily-clad girls. We finally saw our bright yellow sign above the golden arches and got ourselves a room. Since Jason is with us on this leg of our journey, we simply got an extra bed for our room, and the 3 of us crashed.

Weather Advisory

2009-02-25T12:48:00.004-09:00

I just had to post this - our weather warning for today. (The blah blah blahs are my doing :-)

WESTERLY WIND GUSTS TO 70 MILES AN HOUR blah blah blah ICE AND SOME WATER DRIVEN AHEAD OF THIS STORM AND ITS WINDS MAY PILE UP ALONG BEACHES blah blah blah THESE CONDITIONS ALONG WITH BLIZZARD CONDITIONS WILL POSE A TRAVEL THREAT. PRECAUTIONS SHOULD BE TAKEN TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY UNTIL WINDS DIE DOWN LATER TONIGHT.

I put my favorite part in red. Something about the phrase "to protect life and property" amuses me. Its like the two are equal in the eyes of the weather service. Of course, I also love how understated the whole thing is. Really - you think a blizzard, flooding sea ice, and 70 mph winds might pose a travel threat? I never would have come to that conclusion on my own! Sounds like a perfect time to go trekking across the tundra!

Ah, winter on the tundra...

2009-02-14T18:24:00.004-09:00

We woke up to this wonderful treat a couple weeks ago. SNow had blown in the cracks around the door and covered our warm boots. Then this on a different day...
Ever wonder what a photo of a blizzard might look like?
The snow piled several feet of the ground outside our living room window.

Cup'ik Christmas Program

2008-12-16T15:30:00.006-09:00

These are my students Eskimo dancing at our Christmas program. Pretty sweet gym, huh? Notice the rock wall in the corner!

So, what have you been up to?

2008-11-15T12:46:00.011-09:00

Yeah, yeah, I know. We haven't posted anything in a long time. Truth is, there's not much excitement to report. We work. A lot. When we're not working, we're eating, sleeping, or watching tv. The Daily Show, and That 70's Show, if you must know. We have been really lucky to make some good friends here and we try to get together a couple times a week. Mainly for potluck's and game nights, but we have had the occasional birthday and Halloween parties, too.

Here are some quick updates, mainly of the teacher-sort:

Way back in August, our village hosted Tundra Fest, a week-long native dance festival for the surrounding villages. It was in our very small city hall and so crowded you could see the steam leaving the doors and windows. Here's a picture of some dancers from Chevak.

About a month ago, I had my government classes do some research on the issue of drilling for oil in ANWR. We watched a documentary called Oil on Ice, read a bunch of articles and websites, both for and against drilling, and then each student had to take a stance on the issue and support it in letters to our three state representatives. It went perfectly with our study of the first amendment right to petition the government and participation in the democratic process. All three representatives responded to each student, which was quite a surprise. Along the way we made posters to hang around the school and I took these pictures.

We've had a few dances and open-gym nights at the school on Friday nights to raise funds for the class advisory groups. Since I'm a high school teacher, I get recruited to chaperon. It's usually a lot of fun and gives me something to do.

Another project I was very proud of had my government classes researching the presidential candidates and creating presentations to give to the elementary students before they participated in the student mock election. Each group of high schoolers was assigned an issue and they researched each candidate's plan regarding it. They then created PowerPoint presentations to educate the little ones without revealing which candidate they were discussing. The younger students would then decide whose plan they preferred, the "red" candidate or the "blue" candidate. After all the issues had been presented and the kids had made their choices, we revealed who was who and they knew which candidate their opinions most aligned with. We had laptops setup in the classroom and my students helped them cast their votes. By the end, we were able to bring in the 2nd, 3rd (Amanda's), 4th, and 5th grade classes. Our school's votes were combined with others from across the country and the nationwide results had Obama winning in all states but 4.

We had a door-decorating contest for Halloween. Our students decorate the doors and they're judged by some of the staff members. My door won.

Oh, and I went ice fishing on the river. Caught about 5 tom cods, which was pretty pathetic. Everyone around me had piles of fish. Oh well, it was fun.

Winter's a-comin'!

2008-10-04T11:46:00.002-08:00

We woke up today to a snow covered view and the lake is covered in a thin layer of ice. It's October 4 and already down to 23 degrees.

SeaWeek 2008

2008-08-26T12:58:00.002-08:00

So, those of you who know us well may recall our reference to our fondest memories of Tonga as Peace Corps moments. Generally, the term was reserved for those special times we found ourselves in the middle of an experience so unbelievable that it forced us to stop and appreciate how truly lucky we are to have been there. As you well know, we are now addicted to such moments and continue to seek them out wherever they hide. However, since we are no longer in the Peace Corps, I decided we needed a new term. The best I've come up with so far is NatGeo Moments, short for National Geographic, of course. It seems to capture all the feelings of visiting remote locations, doing adventurous deeds, and learning about different cultures. I'm not sure if it'll stick but its the perfect description for the subject of this post-SeaWeek.

Each year, during the the second week of the school year, the high school goes out for SeaWeek, a 4-day camping trip to the tundra. This year, I was lucky enough to tag along. We loaded up 8 boats with around 35 students, 4 teachers and 7 drivers and headed downriver towards the coast. After 2 or 3 hours, we pulled over and setup camp.

We spent the next day right around our campsite- traipsing along the spongy tundra, picking wild berries (a variety of blackberries and raspberries), and manuqing (fishing with a stick and line). I caught three and was pretty proud of myself until I learned that one of my students caught 23 in the same time period. Rehardless, it was a very relaxing day.

The next day was much more exciting as we went on a seal hunt. All 8 boats, crowded with students, had 1 or 2 shooters on the bow and worked together to track down the seals. Basically, we waited until they ran out breath and came to the surface, then whoever was closest shot at it until someone "caught" it. Once a shot was landed, the boat driver would speed up next to it and sick it with a harpoon to drag it in. We caught 6 spotted (50-150 lbs) and 1 bearded (200-300 lbs) seal that day, which was a very big deal around here. A few of the catches were the hunters' first, so according to tradition they were gifted to the elders that accompanied us on the trip. Catching a bearded seal is one of the rights of passage required to "become a man," so my two students who got it are now men and I am not! You can also catch 5 of the smaller seals or one bull moose, so there's still hope as I have been invited to go moose hunting.

The last day we headed for home home, but ran out of gas due to the longer than expected seal hunting. The smallest boat had enough to make it back and filled up tanks and returned to deliver fuel to each of the bigger boats. It was a very long, cold, rainy, hungry day.

If there are any teachers reading this, can you imagine a field trip like this? Over 4 nights? Hunting with guns? on boats? Only in Alaska... and I'm loving it.

All geared up and ready to go:
From Day 1
Making a manuq:

My first catch:

Cleaning the fish:
Berry picking...

Blackberries are everywhere:
Laverna's Raspberries
Duck Hunt, better than the video game...

Plucking birds

Elder Cecelia plucking and telling stories:Somebody caught a swan:
Hanging around camp:

My home on the Tundra:
Playing on a sand bar:

Day 2

My students on the hunt:

Harpoon hunting:

The bearded seal:

Chris' Classroom

2008-08-10T13:56:00.003-08:00

From the door From opposite
View of the lake, hills, and teacher housing from my window

Our House

2008-08-10T13:34:00.004-08:00

We're on the right.

Mud Room as you enterKitchen
Laundry off the kitchenLiving Room
View from living room windows
Bedroom one-office

Bedroom 2

View from bedroom window Potty Room

Chevak

2008-08-10T13:28:00.001-08:00

Flying in

2008-08-10T13:17:00.003-08:00

Lotta Miles

2008-08-09T20:08:00.002-08:00

Can you see all the bugs on the license plate?

Mountain Goats and Caribou (or Elk?) and Bison and Bears, Oh My!

2008-08-09T19:56:00.004-08:00

The Alaska Highway!

2008-07-27T19:41:00.000-08:00

More pictures

2008-07-25T22:37:00.001-08:00

I promise stories are coming.

In case you were wondering...

2008-07-25T22:27:00.002-08:00

Canada is big, empty, and beautiful.

Along the way...

2008-07-24T19:35:00.000-08:00

We've always said that Allie was too smart for her own good, but today she proved it. We've been using the TomTom to help guide us through Canada. Every once in awhile, the TomTom would tell us to turn around. Somehow, the destination was changing to "Home," which is still set as Medford. After the third time, I noticed that Allie's little paws were reaching into the center consule. That dog was telling TomTom to take us back to Oregon! I think she's getting a little nervous about her life as a tundra puppy. However, once we got TT safely out of her reach, we were fine. Many of the towns and cities (and somtimes single buildings) are named after their location along the original road to Alaska. We stopped at the town of 100 Mile House. We took a little walk through Centenial Park to another waterfall, Bridge Creek Falls. Though not as spectacular as either of the falls yesterday, it was a nice diversion. We kept driving past Prince George and decided to camp at Crooked River PP. The mosquitos are so bad that even Chris has sprayed himself, but otherwise, it seems to be a nice place.

Random Photos

2008-07-23T23:13:00.005-08:00

Another birthday and another country! I wish it included a passport stamp, but no such luck. (However, we were welcomed by a very convincing Keanu Reeves look-alike!) We crossed into Canada early and headed towards Vancouver. The traffic was a annoying to say the least, so we decided to not spend any time in the city. Instead we took off along the "Sea to Sky" highway. It was a bit of a mess due to construction. They're getting ready for the 2010 Olympics at Whistler. Once we got going though, the drive was just the way you would imagine, hairpin turns and all. We stopped at Shannon Falls PP and Brandywine PP. Both parks had lovely waterfalls a short walk from the road. We stopped for a late lunch at Whistler at a BBQ joint. We sat and ate our sandwiches while watching a little family hiking down a grassy ski lift. As we were watching them, I noticed an odd brown figure moving above them. It was a mama bear and her 2 cubs ambling across the ski run. While part of me would have really liked to see them a little closer up, I'm glad our first bear sighting was at a safe distance! We finished the Sea to Sky and met up with hwy 97, the road we'll be on for the next couple of days. We slept in Clinton at Cariboo Lodge. Nothing fancy, but they had hot showers!...

It has begun!

2008-07-22T21:54:00.000-08:00

After spending a few wonderful days hanging out with Jason and Marie, we left Portland and drove north. We stopped in Seattle to see Heidi Lee one last time for chowder at Duke's on Lake Union. Washington, north of Seattle, was gorgeous. It was lush and green and had just a few towns to spoil the view. We had planned on crossing the border and camping outside of Vancouver, but instead, we stopped just outside of Blaine and the border. We slept at Birch Bay SP. It finally felt like we had started our journey.