The Judys Move To Bethel

Where did the warm weather go??

Indianapolis in December

This blog is long over due, and there’s a lot to report. We spent Christmas and part of New Year’s with family and enjoyed our time in the lower 48. Our first stop was Indianapolis to visit Alex’s dad and stepmother after taking the red eye to Chicago and driving to Indy. Brad and I took in a lot of activity with Oma Jane while Alex and Dick stayed back and enjoyed the quiet.

We visited Connor Prairie and perused the festive gingerbread houses and then took a step back to Indiana in 1848 (??). Had we more time and better shoes, we would have stayed longer. Our next outing was to the Eiteljorg Museum for the annual Christmas train set up. It's called Jingle Rails and features lodges from the National Parks. We also hit the zoo the same day where we got to see the orangutans, otters, and walruses. Most of the animals were inside due to the cold. We thought we’d get to see a Lego exhibit, but unfortunately it had closed a few weeks before. The small White River Gardens was a beautiful and quiet place to end our day.

Brad's twin??

The third exciting place was the ever-crowded Children’s Museum. We managed to worm our way through the crowd and see the dinosaurs (at Brad’s insistence), an exhibit on the Space Station, and lots and lots of people. Our one evening adventure was a trip to the Indianapolis Repertory Theater for “A Christmas Carol”. I wasn’t sure what to expect, and really enjoyed the play. We had a nice time visiting Dick and Jane, but I’m not sure they want us to return anytime soon; Alex brought his respiratory infection and made his dad sick! (He has since recovered.)

We hopped on a plane on Christmas day and flew to Phoenix. And then we drove to Tucson and arrived at Alex’s mom’s house around midnight. It was cooler than I thought it would be at 35 degrees, but the temperature warmed up while we were there. I got to nap for half a day while Alex and Brad went hiking with Marie and Stephen. I had gotten Alex’s cold too and thought napping was a better idea than hiking in the mountains. I did make it out for one hike, and was rewarded with a beautiful sunset.

The Botanical Gardens are a frequent stop for us and we explored the Freda Kahlo exhibit this year. I found a bird of paradise in full bloom, so for me the visit was well worth it. Alex played the role of plumber and made several attempts to unclog his mother’s sink. I think what he liked best was climbing on the roof.

Agua Caliente is a beautiful spot in the middle of the dessert. There used to be hot springs, but unfortunately, with over grazing and over use, the hot springs have dried up (or maybe boiled away). The park has beautiful trees and a small pond where ducks like to live. Alex enjoyed bird watching, and I enjoyed the Trader Joe’s candy bars I brought for lunch.

Alex, Brad, and I walked in the wash of the Rialto River. It’s strange to be in a place that is sometimes raging with floodwaters.

We left Tucson on New Year’s Eve and made it back to Bethel on New Year’s Day. We came home to 34 degree weather and no snow on the ground. It was depressing. Bethel has fireworks for the New Year, but it was too windy on December 31. We were able to watch them the following weekend. We chose not to drive into town to watch them and instead had a great view from the edge of the neighborhood.

Cloudy Tucson on New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve--taken on the roof of Rachel's house

Rain in Arizona; I've never seen that

Rainbow following the storm

Bethel Fireworks

There are a lot of “firsts” here in Bethel. One of the more exciting firsts was a dog sled race. We drove out on the river on a Sunday morning (another first I think) and watched as about 15 dog teams lined up for a race. The dogs were so excited to run and were yipping and barking and pulling at their harnesses. They all took off at once racing up the river. We drove up river to the hospital’s fish camp and were able to watch the racers on their way back to Bethel.

Another first was the K300, Bethel’s premier dog race. There is so much to say about that so I’ll have an entirely separate blog talking about it.

Brad had a 3 week break for Christmas, so I took a few days off to stay home with him. We cooked dinner for the local homeless shelter, making moose stew, dinner rolls, and cookies. It was quite humbling to bring a pot of soup to a place where 30 people have to stay because they have nowhere else to go. The Winter House is open from November to March or April and provides dinner and a place to sleep. People need to be out at 7:00 am so I’m not sure where they go during the day. But at least they can sleep in warmth.

We had meeting of the Mindcraft worlds at our house. There were 4 kids sitting around playing on ipads connected via the wonderful internet. They made pyramids for each other and did whatever else kids do in the virtual world. I was clueless, but laughed when listening to them talk to each other. “Hey, where are you guys?” “How come I don’t have any friends?” “Did you break my door?” And my favorite was 5 year old Lucy saying, “I'm just a lonely girl without a home” when she couldn’t figure out how to enter the other worlds.

It was quite warm here for a while and I felt like I had nothing to complain/brag about except the darkness. The frigid air and snow did come, however. We slowly got snow, but what we got more of was the cold. It was -30 for several days and I was ecstatic when the high was -9. We had wind chills of -50+ below and that is just downright cold. In the course of 48 hours, we had a 50-degree change in the temperature—for the better!

FYI, this picture was taken at noon

So let’s talk about driving on the river. It is scary, sometimes just plain terrifying. Our first big trip on the river was the day of the dog sled race. We drove about 8 miles out of Bethel and had no trouble at all. The river is so wide and frozen and has been deemed safe by Bethel Search and Rescue. Brad found a hole pretty close to where we parked the truck, which was scary because if he had gone through, he would have just been gone. I think the hole was only about 10 inches deep before it hit bottom. There are tracks from all the other cars and trucks that drive on the river, but I still think it would be easy to get lost. It is, however, the only place in Bethel where one can drive over 50 miles an hour. It’s like the freeway!

I drove up the river without Alex yesterday, and I’m glad I was following someone, because I would have gotten lost. There were areas of smooth ice and areas of really bumpy ice where the water had flowed over and re-frozen. The tide still moves up and down every day and can cause overflow. I’m assured that the water on top of the ice doesn’t make the ice any less safe. There were also big snowdrifts and ruts to drive through. It reminded me of driving on an old logging road. I had the occasion to venture out alone because I drove my boss to the funeral of a young health aide who died at her own hand. The same weekend she died, another young man shot himself in one of the villages. Those things happen here way too often that they almost seem routine. This can be a sad and tragic place to live. Sometimes I wonder how people can live with all the sadness.

The Packer football season is over and I only watched one game. It was when they beat Dallas and I watched it while Face Timing my dad. We have chosen not to have cable and I think that game was the only time I wished we would have had it. I was at the store that day and smiled when I saw they had a Green Bay Packer hat. Is $24.99 expensive?

We now enjoy more daylight. The sun comes up just after 10:00 and doesn’t go down until around 6:00. We are gaining light very quickly and I really like that. First light is hours before the sun comes up and we have light in the sky until almost 7:00pm. It makes it much easier to handle the cold when the sun is out.

The water here is safe to drink, but it smells kind of funny. And when I look in the bottom of the water tank, there are brown floaty things that look like sludge. I don't really want to know what it is. We do have a water filter that we change about every 2 months. I guess we could change it more often, and I might start after looking at these pictures. You may wonder how we don't get sick or how we haven't contracted giardia or something. I don't have an answer.