Alakanuk--Where the blazes is it?

Here is Alakanuk from the air. The big building is the school; teacher housing is to the right. We are by the Bering Sea just below the Arctic Circle. No—not the Arctic Circle with ice cream—the Arctic Circle that’s cold. We have a special kind of ice cream here. It’s called Eskimo ice cream. It used to be made out of melted whale fat with crushed up fish and berries mixed in. Now-a-days they use shortening (like Crisco) instead of whale fat. But they still mix in ground up fish and berries. I hear it’s good (although I don’t know a single white person who has actually tried it). So far, I’ve avoided the experience.

Alakanuk is a tiny village nestled on the banks of the Yukon River. Well, maybe not nestled exactly—more like “dug in” or “hunkered down” or “standing against all odds.” But it is tiny and it is on the Yukon. All the buildings are built on a platform, or a series of stilts, and stand a good three to six feet off the ground. You see, most every year, the Yukon floods—so they build up to save themselves from getting washed away.

You can see a satellite photo of the town by going to http://earth.google.com/ and searching for Alakanuk, AK (after you download the program). Most of you have probably used it before, but if you haven’t: in the top, right are the navigation buttons; click on + to zoom in closer and – to zoom out. The site is awesome. You can even visit the Grand Canyon or Eiffel Tower or anywhere you want to go. You should try it!