Damon Hargraves

Here are a few pictures of Damon's recent Caribou Hunt. He rode up to Koyuk with an elder from Unalakleet, and in Koyuk he met up with friends, Dave and Patty. They spent a couple of cold nights out on the trail, but the caribou meat and the stories he can now tell made it well worth it. Moose sighting. Living it up in a snow shelter. An old abandoned gold mine. Success.

Recently, we took a snow machine trip about 35 miles up river with some friends - Dan and Adrianna, Conrad, Jasmine, and baby Carter. Our destination was Old Woman Cabin, a government owned cabin on the Iditarod Trail. We stayed for the afternoon, and had a picnic lunch of chili and musk ox hot dogs.

In mid February Damon went to the ASTE conference in Anchorage, and I was able to go in with him for the weekend. It was the week before the Iditarod started so the Fur Rendezvous was just beginning. We were able to see the parade and the winner of the Running of the Reindeer (similar to the running of the bulls in Spain). Damon has also been busy covering the Iditarod with student broadcasters. He broadcasted at the start in Anchorage, half-way through the race in Unalakleet, and at the end of the race in Nome. Below is a picture of the student broadcast team watching for the first musher to come into Unalakleet, Jeff King. They have a live link to internet out on the river thanks to the satellite on skis. Jeff King coming into town About 30 minutes later, Lance Mackey, winner of Iditarod 2008, came into Unalakleet. Damon has been busy traveling around the state following Iditarod, so I've been finding things to keep myself occupied -...

It's such a treat to receive fresh flowers out in the bush! Thanks Dad, they are beautiful! Damon had the school choir serenade me in class, and we had all of our neighbors over to share cake. It was a very happy birthday. We've had some gorgeous winter days lately so we've been able to spend quite a bit of time outside. We took a snow machine ride up part of the Iditarod trail. We stopped about 20 miles out and had cocoa. We've also been skiing quite a bit. Damon is trying out a new sport with our friend's dog, Aipaq (pronounced iPuck)... skijoring . Yes, it looks as though it could be dangerous, but fortunately for Damon, Aipaq is not afraid to take frequent breaks.

Heidi's family had a reunion this Christmas on a cruise ship. We were able to visit with family, relax by the pool, snorkel, dive, and soak up the much needed sunshine. Here are a few pictures.

The pictures have been up for a few days, but just in case you haven't seen them yet GO HERE FOR PICTURES . The pictures were taken during my trip to Diomede. Diomede is a tiny island out in the Bering Sea. Below is an interactive map for you to play with. Zooming out will give you more of an idea of where I was exactly. Notice that there are actually two islands. The bigger island "Big Diomede" is part of Russia. The international dateline runs between the two islands. From Little Diomede I could literally see into the future by looking across the dateline. Pretty cool. View Larger Map

Alright, so it's been a little while since I last posted. Make me feel guilty, geez. In my own defense, it's been difficult to update because of extremely slow internet. Unalakleet has direct flights to Anchorage, the BSSD district office, and a grocery store with fresh produce, but somehow decent internet speeds aren't exactly a village forte. We had much faster internet in Stebbins. All complaining aside, Heidi and I are having a lot of fun. Our Thanksgiving break was relaxing, filled with lots of fun with friends, and we even managed a few outings. Heidi and I went snowshoeing through a tunnel of willows. I went icefishing with a friend, Henry, from church. I caught several trout, a grayling, and a whitefish (that's what they call it). I ate some pan fried trout for dinner tonight. You can't beat fresh trout and cornmeal. Yum!