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North to Alaska 7 -- Around Bethel
2008.01.27
There is a Lions Club in town, but unfortunately their meetings are held on the first and third Thursdays of each month. I arrived on the third Wednesday of January and by the time I had discovered Bethel Lions they had already had their second meeting of January and I had missed it. My bad!! I did note though that Lions was one of the sponsors of the Kusko 300.
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There is a Lions Club in town, but unfortunately their meetings are held on the first and third Thursdays of each month. I arrived on the third Wednesday of January and by the time I had discovered Bethel Lions they had already had their second meeting of January and I had missed it. My bad!! I did note though that Lions was one of the sponsors of the Kusko 300.
1
This house was the first house that my daughter lived in when she first came to Bethel. It is a magnificent house inside, owned by a doctor and designed by his architect wife. They had gone on sabbatical and rented the house out to Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Center for temporary housing. You can see that it is built up off the ground on the tundra. The picture was taken after the warm spell so that much of the snow has melted.
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This house was the first house that my daughter lived in when she first came to Bethel. It is a magnificent house inside, owned by a doctor and designed by his architect wife. They had gone on sabbatical and rented the house out to Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Center for temporary housing. You can see that it is built up off the ground on the tundra. The picture was taken after the warm spell so that much of the snow has melted.
2
Sara and Theo's house is the middle one, with a bay window. This is looking across Mission Lake which, of course, is frozen. Their house has three bedrooms, two baths, is heated by fuel oil. They have their water delivered by truck and their sewerage pumped out of a holding tank -- both twice a month.
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Sara and Theo's house is the middle one, with a bay window. This is looking across Mission Lake which, of course, is frozen. Their house has three bedrooms, two baths, is heated by fuel oil. They have their water delivered by truck and their sewerage pumped out of a holding tank -- both twice a month.
3
Here is a closer look at their house. They rarely if ever use the front door. The back door opens to a foyer and people remove shoes and boots in that foyer before entering the house. This is the custom in every house I was in in Bethel -- when you enter the house you take off your shoes or boots. A couple of days after this photo was taken it snowed so much that Theo's Subaru 4WD was stuck in the snow in his driveway and had to be towed out by a friend.
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Here is a closer look at their house. They rarely if ever use the front door. The back door opens to a foyer and people remove shoes and boots in that foyer before entering the house. This is the custom in every house I was in in Bethel -- when you enter the house you take off your shoes or boots. A couple of days after this photo was taken it snowed so much that Theo's Subaru 4WD was stuck in the snow in his driveway and had to be towed out by a friend.
4
Sign entering Bethel from the airport -- can you read the Yupik?
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Sign entering Bethel from the airport -- can you read the Yupik?
5
Looking out across the Tundra from the road to the airport. This was taken during the warm spell and most of the snow had melted. This is now covered in at least a foot or perhaps 18" of snow.
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Looking out across the Tundra from the road to the airport. This was taken during the warm spell and most of the snow had melted. This is now covered in at least a foot or perhaps 18" of snow.
6
This fellow has a sled dog team and this is the way they are kept. I took this from the road leading to the airport. Each dog has its own doghouse and is chained to it except when exercising. I have no idea whether or not these dogs were in the Kuskokwim 300 races. The photo was taken during the week after the races before the snow returned.
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This fellow has a sled dog team and this is the way they are kept. I took this from the road leading to the airport. Each dog has its own doghouse and is chained to it except when exercising. I have no idea whether or not these dogs were in the Kuskokwim 300 races. The photo was taken during the week after the races before the snow returned.
7
Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Center Administration Building. This building is across the street from the hospital. It houses clinics, and hospital support services (such as the computer or systems branch where Theo works). There is also a wellness center there which I have been using (to walk on a treadmill).
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Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Center Administration Building. This building is across the street from the hospital. It houses clinics, and hospital support services (such as the computer or systems branch where Theo works). There is also a wellness center there which I have been using (to walk on a treadmill).
8
Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Regional Hospital where Sara works. She works in the Emergency Room which is in the corner nearest to the camera on the second floor. Ambulance entrance to the ER is straight up the ramp that begins behind the orange barrel.
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Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Regional Hospital where Sara works. She works in the Emergency Room which is in the corner nearest to the camera on the second floor. Ambulance entrance to the ER is straight up the ramp that begins behind the orange barrel.
9
Bethel is a regional center for the southwest of Alaska, on the Kuskokwim River, about 400 miles or so due west of Anchorage. There are about 5000 - 6000 people living there, and numerous small villages up and down the river, each containing from a few hundred to a thousand people, almost all of whom are Yupik. Yupik people are Eskimoes, though the term Eskimo is a generic term that is usually not used.
Bethel has most of the things that one would expect in an American town, two supermarkets, a busy airport, a small harbor on the river, numerous churches of all shades and description, and it seems as though half the vehicles in town are taxis. There are no theaters, but there is a video outlet, and there is cable and satellite TV and full internet access.
The town sits on the Arctic tundra, a basically treeless plain sitting on permafrost, permanently frozen ground a couple of feet below the surface. I did note some forests outside of town, upriver, made up of small cottonwood trees. Within the town, though, there are no trees. There are mountains around Bethel, probably 30 - 40 miles away, but basically the area around the town is flat. There are lakes, though, literally thousands of them, mostly of small size.
Oh, did I mention that there are no roads into or out of town? Everything and everyone who comes into or leaves Bethel comes in by boat or airplane. In the winter people from the villages will come into town by snowmobile or by car over the ice.
I hope these pictures and those I show you tomorrow will give you a good idea of what Bethel is really like.
