Home!

We got in to Denver at about 8 this morning after a restful red-eye (ha!). My body is so whacked out it doesn't know what to do. We slept for a few ours when we got home, ate whatever we could scrounge, did some unpacking, then I went back to sleep for another hour and a half. By 8:30 PM when we got home from Costco to restock the basics, I was so hungry I seriously was not able to function. A quick dinner and I'm ready for bed again. Peter went out to hang up some laundry and said "It's dark!" Weird. Darkness. Plus, um, have you noticed it's freaking hot? and humid? And supposedly it was cooler today. Woah.

In good news, we managed to get all the fish in our freezer:

We only had to take out almost all our veggies, nuts and fruit, but who needs those things when you have fish? Isn't protein all a human needs?

Oh wait, you want to hear more about Alaska? Who gives a flying crap about our freezer, you say? Fair enough. Since I'm tired and have a bowl of half-frozen strawberries to finish, I'll just give you a little update on how our trip ended.

We weren't sure what we were going to do with our last day in Anchorage; it was a much bigger city than anything we had seen before, but we were still trying to find things that interested us (we weren't feeling the museum vibe). We happened to see something about the World Eskimo Indian Olympics in the newspaper that morning (thanks Hilton!), but there wasn't much info about the when, where, etc. I guess they just figured you'd know all that if you were a local. So after some investigation, we found the spot and headed over (but not before stopping at the coolest bookstore after Powell's in Portland, Title Wave Books).

The newspaper had mentioned the crazy events in the Eskimo Indian Olympics, things that had to be seen to be believed. Read this for descriptions of the games. And if you want, go to YouTube and type in "World Eskimo Indian Olympics" or "WEIO" for some video (not too much there and none of it mine... yet).

The best part (for me) was the processional with all the different dance group from all over the state, with a few from Arizona and New Mexico thrown in for some variety. The songs, the drums, the traditional dress and the dancing were so incredible they brought tears to my eyes. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the processional. The lighting and the distance weren't great for my camera, so most of the pictures are mostly for memories, not so much to showcase the incredible beauty and diversity. Peter was taking video as well, so hopefully I can get that imported and digested somewhat soon.

Southeastern group:

My favorite picture of them all. Isn't she amazing?