I live and write on Lingít Aaní, and gratefully acknowledge the past, present and future caretakers of this beautiful place, the Jilkaat Kwaan and Jilkoot Kwaan.

To Unlalaska Dutch Harbor in the Aleutians.

It is one of my new favorite places. It’s so remote, wild, beautiful, and desolate, what with no trees and few people, and yet it is also a major port for trans world shipping and fishing boats, home to huge seafood processors, and the site of a WW II Army base that was attacked by Japanese fighter pilots. Community leaders are civic minded and socially progressive. Martin Luther King Jr. Day is celebrated in a big way at the school. The 5,000 or so residents are from all over the globe and speak many languages and cook all kinds of great food, from Mexican to Vietnamese. I had fun talking with Vic on the morning radio show at the local public radio station. It felt like I was in his living room. I went swimming and took a sauna with some cannery workers at the pool and gave a reading at the library. People came even though it was a gorgeous  sunny spring evening and it has been a long, dark, stormy winter. The library staff made me feel like a Queen. They even gave me flowers.

Chip was with me, which was nice because we never did make it to Mexico this winter, and the Bering Sea can be lovely.

Our son-in-law Bryan dove in first, and then we all did.

Yes, It was freezing.

We also visited a factory trawler cleaning up for the season,

hiked the hills,

climbed in and out of concrete WW II lookout bunkers,

and took a skiff ride around the port thanks to our friend Andy.

I could have stayed another week, but we needed to get home to care of Pearl, who is recovering well from major leg surgery but can’t play on any beaches for a few months.