Thursday, September 24, 2009

Picture Tour of Point Hope

This is a whaling boat next to some houses. They'll cover the hull of the boat with bearded seal skins that have been painted white. Yes, they still use them.



John Denver wrote a songs entitled "Whale Bones and Crosses." Evidently, he actually paid a visit to Point Hope back in the day, and it was this cemetery he wrote about. The one thing that surprised us about it, though, was the size of the crosses. They're all over 6 1/2 feet tall. It's between 1 and 2 miles from our home and we can see it from our window.





One thing that the Tundra is known for is the many colorful mosses and lichens that blanket the ground. We don't get these colors in town, though. The feet and four-wheelers take care of that.



The tundra has large cracks that form in it in geometric patterns. There have been people that actually come up here just to study the cracks and the patterns they make.



Point Hope, from a distance, is a very colorful little village.



Here is our hotel. In the back, much of it is made out of converted barge containers. Each one is a different room.



This is our general store. It's called the "Native Store."





And finally, this is our (only) gas station.

3 comments:

  1. Wow! Thanks for the pictures! It's so interesting getting a glimpse of such a different life. I love the picture of Chalyse with the other little girl.
    (This is Cathy again! I need to start looking at who I'm logged in as!)

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  2. I LOVED the pictures, especially the one with Tom out on the tundra. I pictured Point Hope as a very bleak and gray place. Seeing the lichens and vast stretches was very interesting for me.

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  3. Thanks soooooo much...now we have a context to picture you in!!!

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