Land of the 24-hour sun
Last weekend I went back to Kotzebue -- a Native village of 3,000 above the Arctic Circle in the northwest corner of Alaska. It's hundreds of miles from roads and sits on the tip of a narrow peninsula in the Chukchi Sea.
I went up to show the tribal doctors the rough cut of the video about Della Keats -- the lady who started the tribal doctor program in Kotzebue. One of the professors at APU got a grant to edit together old video of Della Keats and contracted Joshua and I to do the work.
While I was in Kotzebue I visited the wind farm there and spent a couple of hours interviewing the general manager of the Kotzebue Electric Association. It was really interesting to learn about wind energy... it's advantages and shortfalls. I'm going to write an article for the Alaska Journal of Commerce about the town's wind farm. It should make for good reading.
Kotzebue has the look and feel of a typical Native village (or so I think, I haven't been to other Native villages, I've only seen photos and heard stories). Since there's really nothing else to do with broken down trunks and junk snow machines (that's the Alaskan term for snowmobile), they just sit and rust in people's yards. (Remember, everything in Kotzebue was brought by barge or plane... and to remove it would mean the same costly process) The houses are small and weathered. Grassy tundra or open water spread as far as the eye can see. People are friendly. The place has the charm and slow place that only small towns can pull off. Everybody knows everybody. And you can walk from one end of town to the other in 20 minutes.
I went up to show the tribal doctors the rough cut of the video about Della Keats -- the lady who started the tribal doctor program in Kotzebue. One of the professors at APU got a grant to edit together old video of Della Keats and contracted Joshua and I to do the work.
While I was in Kotzebue I visited the wind farm there and spent a couple of hours interviewing the general manager of the Kotzebue Electric Association. It was really interesting to learn about wind energy... it's advantages and shortfalls. I'm going to write an article for the Alaska Journal of Commerce about the town's wind farm. It should make for good reading.
Kotzebue has the look and feel of a typical Native village (or so I think, I haven't been to other Native villages, I've only seen photos and heard stories). Since there's really nothing else to do with broken down trunks and junk snow machines (that's the Alaskan term for snowmobile), they just sit and rust in people's yards. (Remember, everything in Kotzebue was brought by barge or plane... and to remove it would mean the same costly process) The houses are small and weathered. Grassy tundra or open water spread as far as the eye can see. People are friendly. The place has the charm and slow place that only small towns can pull off. Everybody knows everybody. And you can walk from one end of town to the other in 20 minutes.
Smoked salmon.
Snow machine left on the beach (right in town).
Somebody made their home from a Quonset Hut... very Alaskan.
The tanks where the fuel is stored once it comes in on the barge. Supplies are delivered once a year.
I enjoyed this sign in the lobby of the hotel... also very Alaskan.
Junked 4-wheeler, helicopter and boat... all in one yard.
The hotel where I stayed.
Another view of the hotel
Watch your speed.
Shovel and grass.
A church in town.
View from the plane on the way to Kotzebue.
Front Street. It's a gravel road that runs along the shore. 
We flew in and out of Nome (the place where the Iditarod ends) to get to Kotzebue.Labels: Alaska, Arctic Circle, Kotzebue, photos, summer
posted by Amy | 5:48 PM
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