The day we got stranded

When I look at this photo, it makes me giggle. In the spring time, as part of our way of living as Yupik Eskimos, we like to go egg hunting. This is part of our way of life for thousands of generations. In one of my many recordings on video i had proposed we raised ptarmigan for the sake of their eggs, but i don't think anyone ran with my idea. I mean why not? So many farms do it with chickens, why not ptarmigan?

One wonderful spring day we decided that we would go by boat to the coastal area of Southwest Alaska. We had originally planned to make it a day trip, but nature had a different plan. We should have been aware of the tide, but when your mind is preoccupied simple things like time and tide don't just cross your mind. The joy of egg hunting, I mean you don't literally shoot the eggs; when i say "hunt" we hunt as in look for the eggs out on the tundra or in this case coastal bog.

We had come up to land after about 3 and half hours of being in a boat. I sure was happy because as an older woman, you can hold your pee for so long, excuse my frankness, but it is what it is. What a beautiful sight it was to finally go on land. The ride on the river was very long and when the wind even blows at 15 miles an hour, while approaching the ocean, can get pretty wavy. This is what we love to do and there is so much more that we do, but let's save that story for another time.

As you go on land you have to be mindful to wear rubber boots and also make sure you have at least a warm sweater and a container to put the eggs in. Most of us take a stick with us to ward off the seagull that will literally attack you while your on the search, but I guess looking at it from their point of view, I would do the same thing if some thing or in this case someone was after my kids.

Many times I would go with my husband and traipse along, but in this picture i decided that I would go venture off. The walk on bog can be a bit tricky at times. There are some rough areas and often you have to cross to the "other" side of ponds to search for eggs. Some areas you need to walk about a mile, two miles in, but the walk sure is worth it at the moment, but the next day, ouch, especially it being the first venture of the season after being cooped up in a house all winter long.

Time is usually of the essence, but at this moment we had forgotten about time and we hadn't been briefed as to how long to take and what time we should return to the boat. As you can conclude from this photo, when we returned, to our surprise, our boat had been "landed". There was no way out of this situation. Good thing I had taken my small blanket that my mother in law made to cover my legs while travelling, because that night it ended up being the only blanket that my husband and I had to share.

We had to sleep in our boat, good thing we had brought a tarp. My husband made us a spot in the front with the tarp to at least cover us from the wind and the cold. Boy was it cold that night. The temperature must have been about forty degrees that night.

Boy do I look "P-%^D in this photo. Didn't take us long to learn our lesson. The following year, we went prepared. This time we took our tent, blankets, food, coffee etc... I mean we had some food to last us the day, but the unfortunate event made us realize that no matter where you go, whether on a day trip or overnight, you have to go prepared!