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Dark Winter Nights and vacatiooonnn!
Nov. 18th, 2018 11:07 amYesterday mom and I went to a program called Dark Winter Nights..I went to one a couple years ago, but the host (an English professor at the university) took a year off, so I think this was the first one since then. People share their interesting stories in Alaska (it's a podcast as well, so you can also listen online). Here are some of them:
A guy coming across a bear in the woods humming and playing with itself! Haha OMG. He said he was the fastest runner ever with Converse shoes on. :P The bear slipped on the hat he had been wearing and had fallen off, which probably saved his life. He still has the hat, which he wore after telling his story..wow
A boatload of naked people trying to tie up their boat after being woken up from a storm. That must have been an interesting sight :P
This was the professor's story..he moved houses and asked his neighbor if there were any people he should avoid..he pointed to a nearby house and said "him, he's not right in the head. The kids aren't allowed to play outside when he's outside too." He would leave late at night to get groceries so he'd have as less human interaction as possible. Then one day there were no tracks..the professor wanted to call the troopers to do a wellness check on him, but he didn't even know what the guy looked like or anything, so he didn't call, but he worried all winter. Fast forward to this August, four years later..the professor saw the house had been put up for auction, and the sign said "enter at your own risk." He thought that was weird, but went inside anyway..and found the man dead, slumped in a chair, having taken his own life with a gun. I remember reading about that in the news! That's so sad..having no one to care about you and check on you..he was a hermit, so people thought he just stayed inside all the time. How tragic :(
A biologist and his team were camping out on the sea ice in Northern Alaska (I squeed when he used terms like "pressure ridges" LOL). A polar bear entered the cook tent..the rifle was at the door, so the cook threw a frying pan at the bear, which hit it on the nose. The biologist woke up and wondered what was going on, and stepped outside to see the angry polar bear running straight at him. He grabbed his gun and tried to shoot it, but it was too cold, so he hit the bear on the ear instead, which broke his gun. Another guy managed to shoot the bear, saving the biologist's life (the meat was distributed among the members of the nearby village). Even though the incident was probably less than a minute, the news interviewed him, and he thought that was the end of his "fifteen minutes of fame." Later in the winter a guy mushed his dogs all the way from Michigan to meet "the brave guy who hit a bear"..and somehow he got invited on the Steger North Pole Expedition!!! I about fell over, because I just bought a book on that very same expedition, and I've read about Steger's Antarctic Expedition. Wow, that's awesome!! I'll definitely have to look for the guy's name when I read the book lol. Who knew such a short moment would have a major impact on one's life??
Tonight I start on my journey to Florida for Thanksgiving! You have no idea how excited I am lol, I haven't been on vacation since February and feel worn out. It'll be cool seeing family again. :) I really wish my period hadn't chosen the exact day I'm leaving to start though :P
( November 17-18 )
A guy coming across a bear in the woods humming and playing with itself! Haha OMG. He said he was the fastest runner ever with Converse shoes on. :P The bear slipped on the hat he had been wearing and had fallen off, which probably saved his life. He still has the hat, which he wore after telling his story..wow
A boatload of naked people trying to tie up their boat after being woken up from a storm. That must have been an interesting sight :P
This was the professor's story..he moved houses and asked his neighbor if there were any people he should avoid..he pointed to a nearby house and said "him, he's not right in the head. The kids aren't allowed to play outside when he's outside too." He would leave late at night to get groceries so he'd have as less human interaction as possible. Then one day there were no tracks..the professor wanted to call the troopers to do a wellness check on him, but he didn't even know what the guy looked like or anything, so he didn't call, but he worried all winter. Fast forward to this August, four years later..the professor saw the house had been put up for auction, and the sign said "enter at your own risk." He thought that was weird, but went inside anyway..and found the man dead, slumped in a chair, having taken his own life with a gun. I remember reading about that in the news! That's so sad..having no one to care about you and check on you..he was a hermit, so people thought he just stayed inside all the time. How tragic :(
A biologist and his team were camping out on the sea ice in Northern Alaska (I squeed when he used terms like "pressure ridges" LOL). A polar bear entered the cook tent..the rifle was at the door, so the cook threw a frying pan at the bear, which hit it on the nose. The biologist woke up and wondered what was going on, and stepped outside to see the angry polar bear running straight at him. He grabbed his gun and tried to shoot it, but it was too cold, so he hit the bear on the ear instead, which broke his gun. Another guy managed to shoot the bear, saving the biologist's life (the meat was distributed among the members of the nearby village). Even though the incident was probably less than a minute, the news interviewed him, and he thought that was the end of his "fifteen minutes of fame." Later in the winter a guy mushed his dogs all the way from Michigan to meet "the brave guy who hit a bear"..and somehow he got invited on the Steger North Pole Expedition!!! I about fell over, because I just bought a book on that very same expedition, and I've read about Steger's Antarctic Expedition. Wow, that's awesome!! I'll definitely have to look for the guy's name when I read the book lol. Who knew such a short moment would have a major impact on one's life??
Tonight I start on my journey to Florida for Thanksgiving! You have no idea how excited I am lol, I haven't been on vacation since February and feel worn out. It'll be cool seeing family again. :) I really wish my period hadn't chosen the exact day I'm leaving to start though :P
( November 17-18 )
