23 June, 2001

Saturday night 9:30 and still light out. Anchorage is getting approximately 20 hours of sunlight a day on June 23. It will be interesting to see what it is in Wales. We travel on Monday to Nome and then to Wales. Last night I went for a walk with 2 friends at midnight and it was light out. It is very important and interesting to meet people when on an adventure. I met two people who are in Anchorage for a marathon, Renvelyn and Bruce Fisher, from California. There is a marathon here each year to raise money for leukemia.

I met the team tonight and we discussed our upcoming trip on Monday. We are all ready to go!!!!! We went out to eat and to learn about each other. After all, we will be living together for six weeks. Maria and John are from Louisiana, they each go to the University of Arkansas. They are both anthropology majors working on their Masters degrees. They are here for the summer to join the dig and learn about Arctic archaeology. Amy lives in Anchorage and will be with this crew on her second dig to Wales. Julie is from Bloomington, Indiana and has been with Dr. Roger Harritt for four years. Margie is from the University of Alaska, and is working on her Masters degree in archaeology. She lives in Soldotna, Alaska. And last but not least is Dr. Roger Harritt, the leader of this archaeological excavation in Wales, Alaska. He lives in Anchorage. Wales is the most northwestern village not only in North America, but in the Western Hemisphere.

Alaska was the 49th state; it is called the "last frontier."

Scientists believe people migrated across the Bering Strait into Alaska and then on to the rest of North and South America. The people who settled in Alaska are ancestors of the Tlingit (southeast Alaska), the Athapaskans (interior, there are 11 different language groups), the Inupiaq and Yupik (northern coast and western Alaska), and the Aleuts who settled in the Aleutian Islands. They call themselves Unangan.

My new friends, Renvelyn and Bruce Fisher after they just completed their Anchorage marathon.