Bush Shopping with Dividend Traffic!

Here I am in Anchorage. Had to fly in in order for Aileen to see an orthopedist. Because there is no orthopedist in Dillingham or an MRI, we had to bite the financial bullet and fly in to see the Dr.. Unfortunately, it required a two night hotel stay in order to catch flights here and back. The good news of all of this is two parted: 1. I found out that this expense will be reimbursed by our insurance (Thank God) and 2. This meant the ability to get 200 pounds of stuff back to Dillingham. Pen Air, the only airline offering service to Dillingham this time of year allows two 50 pound bags a person.

It is easy to take for granted the ability to go to the store and pick up a gallon of milk, or a jar of mayonaise, or frozen pizza. Back in Massachusetts that milk would be somewhere between $2.69-2.99 in Dillingham- $7.99. Mayonaise- $6-7 for a small jar. Frozen pizza-$11.00 each. Cheese- runs well over $10-20 a pound in the bush depending on the type. So, coming "to town" and being able to shop saves a significant amount of money.

Coming to town, you pack the minimal amount of clothes to get you by. You bring your empty Alaskan Suitcase- the rubbermaid type tote. These totes you take and drill holes around the perimeter so that you can wiretie them shut in order to fill them with your treasures.

Today- between MD appointments and MRI we ran to Costco, Walmart,Best Buy, Baileys Furniture, JC Penney, REI, Carrs (safe way), Lowe's and my new alternative food favorite- New Sagaya's. We picked up prescriptions for friends. Looked at big items for another to determine quality before they were purchased and shipped site unseen. Lists were carefully made and a traffic pattern was made to get around town in the most efficient way.

Complicating matters today was the fact that yesterday was Dividend day. Each year Alaskan's get paid a dividend from the oil fund. This year the dividend was about $1,100 per person (children included). This fund is paid to anyone living in Alaska over a year. So- every store we went into was packed with people off spending their dividend checks.

Back at the hotel, I was not the only one in the parking lot sorting and securing totes. You carefully measure them for weight to be sure that you do not go over 50 pounds on any of them. Totes are packed! With the exception of the frozen food that I have stuffing the freezer in our hotel room to the gills. I have learned that the trick to your frozen foods is to remove your clothes from your carry on and to fill these bags with the frozen goodies. There are a lot of times that personal baggage gets bumped for freight on the return trip to Dillingham. Consequently, the safe way to get your frozen goods home is to physically carry them onto the plane with you. At least you don't have to worry about your clothes rotting if it takes a few days for them to find their way back to you!

So- back to the bush in the morning. I am attaching pictures today of the seasons at home while I have the faster internet to do the trick!