16 July 2018 Welcome to Nome!

Journal

The legacy of bad handwriting

Seems that locals subscribe to the view that Nome was named thanks to bad handwriting. A British cartographer misread the "? Name" on a nautical chart as C. Nome or "Cape Nome". Others ascribe to the idea that "no-me" is "I don't know" in a local native language, and well, it stuck. Yet others claim that Nome's founder, a Norwegian named Jafet Lindeberg, named it after an area near his home, Nomedalen.

Which do you believe?

A mix of old and new

Talk of wind currents, wave heights, and impending weather were the stuff of overheard conversations at the Polar Cafe on main street. Along with these time-honored logistics were also frustrations of not being able to post social media PR for a dredging business. Morning in a gold mining town. A mix of old and new.

NYC in Nome

Richard, aka, the Mayor (at $75/ month, he is a professional!), was a former actor, dancer, and singer in NYC, and has been here more than 30 years. "Moving here saved my life", he claims, and oh, does he have stories. I think his favorite is the prediction, based on his childhood sassiness, that he would be "selling freezers to Eskimos one day". Lo and behold, he has indeed done that while in the last frontier.

The tour was pure entertainment, and everyone knows Richard. "Hello, Central!" was his exuberant greeting, his Jersey throwback and a nod to old-time phone calls. If you're ever in Nome, find Richard and spend a few hours on his Discovery Tour.

Richard, showman, tour guide, and mayor — My tour guide for the afternoon, for all things Nome-ish.

TundraA treeless area between the icecap and the tree line of arctic regions, having a permanently frozen subsoil and supporting low-growing vegetation such as lichens, mosses, and stunted shrubs. colors

I think one of the greatest surprises is how green and absolutely alive the tundra is. For something that is frozen so much of the year, the fact that plants grow here at all can mystify those unfamiliar with botany (like me). In a nutshell, bumblebees and flies help pollinate flowers, while flowers and plants conserve energy by staying small. This is a treeless land, except for some implants in the cemetery from further inland, although shrubs and small trees (like willows, which look completely unlike willows I know) are prominent outside of Nome proper.

As Richard likes to say, "Each trip is different. It's never the same. I'm always seeing something new or reminded of something different."

Flowers below include: arctic cottongrass, arctic heather, fireweed, larkspur, lichen, and mountain aven.

Larkspur makes you forget you're in an arctic ecosystem.

Lichen is critical to this ecosystem, and this is just one of many varieties!

Mountain aven. These bright, sunny flowers can be found sprinkled around the tundra.

Pull tabs

The only gambling vice in town is the ubiquitous pull-tab. Purchase a card for $1 and try your luck. Casinos are no longer legal here, but the Alaska Gaming Reform Act was passed in 1983 permitting pull tabs to be sold statewide, with the promise of funding to non-profits, like schools. I admit I contributed, but also learned quickly why there was such a large trashcan near the pull-tab counter. Alas.

Pull tab trash — Sad to say, but this was the final resting place of my pull-tabs. No beginner's luck for me.

Cemetery

Graves of locals walloped by the Spanish flu pandemic, rampant alcoholism, and rich lives dot this hilltop. Although overgrown with grasses and subarctic flowers, many of the graves are well-taken care of with flowers and loving artifacts. Most of the markers are wooden, rather than stone, surprising since there are so few trees nearby. Many are also unmarked, but are registered and known, town officials just haven't gotten around to getting the names on them. Richard typically uses a marker on a friend's grave on his visits, but it had washed away. A metaphor, perhaps?

The cookie recipe from the dead, however, remains engraved on one of the few stone obelisk graves. Provided by the deceased mom of 11, it was apparently a well-loved concoction. You'll have to imagine that grave marker yourself.

Nome cemetery — Close-up of varied grave markers.

White cemetery markers — Although no names are visible on many of the markers, there is a registry outlining locations.

Nome cemetery and harbor — On a hilltop near the harbor, the cemetery is a point of pride for the mayor. There was even an "open house" to celebrate its cleanup.

Last stop

Last but not least was the Safety Roadhouse, the final checkpoint of the famous 1049 mile Iditarod. This bar, known for its walls plastered with dollar bills autographed by visitors from around the world (and now me, too!) is 20 miles outside of Nome. Undoubtedly a welcome sign for mushers and dogs alike in that last leg of a grueling race.