A relatively unremarkable (but enjoyable) birthday yesterday turned into one I'll never forget. I was happy enough just to be in Alaska for my 23rd, but sometime after dinner I started hearing people coming into the bunkhouse. I came out to see what was going on, and ended up spoiling what was supposed to be a little surprise birthday. But hey, I was still surprised to find people in my house.
Had some delicious cake with a small group of friends and then headed down to the rec center for a couple rounds of bowling in Nome's 6-lane bowling alley to the beat of bad 80's music in the background. And I managed to only score the second lowest! :)
Afterwards, a few friends proposed having a bonfire out on the sea ice, something they've all been talking about for several weeks now, but it keeps getting vetoed due to the freezing cold weather. This time it was a go though, and after everyone dispersed to go change into warmer clothes (I wore 3 pairs of pants and 4 tops), we met up on the beach and hauled a bunch of wooden shipping pallets down onto the ice (it's minimum 3-4 feet thick, frozen all the way to the bottom in some parts).
For the next couple hours we huddled around the roaring fire as snow fell gently around us, dancing with the sparks flying up from the flames, and the northern lights swayed just out of sight above the clouds (I thought I saw a glimpse of them, but it could have been lights from town). Whoever would have thunk I'd spend my 23rd birthday in northwest Alaska, standing around a bonfire on the sea ice?
Life is so full of surprises!
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