Bethel

It is hard to describe the experience of arriving in Bethel. After a long day of flying, we boarded the last leg of the journey to Bethel on a plane that was half passenger plane and half cargo plane. The passenger section was full. It felt a little more like a bus than a plane. Most of the people seemed to know each other, and they speculated with great interest about whether so-and-so was going to make it in time or whether such-and-such a person's cargo made it on the plane. All of us were very tired. It was a short flight, and before we knew it we were descending into Bethel. The view out the window was beautiful. Thousands of lakes, like puddles, stretching out to the horizon in an expanse of golden tundra. Clouds were moving slowly across the sky dumping rain in long mare's tales. The descriptions of Bethel we had read before arriving did not do it justice.



Our first couple of days we took few pictures. It was enough just to be in town. The attorneys at the PD's office are all very friendly and helpful. They have been a great help in getting acclimated to Bethel. Mostly we have just been walking around town attending to a million little moving tasks. Sign up for a phone. Transfer electricity. Figure out James' school. Get a P.O. Box (no mail delivery here). Find out about cable and Internet. Generally figure out how to get from here to there. It is clear that we will be doing a lot of walking if we don't get a car. The basics are right here though. The public defender's office is right across the street. As you can see below, it is a pretty basic structure. It's the one with the blue roof. I will have my own office there. Below that is a picture of the courthouse.


Yesterday, for the first time, I took an hour or so to walk around taking pictures. My focus was the sky. The sky here is incredible. It was cloudy and rainy for a couple of days, but yesterday evening the weather broke.

These pictures are mostly around the pond that sits behind our apartment building.

This is along the river.

This little girl was working on some very complicated project in the mud. I asked what it was, she was not willing to divulge. She was happy, however, to pose for a photograph.


Things here are very run-down, and much of what we read before arriving was focused on the junk around town. In fact, a lot of visitors describe a grubby little town in the middle of nowhere. No alcohol is often a concern. If the primary entertainment you seek involves bowling allies and cold beers (I am partial to both by the way), then you won't find much in Bethel. But so far there has been no lack of interesting people and places.

Finally, this is the apartment complex we live in. It is called "Timberline." It didn't look very significant to our eyes, but everyone in town knows about it. Next time James will blog about his school. Trust me, he can't wait.


--Terrence