A Wrangell Wedding (and some High Country pics)

June in Wrangell has thus far been highlighted with seven straight days of sunshine. Unfortunately, right now we’re in the midst of what will probably be at least seven days of rain, if not more. In honor of the grey and rain, I had the laziest weekend imaginable – slept in late, took hours to get out of bed once I did wake up, and lazed around the rest of the day. Perhaps it was the lack of activity that has caused this beginning-of-the-week malaise.

One thing I did do was attended my upstairs neighbors’ wedding reception. It was an affair of grilled meat and fish, a plethora of pasta salads, dips, homemade bread, a ton of icicle lights strung over the beams in a wooden shelter, paper wedding bells, a violin playing groom, jeans, fleeces, flowers donated by the local grocer, and broom ball.

It was the most romantic reception I had ever attended, sentimental and meaningful without being cheesy or extreme. The couple, Chris and Christine (I know, their matching names seems gag-worthy, but they are a really cool couple) had gotten married at the Three Sisters overlook with only each set of parents in attendance.

Chris is from Wisconsin and about to enter a PhD program in music composition at Santa Barbara; Christine is from Pennsylvania and has been the rotating medical student in Wrangell for the past six weeks. She is about to enter her fourth year of medical school at the University of Washington. I know – they just got married and are about to enter a long distance relationship. In their eyes, at least they’ll be on the same coast. For the past couple of years prior to their time in Alaska, they had been on separate coasts – she in Seattle; he in Boston. And they still made it work. I guess greater feats of love have been accomplished, but I still give them credit for attempting and succeeding.

The most expensive aspect about the reception was probably the case of bottled white and red wines. All the food was homemade (well, the cake was made by the baker). The wine glasses were plastic cups. We ate on paper plates and sat on picnic tables. The music was provided by the groom and his violin when he serenaded the bride with his extended version of the Postal Service’s ‘Such Great Heights.’ Everyone, as is standard in Wrangell whether it’s a wedding or funeral or a day fishing, was dressed casually. The most dressed up person there was probably Dan Nore with his overalls. And, although there was no dancing, there was broomball which is like hockey but with brooms and a kickball and no ice. As much as I didn’t want to, I was forced to play barefoot (as I wasn’t prepared with proper broomball footwear) when a boy got hit in the mouth during a face off.

There was good conversation, good food, and a good vibe. There was no pressure or stress or pretension. Everyone was as they were, which was happy for the newlywed couple. Chris and Christine’s honeymoon includes kayaking to and from their destination, a floatplane, and a secluded cabin.

I was sad that I didn’t bring my camera because I would love to post pictures of a Wrangell wedding reception. Maybe I can get them later from someone else.

For now though, I’ll post some picture from my hiking/camping trip two weekends ago to High Country shelter which was my first experience backpack camping. This was during that seven-day sun stretch. It was awesome.



It was so hot that day, I hiked the three miles up in birks despite the patches of snow. My feet definitely felt the wear more on the way down. Here is one of the views from the top.



Where we camped, hence the tent.



With the solstice coming up on Wednesday, the sky never got completely dark. It was a perpetual sunset all night.