A Virtual Saturday Tour

It's Saturday once again. I slept in until noon, and then decided that I'd go out to the landfill to shoot, even though it was snowing. It had snowed quite a bit overnight, actually.

I headed out of town and found my way onto Waskey Road. It's a dirt road, and every since it started snowing, it hasn't been plowed. Today, though, it was covered in snow deep enough that if you didn't stay in the grooves made by other vehicles, it was hard to steer.


I reached the landfill without incident, though. There were a couple of guys, Eric and Pat, there shooting. One was breaking in the barrel on a new single-shot rifle. The other was sighting in his rifle at 100 yards from a bench rest. I shot my box of 20 rounds at 50 yards. The first 10 rounds grouped about three inches left, so I made some adjustments. The next two groups of five shots were much better (with the exception of a flyer in each group). About 1.5 inches at 50 yards for each group. Not horrible with a 2x scope.

It snowed the whole time I was shooting, so my rifle got plenty wet on my outing. You can see how much snow we're talking as I leave the landfill road.


After I wrapped it up, I headed back from the landfill on Aleknagik Road. I thought it might be a little clearer, but it wasn't.


Doesn't look much better than Waskey, does it? And it's a paved road.

I started snapping pictures every once in a while as I drove off Aleknagik onto Kanakanak Road and into town.

And as I got here, the flats were off to my left.

In town, I tried to take pictures of a few Dillingham landmarks covered in snow. This is a mound of snow that has been plowed up off the streets. The smaller blue building to the right of the mound is one of the local bars, although I've never been in there.

Here's the Muddy Rudder, which is closed for the season.

Here's the courthouse, where I work. That's the magistrate's truck out front--I guess he was putting in some overtime. The pink thing to the right is our colorful dumpster. The window to the far left is my office.

As you pass the courthouse, you come to the Dillingham middle and high school. Go Wolverines!

At the end of the road is the hardware/general store, L&M Supplies.

Taking a left at the intersection, you pass the Wells Fargo Bank first, and then on your left is the post office. We have a post office box--there's no home delivery. Consequently, the post office is a daily stop. It makes getting your mail more exciting, really.

Here's another giant pile of snow in the senior center parking lot.

And then I finally reached our street.

And there's our apartment!

When I got home, I had Samara snap a picture of me dressed up in my paper-hunting outfit. I've got long underwear on under this, mind you. My parka and boots do a good job of keeping me warm, though.

Which is good, since although I didn't take any pictures of it, the snow at the shooting range was about 2 feet deep. I had to brush a good foot of snow off the shooting bench, and then it was a real pain to trek downrange to set up targets when you're sinking in past your knees.

Still, there's not much else to do in Alaska, so some hobbies take perseverance!

I hope this picture-filled post gives you an idea of how much snow we're dealing with already here in Dillingham. Since I got home, the skies have continued to open up. Although it's pitch black now, at 6pm, as I post this, I could see thick, wet snow falling rapidly all afternoon. I'm sure there'll be plenty more snow tomorrow.