Beach BBQ with the cops and booze

This past Sunday was the Court house Beach BBQ out on Kanakanak beach. The court people invited everyone that helps out the court including the local cops, troopers, the district attorney, the prosecutor, the judge, the court clerks and all the families of each. (I invited Erin because Anthony is still in Fairbanks.) I have to say this is the first time that I have been to a beach bbq that when the cops came, they didn't come to break up the fun. No, they were there for some pretty good potato salad and bbq chicken and ribs. This is also the first time that I have been to a beach bbq with booze and the cops didn't take it away and issue tickets. (In case you were wondering, you can drink in public here.) It was a balmy 60 degrees with the wind blowing. I got some sun on my face that or wind burn. The wind was blowing that today. But the sun was shining and it was looking to be a great day.

Tonya's husband rich manned the grill, while Aaron manned the bonfire.

Erin and I walk along the beach to watch people pull in their nets and ask stupid questions like "Does it hurt to get bitten by a salmon?" (They have teeth!) That of course leads to them asking a question, "So, where ya from?" When I say Kentucky, I know they are thinking of the Kentucky Fried Chicken commercials and wondering. Meanwhile, I am taking pictures of the ulgy, muddy salmon they are pulling out of their nets.
I am told this is a dog salmon. It doesn't have a beak or a red stripe indicating a king salmon or a red salmon.
I have no idea what kind of fish this is. If it had whiskers, I would say catfish. See how little I know about fish!
Again, do they bite? While you can't really tell, they are still flopping. It makes me nervous and twitchy.

We walk back down to the bonfire where Lori and the new cop in town are chit-chatting about the differences between living in a big city and living here in Dillingham. You'll notice that since he is in uniform, he is only drinking sodas. (I wanted to point that out.) Other people were having a nice beer with their ribs, but not Dillingham's finest.

Rich finally has all the ribs and chicken cooked so he sits down and enjoys the fruits of his labor by the fire. He did a really great job. Also note that a lot of people are wearing hoodies. It was cold and windy.


I forgot to mention that this was the same beach and the same nets that not 2 weeks ago a beluga whale got caught in the nets. I know this may upset some readers, but that whale did not go to waste. Since the whale couldn't be saved, it was distributed to memebers in the community. We were hoping to see the whale, but by the time we got to the beach, there wasn't much left of it. I won't post any pictures of the close ups, but let me assure you, there was little left of it.


We also saw a bald eagle. At least Aaron thinks it is. I thought it looked like a vulture. You can decide.