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I hope everyone is doing well! Everything is just lovely here in Yakutat, Alaska! I've been staying busy lately with work and also a bit of volunteering with the summer school program. I think i know about all of the kids in town now. Its fun working with them and they are all pretty good kids!

Its been rainy here for about the past month straight, which seems pretty rough, but you get used to it, and just continue doing what you have to do. I have good rain gear so I usually just don't pay it much attention and sometimes it even makes things more interesting or enjoyable. This is a temperate rainforest so everything is really green and covered in moss. Right now all of the berries are starting to bloom. There are tons of Salmon berries, blueberries, and starwberries almost anywhere you go around here! The salmon berries are getting ripe and it won't be long for the rest.

I got lucky this past week and some friends I've made invited me on their overnight trip to Skagway. They were celebrating a birthday and it just so happened that the birthday girl and her boyfriend own an airline service here in Yakutat, so we just flew down to Skagway on their plane. The "Otter." You can see the view on the way down was amazing. The mountains here are without a doubt some of the most beautiful I've ever seen, and probably ever will.

Life here in Yak runs at a pretty slow pace. I've been cooking a lot in the evenings along with a few of my housemates. We've been coming up with all kinds of recipes for Halibut and I have to say it is the best fish I have ever had! you can use it for ANYthing!! I'm going to try and send a load home at some point so we can have a big fish fry for everyone. I usually run in the evenings to try and keep from getting fat from all of the big dinners we have.

Well, here's a few pics I've taken lately. I still haven't seen a bear here in Yakutat, though I know they are everywhere! Really! Everywhere I go people are telling me about their sightings, so it must be a coincidence that I haven't had an encounter. I walk everywhere i go and spend a good amount of time outdoors. Its just a matter of time I'm sure. I haven 't had a chance to do much camping yet, just been occupied with other things on my days off, like fishing, hiking, and a bit of travel. I have 6 days off beginning on the 14th though, and I'm still deciding where I want to go. Time is flying by, thats for sure! The weeks seem to go by almost like days!

I hope everyone is having/had a great 4th!