Selected Trip Journal entries:
Didn't write anything here -- I'll just put everything straight on the webpage!
Other things about today, not written in the journal:
I was supposed to be on an all-day tour of the village of Barrow today, but I overslept and the tour left at 8:30 AM. So I decided to head out on my own again...
Walked around in chilling temperatures and blowing winds coming in from the ocean ... I was wearing warm clothes but my nose was numb by lunchtime! But FINALLY, I got to experience at least SOME Arctic weather! So far on this trip all the days had been sunny and warm, nothing like I had expected! I had even complained to the tourvan driver in Prudhoe Bay that "This is not my idea of the Arctic!" Well, I got what I wanted, and lots of it!
At least for the summertime........
I stopped by in a mexican restaurant for lunch, and coincidentally the "Top of the world tour" people were also there at the same time. I asked them if I could hop on for the rest of the day, and the driver said sure... So after lunch I was with the tour...
Earlier in the day I had walked to the Inupiat Heritage Center but it was closed. We went there again from the tour and got to go in this time. Interesting -- there are a lot of displays about the whale hunting season (the town of Barrow is allowed to hunt up to 22 whales/year). And there are whale bones all over the place! Lot of displays on the hunt itself ("The whale gives itself to us")...
After this was a stop at the "northernmost grocery store in the continent", followed by a drive to Point Barrow -- the northernmost point in the continent. Well... we didn't really go all the way north, only to where the road ends. Beyond that, the tourguide said is about 2-3 miles of land, but did not allow any of us to venture out there. Apparantly some polar bears were sighted in that area recently, althgouh we didn't see any. Near this place is also the "only 3 trees in all of Barrow" -- I have a picture of that. (no they're not real trees)
One more stop at the "Whale Bone Arch" -- it's a landmark thats in a lot of Barrow postcards -- I had already walked there in the morning so didn't get out of the bus this time, and finally, back to the hotel for the people who were staying there overnight. One of the tourists wanted to join the Polar Bear Club by jumping into the ocean, and his 3 kids said they wanted to do the same... so we saw them jump in, then headed out to the airport.
Flight back to Fairbanks was on Alaska Airlines -- "a normal passenger flight" -- and I checked into the Super 8 next to the northernmost Dennys in the world for my last night in this city..
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| July 29 | Contents | July 31 |