South to North Pole

Today we flew from Barrow down to Fairbanks and were transformed from a barren, cold, windy tundra into what appeared to be legitimate summer weather. The temps almost reached 80! It only seemed appropriate that our hotel was in a town just east of Fairbanks called North Pole. Everything is Christmas-themed. The streets are named things like Santa Claus Lane or St Nicholas Street. Business marquees are held up by giant candy canes. For further ridiculousness, let me describe our hotel room.

Yep. I don't know what else to say about this room that isn't said in this picture. Nicole was very excited about it, but I was slightly uncomfortable. She had to reassure me that a fat man dressed like Santa wouldn't visit us during the middle of the night. Just a few blocks away was the Santa Shop, a christmas store open year round where there was an actual Santa talking to children, christmas music was playing, and one could buy anything christmas they might ever want. Retired Dickens Village buildings? Check. Santa statue dressed as camouflaged hunter with a rifle? Check.

We went back into Fairbanks to experience nature. We found a small walking trail area next to a car museum of all places. We took about 10 paces and were swarmed by mosquitoes. We made a hasty retreat to a Walgreens to get some bug spray, put on long sleeved shirts, and gave it another go. It was a basic trail that went to a small lake and through some woods, but it was peaceful. Shortly after we parked our car in the lot, a man walked by giving us the hairy eye. Not sure why. I noticed a pistol tucked in the back of his pants. And I get that it's Alaska, but does one really need a firearm in a car museum?

Again. It's a culture I simply do not understand. I do not intend to get political, but the "good guy with a gun can prevent bad guy with gun from doing bad things" argument is a bit weak to me. I for one, would not feel safe going into the car museum with the man with the pistol in his trousers who gave us the hairy eye. I know nothing about this man. Is he angry about something? Does he often encounter bears? Is he in the witness protection program? While trouser pistol man may feel safe, the people around him do not. And that is my two cents.

Whilst driving around Fairbanks, we discovered some ancient relics. For one, we saw two different Blockbuster video stores. Did they not go out of business years ago? People on the bike trail were dressed in workout attire like it was 1988. There is only one explanation for all this. The 737 we flew from Barrow to Fairbanks was actually a tardis-like time machine that transported us to a world that is pre-2016. It is the only explanation. For dinner we ate by the Chena River. I had tacos because nothing says Alaska like tacos. We returned to North Pole where I was relieved that a fat man was not hiding in the closet of our room and called it a night.

The Midnight Sun Could Drive Someone to Drink . . . but They Can't

 I am writing this at almost 1am and the sun outside the window is blinding. I need to emphasize that it is not even close to the horizon. Nicole actually thinks it's getting brighter. It's as if it has reached it's low point and is already beginning to rise. It makes the body clock extremely confused. We went for another walk in the afternoon to a different section of Barrow beach that was located near a cliff. Then we continued down the beach to the random whale bones section once more. With the sun still high in the sky, we didn't realize it was almost 9 pm when we were finally eating dinner.

As Barrow is not particularly large, we pretty adequately covered the town in the brief amount of time we've been here, so this blog post is primarily about some of the unusual things I've learned about this far north region that you don't really think about when you live in a warmer locale. And in the case of Barrow, "warmer locale" could include places like Wisconsin, so keep that in mind. All the streets in Barrow are dirt and unpaved. Why? All the land is thick permafrost.

Basically the maintenance costs for fixing constant cracks would be a major problem. Not to mention that any road construction and repairs would have a 60 day window once a year. Between our walks we turned the TV on in our room and something dawned on us. After an advertisement for a new movie and another for Budweiser aired, we realized that neither of these is possible in Barrow. There is no movie theater. And regarding the Budweiser, the sale of alcohol is banned.

I did some research to try and determine why and (not surprisingly) alcoholism is a big problem in
the far north villages of Alaska. Keep in mind there are months that go by without any sun. Apparently you can consume booze if you have a permit, but since the sale of it is illegal, it complicates things a bit. Basically, you would order it from a distributor in Fairbanks (500 miles away) and have an airplane bring it in. This is probably not very cost effective. Services like wifi and 3g are not very functional. The internet in the hotel is slower than dialup which required me to manually compress all these pictures, otherwise it would be uploading all night.

Things you would assume exist everywhere like car dealerships, fitness centers, McDonalds, or bookstores just simply do not exist. If you want something bad enough, it either comes in by plane (or if it doesn't fit on a plane and you're patient, it can come in by boat about two months out of the year). It is an entire way of life that is foreign to me. I just have so many questions, but I'm glad I came to this isolated outpost 3,000 miles away from LA. Tomorrow we are off to Fairbanks.

The Top of the World

For quite some time, Nicole has wanted to visit the far north and the state of Alaska. But not just anywhere in Alaska . . . specifically Barrow, the northern-most point in the state. Unsurprisingly, it requires a bit of effort to reach this point and we had some difficulty in getting there despite our flight privileges. We were delayed leaving LAX and found ourselves running through the Seattle airport trying to make our connection. While we miraculously arrived at the gate before they closed the door, they were ironically waiting for a family of four to arrive. No room for us. Fortunately we only had to wait for an hour and a half for the next flight to Anchorage, but we nervously watched the amount of seats go from two down to -6, and back up to 12.

I haven't the faintest idea how these things happen, but we got on. We overnighted in Anchorage at a small b&b near the airport and even at this latitude in southern Alaska, the sun's light made itself known at midnight from just beyond the horizon. The next day I ran into another oversold situation going to Prudhoe Bay. Evidently it is a popular destination. Nicole had a confirmed seat, and for the first time in months I asked for the jumpseat. In the end, this wasn't terrible. I had good views of Mt  McKinley  Denali, something that was obscured during my last visit to Alaska, over six years ago.

From Prudhoe Bay, the plane continued on for a short flight to Barrow. Touching down more than 300 miles north of the Arctic Circle, I could see ice out the windows of the aircraft. The average high temperatures here in June are around 42. Nicole and I put on our jackets and set out to explore the town. The one semi-iconic image of Barrow is that of some old whale bones planted on the beach. We located this after about a ten minute walk. The whole town looks a bit run down and dilapidated, but outdoor projects must be challenging when it's 30 below.

We walked down the beach a ways with nobody in sight. Of course, this wasn't exactly a typical beach getaway. The wind was blowing pretty strong, which brought the temps down another 15 degrees. We didn't encounter any other people during our beach stroll or really anywhere else in town. Every once in a while some kid on an ATV would go flying by or we'd encounter a taxi driving past. For being such a small town, there are lots of taxis. We got lunch at one of eight places to eat in the town. It was called Sam & Lee's, which is like a Korean/Chinese/American buffet restaurant that looks like something from the 1970s. I had an $18 omelette with reindeer sausage and cheese. The cheese was essentially Kraft singles. Now one might think an $18 omelette with Kraft is an unforgivable crime, but keep in mind we are really far from . . . everything. The shipping costs must be astronomical. In fact we stopped by a grocery store to browse. A birthday cake was $25, a box of cereal was over $10, and even instant ramen was approaching $1. And crime of the century, look at the price of these twinkies!

There is an odd feeling around town. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it is almost unsettling --like being stalked by a polar bear. Of course, if we knew we were being stalked by a polar bear, we could buy overpriced cokes and offer them to the bear as a token of peace. Everyone knows polar bears like Coke. People keep saying today is the best weather they've seen in Barrow in a long time. Some people were out wearing t-shirts. Keep in mind it's barely 40. The highest temperature recorded here EVER was 79. In LA, last week that record was shattered everyday by 10 degrees or more. What is it like to be born and grow up here? I mean if all you know is cold. What if you went to Death Valley? Would your body shut down from shock? So many questions.