ARRIVING IN BARROW 1ST DAY OCT 10, 2012
I think someone is stuck on the ice outside my apartment window this morning. The sound of spinning wheels is alerting me to the new environment I find myself in. It must be around 3 am as it’s very dark outside, but no, it’s 9. I haven’t checked the temperature yet, but hope it is at least cold enough to be blog-worthy. I arrived to snow-covered twilight; flying into Barrow last night was magical. I walked, only because it was too slippery to jog, across the tarmac and into the hustle of people in big jackets, laughing children in parkas, and hugging couples in the small terminal to find Darlene Lord, the Director of Public Health. She greeted me warmly with her characteristic smile and jokes about the number of bags I brought on the plane. Did it seem like a lot, I asked? No, she brought twice that amount with her, enlisting her sister, a community health aid flying in for training to host two of her large and heavy tubs. I’m staying in a nicely furnished three bedroom a...
The first of these photos were taken today while walking from Browerville to Barrow and back. Notice the dark wall of clouds above the ocean with a blue sky above...very dramatic. It's 9 degrees F today and I have to tell you, it's a labor of love to take my mittens off to maneuver the tiny "on" botton on my camera to take these. The lagoon is frozen solid, so walking across is preferable to taking the road in daylight. The sun is to the southwest and does not rise very high above the horizon. In the sky to the northwest (I think this is right), the moon hangs in the sky all day. Vehicles are plugged in now to keep engines from freezing. The scenery around the Barrow Arctic Research Consortium is stunning. Notice the fences that catch drifts of snow, preventing a build up in one location.
ReplyDeleteThe white sand bags at the beach are ready to be used...we had a tsunami warning last weekend and continued high surf threatening to overtake the berm earlier this week.
ReplyDeleteI don't look cold standing outside of BASC, but it was trick photography...I was freezing and glad when the photo shoot was over = )
ReplyDeleteSo incredible and beautiful!
ReplyDelete