GHOST-LIKE WHALING BOATS, CROSSES AND BOARD WALKS

I ordered a new camera on June 8th and received it on June 13, a remarkable turnaround time.  Packages sent to Barrow vary in the length of their journeys which seem to have a relationship to the amount of travelers also coming this far north.  I expect that with summer in front of us, along with many tourists coming to enjoy all points of interest here, that packages will become a second priority again.  It’s not uncommon when tracking orders, to see that they are at the USPS facility in Anchorage, but seem stuck there for quite a while.  No complaints though…this all contributes to a more highly developed personal characteristic of patience that is very useful when standing in line sometimes for close to an hour to pick up said packages and when attempting to use the internet during peak hours.  Seriously though, it is wonderful to be able to walk outside and immediately touch dirt instead of pavement, see what seems like forever and to have not even one traffic light to wait at.  All of these combined make living in Barrow an enjoyable experience of contrasts with more populated areas.    

The temperature is steadily warming up with intermittent snow falls since my last post when I imagined that spring had suddenly arrived.  In hindsight, it was only visiting, and then left its abundant amount of mud while withdrawing its sunshine for over three weeks.  It was so wonderful one evening last week as well as last night and today, to see sunshine unaccompanied by fog or clouds.  The temperature today was 38ᵒ F, lowered to 29ᵒ because of 10 mph winds out of the north.    

While on a walk Friday night while fog still hung in the sky, one could see ghost-like whaling boats standing along the beach and on the ice at various points.  Today in the sun, crosses marking the memories of passed lives dotted the brown grass along paths and picturesque boardwalks beside the two lagoons just inland.  The new Top of the World Hotel that stands next to the post office has been accepting guests for, I think, a month now.  Spring might have finally arrived in Barrow and in the nick of time before the calendar marks the beginning of summer on June 21.  






















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