Arctic Tundra Trip, December 2007
 

This winter, I took a trip with a few friends up to Barrow, Alaska. Just for the hell of it. Seriously. December.

I took some pictures there that I thought were pretty cool, and expose a way of life that most of us never experience. Barrow's only link to the rest of the world most of the year are their daily flights to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, and Fairbanks, Alaska. The summertime brings a short period when the Chuchki sea opens up enough for a fuel barge to be brought in, which results in their gasoline price remaining the same until the next year. There are no roads to Barrow, except when the oil companies spend the $2 million+ to create a temporary ice road when they need special equipment up there. Enough with the chit chat - here are the pics.

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This is the Alaska Airlines terminal at Prudhoe Bay, around 9:00 AM.

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This is our plane being loaded up for Barrow. Sorry for the quality, my camera was indoors and kindof got frozen.

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Our plane in Barrow, ready to take off and leave us behind. It's about 11:00AM

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The Alaska Airlines terminal in Barrow. Interesting place, very modular feel.

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The Inupiat Heritage Center/Tuzzy Consortium Library. This is the largest building that we saw in Barrow. There was a crafts sale here on the Saturday that we visited.

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Milk was $8.99 a gallon at their grocery store (AC Value Center).

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Brower's Cafe, right on the Arctic Ocean

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Looking due south from the Arctic Ocean beach. It's around 12:30 PM

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Some snowed in Boats

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This picture is misleading. It definitely wasn't that bright there.

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Walking back towards the airport.

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Another one of these signs. This is a more accurate depiction of the light situation.

Hope you enjoyed the pics, for more info, check out the wikipedia page: Barrow, Alaska

TFP Race Across the World racers! We totally ran, cycled, etc. through this place!! (Well, virtually.)

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kipperoo, those are some nice shots. I've always wanted to (actually) to the Great White North one day!

Awesome stuff, thanks for sharing here :)

And now I'm again thinking about how I'd like to go to Antarctica. Problem is, in order to get there I'd have to live there for 5 months doing manual labor 9-12 hours a day, 6 days a week. Not sure I'm interested in that, even if it's to go to Antarctica. But by the time I can afford to take any of the cruises that go there, it may be far different than it is now :(

I'll have to add this place onto my list of locations to visit :)