Comments by Bonnie
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Posted on June 5 at 4:18 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Verbum sap...a "poma" lift is a type of ski lift..you sit on this "disc" and it pulls you up the hill. Anyway, I think that is what you're referring to. (I'm a skier....) But maybe it has a different meaning in Alaska..
Posted on June 5 at 4:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
To Bluffton....so you're going to Barrow!
It is a very unique place and the word "Outpost" really sums it up. This time of year it will be all dirt and bare tundra with many all terrain vehicles ripping by on the streets. People are friendly and the kids are pretty much as well informed with current trends as kids at the mall in the lower 48. We met some great locals, one in particular, the former mayor of Barrow, who gave us a personal tour of the town in his new pick up.
Barrow consists of 2 sections, Barrow proper and Browerville.. more "residential" out beyond one of the large lagoons in the town. Take a tour and see the usual Barrow stops the whale bone welcome sign, Pt. Barrow-slowing disappearing because of rising oceans, the the Innupiat Cultural Center. Of course, at Pepe's (where all the tourists go) you'll meet Joe the Waterman (and he may invite you to his own personal "Barrow" museum at his nearby apartment...a real unique place) and across the street from Pepe's you can get some real sweet milkshakes and Japanese food at the Osaka (the milkshakes cost $8). The Barrow radio station has so great little keepsakes. Another interesting thing was the grocery store...very modern and like a smaller scale Walmart with just about everything a Barrow-ian could desire.
Do check out the neighborhoods. The houses look rather ramshackle but appear homey on the inside. Built on pylons because of the permafront, most now have indoor plumbing. In most yards a hunter's catch may be drying out along with a rusted out appliance or car. Barrow.)
It was kind of surreal to walk along the Arctic (Beaufort Sea) Ocean shoreline and realize that, because of Barrows's positon on the globe, there are no tides. We saw walrus swimming(no polar bears though even though there was one roaming through town while we were there) and snowy owls.
Although by appearances, Barrow seems drap and dank, it really is a lively little community. The new football field (bright blue astro turf) and the football team (the Whalers) have become a source of community pride. This sports program has also lowered the drop out rate for students. There is also a good community college there too.
Even though you really do travel to one of the ends of the earth to get to Barrow, you'll be surprised that under that frontier veneer there is a vibrant native culture. The climate and terrain may be bleak but the town is full of colorful personalities and warmth.
Posted on May 19 at 1:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Dear JOprenov:
Just checked in with Arctic Cam....and found your comments about Fairbanks to be so correct.
I was in Fairbanks last September and found the Fairbanksans to be the most unaffected, down to earth, and genuine folks I've met.
We stayed in a local B&B and were so pleased to get to know our host and his friends. I felt that when I came there is was like home.
And I so agree about your Healy sunsets comment. I rented a small apartment there on a dirt road (what isn't dirt?) with a local family. The sunsets were a glorious display of pigments and pastels all against such vast and far reaching vistas. Even the night that 70 mile an hour wind gusts rattled and caused the house to sigh and shudder the sunset was spectacular. Clouds rolled and morphed into a variety of shapes against the darkening sky.
It was a vibrant display of the forces of nature. It stays with me...even now.
Posted on May 13 at 5:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)
To AKusaAK:
Pertaining to why it is warmer in Fairbanks that Anchorage....I think it has something to do with temperature inversion. I know sometimes in the winter the ski areas in the hills around Fairbanks are warmer than in town. Perhaps, the same is true in the warmer weather. I know that being near the ocean Anchorage has the modifying influence of the sea water that keeps in warmer in the winter and cooler in the summers.
Being that Fairbanks is in the interior and in a valley it lends itself to temperature extremes. I think the air gets in there and kind of settles no matter what time of year...
Does anyone have a better explanation of this situation?....
Posted on May 9 at 5:53 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Hello Arctic Cam folks: I have been reading with such interest about the Google street Viewer. I would love to download it...went on the Google sight...(I'm not very techno-savy) Do I just download it or do I have to get some other softward on my laptop? Any assistance would be appreciated...I have friends in Fairbanks working on a new home and I love to check it out via google. Thanks....
Posted on May 4 at 8:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Hello to all Arctic Cam viewers....I have another question if anyone knows. Now, that I'm rethinking the 2 day "Aurora Special" at Chena Hot Springs I was wondering if there is any place near Fairbanks that you can take a dog sled ride in the winter. Love those dogs...
And Panionios....I live in Connecticut.
Posted on May 3 at 11:17 a.m. (Suggest removal)
To Harriet Patterson, TimeshareVon and of course, Panionios:
WOW, Chena Hot Springs does create quite a forum for discussion! Thanks for all the input...maybe I'll just go out for the day instead of staying. I hear they're almost getting really, really high rates already for next Winter's aurora viewing. I did hear that Bettles was real cute so that could be an option. Although I did see some some aurora both in Fax (north of Fairbanks) and Healy (outside Denali National Park) last September.
And Panionios...thanks for your kind words on my Barrow input. I enjoy writng about experiences, in fact all great travel experiences, like my Alaskan adventure. Are you from Greece? Just a guess.
Posted on May 1 at 4:54 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Panionios - thanks for the nice comments. No, I'm not living in Fairbanks...but I wish I were. Plan to go back next March and maybe hit Chena Hot Springs... I guess in my mind I have a dream of living in Alaska. Just like the Alaskan attitude and how no one cares about what you wear or drive. My time last September in Fairbanks was great mainly because of the locals I met there. Funny, it is so far from where I live yet it didn't feel far away.
And yes, Barrow is the top of the world...and the edge of it too. But amazingly everyone I met there really likes it there. It is like no place I have ever been...remote like the third world yet extremely modern at the same time. It's a real mix. At first glance it looks so grim and windswept but now, after the fact, I'm glad I did go.
Are you ever going to Alaska? Hope so. It's is the most magical, wild and wondrous place. My first sighting of the aurora on the Steese Highway on the black star lit evening outside of Fairbanks will remain with me always.
Posted on April 30 at 1:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
To Panionios - you asked a few days back about the vehicles in Barrow. I think that some of them come in by barge that operates in the months the Arctic Ocean is notice locked. There are quite a few cars and trucks (and alot of old abandoned ones lie rusting away in frony yards.) There may be an occasional cargo plane that might bring in a vehicle?
Mostly, though there are tons of all terain vechicles. Kids use them alot and they really fly though the dirt and muddy streets of Barrow. Alot of folks do take them out to Pt. Barrow too.
The cost of living in Barrow is high. But I also think that there is plenty of money since the discovery of oil on the North Slope. We spent $8 on a milk shake in a Barrow restaurant. (But they were so appealing we ordered two anyway!) They have a pretty large Walmart style store out in Browerville (northly section of Barrow.) It had everything from food to clothing, videos to sporting goods. We were amazed. The produce and meat was very high as one would expect. That is why many of the villagers use game to supplement their food supplies.
Pertaining to the football team...I think one of the reasons they established a football team was to inspire town and school spirit and to help with the very high drop out rate there. The new field is quite attractive (it's royal blue) and the kids are into it. I think they also do other sports but I don't know how much actually skiing...since they don't get large amounts of snow but was is there blows in from other places. There is also a skating rink in town.
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Posted on June 20 at 4:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Happy Solstice to all Fairbanksans, both the ones I know and the ones I have not yet met. I left Fairbanks last September but I still carry with me the images and emotions of this particular corner of the Last Frontier. I hope to return, perhaps next year, but until then I keep the "photographs" in my mind and feelings in my heart, near and dear.
On /arcticcam/ -- ArcticCam