When we moved out to Arctic Village in August I was very fortune to get a job based in Fairbanks that pays me to travel. I work with children ages birth-three through the Infant Learning Program in many places across the state. Working with families and babies across the state has been such an amazing learning experience. I feel very privileged to get to meet so many families and work with them and their children.
This past week I traveled as far South as Chitna (the small town you may have passed through if you've ever driven out to McCarthy, the type of place that has bumper stickers that say "Where the hell is Chitna?") and as far North as Barrow! The travel is quite an adventure! Some places I am able to access on the road system, so I drive. Driving from Fairbanks to Delta and Copper there are beautiful views of the Wrangell Mountains and you never know what condition the roads will be in, although they are usually passable. Many of the places I go are way off the road system, so then I fly!
My most recent adventure was a day trip to Barrow! I went all the way to the top of the continent and back to Fairbanks in a day! I took the early flight from Fairbanks, stopping in Prudhoe Bay before heading to Barrow. The plane had come from Anchorage and was a packed flight, full of slope workers headed to start their two week shifts. The plane was a 737-400 combi, where the front half is cargo and the back half passengers. It is an efficient plane for flying up to the North Slope because there is so much freight that gets sent up there. Also, because it is a big plane, they can fly higher and faster than small bush planes.
When I boarded the flight I was supposed to have an isle seat in the second row of seats. However, there was a group of Italian guys seated in the first row, exit row, that didn't speak any English, so they had to be reseated and I was moved to the middle seat of exit row - pressed between two large sleeping slope workers. I squeezed myself between them and thanked God that I at least had leg room and it was a short 45 minute flight. I have no idea why these Italian guys where headed out to the oil field, but you meet all types of people in Alaska.
You can't read it very well, but the sign says Alaska Airlines Deadhorse
In Prudhoe, there was mass exodus off the plane and only a few people stayed on to go to Barrow. The plane quickly filled up again before leaving Prudhoe, with more slope workers heading back home to Anchorage after the plane stopped in Barrow.
I could not see anything as we flew into Barrow because it was still dark at 10am and there was a thick cloud cover. As I got off the plane and walked across the runway to the terminal it was about 5 degrees, probably a little bit colder with the wind chill. From the terminal I hopped a taxi over to the office where I was meeting a co-worker. It blew my mind to be able to take a cab in a village! Barrow is actually quite a large village. The population is about 3,500 and there is a road system throughout the village. In Arctic there is only one truck, the school truck, so it seems strange to me to be out in a village and see cars everywhere. The cab driver was from Thailand and only spoke broken English. He recognized the name of the building where I was headed and got me there with no problems. His cab was a Honda CRV, with a very Alaskan windshield - it had over 30 chips spread across the windshield, but amazingly had not cracked yet!
The houses and buildings in Barrow are all up on stilts like beach houses. Barrow is right on the Arctic Ocean and there are dirt mounds, like sand dunes, set up to help protect the town from ice overflow.
It was an overcast day with light snow while I was there, so I didn't really get any views of the ocean, but I did get to see some of the village as we took cabs around between home visits with clients.
There is always a Post Office in every village. Most of them have a flag flying. Often when traveling in the bush I feel like I have landed in a different country, but then I see flags flying and remember that yes, Alaska is still the U.S.A. You step off a plane and become immersed in a very different culture, but it is still a part of our nation. Isn't that amazing!
Barrow is quite a melting pot. I met people from Hawaii, Thailand, and Indonesia as well as the Native Iñupiat Eskimos. I was not able to get a picture, but I saw many women wearing the most beautiful Kuspucks. They were made of gorgeous fabrics lined with fur and finished with ruffs of wolf, wolverine, beaver and even polar bear. In the airport I saw a group of women with babies on their backs, under their kuspucks. The call this duduing the baby (no idea if I am spelling this correctly, I only heard it said aloud and did not see the word written down) when they carry the babies on their back under their kuspuck to stay warm. One baby who looked about two years old was busy running his fingers through the fur on his mothers ruff and found the claws at the edge of the fur still attached. He carefully felt each claw, which was probably fox, and appeared to enjoy playing with the fur. It was so neat to observe a child explore their natural environment and to think how different that environment is from the rest of the nation. The villages have many modern conveniences, yet children still grow up with many truly Alaskan experiences.
My day in Barrow was very busy, meeting with many families and children, and only getting a quick snap-shot of the community. I look forward to going back and getting to learn and see more. Tomorrow I am off to Anaktuvuck Pass, so there are more adventures to be had!
