Welcome to Barrow Alaska!

Sam's Dad flew to Barrow, Alaska this fall to visit his youngest son Dan and family. As I type this blog it is 11 degrees Fahrenheit in Barrow. Dad said that the wind is always blowing and you feel as if the warmth is taken right out of you, even if you have multiple layers of clothes.
The large bones Dad and Dan are standing between are whale bones.

To the right is a view of the town from Dan and Krystal's apartment. As you can see it's already winter. To the left of the town you can see the Arctic Ocean.















Next is a better view of the Arctic Ocean. Not a great place for swimming unless you are a polar bear!




This beautiful domicile is fondly referred to as Krystal's Dream Home. As you can see, the mansion is on stilts which is true of all the buildings in Barrow including the school, hospital, grocery store, airport and church; if this wasn't so the heat from these buildings would melt the permafrost (permanently frozen sub soil) and they would sink.


If you look carefully you will see a snow white owl taking flight in the foreground of this picture. (See Krystal's blogs [links at left] for more snow owl pix.)




Notice the snow overhang on top of this building. As the snow piles up these overhangs drop down onto the balconies, filling them with snow and making it impossible for the resident to use the balcony (or stairway as the case may be).

Here Dad, Krystal and Scotty pose under a popular picture spot. "Which way should we go?!" This sign points the way to interesting and exotic places such as New York, Peru, Florida, and Haiti. All of them sound much warmer than here!

For more pictures of Barrow visit either of Krystal's blogs (links at left) or a website I found called Rob in Alaska www.eskimo.com/~turnip/alaska/bonus.html