First days in Barrow, AK

Ok, so I've made this blog specifically for this trip because I'm usually too lazy to blog, but I have to do it while I'm here in Alaska! I'll probably also use it for Antarctica...I guess this is my travel blog, yeah, that's it!

I've been here a grand total of 12 days and I'm loving it. When Craig, Adrian and I first arrived on the evening of the 30th there was snow everywhere, it definitely seemed like I was in the Arctic! It's amazing how fast the snow has melted though, now there is just nothing but tundra and a few patches of snow here and there. That first week was kind of rough, we did field work for most part of the day and it was nothing but shoveling snow and picking through the permafrost to install a weir that we built. Ah, but you should see it now, it looks boo-ti-ful!






To get to our site we used snow machines and sleds, and they were so much fun. I think I liked riding on the sled more than I liked driving the snow machine! There was one day when I stayed behind to help Dave and Amorita with some snow depth measurements, while the rest of the group went back to the lab. They left us with two snow machines and Amorita and I were in one, Dave was in the other that had the sled attached. We were driving back and I noticed Dave's machine went over a good sized ramp. So since the machine we were on didn't have a back seat, I told Amortia, "Careful there!" Nope, she continued at decent speed and we got some awesome air time!

Now since almost all the snow has melted, the snow machines have been put away and it's hiking time. At first the hike was a pain because the snow was still there, and it was slushy so any step could have been a trap waiting to take you to the ground. I also had not noticed how weak my legs were until we started hiking to our site. The crutches really set me back, especially my left leg. It's getting better every day though, my ankle hardly bothers me but I'm still careful since it's still weak.

UUhhh, there's still so much more to say but I'm tired. Peeing in the tundra sucks. Doing water levels with the wireless Trimble GPS is great. Seeing wildlife is great. Doing water flow measurements is boring. Any type of snack or food is GREAT out in the field. The Mexican food here is not that bad. Muktuk (whale meat) wasn't too bad either. No beer sucks. My camera is great. Finally, experiencing a completely new culture is absolutely amazing!Ok I need to finish this blog because Amorita is yelling at me to send her a picture :(

Write more soon :D