Mary-Day 1

Fly out of Fairbanks on Frontier Air on their 8:45 am flight. First of three stops before Barrow: Barter Point aka Kaktovik. When we land, my classmate Ryan and I can't believe what we see and that is pretty much a hanger, and off in the distance a couple of buildings that look like a warehouse, but are probably people's homes. Not to mention a vast land of nothingness, and by that I mean NO mountains and NO trees anywhere in sight! We ask our pilot (who also happens to be the bassist for a local band Junkshow!) where the bathrooms are since there wasn't one on the plane and he tells us laughing "Yeah right behind the hangar." OK two students with full bladders start to walk around the hanger and suddenly realize there was no joke to the answer but that we literally had to just pee along anyside of the hangar. Ryan takes the side, I run to the back of the hanger and hope that nobody walks to the back and sees my bare bum as I relieve myself.

After that we snap a few photos, get some video footage and hop back on the plane. I am starting to wonder what I am getting myself into. No bathrooms!!! haha. Moving on. We take off and suddenly see mountains above the clouds-the Brooks Range! We couldn't see those on the ground since everything was all white. Next stop was Dead horse which was about a half an hour flight away. Looks a little more promising for a town as we notice a few more shack-like buildings and a more civilized airport. Get off the plane to get a better look and quickly get back on to start our quick 10 min trip to Nuiqusut (pronounced something like "new-exit" all slurred together. Offload there for a little while to the plane could be re-fueled and de-iced. Chat with the pilot some more and then get back on out 14-seater plane and finally are en route to Barrow. Once we land it seems a bit larger for a town that the rest we have seen along they way. We get our bags and wait for our ride who was a former journalist, turned police officer. He gives us a tour of Barrow and we are fascinated with how everything is and all of the whale bones you see around town. We also stop by the local AC store and laugh at how high prices are for food. We eventually make our way to the guy's apt and get settled and try to arrange interviews for that afternoon/the next day. Nobody told us it was everyone was observing the Veteran's day holiday which according to the calendar, was the day before on Sunday. I'm told they take their holidays seriously up there, lol. BS the rest of the evening and I turn in early since I couldn't sleep I was so excited to be going to Barrow the night before...not to mention had just arrived home a little after 9 from my weekend trip to Anchorage with Bethany to attend Dani's baby shower :)