Yesterday, we travelled from Fairbanks north to Utqiaġvik, formerly known as Barrow. When we left Fairbanks, it was -40°F/C and we must've brought the cold temperatures with us as it was -35°F (-37°C) this morning. Utqiaġvik is as far north as you can go in Alaska. It's not on the road system and the only normal way to get here is via plane. Alaska Airlines has regularly scheduled 737 service to Barrow from Anchorage and Deadhorse but no longer from Fairbanks. On Thursday afternoon, we left Fairbanks for Deadhorse and after a 4 hour layover we arrived in Utqiaġvik.
This is just the view out of window as we passed over the Brooks Range. The sun was just peeking over the horizon at this point. The last sunset in Utqiaġvik was November 20, 2016, and the first sunrise should be tomorrow January 21, 2017.
Here is a graphic from
TimeandDate.com showing the info for tomorrow and it shows that even though today there is zero sunlight, tomorrow will be 47 minutes. Thing change pretty rapidly at this point. The lightest blue indicates daylight where the sun is actually above the horizon. The next darker shades are civil and nautical twilight. Both are better known as dawn or dusk. As you can see, even on the winter solstice there is not really 24 hours of darkness as some media outlets would lead you to believe.
Around 1:00 we went in search of lunch. Near Cruz, the Mexican take-out place, the whale bone arch was still standing. This is one of the classic places to have visitors take photos. On this day, for some reason we didn't have to chase any tourists away to get a clear shot. In fact there wasn't anyone wandering around. Maybe it was the gentle 10 mph breeze. This is -53°F (-47°C) if wind chill matters to you. Fortunately, inanimate objects are immune to wind chill.
Late Friday Update - Dom's photo editing skills far exceed mine. I knew that the snow was messing with the white balance but wasn't sure what was needed to fix it. Here is his edited photo.
To boldly go where no wooden scooter has gone before...
ReplyDeleteRichard, when I mentioned the word 'beach' on one of my recent comments, this was not the kind of shore I had in mind for the little scoot.
There's water out there somewhere. Bob always did like small boat harbors. Around here, all of the boats are pulled out of the water before freeze up.
DeleteWell Richard, this is spellbinding. ScooterBob greets sunrise after a long, long dark night. It's a most fitting metaphor for the way that Bob's wooden scooter helped all of us to mend the rip that Bob's untimely passing tore in our consciousness.
ReplyDeleteI think it's fitting to say, on behalf of all of Bob's family, friends, and extended blogger family, thank you.
I don't know if "spellbinding" is the right word but never argue with an attorney. You'll never win...
DeleteVery cool photo of ScooterBob by the arch. As far north as ScooterBob will ever be and probably as cold too.
ReplyDeleteProbably will be as far north. But then again, who knows...
DeleteWow! I'll bet that even wooden ScooterBob is contracted a wee bit in that cold. Luckily it didn't need to actually run to get in that far North place!
ReplyDeleteIt hit -33°F a few nights ago and I needed to switch trucks as it would turn over fine but not start. There is an ice road periodically that runs on the ocean from Prudhoe. Now that would be a SB adventure!
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