long long trip

We began our departure on sat may 26 at 9 pm. It would be me, Amorita, Santinu, and Pete traveling together. Our connecting flights were from las Vegas to Seattle to Anchorage to Barrow. We ran into some minor complications with airport security, because Amorita was carrying our data loggers which were shaped like little metal test tubes. So security flipped out and said no, but I somehow lucked out and managed to smuggle one aboard, not that it was just dangerous or anything, they just didn't know what they were. After that everything was going fine except that we had 2 hour lay overs at every stop and a 5 hour stop in anchorage, which we decided to take advantage of by touring the town. We hitched a ride on the bus and headed downtown to just check things out. It seems we arrived just in time to see the whaling protest going on, they had a bunch of whale costumes spread out over the ground. From then on we searched the city for food, a journey which took a very very long time. All of us were full of our carry on luggage trying to make it to a restaurant. We managed to walk to about 4 that were all closed, thus creating a greater hunger. And when we found one the prices were ridiculous, not that it was a suprise because we were told that they would be. But who am I to worry, all the food for this trip is being covered. So after poking it for 3 hours more or less we headed back to the airport when all of a sudden I was attacked by a bear. This picture only shows partially what I had to face, the rest is much too graphic to post. So we hoped back on the plane to barrow, which by the way had an amazing view. On our way there we also met some very nice people from barrow on the place, which we would later discover everyone from Alaska is friendly. We met a guy named Anthony who doesn't live in barrow but visits his grandma who owns a restaurant there named Okinawa. He gave us the down low on barrow and what to expect. So we finally arrived safely after about 20 hour travel time(6:15 pm on Sunday). We were almost immediately thrown off by the 24 hr sunlight here in barrow, so its like almost impossible to have a sense of time here. The terrain was all mud and snow. Because of the permafrost the roads are always moist. They have no asphalt roads here just gravel. The cold wasn't as bad as I was expecting, it was actually very refreshing to step out side because they keep the buildings well heated. And of course I was only out a few minutes at a time, but in due time I'll be spending hours out in the cold.
We took a short drive along the coast line that was completely frozen over. It was one of the most beautiful things I've seen. It was covered with snow for miles it seems, that was such a crisp white. It was like a dream almost, just so calm and serene. The sky surrounding the frozen water was amazing too, the clouds were pure white until there was open water where it turned a dark Gray. You could look out in some parts and it was like the sky and ground combined with a thin line separating them. We then arrived at our research station/home shortly to get settled in. They had a rectangular like building with all the dorms set up for everyone, I would get to have my own room which was very nice actually. And when we walked in the building they had the heaters blasting down the hallway. We then got all our paper work set up so we can drive the vehicles (hopefully the snowmobiles) , our meal cards and other stuff. We then headed of to Pepe's which is the only Mexican restaurant here. I ordered the rib eye which was pretty good, and once again the prices were ridiculously expensive. After eating I felt just really "weird" because it was so bright outside yet the time was like 10:00 pm. I feel like I'm going to be saying this the whole trip but its just so weird. My body is just like when is the sun going to go down, hey when is the sun going to go down and I'm like hell don't ask me. So we then headed back to the dorms to go unpack and then sleep, which I really needed because I can't sleep for crap on those planes. I slept and woke up for lunch, cleaned up the lab and stuff, and just trying to get caught up with this blog which I'll try to post everyday, knowing me that won't happed.