Final thoughts

Well its time to go and yes there is more to tell, but for now I will say this. My time here has been a very memorable experience and think I might come back next summer.

and to Barrow: You were cold and gloomy when we first met. You covered your face from head to toe with snow. With time you opened up and drew me into your unique value. Here you have nothing to hide behind, everything is real, and everything exposed for what it is. You showed people for who they are rather than what they have. The life you lead is simple and relaxed, you are as far away from the world as one could be. The multitudes come to see you and yet you remain modest. Until next time...

catch up

in living color

Life has been pretty repetitious, I've missed out on quite a few things now since I was either covering someones field work or just not asked to come along but its all good I suppose cuz there are many adventures to come. Recently I've been able to get our and explore.

30 cages, each maybe 4 X 8 meters, stacked together like legos. At first glance you could see sleds stacked side by side on top and upon closer inspection bones scattered across the top and a large skull with antlers sticking out of this plastic tub. There were also random chains and hooks just like you would imagine an X-files episode of abandoned government test facility gone wrong. The antlers intrigued me, so up to the top I went only to find a rottingLast Sunday is where I should begin, its been a while since I've blogged. It was late in the evening and Andy had plans to take pictures around NARL. So Mai, Daniel, and I met up with him at the cages (cages of death if you prefer) where we found ourselves trapped in an X-files episode (the X-files more often than needed). The cages (of death) were old, rusty, and had been there it seems for quite some time filled with rotting carcases and blood. There were probably aboutthanks to Mai I now reference things to skull in a pool of blood. The stench was strong and Mai laughed at my immediate expression of disgust. While up there you could find rotting carcases of all kinds, caribu, whale, or maybe even human?! I placed my footing along the skeleton of the cages for I did not trust the welding of the metal grate. All of us were searching, as if to find something horrific, soon to proceed to the next abandoned facility. It was an Old abandoned shack filled with fire extinguishers and large bulky machines, there were also these giant fans between the first and second floor. The second site had its own characteristic, every machine worn and rusted, the paint peels on the wall, wood dusted and warped, and a steaks of lite looking in with curiosity.

Moving forward to Thursday.
This would be a peaceful, and thoughtful day at the beach.
The sun hasn't set since I arrived here in May, and it was said that this would be the day for a quick dip. I headed out to the beach at 1 AM and of course a bit too early. I passed the time by skipping stones into the sea, the waves of which had now awoken from their frozen slumber. They did not crash into the shore but rather moved up and down gracefully like a winding snake. Its been three years since my last trip to the beach, so my time here has been quite the treat, more so for the lack of the heat and humidity. Every thing was changing as the sun began to dip into the water like a child getting into a cold pool braving the water one step at a time. The soft orange colors hugged everything in site from the barge anchored ashore to the clouds up above. I was now sitting on the shore with Mai waiting for a complete sunset, with it now being around 2:30 AM. The sky darkened and only a quarter remained moving horizontally over the water and rising once again. Mai brought up that thought that its been so long since we've actually looked at the sun and I thought ya thats true cause its either overcast or to bright. We stood up and cast stones into the sea like Amelie, finding jellyfish and hermit crabs along the way.

Moving forward once again to Friday.
Dave, Amorita and Adrian would be flying to Ivatuk today and so several of us would be able to accompany them on their voyage. I crawled out of bed at 7:30 surprised to find their is life before noon. We ate, packed and headed to the airport. Once up in the air the landscape was so different from the last time I was up in the sky. Looking down the grass was so green and I could almost feel the softness of the moss. Traveling down from Barrow the ground began so warp and fold into paradise. Closing in on Ivatuk, cinder cones emerged from the ground, and even closer once on the ground wild berries, tussics, and flowers emerged.