Barrow to Anchorage, Flight 50, was uneventful. I sensed that it would be, although you just never know. We got to the front desk an hour beforehand and were immediately checked in, as were our six suitcases. Two contained our clothes and gear. We didn’t even need to have our boarding passes on hand; they were printed up for us.

Pam and I left Barrow with a day’s memories on hand. We ate breakfast at the Top of the World Hotel and were driven to the end of the spit. There we walked down yet another corridor. This, the wildlife department, had posters, charts, and graphs covering all the available space. Quite obviously, considerable research had been done on bowhead whales.

Barrow has a population of 6,000 people. The only local food comes from the sea. Each year, a certain number of whales are killed under the guise of subsistence hunting. This is now an allotment.

Pam and Pamella

The people in the town live on what’s brought in by plane and up by barge. The supermarket prices are really high – I noticed on the supermarket door that king crab and lobster meat costs $60.00 a pound. And if you want four slices of watermelon, it’s going to cost you $18.00.

The vegetable prices were equally as high. Lots of carbs and soda pop going down. Looked to me like obesity is a problem at the top of the world. I wonder if it’s a problem at the bottom of the world. But then, McMurdo Station, in Antarctica, is a more transient community, one that’s comprised of scientific researchers.

I remarked to Pam that I’d like to take books there so I could say that I distributed them at the top and the bottom of the world.

We stopped at the airport gift shop and noted that in this very tight space are hundreds of items including furs. I went upstairs and found polar bear furs. Killing the polar bears for their furs. This seems as senseless to me as killing whales for their meat. Once either is extinct, there is no bringing them back.

Gulp. Add to this, the ocean water level is rising. There’s a snow berm, and when the snow melts, a dirt berm. If the water level rises to the point in which it exceeds the height of the berm, the uppermost portion of the town will be flooded out.

I suspect that most of the residents will stay put for as long as they can because they have no other place to go. They could not even take all their belongings with them because Alaska Airlines only allows passengers to check in two bags (fifty pounds each) and an additional 50 pound bag that can go by standby. You are also allowed two carry-on items.

I saw, coming in, lots of bins and odd containers. Pam said that one fellow brought on toilet paper as one of his two carry-on items.

Barrow is not a sustainable place. But of course, I’d like to go back there.

Nexxt: 334. 12/6/23: And Away We Go