A bit craycray - I flew to Utqiagvik (Barrow) for the day. It is the northernmost city in the US. The northernmost point is approximately 9 driving miles northwest from town, but you need Native permission to access that point. I looked for a way to make it happen and contacted a few 'tour guides', but I couldn't seem to find anyone actually making the drive. So, I've settled for what I got. Which, frankly, was enough. Started with a one-on-one guide experience through the Inupait Heritage Center. That was a trip. He has some pretty specific issues with the center, the town council, the federal government, basically everyone. 🤷♀️
Then, I walked to a local park/gathering area for the last day of festivities for the 4th of July. It seems they do four or five days of events to mark the occasion. Today was kids' games, juggling, and some nail pounding thing. Unfortunately, after about 2 hours of different foot races for the kids, I left for my next stop. They were still at it an hour later. I never saw the adult games. I will say, the 1 year old 'races' were adorable! There is no video because I already felt like an intruder. Recording kids I don't know felt a little weird.
My last stop was the iconic whale arch and ocean access. I did the polar plunge. I had a hard time getting very deep because the ICEBERGS were in the way. And I float in seawater. So... I did my best. I touched an iceberg and then tried to dunk. I will say it was actually about the same misery as our annual New Year's Day cleansing plunge. The weather was a balmy 52 degrees, so I warmed up soon after getting out.Read more
July 6 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C