Covid Wanes, and I'm OFF!

Headed North 

However beautiful an airport may be, I hate them. Airports are uphill walks with Cinnabon booths to taunt you and TSA lines to aggravate.  TSA peels the shoes from your feet, make you pile your valuables (backpacks, laptops, credit cards, ID, etc.)into thief-tempting bins. You're stuffed into a body scanner, to suffer x-rays alloting under-paid agents a view of your naked body on the guise of searching for weaponry that is more likely to be nail clippers than an 44 Magnum. Then, if you're shaped like me, you are pulled aside for a 'pat down' and testing for ignitable powders. Why? Because the scanners unfailingly assume belly fat to be a Weapon of Mass destruction. It took me a year to finally realize that. To realize why every friggin' scan outlines my abdomen in yellow, signifying DANGER! Yellow used to be my favorite color. 

But where was I? Oh yeah, today I took off from Seattle Airport after only 3 gate changes - don't even ask - prior to boarding a 2nd and final jet to Anchorage Alaska. Once there, I met up with my fellow travelers, the 'Gang of Five Birders'. That is, trip leader Richard Cimino, plus George, Jim, and Sally. After spending the night in Anchorage, the following morning we took a not quite 3 hour flight north. It felt sort of like a miracle because the flight suffered cancelations and rescheduling for months, so we were just happy there was a flight. Most of our fellow passengers were Utqiaġvik locals on their way home. Bonus, it was a scant flight but dang it, I flew first class. Yeah baby, the price of 1st class on such a short hop on Alaska Air was within my budget so I went for it. I know. Spoiled. Nearly.

Arriving in the Utqiaġvik Airport was fun, because tiny airports are a kick. After yesterday's gate changes, one appreciates an airport one can traverse the breath of in say 100 yds, give or take. 

Rich, picked up our van for the next few days, then took our luggage to our digs, the King Eider Inn. We walked the one block over to the Inn.
 The King Eider is a cute Inn that ala Hawaii, asks patrons to leave their shoes in cute little cubby holes in the lobby. While in Hawaii it's all about not tracking in sand. In Utqiaġvik it's about not tracking snow and mud. The inn has lovely rustic looks - a big hit with all outdoor types. 

My favorite thing in the lobby was a cute hand made chess set composed of Raptors vs Ducks. The pawns on the left are Peregrine Falcons, facing off with King Eider pawns. So cool.

 There are many local examples of local art and curiosities in the lobby.

Caribou antlers which are uber common
in this neck of the woods

Bowhead Whale baleen hoovers
over the guest computer center

Though we had snacks on the flight in, we were ready for a late lunch. Once all our gear was stowed in our rooms, Rich took us to where he said we would probably get all our meals this week, to the Grocery Store. There are no farms in or anywhere near Utqiaġvik, and all food that isn't locally sourced (such as Bowhead Whales, Walrus, birds and Caribou to name a few ) must be either flown in. Non-perishables, say canned goods, can come in by barge, but only when the Chukchi Sea that borders the town isn't frozen over.  

The Grocery Store aka Stuaqpak 

Not much you could not find here so that's great

We did most of our shopping at the left, where hot deli food is displayed

See the veggie aisle above? That all had to be flown in, resulting in $3.59 for red or orange peppers, and $5.27 each for Napa Cabbage. Welcome to the land of the Midnight Sun, right?

 

We took our dinners back to the King Eider Inn lobby where we ate. Then we headed out for some sightseeing. I'll post that outing next!