Recently, RealLifeLore, Wendover Productions and I had the opportunity to
travel to the northernmost city in North America: Barrow, Alaska. While there is
plenty of fascinating information regarding this Arctic frontier town, this
video is going to take a slightly more personal approach. Instead of facts and
figures. I'm going to read an excerpt from the journal I kept in Barrow, and
share some first impressions.
[Wind] [Low-frequency humming noise]
[Music]
Barrow, Alaska is beautiful. Perhaps not in the traditional sense, as aside from a
handful of respectable hotels and government buildings, the city could only
be described as gritty, faded, and utilitarian.
But for all its dust, and mud, and near total lack of creature comforts,
Barrow manages to make you smile.
Not without a scarf around your face, of course, as your lips are liable to crack
from the cold should you attempt it.
Barrow is a town utterly without pretense. It makes no excuses for its rugged
appearance, nor would you expect it to, as everyone in town has more important things to do.
So, while it is true that the town is unapologetically Spartan, for
it to be any other way would seem disingenuous.
You wouldn't expect an opera house, or a Botanical Garden,
or any other such frivolities from a frontier town,
and you won't find them here, but what you do get is something much more special.
This frozen town of 5,000 people sits on the very edge of the Arctic
Ocean, an expanse largely covered in thick sea
ice and drifts of snow.
Trudging across the dirty, gray stretch of sand along the
ocean in layers upon layers of winter clothing, and looking out over the
endless expanse of white makes you realize how uniquely unsuited humans are to such an environment.
The fact that polar bears are known to wander along
the icy coast just a stone's throw from the beach certainly adds to that feeling
of being in a position of inferiority.
As you leave the shoreline and walk along the muddy roads
of Barrow, you can begin to piece together a ramshackle history
of the stubborn outpost. Cars and trucks in varying stages of decay litter the
outskirts and snowdrifts of town. Here, a work truck, half buried in snow, its
windows shattered, and door hanging limply from its hinges. There, a ruined
old car, paint nearly stripped bare and sunk into the bumpers in thick, perpetual
mud. An entire lineage of automobiles, stretching back to the beginning of
barrow itself, which coughed their last, and were left to crumble where they
stood, defeated by conditions too unforgiving for all but the most robust utility vehicles.
As I sit writing this, the clock inches towards midnight, and
yet outside the window the town remains bathed in a dull, blue-grey light.
The trucks pass less frequently, and the goals have mostly settled for the night,
but the Sun refuses to relinquish its grip on the day.
During this time of year, week after week of unforgiving sunlight makes blackout shades
a necessity, with which, thankfully, our hotel is equipped. This harsh day-to-day reality is what
makes Barrow so beautiful in its own special way. The juxtaposition, that line
drawn in the sand between man and nature, a place where, for all our ingenuity,
nature still gets the best of us. It's not a place I'd like to stay, it's not a
place I'll likely visit again, but it's certainly not a place I'll ever forget.
I know this video is very different from what you're used to seeing on this
channel, so be sure to let me know what you think in the comments. Should we go
on more adventures like this, and make more in depth videos? Share your opinion.
Make sure to stay tuned for videos from RealLifeLore and Wendover Productions
on the subject of Barrow, Alaska. If you enjoyed this video, you can
subscribe by clicking here. You can watch my previous video by
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pictures of our adventures and daily life.
Thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next video