seriouslysierra: The Arctic Circle

Hello. Sorry that I'm departing from chronological order with this update, but this way you can hear some of the latest. I had a rough week at my clinical last week. (It was mid-term week). Evaluation, evaluation, evaluation! Would you like some more feedback, Liz? Thankfully I had something to look forward to that weekend apart from the break in performance review.

I was booked to do a "Fly and Drive" to and from the Arctic Circle. I can now say that I've been to the arctic circle! It was fun. We flew up to Coldfoot and then drove back on the Dalton highway which is a mainly gravel road ruled by the big rigs servicing the pipeline that drive back and forth from Anchorage to Prudhoe Bay (on the Arctic Ocean). If I had had more than one day, I probably would have been crazy enough to want to go all the way up the 500 miles of gravel road. I had previously contemplated driving the Supersube up to the Arctic Circle but people told me I would need to bring along 2 spare tires, be prepared to have my window cracked or smashed, and yield to the semis flying right past me. I wised up in time.

Here are some photos from the 12 hour trip.
Here I am feeling good before take off.

A lake that looks like a music note - an 1/8 note, I believe. It's been a while since I read sheet music!

45 min into the 1 hour and 10 min flight and I was no longer feeling so good. Thankfully for me and those travelling with me, nothing made it's way up, but it sure was threatening!

What the "towns" look like up that far north. Not pretty that's for sure. It's all utilitarian and recycled from the housing units used by pipeline construction employees in the 70's

The proof that I was at the arctic circle.

The proof that Alaska is a wild place.

That was only 2 days before my tour!
Below: Me and the pipeline

Above: The pipeline is zig-zag in shape to allow for expansion and contraction from the wide ranging extremes of temperature that the area experiences (nearly 200 deg different from winter to summer). The pipe moves on teflon strips on the horizontal supports. The engineers had to calculate the amount it would move and which direction. This one was miscalculated because there is no bumper between the pipeline and the vertical support and the pipeline just happens to be resting right up against it (that's not supposed to be the case, if you were wondering).

Below: The Yukon river and some explorers travelling the length of it in an epic journey in there motorized and man-powered canoe. Just FYI, if you stop on the bridge in your vehicle you willed be yelled at via LOUD speakers. It is considered a terrorist threat because the pipeline travels right along it.