Local's Tour of Barrow, Alaska ~ Food, History, Healthcare & Football

Good afternoon from Barrow, Alaska.... We just arrived and... You've probably been watching us get up here... But now we're actually gonna have some fun! We've got to get checked in and then we're gonna go play...We're at the literally the top of the world the northernmost city in the United States. And right over there.... Is the Arctic Ocean! So we're gonna head on over to our hotel aptly named top of the world hotel and go get checked it in..... I welcome you that came in!.... Thank you... How do you pronounce the native village name?.... Up Keravic...Up Keravic?...Yeah.. Thank you! Are you excited?...Extremely excited! ...We just had an amazing conversation with Reba the manager here. She told us a little bit information about the polar bears and... We kind of knew this already but... They are the only bear out there that will actively hunt a human and... They are actually not uncommon to be walking around town and on the beach so we're gonna have to keep our eyes out!.... That's a really good deal! What is it?... It's the yo-yos made with the polar bear fur and beaded...Oh wow! It's a yo-yo?..Yeah! Have you seen them in use before at activities or?....I never have I've only seen them on display...But they are usually really expensive! Wow! This is cool ....Going up!... What floor baby?.... We're on the third floor...Nice... Penthouse suite... Top of the world like literally...We asked for a room with a view of the water so this should be pretty cool.... Wow it's got a kitchen!.... Well that's a nice bathroom..Really nice...This is not your average village hotel.Let me tell you from EXTENSIVE experience... This is really nice! See, this is what I was talking about yesterday... Okay guys, we are out and gonna go get a bite to eat. Our first stop is going to be... I believe it's called Northern Lights restaurant..Yeah!... So let's go check it out! So our first recommendation if you ever come up here... Would be to... Wear your boots..Extra toughs are my preferred choice and Beck's wearing some muck boots.... Also wanted to share with you that it is about... 35 degrees right now. You saw a little bit of snow as we were coming in and also.... The Sun is setting at around 11:30 I think! And coming up somewhere in the five o'clock hour.... Just started setting again though... I think there's snow coming on us... The sun up here does not set from May 10th to August 2nd according to the book.... But if you're curious about the Northern lights...You definitely need to come up here. When it gets dark but at the same time, we are so far North... That we're actually needing to look South to see the Northern Lights!.... I think it's important to talk a little bit about what it's like to live in the villages.... You have to think about how much money people pay to get stuff here and then.... Even if it breaks down... They keep it. Because maybe it has parts on it that they will need someday... Or somebody else will need...Or somebody else!.... And nothing goes back out of the villages. At some point, it's kind of ahhhh... It's nostalgic for me you know like.... It's almost feels like a coming home kind of thing because.... It's really special to come out here! This is a privilege!..... When you're in villages like this, you are practically out of the United States! The culture is so rich and so different from what anybody could ever imagine in the lower 48 or even modern parts of Alaska. That you'd might as well just be in a foreign country. And to us that's a good thing!.... In the off chance that we do see a polar bear while we're out and about... Pretty much our first defence is going to be to run like hell to the nearest vehicle or building. And ahhh...Just get to safety! But the good thing here.... Most people leave their vehicles and houses unlocked.... The Northern Lights and it looks like it's three kind of a well insulated trailers! Yeah triple white.... Who wants some sushi? As one would expect when you're in this remote of a location, you can pay 18 to 20 dollars for a bowl of soup!.... A little update, I have a few friends appear from my years of working with Native corporations and ahhh.....I reached out to someone Oooh.... Last week I guess! That I know lives up here and let him know that we're coming... And ahh... He said he would give us a tour... A locals tour of Barrow when we got here. And then yesterday he emailed and told me that there's a health fair going on in town at the elementary school. And we thought it'd be really fun to go over there. It turns out that one of the health aids that I know is actually working in one of the booths there. So we'll need to stop and see him. And then we're going to go on a tour..Ahh driving tour with Glen.... So this should be a really cool afternoon. I am so excited! Because...I see these people in Anchorage all the time. But now we'll see them where they live! So it should be fun!.... So today we got; Chicken fried rice and Mongolian beef Each plate is $20.... It does look really good though!..... Okay, that lunch was pretty good. Now we call the taxi and we're gonna head down to the elementary school for the health fair!.... Well this windshield has a few cracks!.... A short $6 cab ride brings us to the elementary school... We're at the Health Fair at the elementary school and... Got to stop in and visit my friends that work up here and.... There's a giant call in in the background and it's a really nice health fair. Big turnout!.... It's in the gym, there's a lot of tables and booths here and... Lots of little people running around! It's really fun!.... We found a great place to point something out to you guys... You'll notice all of the buildings here up on pylons. Because we are on the tundra and the permafrost freezes and thaws so the buildings flex. But you'll notice that there's actually chain-link fencing underneath there as well. And the reason being is that wildlife particularly polar bear and caribou carl underneath the buildings and then.. They can surprise people!...A cool little tidbit for you!.... The Russians came up twice I think! I don't think they ever got ashore... Cache or there off in 1825 or 1826 and then I think there might have been one other ship that came up in the 1840s. So this is the old weather station. They moved out several years ago! And scattered all around the periphery here are houses that ahhh...The feds used to live in... The bow-head whales once they're dead... And they're not respirating.... The heat inside their body doesn't dissipate because of the... Foot of blubber encasing them and they start cracking themselves. So you want to start the butchering process as quickly as you can right?.. And that's why there's always concern about you know running seismic lines.It might, might make the whales go further out or something.... Because of that specific impact.... In the spring whaling... When they're, when the ice.... The nearshore ice is grounded and attached to the beach and the whaling crews cut trail over that till they get to the edge.... To the lead where there's open water... And on the other side there's floating ice.. And that's where they're whaling. That near shore lead. They're always on the stable ice. But they have to be able to leave their camp with their gear and people within like two minutes! Sometimes that's as much warning as you have! You've heard the stories of the ice cracking off and you know six people on snow machines we'll head towards the crack. 5 of them will have to veer off and not do anything. And one might make it over right?... Or in the other direction... They're in a weed and all of a sudden... The ice they're facing starts moving! And within two minutes come crash and destroy the camp!..... So guys this tour that we're getting from Glenn is so amazing! We're here at this archaeological site.... And it's right on the shores of the Arctic Ocean here!.... These houses were entirely wood. You know they were roof walls, floor....It was all hand ads driftwood... Where did they get the wood?....Just drift wood that washed up on the beaches?.. Yeah! I think maybe the biggest house plank for the one that had the hole in the floor... Because you entered the house through a tunnel they've got.... Really?.... Yeah the deepest part of the tunnel was right under the front of the house...Aha.... And there was a hole cut up in the floor. And I think those planks... We tried to be much more sturdy you might have treated.... About how old is this dwelling?.... Well, I... You know... Roughly? What's, what here... The deepest part of the stratigraphy is probably from around AD 8400 or you know, a couple hundred years more recent than that... There's all kinds of bones in this material here.... WARNING- NO DIGGING!!....$250,000 fines!..... There hasn't been ice around in the summer very much...Really?...So this is unusual....Because this is, this... There was ice here for most of the summer. Then there wasn't for a few weeks. Then it's back again!... But basically you know, it's been like you'd go 400 miles and not reach the ice.... Wow!.... There are still people from Scotland in Japan because I've talked and then they come to study this thing! It's these... You know, concrete ahh... Basically containers that are built and they have natural gas that will come up inside them. And you can put anything except lead and maybe one other thing! Plus of course you want to put a 55-gallon drum that's sealed and has gas vapour in it! Right?... That's why there's two tones of roof.... They blew the roof off in a second with one drum.... Ohhhhh.... But other than that when.... When they're done, if there was like a desk and the desk had a cardboard box on it among the trash, after this thing is done... You light it off with natural gas. Almost immediately turn off the gas and it's self consuming... The only thing comes out of the stack is.... Carbon dioxide and water vapour. And it's just pure ash that is non-toxic left inside. When it cools down, you can go in and the desk is still there. And the box is still where! You go like this, it all collapses! It's so cool!.... We have something really cool to show you here! If you're a football fan, you're gonna find this really interesting.... The Northern most football field in the United States and possibly the world.... Because Americans are pretty much the only ones that play football!.... I've heard rumours that they say it's really nice to play on. Because it kind of has some give to it..... Yeah... Our Seward high school team comes up here and plays football. So that's like a thousand mile journey high school students make, just to play other high school teams! So it's a really fascinating aspect of sports in Alaska! We are back at the hotel room and... We're both starting to run out of gas! Last night it was kind of late then an early morning... Yeah! We're running out of gas! So we're going to take a nap.... So now I'm going to set the camera here in the window.... And see if I get a time-lapse of this sea ice moving along the coast! We are going to what may very well be the Northern most Mexican restaurant in the United States.... Or maybe even the world!... You never know.... You never know!... We're not gonna make the claim...Nope!... But... We're pretty far up here!.... Yes! So we're gonna get Mexican food for dinner to take back to the hotel room. And they also have fresh baked goods here to.... Maybe we'll get something for dessert.... Cruz's Liliana's... Okay it's about five to seven minutes for our dinner to be ready.... And we decided to walk over here to the... Gosh is it the whale bone monument or whale bone memorial?.... I'll just show you... So these are whale bones and that's one of the native boats that our... Lot of times sealskin boats!.... Looks like this man's got a nicer camera than me!.... What do you think?.... I feel like I should be reporting about the whales that are trapped in the ice.... Three gray whales are now trapped in walls of ice six inches thick.... Are you hungry for dinner?... FAMISHED! Okay... Well guys, we're gonna call it a wrap for the day! Thanks for joining us... Be sure to; LIKE, comment, SUBSCRIBE, share with your friends and most importantly... ENJOY the ride! We'll see you tomorrow...Bye!

Channel: Outliers Overland

Views: 130,650

Rating: 4.8833251 out of 5

Keywords: alaska, barrow, arctic circle, barrow alaska, visiting barrow alaska, traveling to barrow alaska, living in alaska, life in alaska, living in barrow alaska, couples travel, utqiagvik alaska, barrow alaska darkness, barrow alaska football, arctic circle alaska, life in alaska village, remote alaska, barrow alaska summer, utqiagvik, barrow alaska restaurants, barrow alaska midnight sun, remote alaska living, remote alaskan village

Id: I-uKxv1HTy4

Length: 14min 43sec (883 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 31 2016