Index:
- The Last Frontier: Alaska – Planes, Planes and More Planes (Part 1)
- The Last Frontier: Alaska – Northern Exposure (Part 2)
- The Last Frontier: Alaska – Exploring Kenai (Part 3)
Saturday, April 7, 2012
I found myself waking up rather early, around 6AM, without even needing an alarm. With all the time zone changes my body was still confused I’m sure and as a result thought it was much later. That though was a good thing for me though – as I mentioned in my last post I had booked a day trip award ticket for later in the day and I wanted to go around Anchorage a bit before I headed to the airport.
Immediately, my first thought was breakfast. Although I was granted access to the Sheraton Club Lounge which features a free continental breakfast, I wanted something real and something local. After flipping through the pages of my guidebook, I discovered a place that seemed intriguing: Snow City Cafe. It sounded good and it was not very far at all. So downstairs I headed and out to my rental car. Now I knew it was snowing when I woke up and looked out my window to a very gray and dreary looking landscape, but I did not realize how much had fallen overnight. By estimating the thickness of the snow on the roof of my car, I estimated it to be 1.5-2.0 inches deep. Did I also mention that on this day Anchorage broke their record for most snow fall in a winter season?
Saturday Morning Weather
Luckily Hertz included a brush and ice scraper, and off I went across downtown. After parking and feeling generally ripped off by the rates, I settled down in a corner of Snow City Cafe and started to look over the menu. There was plenty on there that looked delicious, but ultimately I settled on the Tundra Scramble, which includes Reindeer sausage, green peppers, mushrooms, red onions, and cheddar, as well as a mocha to wash it all down. It was indeed good, although I’m not sure if I could tell reindeer sausage apart from any other sausage. I would certainly recommend stopping in and trying any number of the items there.
Snow City Cafe - Tundra Scramble
It seemed that business had picked up by the time I left to run back to the hotel to grab my gear for the day. My flight however still wouldn’t depart until 2:37pm, so I had a little bit of time to roam around town. I decided I would see if there was anything of interest downtown, which it turns out there really wasn’t. I checked out the mall there, but there wasn’t anything that jumped out at me. I found myself driving around for a little bit, discovered where the University of Alaska-Anchorage is and eventually made my way over to the airport, although not for my flight.
Alaska Railroad Passes A Snow-Covered Elderberry Park
It's a Winter Wonderland...In April
Next to the airport is the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum which focuses on the unique aviation history of the state which focuses around bush aviation, military and the commercial services that bring the heavy lift cargo to the most remote cities and towns. It also seemed fitting since that afternoon I was making my way to Barrow. The museum’s exhibits were pretty decent overall; not a ton of aircraft, but it isn’t a very large museum either. There were a lot of aviation related artifacts however. Somehow they also managed to get an Alaska Airlines 737-200 a few years back and they keep that parked next to an F-15 Eagle and a Northern Air Cargo DC-6 right outside the museum. There was also a hanger that had several other aircraft stored – a mixture of ones in great looking condition and ones that looked like piles of scrap.
Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum - Float Plane
Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum - Northern Air Cargo DC-6 and Alaska Airlines 737
Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum - Hanger
After finishing up at the museum, I still had a few hours until departure, so I figured I would go grab lunch before heading to the airport. I made a short backtrack from the area to a place called Taco King. From what I can understand, its a local quick-service Mexican chain that is nothing like Taco Bell. Sure, you order at a counter and it has a drive-thru, but that’s where the similarities end. The food is more like what you would find at any number of Mexican restaurants across the US and is presented the same. Only thing, is that you know how they say “Careful the plate is hot” and it usually isn’t that hot. Yeah, I burnt my finger on my plate of enchiladas.
Once done, it was back over to the airport where I parked the rental car and made my way into the terminal. After checking in and grabbing my boarding passes from the Alaska Airlines kiosk, I breezed through the Elite security line, and made my way to the observation deck above Concourse C to hang out for a bit. It turned out to be a good place to watch ground operations and I gives you the overview of all important of a cargo hub Anchorage is. At one point I counted three Korean Air Cargo 747s while a fourth did a go-around on landing. A pretty impressive sight I might say, watching such a large aircraft jolt back into the sky at the last minute. I wandered around the terminal a bit more before making my way down to the gate for Alaska Airlines Flight 50 to Prudhoe Bay with continuing service to Barrow.
Anchorage Air Cargo
Gate C4 - Flight 50 to Prudhoe Bay / Barrow
Boarding of the flight was fairly quick. There were only a few Alaska Airlines elite members, I was the only partner elite, and the remaining 25 or so people followed after me. Being as this flight is a lifeline to several North Slope communities, Alaska Airlines using a Boeing 737-400 Combi aircraft. These aircraft are configured such that the forward half of the cabin is for cargo pallets, while the rear section is configured for 72 passengers – four fewer seats than you would find on a Delta Connection CRJ-900 or E175 (regional jets). One particularity about these aircraft is that you board from the rear door of the aircraft up stairs, meaning that you have to walk out across the ramp to get to the plane. Since I took my parka off in the terminal I was walking through the snow/rain mix with just a t-shirt. Was a bit chilly, but not anywhere near what it was going to be to North.
Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-400 Combi Interior
Once we had everyone on-board who all appeared to either be oil workers heading to Prudhoe Bay or Native Inupiat Eskimos heading to Barrow. If I had to guess I was the only “tourist” on the aircraft today. For this flight I grabbed the window, which is usually pretty rare for me. I wanted to be able to look down at the frozen landscape below, which you might just think just nothing but barren white mountains. Turns out I was wrong – the geography is quite varied including one spot where frozen waters formed a crazy spiral pattern in the landscape. The only problem? It was all that looking outside that I realized I left my sunglasses in the rental car back in cloudy, rainy Anchorage. Whoops.
Alaskan Mountains From 35,000 Feet
Spiral Landscape
Almost to Deadhorse...
Soon enough we were on approach into the Deadhorse Airport and could finally see signs of civilization again. Prudhoe Bay does have a road link to the rest of the state and you could see that and what I assumed was the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. On final approach right before lining up with the runway, you could see all of the what I guess is the entire town. Not really much to see it seemed…
Once most of the passengers disembarked from the aircraft I grabbed my camera and made my way to the galley. I had wanted to step outside the aircraft on to the stairs to take a few pictures, but as I approached the flight attendants stopped me and informed me that if even one of my feet landed outside of the aircraft door I would have to go all the way to the terminal and re-clear back through the TSA. Two people wanting to have a smoke opted for that, I figured I would just stay put and use the handle they pointed out so I could swing out the door a little bit (with my feet firmly planted inside the aircraft of course!). I actually spent the entire layover back there up until boarding just talking to the two flight attendants. As usual when I go on these short/crazy trips, I either get strangest of looks or looks of amazement. They were the latter, which made for good conversation about traveling and some of the different places they had been and I had been as well as some of the things they’ve encountered as flight attendants. I wrapped up taking my pictures as the first of the passengers started to make their way across from the terminal and headed back to my seat.
Touchdown - Deadhorse Airport
Alaska Airlines Terminal
Just Inside the Aircraft Door
Looking Forward
The captain of the two legs that would get me to Barrow, had come out into the front of the cabin before each take off to personally introduce himself and the crew as opposed to talking over the PA speaker. According to the flight attendants, there are only a very small handful number of pilots at Alaska Airlines (2 or 3, I think) that they said did this. As he made his way to the front of the passenger compartment he stopped by my row and asked me: “Is it true? Are you really flying to Barrow for just a few hours?” Looks like I got ratted out by the flight attendants! He chatted for a few minutes and when I said I was from the Florida Panhandle, he asked “Valparaiso?”, so if I had to guess this pilot must have been Air Force and stationed at Eglin…how else would you know Valparaiso existed (to most its just Fort Walton Beach)?
After his speech, the cabin was prepped and we made the quick taxi out to the end of the single runway and shot up into the air for the rather short 200 mile flight to Barrow. The flight pretty much goes along the coast, although this time of the year you really can’t tell where Alaska ends and the Arctic Ocean begins. I guess, it means that the ice caps haven’t melted quite all the way yet…
Frozen Landscape Looking North
Soon enough we were on approach into Barrow and I pulled my camera back out so I could start capturing as much as I could the minute the wheels touched down. As with landing in Prudhoe Bay, it didn’t take long to having the aircraft parked and ready to disembark. I powered up my phone and noticed that cell service was probably going to be rather spotty. a 1x data connection seemed to come and go and not really ever hold steady. I did secure a connection just long enough to see that temperature was a “warm” -3F outside. I wasn’t going to play dumb like I did in Anchorage a few hours ago – I was going to have my parka on before I stepped outside the plane to get me to the short walk inside.
Touchdown - Barrow
Airports on the North Slope Are Busier Than You Would Think...
Cargo Door Opening / Disembarking
Alaska Airlines Terminal - Barrow
The terminal really isn’t much at all, considering that Alaska Airlines is the only airline that uses it. Once I finished getting everything else on for the arctic environment I made my way outside and walked down the street to the West. It’s not very far until you reach the Wiley Post/Will Rogers Memorial and a giant directional post with distances to major places all over the globe. From there it was time to head north. I opted to walk into “downtown” Barrow which took me through a residential neighborhood and got me to my destination about 15 minutes later.
Everywhere is Pretty Much Far, Far Away
Will Rogers / Wiley Post Memorial
Barrow Houses
Entering Downtown
Church in Downtown Barrow
Honestly, I had no idea what I was going to do or where to go. I figured I’d find the Arctic Ocean, eat dinner, and just see if I would stumble on anything before my flight departed just about 2 hours later. I’ll be honest, I didn’t stumble on much. Finding the Ocean wasn’t hard, but it was completely frozen over. Off in the distance was an iceberg or something that someone had planted an American flag on and that was about it. After walking around some more I figured I could use some warmth and headed for Pepe’s North of the Border Mexican Restaurant.
A Very Frozen Arctic Ocean
Pepe's North of the Border Mexican Restaurant
I walked in and it seemed quiet and empty. It took me a few moments before I realized I had to walk down a hallway into a separate dining room to which I became the second occupied table for my late dinner (although given how bright it was I felt like it was lunch time again). Not exactly bustling. The restaurant itself was interesting in that it just didn’t really feel like a Mexican Restaurant inside…the Easter decorations probably didn’t help. As soon as the waiter came over I ordered a Mountain Dew and he brought out some chips and salsa. Surprisingly the salsa had a little bit of heat to it and soon enough I decided to settle on the burrito plate. It didn’t take long for it to be brought out and while it isn’t anything special (pretty much beef + tortilla + cheese) it still sadly was better than one of the places back home. That just shouldn’t be, since after all I live in Florida. Even the owner of the place, came out and asked everyone if this was their first time here. Since I think it was for almost everyone present, as she made her way around everyone got certificates for crossing the arctic circle and to sign the guest book. I think I’m on their Christmas Card list now…
Burrito Plate - Pepe's North of the Border
Anyways, once I finished up, or well as best as I could – it was a massive amount of food, I finally got to see what my bill came to and did I have sticker shock! Nearly $30 for my meal! The Mountain Dew alone cost $5 for a 12 ounce can. I guess that is what happens when everything has to be airlifted in on one of the several Alaska Airlines flights a day.
After heading back outside I wandered for a few minutes before deciding to hail a taxi to drive me around for a bit before eventually taking me back to the airport. I thought I had planned it well by flagging the guy who was dropping someone off at the bank, but it turns out this was a round-trip passenger so my journey included more sightseeing of the residential areas. Not really much to write about. My driver did eventually take me a spot for a photo op in front of a giant whale bone arch where I even managed to toss my parka to the side and get a picture of me in just my t-shirt in the sub zero temperature. You know honestly, it didn’t feel that cold…
Proof That I Am Crazy
He attempted to take me by a few other places, but they were all closed, so I had him run me back to the airport so I could reprint my boarding pass and get queued up for security. I must have timed it just right because right after I got there they started boarding. Boarding is unique here as there really isn’t a gate. They make the call for the various groups and you then head to the security checkpoint which is crammed into a corner and within a few steps of exiting the metal detector you hand your boarding pass to the Alaska Airlines gate agent and then head out the door to the aircraft. Rather efficient.
Time To Leave Barrow
Setting Sun
The load on the flight down to Fairbanks was very light just as it was on the way up. I even had a whole row to myself to stretch out and relax at 35,000 feet with an Alaskan Amber while watching the sunset. Not a bad way to end a day in my book at all. Just as with the layover in Prudhoe Bay on the way up, during the layover in Fairbanks the few of us continuing on to Anchorage, stayed on the aircraft. The interesting thing I learned during this stop was that the flight attendant stationed at the front of the cabin was only on her second flight into her career.
Not A Bad View At The End Of The Day
The plane was nearly full for the last segment of the day and it didn’t take long to reach Anchorage. I was pretty tired by this point – it was already past 11pm and I just wanted to get back to the Sheraton and pass out in my bed. To my surprise the rambunctious kids across the hall were still making noise. I guess when you are hyper you don’t need sleep?
