Alaskan Dinosaur Expedition

Final preparations

From previous experience I knew that Alaska wasn’t all ice and snow, but I had never been to the Arctic before. Every picture I had seen seemed to indicate that snow and blizzards are always possibilities. So I made sure that I had a parka for protection against the wind and wet, and fleece jacket and pants for warmth. Confident in my selections I headed north. In Anchorage I took the opportunity to go to an outfitting store to see if there was anything else I might need for the trip.

The store sold polyester fleece garments, very similar to the ones that I had brought for my trip. I’ve worn enough fleece to know how warm the clothes are, but one maker of this apparel advertised how environment friendly their garments were because the clothes were made of recycled plastics. Given my preconceived notion of what the Arctic was like, I now found little comfort in the realization that I was counting on discarded trash to keep me warm.

At dinner tonight in Anchorage, three women were having dinner at the table next to mine. I couldn't help but overhear their conversation, which was a comparison of all the tours they had been on all over the world. Their stories were filled with details on the quality of the accommodations and the varying qualities of the waitstaff and the food.

I think about where I'm going how there will be no waitstaff. I think how different their impressions of Alaska will be from mine, but yet we will all go back to our respective homes feeling like we have each experienced this place, each of us presumably satisfied.

 After flying into Fairbanks, some final preparations for the trip up the Colville....

Now, it's time to check in with Alex Witze of the Dallas Morning News. I hadn't thought that finding a pay phone would be something of a challenge. After all, with so many months of winter here, who wants to stand outside to use the phone? What few pay phones here are all inside, so one can't just drive around to look for a phone.

I've taken a quick side trip to North Pole, Alaska, to send some appropriate Santa Claus postcards to people. North Pole is actually about 13 miles south of Fairbanks. I ran into local grocery store here, curious about food costs. Some products, like bananas, were very expensive, presumably because they're highly perishable. But most were only slightly more expensive than back home. While wandering the grocery store in North Pole, I couldn't help but be amused by the coolers with ice for sale and the portable picnic-style coolers.

Soon we will fly to Nuiqsut and set out for the Colville from there. I was shown a picture of the field area from last year's trips, and there were all these little dots all over the picture. I was hoping it was dirt on the camera lens but instead it was a cloud of mosquitoes! I have a full bodysuit of mosquito netting to help me cope, or at least I hope so.