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> May 4, 2006 - Where in the world is…., Mrs. Barlow?!
Samantha_Dassler_Barlow
post May 9 2006, 05:05 PM
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I’ll bet you thought of Matt Lauer, or was that Carmen San Diego? My silly science teacher humor strikes again. In this journal, I’m going to describe all the steps that it took to get where I am right now.

Lesson Idea for Teachers – you can have your students add up the total hours I have traveled and track my path on a map.

How did I get where I am?

May 3, 2006
•First, my husband drove me to the Raleigh-Durham airport (1.75 hours)
•Next, I got on a plane and flew to Dallas, TX (2.5 hours). (I met one of the grad students, Beth Caissie, who will be on the Healy too. She recognized my TREC t-shirt in the Dallas airport!)
•Then, I caught a flight to Anchorage, AK – 6.5 hours! =( I worked on my journal, watched the movies, read a little bit, and finished 2 Soduko puzzles.
•Then, I stayed overnight in a hotel in Anchorage

May 4, 2006
•I caught a flight on a small, twin propeller plane, from Anchorage and flew down the peninsula to a small village called Cold Bay, where the plane stopped to refuel (2 hours). It was very cold and windy. We went into the one room airport and warmed up while we waited for the plane to refuel (about half an hour).
•Then I got back on the same plane and flew to Dutch Harbor – even further down on the peninsula in the Aleutian Islands (45 minutes). I made it, but my luggage didn’t!

So where am I now?
I am sitting in a little café on the first floor of my hotel, the Grand Aleutian, and it is about 11:00 am. There are a few other guests working and eating at tables by themselves like I am. I think this is the only hotel in the whole community. There is a bed and breakfast nearby, but it is also managed by this hotel. Near my hotel are 2 small stores that are each like a miniature Wal-Mart. They have food, clothes, and other equipment, gear, and household items. There is also a post office, museum, and Mexican restaurant within short walking distance.

The plane ride down the peninsula was a little on the scary side. My airplane sounded like a lawnmower with wings. There were only enough seats for about 20 people. My scientists were also on this same flight and I met them and their 11-year old daughter for the first time in person while we were waiting for our flight to Dutch Harbor. I had only talked with them on the phone during conference calls up until this day, so it was great to finally meet them! They seem so nice and welcoming. I am thankful that they seem to see the importance of being able to bring a teacher with them to do outreach about the research they do. More on the individual scientists to come in later journals.

The weather changes all the time down here and we had to stop and refuel in Cold Bay, just in case the weather in Dutch Harbor was too bad for us to land. The weather in Cold Bay was pretty bad already – it was freezing and very windy with a mix of snow and rain. They prepared us by saying that we might have to stay in the air and circle around a few times to wait for the weather to change. Lucky for us, the weather was good and we landed on the first try.

Cold Bay Puddle Jumper
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Our tiny plane and the rainy, windy tarmac in Cold Bay.

When we landed, we flew very close to the water, in between the snow covered, jagged peaks that make up the islands. What a sight! I felt exactly as I thought I would feel if I ever got to go to the Galapagos Islands! I was so excited and kept stretching my neck to see out of the windows of the plane. We climbed down the little stepladder from the plane directly onto the tarmac. We went inside the one-room airport and waited for our luggage to be brought in. They opened a big garage door, chucked a bunch of luggage inside very quickly then shut the garage door. To mine and Patty’s dismay, none of our luggage made it on this flight. =( They said the plane was too heavy (probably with all the scientific gear) and that it would come on a later flight…maybe.

So, we took the van from the airport to our hotel and checked in. I grabbed a bite to eat and worked on my journal some more. We are supposed to have a wireless Internet connection, but it is not looking promising. I’ve got signal, but no web pages are loading. It seems that others are having the exact same problem. (I am so frustrated because I can’t do my job well right now! So, I’ll just keep writing journal entries in Word and taking pictures until I have access again.)

I went down to the lobby at 5 pm, as planned, and met with my science crew. We walked over to dinner together at a nice Mexican restaurant called “Amelia’s.” Yes, folks, I had Mexican on my first night in the Aleutian Islands. It was strange, but pretty good. After dinner, I went to one of the little grocery stores and bought a few personal items. When I got back, I was overjoyed to find that the airport brought all of our missing luggage to the hotel. What a relief! It made it on a later flight. I didn’t have to buy a commemorative pair of Dutch Harbor sweats and all new personal items after all! Then, I went to bed around 10 pm and slept for 9 hours straight. I was exhausted! I was still adjusting to the 4-hour time difference from North Carolina. What time is 10 pm in your time zone?
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