July 30, 2006 - A Tour of Toolik, Home away from home Options

[Charla_Jordan]

July 30, 2006 A Tour of Toolik
Temperature 55, Partly Cloudy
Day 7 of the Pluck, Still Plucking—Half a Day Off!!

Today is the 7th day of the pluck! We have ten more samples to complete tomorrow—we have all agreed to do one sample today.

So, since I have half a day off, I decided to give a tour of Toolik! When you first arrive at Toolik Field Station, the first thing that you see is this welcome sign.



People come and go a lot here. The normal stay is about two weeks. It is hard to learn who people are, so a welcome board is set up in the dining hall. Pictures are snapped of all of the new arrivals and placed on the board.


Can you find me?

All of the labs are portable or temporary building


Labs 3 and 4


Notice the Brooks Mountain Range in the background


This is Lab 2 where we are still plucking!



The nice thing about working in Lab 2 is that when you take a break, this is what you see out back.


View from back of Lab 2. Wish I had this view from my everyday job.


The dining hall is the main meeting area and the place for the best food I have ever had. They serve three meals a day, have leftovers in the frig, snacks, candy, cokes, juices, cereals, and desserts 24 hours a day. Many people gain the “Toolik Ten” pounds while they are here.





If it is a nice day outside and the misquetos are not out you can choose to eat out on the deck!



Toolik has a great supply of water, but disposing of the waste water is a different story. It cost $.75 per gallon to have the gray water shipped for treatment. A resident is allowed two showers a week for only 2 minutes at a time. The restroom facilities are called the Towers.



At Toolik you can be assigned to Cottongrass dorms, a WeatherPort tent, or live in tent city.



The most wonderful thing at Toolik is the sauna. Yes, a sauna!



With all of the time at Toolik, people need recreation time too.





I wanted to end my tour of Toolik with showing my roommate Amanda. She has been great because most of the time I work late at the lab and try to quietly come into the room. She has never complained. Thanks Amanda!