My boss and I recently traveled to Barrow, AK to train our Girl Scout leaders and attend a Healthy Living Summit.

Barrow is the northernmost city in the U.S., accessible only by air and water, unless you snowmachine (a.k.a. snowmobile) or drive on the ice road. The population of Barrow is about 65% Native Alaska. The Inupiat people have inhabited the Arctic coast for thousands of years. They hunt whale, seal, caribou and other animals in the region.

Kivgiq (a bi-annual Native festival that brings in about 800 people from around the North Slope) was also going on, so we were able to see some great dancing and eat some native foods.

Here is a photo of one of my meals. I tried Muktuk (the skin & blubber of bowhead whale). It's very chewy, and has a lot of protein. Muktuk is a staple for many natives. One of the men we ate lunch with said muktuk filled him so well he didn't plan to eat for another 24 hrs.

As you might imagine, the cost of living in Barrow is quite high. Goods are flown in, housing is scarce, etc. Thankfully for residents, the average income is over $60,000. But when milk costs $7.99/gallon, I'm sure money goes fast.

We visited the Inupiat Heritage Center which has a "People of Whaling" exhibit, and the jaws of a bowhead on display in front of the building (I think I would have been a pretty tasty treat:)

Here I'm standing beneath two whale rib bones on the beach (yes, that's the ocean behind me. The open water starts where the clouds are)

The bowhead whales' migration pattern takes them by Barrow during the spring and fall. The Inupiat still use wooden boats to hunt the whale. Usually, the whale is 25-50 ft. long. The International Whaling Commission regulates how many whales each community can catch. Currently, I think the limit is set at 3 whales per year. If a community catches 3 whales in the spring, they do not hunt whale in the fall.

Barrow felt much colder than Fairbanks (that Arctic wind is brutal). I felt like I was back home in the Windy City:)