Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Today's theme was Geology and Glaciology. Today we were greeted with beautiful sunny day... the winds calmed down after our adventurous night with the barracks shaking in the wind... haha. Our day at UNIS started out with an introduction to geology - specifically the unique geology of Svalbard. The lecture was given by Dr. Hanne Christiansen. We learned that the oldest rocks on Svalbard have been dated to be from 1.27 Billion to 410 million years ago... that's just insane! We also were made aware that the island of Svalbard has traveled quite a lot around the globe during the rearrangements of the earth's plates through the past billion years. 450 million years ago Svalbard was located near teh equator (Alaska too)... the mountains here were formed when the coast collided with Greenland. During the "Age of the Dinosaurs" Svalbard moved from 45 degrees N latitude to 60 degrees N latitude... as a matter of fact there are many many fossils of plant life here in the arctic confirming it used to be in a much more tropical environment. Dinosaur fossils have been found here as well in the past few decades, and the coal that is now mined here was the result of the compression of vegitation and plant life during the Jurassic Period... How Cool is that?! During the past 2-3 million years Svalbard has moved to it's current location and been through ab out 30-50 major glaciations. Now Svalbard is 60% covered by glaciers.
The second set of lectures during the day covered Glaciology and they were presented by Monica Sund. I learned So much about glaciers... SOOOoooo interesting! WE covered the parts of glaciers and how they move and act... On Svalbard the fastest moving glacier is Kronebreen (moving approximately 600 meters a year... that's almost 2 meters a day!), and the slowest which is more typical (4 meters per year). Another really interesting topic we covered was glacial surges... I had no clue what these were previous to today! [Taken as a quote from Dr. Sund's webpage here is a definition of a glacial surge]
"Glacier surges are characterized by cyclical advances related to internal changes in the glacier system, and occur in both terrestrial and tide-water glaciers. The surges are short-lived periods of rapid movement and usually advancing terminus, usually lasting 2 - 10 years." Basically a glacial surge involves a large mass from the glacial moving down to a lower part of the glaciar suddenly (well relatively suddenly...we're talking over the course of a couple years) in which case the glacier may calve if on a body of water or advance...
Check out Dr. Monica Sund's website to see time-lapse video of glaciers actually moving over the course of a year! It's amazing!
http://www.unis.no/35_STAFF/staff_webpages/geology/monica_sund/web/New/monica_sund_homepage.htm
Now it's also important to note that all those images you see on tv of glaciers calving (when huge pieces fall into the ocean) aren't necessarily images of the so called "global warming". It is clear that throughout the past decades glaciers constantly advance and retreat... it's just a process. In many cases calving will occur simply because the shelf is unstable. There is still a lot to be researched on this topic to see how future changes in climate patterns may effect glaciers... it's all a very complicated scientific puzzle that is very difficult to solve.
After lecture we hiked back up to Nybyen and had a short talk about the Longyearbyen glacier right behind our baracks. The original plan was to hike up to it, but as we had just received snowfall the day before we decided against it and had a new field activity helping with an avalanche study.
We learned about the different avalanches they get here in Svalbard and saw examples of the snow cornices on the mountains right beside our baracks in the valley... then we learned about the plan for the day. We split into two groups... for this project we were to measure out a 4x4 area on top of the snow surface where an avalanche had fallen earlier in the season... depositing snow and rocks from the mountain. The goal was to then gather all of the rocks in this area, weigh them, and record the location and angle of the study region. The data we collected was going to be used in a research project to prove that these avalanches really do move a lot of rock down the mountainside. I headed up in the first group... quite the vertical hike up the side of the mountain as you can see here. We started working and after finishing up our first "square" we heard this crack sound and rumbling.. hard to describe... then we looked up and saw some snow falling and a few rocks... we looked over to the project instructor and he was like "Move Move!!" haha... we were so intrigued by what was going on none of us had decided to shift over out of the way of the tumbling debris! haha... Anyways after that we decided it would be wiser to work on the lower portion of the mountain... so after a few photos at the top we hiked carefully back down and helped the group at the bottom. It was a pretty fun afternoon on the mountainside!
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Survival suits in Arctic Waters, Rifle Training, and a twist from Mother Nature (June 15-16)
Monday, June 15, 2009
Today was Amazing!!! One I won't soon forget! The day started off pretty early, I was only able to get about 3 hours of sleep. It's kinda difficult adjusting to a 10 hour time difference but being here is 100% worth it! We started the day down at UNIS with a 1 hour lecture on different safety issues to keep in mind while out and about on Svalbard. We learned about the local glaciers and the challenges they provided. You have to be very careful so you don't fall into crevases while walking, and you also have to be careful now that it's spring when crossing over partially frozen meltwater streams. There are also of course the Polar Bears... haha. Yes they're a very real threat up here!! Everyone that walks beyond the limits of town is 100% advised to carry a rifle and a flare gun... which we learned how to use later that afternoon! They actually have this equiptment available for students to check out... just like you would a library book... at any other institution. They rifles are so common in town that they have places outside most businesses to leave your rifle while you shop, and we even have gun locks in our baracks!
So back to the day... after the safety lecture we broke into two groups. My group started out with the survival suit training! I was soooo excited!! If you've ever seen deadliest catch, the equiptment they have is pretty much the same. Here's a view of their insane collection of arctic survival gear... they literally have a whole warehouse of this gear! It's insane...
Here we are trying on the survival suits in the warehouse and learning how they work. They have clips attached to them so you can clip on with others in a rescue situation so you stick together and no one drifts off. They also have neoprene gloves attached to wear... however we later found out that they are NOT waterproof... lol. After trying them out we piled into a couple vans and headed out the the harbor.... off of the Arctic Ocean!! What an interesting drive it was!! The poor guy driving the car was one of the students, and the car was of course pretty old and was very difficult to shift gears. It made for a very interesting and bumpy drive! But we made it to the Ocean!
So after arriving we walked down onto the dock and zipped up our suits. Not to many pictures as no one wanted to get their cameras wet. We were instructed to "walk the plank" and jump in. Let me tell you... that first hit of freezing cold water to your face is a HUGE SHOCK! WOWZA! Of course your face is open to the water, and the gloves are not water proof... they filled with water pretty quickly, but at least they provided a little bit of insulation from the water. The crazy part of these suits is that they're very very bouyant! We were instructed to float around our our backs and kind of backstroke to move about. They we had to try to get back up onto the dock... Holy Crap that's hard with the suit on!! It's really weird too when you try to get vertical in the water to get out... all of the air rushes to the top of the suit, and your boots kind of suction in because of the increased water pressure!
After that exercise we all had to jump in again. This time we had to gather the group in the water and try connecting everyone together in a circle. One that was done we unclipped and headed for the dock again and jumped out of the survival suits. What an Insane experience!!! I can tell you I have a new respect for the guys on Deadliest Catch! I can't imagine doing that in 25 foot seas!!! We piled our stuff back into the vans and drove back to UNIS for lunch. Over lunch we chatted with the other group and heard about all of their fun and shared the fun we had... and then after lunch we switched.
This time we were on our way to the Rifle Range.... Hellls YEAH! I'd been waiting for this moment since the day I found out we'd have rifle training to defend against polar bear attacks!!! And the need for training is very important! Here's a link to a newspaper article on a guy that I actually know that goes to UAF. He was up here in Svalbard on research not too long ago and was actually attacked!
Okay back to the fun stuff! So up at the range the instructor first gave a brief presentation on the dangers of Svalbard, and the rifles we would be using, the .30-06 rifle ("thirty-aught-six"). Then we headed out and everyone was able to first practice loading and unloading the rifle and the shooting positions. After that the fun began!
We each shot 8 rounds from a lying down position, then checked the targets, and then shot 8 rounds from a kneeling position and checked the targets. I was pretty proud of my shots! I had a pretty nice pattern, although not on the bulls-eye... the sights were outta wack so as long as the pattern was tight I was doing great. [Here's my pattern from lying down]
Kneeling was a little more difficult but it still went pretty well. Here are my results and some of the others in the group.
After everyone had a chance to fire 16 rounds we had a short lecture on what to do in the case of a polar bear encounter. You're first supposed to gather the group together and make a bunch of noise and wave your arms and walk away... not run!!! If the bear continues to follow, you should start a snowmachine or fire off a shot or flare from the flare gun to try to spook the bear. If that still doesn't work you should stop and maintain your ground... you need to continue making noise and determine a line... that if crossed... you will shoot the bear. Simple as that... haha... yeah right! If i were in that situation I'd be pretty darn freaked out!! Haha.
After that we had a quick demonstration of the flare and noise shots for the flare gun before packing up. Here are a few pictures of the view from the range before we headed back down to UNIS.
Such an AMAZING day! I had a Blast! After our adventures we had dinner up at "Huset" which is Norwegian for "The House" It's one of the oldest buildings in Longyearbyen and was the community hall for the old miners. Now they have an auditorium, store, and cafe in the building. The food is practically gormet and soooo tastey! Dinner tonight was roasted lamb with ratatoui and mashed potatoes...mmmmm good!!! And dessert was homemade vanilla icecream with cinnamon and carmel flan. Delish!!
It was also kinda neat that one of our instructors, Dr. Liz Thomas from the British Antarctica Survey ran into an old colleague while we were there! It turns out that a large group from the UK had just completed a 10 week research expedition in Svalbard and were enjoying a nice warm meal in the other room while screening pictures from their adventure! So we all were able to stop by and chat with them, find out about their research, and see some crazy pictures from their adventures.
Overall an amazing day! I'm loving it here!!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Overnight and on through this morning, Mother Nature decided to throw us a curveball. I think she thought we all needed to see what Svalbard is like in the winter months... haha. I awoke in the middle of the night to the building shaking... the wind was very very strong... with gusts up to 50 mph. Outside my window I noticed that the mountain outside my window had a white coating on most of the face and there was still sleet/snow/ice pellets falling horizontal in the wind.
So after packing my lunch and grabbing a hot beverage I bundled up and headed out on the 1.5 mile walk down to UNIS for the day. What an Adventure! I felt like I was back home in North Dakota!! haha. There were times that the wind would shove you forwards... stop you in your tracks... blow you sideways... all due to the turbulence in between the mountains. It was very entertaining to feel like a kite! haha. The trek down took a few extra minutes but eventually I made it inside and found a spot in the auditorium (Lassegrotta).
Today was our first day of lectures, and the theme was weather and climate. We heard a total of 5 lectures. The first two were by Dr. Ole Humlum on "Climate of the Arctic: past and present". Then we had lunch in the canteen followed by 2 lectures on Paleoclimatology. Dr. Elizabeth Thomas gave these lectures. She works at the British Antarctic Survey and is also one of the organizers for this field school. Her first lecture was on Ice cores.... how they work, the advantages and disadvantages to their use, and what information can be obtained from them. The second lecture concerned "Rapid Climate Change". She discussed an event ~ 8,200 years ago that had a sort of "Day After Tomorrow" scenario... it's possible that when Lake Agasi drained in Canada that it offset the thermohaline circulation in the Atlantic Ocean, resulting in a temporary global cooling. Very interesting stuff!
The final lecture of the day was by Dr. Ole Humlum once again... this time on the "Meteorology of the Arctic, with special emphasis on Svalbard". It was interesting to hear about the local weather patterns up here. The terrain truly offers many unique and hard to preduct weather patterns and conditions.
After our last lecture we had a brief question and answer session and a few other notes about the rest of the field school. Then we walked back up to Nyben... thankfully the walk back up wasn't quite as windy (very nice since it's uphill... haha) but we still caught a really neat mixture of frozen precip on the walk. Started out as mist/sleet... then sleet/ice pellets... then heavier and larger ice pellets.
Dinner tonight was at "Huset" ... and it was once again Amazing! We had salmon with veggies and boiled potatoes, and dessert was some sort of chocolate custard tart with berries...mmmm good! Now I'm back at Barack 1 unwinding from the day and enjoying the evening. The winds have calmed down so the room is no longer shaking... haha... and it seems like the snow has come to an end for the time being.
Tomorrow we continue our lectures with Geology and Glaciology... and some sort of avalanche demonstration!
Today was Amazing!!! One I won't soon forget! The day started off pretty early, I was only able to get about 3 hours of sleep. It's kinda difficult adjusting to a 10 hour time difference but being here is 100% worth it! We started the day down at UNIS with a 1 hour lecture on different safety issues to keep in mind while out and about on Svalbard. We learned about the local glaciers and the challenges they provided. You have to be very careful so you don't fall into crevases while walking, and you also have to be careful now that it's spring when crossing over partially frozen meltwater streams. There are also of course the Polar Bears... haha. Yes they're a very real threat up here!! Everyone that walks beyond the limits of town is 100% advised to carry a rifle and a flare gun... which we learned how to use later that afternoon! They actually have this equiptment available for students to check out... just like you would a library book... at any other institution. They rifles are so common in town that they have places outside most businesses to leave your rifle while you shop, and we even have gun locks in our baracks!
So back to the day... after the safety lecture we broke into two groups. My group started out with the survival suit training! I was soooo excited!! If you've ever seen deadliest catch, the equiptment they have is pretty much the same. Here's a view of their insane collection of arctic survival gear... they literally have a whole warehouse of this gear! It's insane...
Here we are trying on the survival suits in the warehouse and learning how they work. They have clips attached to them so you can clip on with others in a rescue situation so you stick together and no one drifts off. They also have neoprene gloves attached to wear... however we later found out that they are NOT waterproof... lol. After trying them out we piled into a couple vans and headed out the the harbor.... off of the Arctic Ocean!! What an interesting drive it was!! The poor guy driving the car was one of the students, and the car was of course pretty old and was very difficult to shift gears. It made for a very interesting and bumpy drive! But we made it to the Ocean!
So after arriving we walked down onto the dock and zipped up our suits. Not to many pictures as no one wanted to get their cameras wet. We were instructed to "walk the plank" and jump in. Let me tell you... that first hit of freezing cold water to your face is a HUGE SHOCK! WOWZA! Of course your face is open to the water, and the gloves are not water proof... they filled with water pretty quickly, but at least they provided a little bit of insulation from the water. The crazy part of these suits is that they're very very bouyant! We were instructed to float around our our backs and kind of backstroke to move about. They we had to try to get back up onto the dock... Holy Crap that's hard with the suit on!! It's really weird too when you try to get vertical in the water to get out... all of the air rushes to the top of the suit, and your boots kind of suction in because of the increased water pressure!
After that exercise we all had to jump in again. This time we had to gather the group in the water and try connecting everyone together in a circle. One that was done we unclipped and headed for the dock again and jumped out of the survival suits. What an Insane experience!!! I can tell you I have a new respect for the guys on Deadliest Catch! I can't imagine doing that in 25 foot seas!!! We piled our stuff back into the vans and drove back to UNIS for lunch. Over lunch we chatted with the other group and heard about all of their fun and shared the fun we had... and then after lunch we switched.
This time we were on our way to the Rifle Range.... Hellls YEAH! I'd been waiting for this moment since the day I found out we'd have rifle training to defend against polar bear attacks!!! And the need for training is very important! Here's a link to a newspaper article on a guy that I actually know that goes to UAF. He was up here in Svalbard on research not too long ago and was actually attacked!
Okay back to the fun stuff! So up at the range the instructor first gave a brief presentation on the dangers of Svalbard, and the rifles we would be using, the .30-06 rifle ("thirty-aught-six"). Then we headed out and everyone was able to first practice loading and unloading the rifle and the shooting positions. After that the fun began!
We each shot 8 rounds from a lying down position, then checked the targets, and then shot 8 rounds from a kneeling position and checked the targets. I was pretty proud of my shots! I had a pretty nice pattern, although not on the bulls-eye... the sights were outta wack so as long as the pattern was tight I was doing great. [Here's my pattern from lying down]
Kneeling was a little more difficult but it still went pretty well. Here are my results and some of the others in the group.
After everyone had a chance to fire 16 rounds we had a short lecture on what to do in the case of a polar bear encounter. You're first supposed to gather the group together and make a bunch of noise and wave your arms and walk away... not run!!! If the bear continues to follow, you should start a snowmachine or fire off a shot or flare from the flare gun to try to spook the bear. If that still doesn't work you should stop and maintain your ground... you need to continue making noise and determine a line... that if crossed... you will shoot the bear. Simple as that... haha... yeah right! If i were in that situation I'd be pretty darn freaked out!! Haha.
After that we had a quick demonstration of the flare and noise shots for the flare gun before packing up. Here are a few pictures of the view from the range before we headed back down to UNIS.
Such an AMAZING day! I had a Blast! After our adventures we had dinner up at "Huset" which is Norwegian for "The House" It's one of the oldest buildings in Longyearbyen and was the community hall for the old miners. Now they have an auditorium, store, and cafe in the building. The food is practically gormet and soooo tastey! Dinner tonight was roasted lamb with ratatoui and mashed potatoes...mmmmm good!!! And dessert was homemade vanilla icecream with cinnamon and carmel flan. Delish!!
It was also kinda neat that one of our instructors, Dr. Liz Thomas from the British Antarctica Survey ran into an old colleague while we were there! It turns out that a large group from the UK had just completed a 10 week research expedition in Svalbard and were enjoying a nice warm meal in the other room while screening pictures from their adventure! So we all were able to stop by and chat with them, find out about their research, and see some crazy pictures from their adventures.
Overall an amazing day! I'm loving it here!!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Overnight and on through this morning, Mother Nature decided to throw us a curveball. I think she thought we all needed to see what Svalbard is like in the winter months... haha. I awoke in the middle of the night to the building shaking... the wind was very very strong... with gusts up to 50 mph. Outside my window I noticed that the mountain outside my window had a white coating on most of the face and there was still sleet/snow/ice pellets falling horizontal in the wind.
So after packing my lunch and grabbing a hot beverage I bundled up and headed out on the 1.5 mile walk down to UNIS for the day. What an Adventure! I felt like I was back home in North Dakota!! haha. There were times that the wind would shove you forwards... stop you in your tracks... blow you sideways... all due to the turbulence in between the mountains. It was very entertaining to feel like a kite! haha. The trek down took a few extra minutes but eventually I made it inside and found a spot in the auditorium (Lassegrotta).
Today was our first day of lectures, and the theme was weather and climate. We heard a total of 5 lectures. The first two were by Dr. Ole Humlum on "Climate of the Arctic: past and present". Then we had lunch in the canteen followed by 2 lectures on Paleoclimatology. Dr. Elizabeth Thomas gave these lectures. She works at the British Antarctic Survey and is also one of the organizers for this field school. Her first lecture was on Ice cores.... how they work, the advantages and disadvantages to their use, and what information can be obtained from them. The second lecture concerned "Rapid Climate Change". She discussed an event ~ 8,200 years ago that had a sort of "Day After Tomorrow" scenario... it's possible that when Lake Agasi drained in Canada that it offset the thermohaline circulation in the Atlantic Ocean, resulting in a temporary global cooling. Very interesting stuff!
The final lecture of the day was by Dr. Ole Humlum once again... this time on the "Meteorology of the Arctic, with special emphasis on Svalbard". It was interesting to hear about the local weather patterns up here. The terrain truly offers many unique and hard to preduct weather patterns and conditions.
After our last lecture we had a brief question and answer session and a few other notes about the rest of the field school. Then we walked back up to Nyben... thankfully the walk back up wasn't quite as windy (very nice since it's uphill... haha) but we still caught a really neat mixture of frozen precip on the walk. Started out as mist/sleet... then sleet/ice pellets... then heavier and larger ice pellets.
Dinner tonight was at "Huset" ... and it was once again Amazing! We had salmon with veggies and boiled potatoes, and dessert was some sort of chocolate custard tart with berries...mmmm good! Now I'm back at Barack 1 unwinding from the day and enjoying the evening. The winds have calmed down so the room is no longer shaking... haha... and it seems like the snow has come to an end for the time being.
Tomorrow we continue our lectures with Geology and Glaciology... and some sort of avalanche demonstration!
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Flight to Svalbard and First Day in Svalbard (June 12 - June 14, 2009)
Friday, June 12 , 2009
9:20 AM (Alaska Time)
Started the adventure! About 5 ½ hour flight from Fairbanks, AK to Minneapolis, MN (arrived 5:40 PM Minnesota time). Only one small blip when checking in because I have 4 individual flights, and the last one’s to a kinda “no-name” airport… so I had to fix some things at with the airline attendant to make sure my bags made it all the way to Norway. Fingers crossed they make it to my final destination! I lucked out because the flight was only about half full… lots of super nice older “lower 48” tourists flying home from their Alaskan adventures. It was pretty fun talking with them about all of the fun they had, but it also made me that much more greatful to be living in such an amazing state that most people are lucky to visit once in their life. Talking with some of the older crowd made me realize a couple of other things too. 1) They reminded me how short life really is and how fast time flies by. We all really need to make the most of every day we have here. There are adventures around every corner, whether it’s in your hometown or across the world. 2) Seeing those that were having difficulties even walking around on the plane made me realize how lucky I am to have opportunities to travel while I’m still young. I’m So Very Greatful!! And I want to document all of my travel so I can share stories with my own kids one day. 3) Finally, a conversation with an elderly couple across the isle made me realize how important it is to keep you parents close as they get older. This couple talked about how much they love their kids and grandkids, but they never come to visit… they always have to go to them… which is extremely difficult in their old age. This just reinforced my plans already to take care of my own parents as they get older (I’ll build a cabin for them next door to my own)…
5:40 PM (Minnesota Time)
I land in the Great State of Minnesota!!! It was very bittersweet to be passing through the state though because I felt like I was home, however I wasn’t able to see any family, just a brief 1 ½ hour layover. I my last few phone calls while I was still in “the states” with cell phone service, talking with mom and dad and a couple of friends. The flight was overbooked and I debated taking the offer to give up my seat and spend a night with my parents, but I was afraid that it would lead to big problems in my connection flights to make it to Svalbard.
7:30 PM (Minnesota Time)
After cramming everyone on board we left the Land of 10,000 lakes for Amsterdam. My first ever trip overseas! It was a pretty good flight aside from being a little long (about 8 ½ hours). A couple glasses of wine and on-board movies (“He’s Just Not That Into You” and “Gran Torino”) made the time pass quicker. I was also really weird to see the sunset completely and have darkness as we flew over the Atlantic Ocean… no darkness in Fairbanks, Alaska in the summertime.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
10:50 AM (Amsterdam Time)
We land in Amsterdam! I can officially say I have set foot in Europe now. I only had a couple hours of sleep on the plane, but I’m not too worried. My internal time clock is all messed up right now anyways… haha… and it will be 24 hour light once I arrive in Svalbard so the plan is to sleep it off after I arrive. As soon as I set foot in the airport I switched to my “Amazing Race” mode… haha… For those of you that haven’t heard this story…
It started when I had my first flight out to Hawaii 2 summers ago. I was pretty nervous to have to travel on my own and switch flights and go through the process of renting a car and finding a hotel in an unfamiliar area…. So the way I got rid of my nerves was pretending I was on the show “The Amazing Race” Hahaha… a little weird I know, but it really did help!!
The main thing I’ll remember about this airport was all of the fancy shops and the smell of perfume! Smelled soooo good! At the airport I had to go through another security check point to get to my gate… another nerve wracking moment when the main language is not English and their procedures vary a little, but with a smile on my face I made it through pretty quickly and found my gate. I had to ditch my diet pepsi at the checkpoint and I was super thirsty so I found a lil stand and picked up a “Light Coke” … haha… that made me giggle a little! Now I’m waiting for our plane to arrive to fly to Oslo, Norway… it’s weird being the odd one at the airport! I usually make new acquaintances while I’m waiting at the gates but it’s a little more intimidating when no one’s speaking English… haha. I’ve decided I’m going to do my very best to leave all of those I meet these coming 3 weeks with a good impression of Americans by showing them my “Minnesota/North Dakota Nice”.
12:35 PM (Amsterdam Time)
Started boarding for the Amsterdam flight and it was really different. At the gate where you’d usually walk down or walk out and board the plane, we instead walked through one of those spinning doors and then boarded a bus… haha. It was just like a regular city bus… they packed us in… and then drove us about 5 minutes out on the tarmack to our plane. The flight itself wasn’t too eventful… talked with a nice older guy coming back home from work in Africa. He was from northern Norway. Enjoyed a hot cup of coffee and got a little shut eye. Landing in Oslo it was neat to see the landscape since I had a window seat… lots and lots of rolling hills with farmland. I asked the guy next to me what they farm and he said it was mainly hay and other grains for cattle and other animals. It was really pretty!
Oslo, Norway
2:30 PM (Oslo, Norway Time)
Landed and the confusion began… haha. The airport was kinda confusing to me. We had to exit the terminals and then wait to pick up our baggage… thankfully I stopped and asked someone otherwise my luggage would have been SOL when I arrived in Longyearbyen without my luggage! So I picked that up and then had to completely exit the airport and go back in up to the 2nd floor. There I had to print off my boarding pass and the luggage stickers… another difference from the US… then drop off my luggage (which was too heavy, so I had to pay 500 some Krone… not sure how much that is yet… haha… just put it on the credit card [just did a rough calculation… 6 Krone ~ 1 US Dollar… thus the luggage cost me approximately $83.33) and have my fingerprint taken. After that it was back through security once again… pretty fast thank goodness… and then finally had to find the gate. And now I can finally relax a little again… Woohoo! Time logged in airports/flights so far: 20 hours.
Thoughts thus far on international travel:
1) You’ve really got to be patient… in some ways it’s nice that I’m traveling alone, I have a feeling that there would be a lot of arguing and added stress if I were traveling with a group.
2) Kinda goes off of point 1, when traveling alone I’ve learned that you really need to just stay calm, read whatever signs you can read (or look for pictures…haha) and ask for help when needed. The minute you panic things go downhill… I even talk to myself sometimes… (haha… a few of you will get a kick outta that statement since you know me so well!)
3) It’s really odd and occasionally intimidating sitting around when you can’t understand a word of what others around you are saying. It’s kinda humbling, and I know I’ll keep this in the back of my mind when we have new grad students coming in to UAF in the fall.
4:00 PM Oslo, Norway Time
Time to board the plane for my last set of flights!!!!!!!! YAYYYYYY! I’m tired! This flight has two legs, we fly from Oslo, Norway to Tromso for a quick stop and then FINALLY to Longyearbyen, Svalbard, Norway! It’s very odd waiting to board a plane when they call out which rows can board and other instructions and announcements on board in a language other than English. You really take that for granted when traveling in the states!
Alright the first leg of this last flight was pretty uneventful. Unfortunately I had a middle seat between 2 individuals that didn’t speak engligh. There was an older European guy on the isle that seemed pretty quiet, and the gal in the window seat was going to some conference. I picked up on that from her broken English. Flying out of Oslo I did get to see the beautiful landscape once again. I think it would be great to visit sometime. I ended up napping for most of this short flight.. about 2 hours before we came in to land in Tromse’. That town is Beautiful! A lot like the Kenai peninsula of Alaska. After landing in Tromse’ about 2/3 of the plane got off, and then about 25 people boarded as we got ready to leave for the final destination, Longyearbyen.
7:00 PM Tromse’, Norway Time
This turned out to be quite the entertaining flight!!! A very entertaining group of young men came onboard laughing… just “piss” drunk (as they say here). I could literally taste the vodka in the air besides smelling it… and when one of them took the seat next to me I knew it was going to be a wild flight! After listening to them go on in Norwegain for a while and realizing I was the subject of part of the material with the guys behind our row smacking the guy next to me… haha… I turned to the guy next to me and said “Vodka?” while raising my pretend glass… and he just laughed and nodded. He then proceeded to tell me that his buddy… (wearing the coal miner’s hat behind me)… was getting married soon and they goofballs had decided to kidnap him and bring him to Svalbard for the bachelor’s party. There was lots of drunken Norwegian banter the whole time and it was hard not to laugh at them. I think each ordered an additional 2 or 3 drinks on the short flight, which concluded with a guy in the back of their group taking his guitar out and singing “Hey Hey Hey Hey what’s going on” in Norwegian.
Here’s part of the song with the views outside as we started flying over Svalbard!
I was practically glued to the window as we caught views of the mountains and glacier below. It was just breathtaking! Eventually we came around in for our landing and caught a view of the town I’ll be living in for the next 3 weeks, Longyearbyen. I live in Nyben ( I guess it’s another town but only about a mile walk straight in from Longyearbyen.) It’s at the very back of this picture.
This is the furthest north location that still has daily arrivals from a major airline. Here’s a view as we stepped off of the plane.
After walking into the terminal I met up with a bunch of the other IPY field school students and we happily gathered our luggage. Thankfully no one’s was lost! Then we tossed our bags into a couple vans and drove to our barracks for the next 3 weeks. I’m staying in Barack #1… the new one… Yay! They’re actually really nice! We each have our own room with a bed, closet, 2 tables, and a bookshelf… and we share a bathroom with one other person. The view is also Amazing! The base of the mountain is only like 100 feet from the building. [View from my window]
After getting settled in and chatting with a few other students I made it an early night and crashed. The time difference and jet lag had caught up with me!
Sunday, June 14, 2009
2:30 PM Longyearbyen time (4:30 AM Alaska Time)
I eventually woke up… it was nice to have a good night’s sleep! I jumped in the shower and got ready to walk down to UNIS (The University Centre in Svalbard) where we’ll be having classes. It’s about a 20 minute walk, about a mile and a half to get there. We were able to meet all of the students from all over the world… Norway, England, South Africa, Denmark, Sweden, Canada… We had about an hour of welcome type presentations. We found out a little about the classes we’ll be taking and also about all of the “big wig smart guys” that will be attending our final presentations… a little intimidating!! Then we also had a short tour of the building, followed by a pizza dinner where we got to know each other some more.
[UNIS and a Svalbard reindeer... kinda look like stubby miniature reindeer compared to those on the mainland and Alaska]
Then we walked back up to the barracks for the evening… pretty low key again. Everyone’s still trying to get used to various time changes but the 24 hour daylight is helping. Tomorrow we have safety training that includes shooting rifles in the case of a polar bear attack, and jumping into the Arctic Ocean (in a survival suit of course). Should be a crazy adventure-filled day! I’ll write all about it in the morning, but tonight I need to get some sleep… 8:30 AM (10:00 PM Alaska Time) will be coming quick!
9:20 AM (Alaska Time)
Started the adventure! About 5 ½ hour flight from Fairbanks, AK to Minneapolis, MN (arrived 5:40 PM Minnesota time). Only one small blip when checking in because I have 4 individual flights, and the last one’s to a kinda “no-name” airport… so I had to fix some things at with the airline attendant to make sure my bags made it all the way to Norway. Fingers crossed they make it to my final destination! I lucked out because the flight was only about half full… lots of super nice older “lower 48” tourists flying home from their Alaskan adventures. It was pretty fun talking with them about all of the fun they had, but it also made me that much more greatful to be living in such an amazing state that most people are lucky to visit once in their life. Talking with some of the older crowd made me realize a couple of other things too. 1) They reminded me how short life really is and how fast time flies by. We all really need to make the most of every day we have here. There are adventures around every corner, whether it’s in your hometown or across the world. 2) Seeing those that were having difficulties even walking around on the plane made me realize how lucky I am to have opportunities to travel while I’m still young. I’m So Very Greatful!! And I want to document all of my travel so I can share stories with my own kids one day. 3) Finally, a conversation with an elderly couple across the isle made me realize how important it is to keep you parents close as they get older. This couple talked about how much they love their kids and grandkids, but they never come to visit… they always have to go to them… which is extremely difficult in their old age. This just reinforced my plans already to take care of my own parents as they get older (I’ll build a cabin for them next door to my own)…
5:40 PM (Minnesota Time)
I land in the Great State of Minnesota!!! It was very bittersweet to be passing through the state though because I felt like I was home, however I wasn’t able to see any family, just a brief 1 ½ hour layover. I my last few phone calls while I was still in “the states” with cell phone service, talking with mom and dad and a couple of friends. The flight was overbooked and I debated taking the offer to give up my seat and spend a night with my parents, but I was afraid that it would lead to big problems in my connection flights to make it to Svalbard.
7:30 PM (Minnesota Time)
After cramming everyone on board we left the Land of 10,000 lakes for Amsterdam. My first ever trip overseas! It was a pretty good flight aside from being a little long (about 8 ½ hours). A couple glasses of wine and on-board movies (“He’s Just Not That Into You” and “Gran Torino”) made the time pass quicker. I was also really weird to see the sunset completely and have darkness as we flew over the Atlantic Ocean… no darkness in Fairbanks, Alaska in the summertime.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
10:50 AM (Amsterdam Time)
We land in Amsterdam! I can officially say I have set foot in Europe now. I only had a couple hours of sleep on the plane, but I’m not too worried. My internal time clock is all messed up right now anyways… haha… and it will be 24 hour light once I arrive in Svalbard so the plan is to sleep it off after I arrive. As soon as I set foot in the airport I switched to my “Amazing Race” mode… haha… For those of you that haven’t heard this story…
It started when I had my first flight out to Hawaii 2 summers ago. I was pretty nervous to have to travel on my own and switch flights and go through the process of renting a car and finding a hotel in an unfamiliar area…. So the way I got rid of my nerves was pretending I was on the show “The Amazing Race” Hahaha… a little weird I know, but it really did help!!
The main thing I’ll remember about this airport was all of the fancy shops and the smell of perfume! Smelled soooo good! At the airport I had to go through another security check point to get to my gate… another nerve wracking moment when the main language is not English and their procedures vary a little, but with a smile on my face I made it through pretty quickly and found my gate. I had to ditch my diet pepsi at the checkpoint and I was super thirsty so I found a lil stand and picked up a “Light Coke” … haha… that made me giggle a little! Now I’m waiting for our plane to arrive to fly to Oslo, Norway… it’s weird being the odd one at the airport! I usually make new acquaintances while I’m waiting at the gates but it’s a little more intimidating when no one’s speaking English… haha. I’ve decided I’m going to do my very best to leave all of those I meet these coming 3 weeks with a good impression of Americans by showing them my “Minnesota/North Dakota Nice”.
12:35 PM (Amsterdam Time)
Started boarding for the Amsterdam flight and it was really different. At the gate where you’d usually walk down or walk out and board the plane, we instead walked through one of those spinning doors and then boarded a bus… haha. It was just like a regular city bus… they packed us in… and then drove us about 5 minutes out on the tarmack to our plane. The flight itself wasn’t too eventful… talked with a nice older guy coming back home from work in Africa. He was from northern Norway. Enjoyed a hot cup of coffee and got a little shut eye. Landing in Oslo it was neat to see the landscape since I had a window seat… lots and lots of rolling hills with farmland. I asked the guy next to me what they farm and he said it was mainly hay and other grains for cattle and other animals. It was really pretty!
Oslo, Norway2:30 PM (Oslo, Norway Time)
Landed and the confusion began… haha. The airport was kinda confusing to me. We had to exit the terminals and then wait to pick up our baggage… thankfully I stopped and asked someone otherwise my luggage would have been SOL when I arrived in Longyearbyen without my luggage! So I picked that up and then had to completely exit the airport and go back in up to the 2nd floor. There I had to print off my boarding pass and the luggage stickers… another difference from the US… then drop off my luggage (which was too heavy, so I had to pay 500 some Krone… not sure how much that is yet… haha… just put it on the credit card [just did a rough calculation… 6 Krone ~ 1 US Dollar… thus the luggage cost me approximately $83.33) and have my fingerprint taken. After that it was back through security once again… pretty fast thank goodness… and then finally had to find the gate. And now I can finally relax a little again… Woohoo! Time logged in airports/flights so far: 20 hours.
Thoughts thus far on international travel:
1) You’ve really got to be patient… in some ways it’s nice that I’m traveling alone, I have a feeling that there would be a lot of arguing and added stress if I were traveling with a group.
2) Kinda goes off of point 1, when traveling alone I’ve learned that you really need to just stay calm, read whatever signs you can read (or look for pictures…haha) and ask for help when needed. The minute you panic things go downhill… I even talk to myself sometimes… (haha… a few of you will get a kick outta that statement since you know me so well!)
3) It’s really odd and occasionally intimidating sitting around when you can’t understand a word of what others around you are saying. It’s kinda humbling, and I know I’ll keep this in the back of my mind when we have new grad students coming in to UAF in the fall.
4:00 PM Oslo, Norway Time
Time to board the plane for my last set of flights!!!!!!!! YAYYYYYY! I’m tired! This flight has two legs, we fly from Oslo, Norway to Tromso for a quick stop and then FINALLY to Longyearbyen, Svalbard, Norway! It’s very odd waiting to board a plane when they call out which rows can board and other instructions and announcements on board in a language other than English. You really take that for granted when traveling in the states!
Alright the first leg of this last flight was pretty uneventful. Unfortunately I had a middle seat between 2 individuals that didn’t speak engligh. There was an older European guy on the isle that seemed pretty quiet, and the gal in the window seat was going to some conference. I picked up on that from her broken English. Flying out of Oslo I did get to see the beautiful landscape once again. I think it would be great to visit sometime. I ended up napping for most of this short flight.. about 2 hours before we came in to land in Tromse’. That town is Beautiful! A lot like the Kenai peninsula of Alaska. After landing in Tromse’ about 2/3 of the plane got off, and then about 25 people boarded as we got ready to leave for the final destination, Longyearbyen.
7:00 PM Tromse’, Norway Time
This turned out to be quite the entertaining flight!!! A very entertaining group of young men came onboard laughing… just “piss” drunk (as they say here). I could literally taste the vodka in the air besides smelling it… and when one of them took the seat next to me I knew it was going to be a wild flight! After listening to them go on in Norwegain for a while and realizing I was the subject of part of the material with the guys behind our row smacking the guy next to me… haha… I turned to the guy next to me and said “Vodka?” while raising my pretend glass… and he just laughed and nodded. He then proceeded to tell me that his buddy… (wearing the coal miner’s hat behind me)… was getting married soon and they goofballs had decided to kidnap him and bring him to Svalbard for the bachelor’s party. There was lots of drunken Norwegian banter the whole time and it was hard not to laugh at them. I think each ordered an additional 2 or 3 drinks on the short flight, which concluded with a guy in the back of their group taking his guitar out and singing “Hey Hey Hey Hey what’s going on” in Norwegian.
Here’s part of the song with the views outside as we started flying over Svalbard!
I was practically glued to the window as we caught views of the mountains and glacier below. It was just breathtaking! Eventually we came around in for our landing and caught a view of the town I’ll be living in for the next 3 weeks, Longyearbyen. I live in Nyben ( I guess it’s another town but only about a mile walk straight in from Longyearbyen.) It’s at the very back of this picture.
This is the furthest north location that still has daily arrivals from a major airline. Here’s a view as we stepped off of the plane.
After walking into the terminal I met up with a bunch of the other IPY field school students and we happily gathered our luggage. Thankfully no one’s was lost! Then we tossed our bags into a couple vans and drove to our barracks for the next 3 weeks. I’m staying in Barack #1… the new one… Yay! They’re actually really nice! We each have our own room with a bed, closet, 2 tables, and a bookshelf… and we share a bathroom with one other person. The view is also Amazing! The base of the mountain is only like 100 feet from the building. [View from my window]
After getting settled in and chatting with a few other students I made it an early night and crashed. The time difference and jet lag had caught up with me!
Sunday, June 14, 2009
2:30 PM Longyearbyen time (4:30 AM Alaska Time)
I eventually woke up… it was nice to have a good night’s sleep! I jumped in the shower and got ready to walk down to UNIS (The University Centre in Svalbard) where we’ll be having classes. It’s about a 20 minute walk, about a mile and a half to get there. We were able to meet all of the students from all over the world… Norway, England, South Africa, Denmark, Sweden, Canada… We had about an hour of welcome type presentations. We found out a little about the classes we’ll be taking and also about all of the “big wig smart guys” that will be attending our final presentations… a little intimidating!! Then we also had a short tour of the building, followed by a pizza dinner where we got to know each other some more.
[UNIS and a Svalbard reindeer... kinda look like stubby miniature reindeer compared to those on the mainland and Alaska]
Then we walked back up to the barracks for the evening… pretty low key again. Everyone’s still trying to get used to various time changes but the 24 hour daylight is helping. Tomorrow we have safety training that includes shooting rifles in the case of a polar bear attack, and jumping into the Arctic Ocean (in a survival suit of course). Should be a crazy adventure-filled day! I’ll write all about it in the morning, but tonight I need to get some sleep… 8:30 AM (10:00 PM Alaska Time) will be coming quick!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Solo roadtrip to Seward to go fishing for Halibut
So call me crazy... a few people up here and back home seem to think it's odd that I enjoy the occasional roadtrip on my own... however I find them Amazing! I enjoyed a lot of solo weekend roadtrips in Hawaii and I figured I was due for another. I get to rock out to my favorite music, call family and friends... and get in a lot of "good thinking time". Anyways there aren't too many people at the office that enjoy the fishing and hunting scene nearly as much as I do, so I thought what better way to enjoy the weekend and I booked a Halibut charter down in Seward, Alaska.
Now if you look at a map it doesn't seem like it's too far of a drive down to the Kenai peninsula... but looks can be deceiving in Alaska... haha. Up here distance isn't usually measured in miles... it's usually measured in time. And the time required to drive from Fairbanks to Seward... "cruising" a little with minimal stops for gas... was 9 hours! And that's covering a distance of about 500 miles... to put that into perspective it's like driving from St. Cloud, MN to Chicago, IL is only 480 miles... haha. So I left work at 4:20 PM and pulled into Seward after 1 AM. Check-in time for the fishing trip the next morning was 6 AM so I just pulled over along one of the many roadside pullouts pretty close to Seward and crawled into the backseat of my lil corolla for a few hours of shut eye.
The next morning was a lil chilly... about 40 degrees when I woke up so I tossed on a few layers and my camo rain gear... and then drove into town to check in... and jump on the boat! I went through "The Fish House" charters... with captain Jimmy on the boat Perseverance along with about 11 other people. The drive out to the fishing spot was about 50 miles out and a 2 hour boat ride. It was funny watching all of the "out-of-towners" freezing their butts off on the ride out... they kept telling me to come inside and stay warm... and my response was... "I'm an Alaska girl! It's beautiful outside!" haha... very entertaining.
Once we arrived at the spot we got the lines out... capt. jimmy explained how to drop the lines down about to the bottom (~100-150 feet)... we were fishing about a foot or two off of the bottom with plain hooks and herring. Anywho... he dropped it and realize he had a fish on... and handed the rod over to me... haha. And with that I reeled in the first fish... a yelloweyed rockfish. They're soooo bright! Look like a blownup goldfish! As soon as that one was off I dropped the line again and within a couple minutes I had another rockfish on. Great start to the day. A few others caught rockfish but the halibut weren't biting to hard at that location so we moved to another spot.
This spot was Amazing! Everyone caught their limit of halibut (2 each) and we even had a couple guys reel in some pretty big ones around 100 lbs. No huge monsters this time... maybe next time :) While we were fishing fog rolled in so we couldn't see to far off the boat, but a group of humpback whales came in!!! We saw them for a short period of time jumping out of the water and splashing and rolling over slapping their fins... Amazing! No pictures though... I was fishing and holding onto the rod and taking pictures is pretty difficult. They stayed around for about 2 hours and we were all just listening to them calling and slapping around... just awesome!!
I met a ton of awesome people on the boat... one guy was on their "lifetime trip to alaska" with his wife... she stayed in the harbor and sent him out on the boat... really nice guy. There was also a couple from Anchorage that came out with a couple friends.... the wife was soooo sweet. Her and I chatted for quite a while. Let's see...there was a cute young couple... the guy had fishing in his blood... while the gal got sea sick every 20 minutes... poor thing! I felt bad for the guy he kept going in to check on her to make sure she was alright and then ran back to check his line. As a matter of fact at one point or another over half of the boat was sea sick... luckily this time I wasn't one of them. The seas were really rough though so it was understandable.
We headed back in around 4 pm after everyone had caught their limit. I took home a bunch of fish that I'm looking forward to enjoy back in Fairbanks this summer/winter. After making it back I found a spot at one of the local campground right off the harbor on the ocean... $10/night can't beat it! It was a little windy setting up the tent but I love a challenge :D. Once that was up a guy walked by and was chatting about the salmon he caught that morning.. he found out I was camping by myself and invited me over to his site to enjoy salmon over the fire with his crew... So I took him up on it and I'm so glad I did. It turned into a hilarious night! I brought over some potatoes and stuff for smores and met his girlfriend (her name was Becky too!) and an older friend the couple had met when they first moved to Alaska that now lived in Seward.
It was so much fun hearing about all of their adventures and life in Alaska... the older guy actually used to captain charter trips out in Seward. I love meeting new random people up here... everyone has so many stories! I gave them my contact info and they may come visit up here in fairbanks sometime... they also took some pictures so when I get those I"ll put em up.
I ended up crashing that night around midnight with the sun just setting. A perfect end to another Amazing Alaska day!!! The next morning I got up around 8:30 and packed up the tent... walked around the harbor for a little while and then jumped back in the corolla to hit the road again. The drive back was Beautiful... seriously words can't describe how breathtaking this part of Alaska is!!! Mountains... coastal waters... bush planes... I love it all!!! Here's one picture from my favorite stop on the way back... I also stopped at my favorite pullout between fairbanks and ancorage, the south viewpoint of Denali. It was a perfectly clear day and the mountain was so pretty! I got in a lot of good thinking and relaxing time... I actually enjoy the feeling of the open road... so concludes another alaskan adventure!
Now if you look at a map it doesn't seem like it's too far of a drive down to the Kenai peninsula... but looks can be deceiving in Alaska... haha. Up here distance isn't usually measured in miles... it's usually measured in time. And the time required to drive from Fairbanks to Seward... "cruising" a little with minimal stops for gas... was 9 hours! And that's covering a distance of about 500 miles... to put that into perspective it's like driving from St. Cloud, MN to Chicago, IL is only 480 miles... haha. So I left work at 4:20 PM and pulled into Seward after 1 AM. Check-in time for the fishing trip the next morning was 6 AM so I just pulled over along one of the many roadside pullouts pretty close to Seward and crawled into the backseat of my lil corolla for a few hours of shut eye.
The next morning was a lil chilly... about 40 degrees when I woke up so I tossed on a few layers and my camo rain gear... and then drove into town to check in... and jump on the boat! I went through "The Fish House" charters... with captain Jimmy on the boat Perseverance along with about 11 other people. The drive out to the fishing spot was about 50 miles out and a 2 hour boat ride. It was funny watching all of the "out-of-towners" freezing their butts off on the ride out... they kept telling me to come inside and stay warm... and my response was... "I'm an Alaska girl! It's beautiful outside!" haha... very entertaining.
Once we arrived at the spot we got the lines out... capt. jimmy explained how to drop the lines down about to the bottom (~100-150 feet)... we were fishing about a foot or two off of the bottom with plain hooks and herring. Anywho... he dropped it and realize he had a fish on... and handed the rod over to me... haha. And with that I reeled in the first fish... a yelloweyed rockfish. They're soooo bright! Look like a blownup goldfish! As soon as that one was off I dropped the line again and within a couple minutes I had another rockfish on. Great start to the day. A few others caught rockfish but the halibut weren't biting to hard at that location so we moved to another spot.
This spot was Amazing! Everyone caught their limit of halibut (2 each) and we even had a couple guys reel in some pretty big ones around 100 lbs. No huge monsters this time... maybe next time :) While we were fishing fog rolled in so we couldn't see to far off the boat, but a group of humpback whales came in!!! We saw them for a short period of time jumping out of the water and splashing and rolling over slapping their fins... Amazing! No pictures though... I was fishing and holding onto the rod and taking pictures is pretty difficult. They stayed around for about 2 hours and we were all just listening to them calling and slapping around... just awesome!!
I met a ton of awesome people on the boat... one guy was on their "lifetime trip to alaska" with his wife... she stayed in the harbor and sent him out on the boat... really nice guy. There was also a couple from Anchorage that came out with a couple friends.... the wife was soooo sweet. Her and I chatted for quite a while. Let's see...there was a cute young couple... the guy had fishing in his blood... while the gal got sea sick every 20 minutes... poor thing! I felt bad for the guy he kept going in to check on her to make sure she was alright and then ran back to check his line. As a matter of fact at one point or another over half of the boat was sea sick... luckily this time I wasn't one of them. The seas were really rough though so it was understandable.
We headed back in around 4 pm after everyone had caught their limit. I took home a bunch of fish that I'm looking forward to enjoy back in Fairbanks this summer/winter. After making it back I found a spot at one of the local campground right off the harbor on the ocean... $10/night can't beat it! It was a little windy setting up the tent but I love a challenge :D. Once that was up a guy walked by and was chatting about the salmon he caught that morning.. he found out I was camping by myself and invited me over to his site to enjoy salmon over the fire with his crew... So I took him up on it and I'm so glad I did. It turned into a hilarious night! I brought over some potatoes and stuff for smores and met his girlfriend (her name was Becky too!) and an older friend the couple had met when they first moved to Alaska that now lived in Seward.
It was so much fun hearing about all of their adventures and life in Alaska... the older guy actually used to captain charter trips out in Seward. I love meeting new random people up here... everyone has so many stories! I gave them my contact info and they may come visit up here in fairbanks sometime... they also took some pictures so when I get those I"ll put em up.
I ended up crashing that night around midnight with the sun just setting. A perfect end to another Amazing Alaska day!!! The next morning I got up around 8:30 and packed up the tent... walked around the harbor for a little while and then jumped back in the corolla to hit the road again. The drive back was Beautiful... seriously words can't describe how breathtaking this part of Alaska is!!! Mountains... coastal waters... bush planes... I love it all!!! Here's one picture from my favorite stop on the way back... I also stopped at my favorite pullout between fairbanks and ancorage, the south viewpoint of Denali. It was a perfectly clear day and the mountain was so pretty! I got in a lot of good thinking and relaxing time... I actually enjoy the feeling of the open road... so concludes another alaskan adventure!
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