Final day in Anchorage

Our last day in Anchorage, Melinda and I slept in. The hotel graciously allowed me a later checkout (3:00 p.m.) so we hung out, talked, ate lunch in the hotel and napped. About 3:00 Arlene came by to pick us up and we headed out. The snow had fallen and was continuing to fall. They may have had to truck in snow to cover the street for the Iditarod, but now ... There was also quite a bit of wind blowing drifts hither and thither. There was no parking at the museum so we went to the Alaska Native Medical Center, which Arlene has discovered has a nice collection of native art.

We drove around hoping for Ravens and finding public art, lovely snow covered trees and silly signs. Full circle, we had dinner at the same diner we stopped at on the first day in Anchorage. They have post offices that stay open really, really late. Who'd a thunk that 9:30 pm would be a busy time at the post office? I sent my box home via priority mail, much cheaper than taking it
on the plane. Arlene dropped us off at the airport at 10:00 p.m.

After checking our bags Melinda and I got together and played boggle at the Chili's inside of the airport. At 11:30 we had to stop and head for our respective gates. I hate the parting part. My flight left at midnight, completely packed and headed for Seattle. I had dumped my water bottle before going through the TSA checkpoint at the Anchorage airport. Once in I decided to buy a new bottle, but was thwarted by the $3 price tag. I'm just not going to pay that much for a bottle of water. In line to get on the plane another TSA approached me and asked me if I had any liquids, other than the little stuff in the plastic baggie. BWHAHAHAHAHAHA (in my head) No I said, I wouldn't pay 3 bucks for a bottle... She suggested that what she does is bring her own bottle and fills it at the water fountain. :) She had to move on and test someone elses water. Why yes, I did the happy bum dance for that.

Once on the plane I hoped for sleep. I was sooooo tired. Sleep eluded me. At Seattle I recharged my phone, hunted down a less than $2 bottle of water and waited for my next flight. On this flight I closed my eyes and hoped for sleep but once again... There's a chance I got the 1-10 minute out, but overall I don't remember sleeping at all. In Boise we stayed on the plane for a quick turn around. I texted Nick asking him to pick up breakfast for me. He met the very tired me at the Idaho Falls airport and the food was waiting in the car. Funny, I wasn't able to sleep in the car on the way home either. Once home though... Poof out like a light.

I had a lovely time in Anchorage. The people were great, the conference was interesting and my presentations were fine. Melinda and I had great fun with Arlene and I got to see Anchorage in it's snowy glory. Marvelous.

Monday, Out and About

Today, it was very cold, and then not so cold, and then kinda cold. The morning wind blew snow off the ground and at us. Min and I walked over to the Snow City Cafe to meet Arlene for breakfast.

Spent a chunk of the day driving around to parks and other areas where we could watch ravens or scenery or get out and hike around a bit. What we found were lots and lots of ravens playing on the wind. A few magpies tried to play on the wind like the ravens, but they just didn't have the stamina for the prolonged soaring and swooping bouts. A single bald eagle flew across our path as we watched the ravens. The hiking only occured after the wind had stopped and the temp had gone up a bit.

We got a great tour of the public library's special collections area.

People watching and talking at a local coffee shop

Went in to Title Wave Books which carries both used and new books and was overwhelmed by the number of titles I wanted to leave with. :) good thing it was a short visit.

Another short stop was at the Iditerod's official hotel and it's gift shop.

Dinner at Beartooth with it's fantastic fish & chips (fresh halibut & garlic/cilantro fries). Page met us there so we had a lovely time talking and laughing. By the time we left the wait to get in was over an hour.

Back to the hotel early to begin packing and readying for tomorrow. Tomorrow is Tuesday, we check out of the hotel at 3:00 p.m. and catch our planes at midnight. It's going to be a surreal day.

As for today, it was lovely. Arlene is a fabulous guide, she's funny, she's knowledgeable about the area's history and people, and she's endlessly willing to go and try things out.

Final Conference Day - Out and About

Woke up 20 minutes before the session I wanted to attend started, so I slapped on some clothes and pulled my hair back and headed out.

The first session 'Sabbaticals Near and Far: What You Need to Know by Daria Carle, Judy Green, Kate Gordon, and Diane Ruess' was about sabbaticals that have been taken by three of the UAA librarians. I now know a lot more about Fulbright monies. The sabbaticals they did were all fascinating. They provided a list of books and links that would be interesting to have for my own library.

Program Abstract: Sabbaticals are fairly common in academia, but more recently, job exchanges and work abroad opportunities have opened up for librarians of all types. Public and private entities benefit when employees take a break from their regular jobs. Join us in a panel discussion with several members of the University of Alaska faculty who have recently been awarded sabbaticals or Fulbrights. The panelists will discuss how they came up with their ideas, and how they went about translating their ideas into sabbatical projects. Hear about their experiences, including where they went and why, and what they accomplished. Find out about the process of applying for leave, and learn some tips to help you think outside of the box to create a sabbatical project.

The next (and final for me) session was 'Adding Google Gadgets to Your OPAC by John Wohlers.' The title really should have been about creating Google gadgets that bring your OPAC, Federated Search and other resources to iGoogle. It was a tech and jargon heavy session that could be very useful.

Program Abstract: John Wohlers will demonstrate how libraries can create Google Gadgets that make it possible to integrate the library catalog into patrons’ iGoogle pages. He will demonstrate other gadget possibilities, including the real time display of a patron’s account via SIP2.

Headed out to the great outdoors on this gorgeous sunny day. It was cold and clear and stunning. Arlene drove us out on the Seward Highway to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center (http://www.alaskawildlife.org/). On the way we saw bald eagles and ravens. At the park I discovered a new kind of bison... Wood Bison. I didn't realize there were more than one kinds. I now need to go through all those sabbatical wildlife photos to find out if I have some of them on film. Weird.

There was a fence between me and this Elk


"Wood or Plains Bison?

The Plains bison is only slightly smaller than the more northern Wood bison, which are the largest terrestrial animal in North America They are dark brown with "humped" shoulders, shaggy manes and beards. Both the male (bull) and female (cow) have short, sharply-pointed horns. Commonly called "buffalo" by most people, although it is not a true buffalo.

There are several characteristics that distinguish Wood bison and Plains bison. Wood bison are slightly heavier, taller, have a higher and squarer hump, and have little or no chap hair on their forelegs. Wood bison also have long, straighter hair on their head and a smaller chin beard." -- http://www.alaskawildlife.org/bison.html

Then we headed out for Whittier. In order to get there you have to pass through a 2.5 mile tunnel. This tunnel is only wide enough for one way traffic. So, every 1/2 hour the tunnel switches directions, unless there is a train. The trains use the same tunnel and have the right of way. We got to the other side and found Northwestern Crows, Pacific Loons, Red Breasted Mergansers, Fork Tailed Storm Petrels, Greater Scaups, Goldeneys, Magpies and a pair of sea otters in the water. It was fabulous.

We then drove back to Anchorage and went to the Native Arts Craft show in the local mall. They had tons of things in fur, fur hats, fur gloves, fur mittens, fur coats, fur slippers, fur earings, art ringed with fur, and the list goes on. It was all fascinating and gorgeous and I wanted lots of it. I was good up until the turquoise bead necklace with the carved abalone bear. It had to be mine.

I'm very tired, but I sure saw a lot today.

Conference Day 2 - Iditerod Day

We got up early and met Arlene downstairs at 7:30 a.m. And then we wandered and took pictures of the doggies, sleds, and humans that would be participating in the race. So many adorable dogs, dogs sniffing, dogs barking, dogs singing, dogs doing doggy things, dogs in their race truck kennels, noses out to smell what's going on. It was a doggy festival and they were happy and bouncy and ready to go.

After wandering for an hour we went back to the hotel and I changed clothes and went off to teach my last session of the conference. I had a nice handful of attendees and the session went fine. Afterwards I met up with Page and took care of the paperwork.

When I got back to the hotel I changed clothes again and called Arlene. Melinda and I were both really hungry so we took off for lunch. Arlene took us to the Beartooth (relative of the Moose's tooth restaurant). They were out of halibut so instead of fish and chips Min and I shared a huge thing of nachos. We then got in the car and headed out of town. Completely forgetting about the Iditerod.

No birds to be seen, and the road was getting snowy so we turned around. On our way back in we remembered the race. But it was too late. *sniff* This was quite disappointing and I'm trying to just get over it. But I really did want to see the dogs running. :(



We drove over to the park where we had seen so many birds, but again, other than Ravens they weren't to be seen, though they were heard. It was gorgeous and still and quiet and lovely with snow falling.

Then back to the hotel. I really needed a nap and Arlene needed to prep for her presentation tomorrow morning.

Melinda and I caught the early evening news (including some footage of the race start) and then a fabulous 30 minute weather in Alaska broadcast. I did nap and skipped the last session on ethics of web 2.0. The sleep was necessary.

Upon awakening we made arrangements for dinner and went to the China Lights buffet. Large buffet with mediocre food but filling and the conversation was good.

It'll be interesting to see what tomorrow brings.

Tomorrow brought new birds, scenery and marvelous things and I became just fine with skipping the dogs taking off. After all, I would have only stood around for a few moments before being too cold anyway. I did get to watch lots of it on the news here. :)

Conference Day 1

Today I got out of the room early and headed for the first session on the Jesse Lee Home in Seward. A local historian (Jackie Pels) was telling stories from her book (Family After All: Alaska's Jesse Lee Home). She collected oral narratives, slides, pictures, documents, and stories from descendants to tell the tales of the children and adults who populated the orphanage. It was fascinating, touching, and a great session. Now I need to go buy her books...

Program abstract: Children’s Voices, 1925-1965: Portraits from the Jesse Lee Home, Seward "The story of Alaska’s boarding schools and orphanages is only beginning to be told,” Alaska bibliographer Bruce Merrell wrote in 2008. In this presentation from Family After All: Alaska’s Jesse Lee Home, the stories are firsthand, accompanied by photographs that First Alaskans called amazing, a rich visual context. The Qutekcak Native Tribe of Seward called the collection a
testament to the survival and persistence of today’s Alaska Native elders. Pels will talk about the project and the book."

After being misled about where the breakfast was, I finally rendez-voused with Melinda and the rest of the librarians to attend the session by Daniel Russell from Google. First this guy was fascinating and there was so much info in the talk that I was unable to capture everything. Here are some of my highlights:

TED: Ideas Worth Spreading a website of riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world. http://www.ted.com/

Baby Name Wizard/Voyager - http://www.babynamewizard.com/voyager

Google SketchUp - http://sketchup.google.com/

Google "What's That" feature for phones and searching google

Google.org - Technology-Driven Philanthropy

Google Trends - http://www.google.com/trends

Maybe subscribe to the blogs: google, searchengineland, searchresearch

You cannot pay attention to evevrything

Look up the study of rats devfeloping religious postures

Good Searchers ...
1. Choose good search terms
2. Understand info sources
3. Domain (subject) knowledge
4. Search strategy (when to change, to narrow, to widen and how)
5. Assessment of the results and the information
6. Know how system works (search site, database)

Basic skills lots of people don't know about
control F
Using tabs to organize results
Keyword choice /synonimization
Tactics for searching

And
How to detect authority / crap
Hemingway's crap detector quote
Staying on task
Discovery
Notetaking
Data integration
Representing of info


Librarians need to:
Show the info landscape
Teach how to paddle the canoe and dodge the bears
Research is more than 'search'
Learn


Google Scholar is 4 guys and one is only part time. They do not have a "catalog" because it changes all the time with publisher putting things in and pulling things out.

Program Abstract: Breakfast Keynote: The Mind of the Researcher
Research is complicated and has changed significantly over the past century. Search engines have significantly changed our conception of what constitutes research, and yet how common is research literacy? Russell will argue that research is a fundamental skill that we need to understand, and he’ll talk about some of the findings gathered through his research at Google. The range of research skills is broad, and yet not widely distributed. Russell will discuss what we can do to help disseminate these basic and increasingly important skills.

Next we visited the exhibits. My session was next and it was a packed program with approx 65 people there. I think it went very well. At least I got a few laughs, some interaction, and a few questions. We had lunch in the hotel (Arlene was working). Grilled tuna with a side of conversation from the the WorldBook vendor who attended BYU in the 60s/70s. He knew the gorgeous Suzy South.

I attended the session on Games and Instruction by Jenny Levine. Her presentation is fully online (complete with links) at http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/presentations/2010/20100305AkLA-Gaming4Instruction.pdf

I had thought it would be about incorporating game ideas into library workshop sessions. NOPE. It was about games and how they teach and what games to bring into the library, and how students think now and... It was still useful and interesting.

I also now have a list of games I might want to buy to play with friends and family.

Program Abstract: Using Gaming for Instructional Purposes
Modern games teach kids important 21st century skills such as managing resources, problem solving, analyzing data, and synthesizing information. Is it possible to harness gaming principles to make instruction more interactive and engaging for today’s students? Hear how some libraries are incorporating gaming to teach a variety of social, literary, and curricular skills.

Games that inclcude reflection and strategy

Cool looking games: Flux, Bananagrams, 10 days in Asia, Qwerty warriors.

Someone has mapped HALO to information literacy standards

Look for "research quest" blog

Board gamesQuiddler, ticket to ride, numbers league, carcassone

"Libraries Got Game"

University of North Carolina Greensboro: Infolit game that is open source and customizable for your libray

"Quarantined" by ASU West Campus

"Head Hunt" by Ohio State


Here are a few notes I took... Just in case

Carnegie Melon: Arcade games i.e. shelve book and I'll get it

Game Maekr Academy and Scratch from MIT

"Librarians guide to gaming"

Trading cards nintendo wii characters of staff and students had to get them all to get a cookie, and they did

Geocaching in the library that freshmen can register to play when the register for classees

Fantasy football research lesson plans

Old Bridge Library serivces for seniors - nintendo wii's with teen mentors

The last session of the day that I attended was on making Book Enclosures with Mariecris and Arlene. It was a fun hands on session where we actually made archival quality book boxes. They'll be posting a video to youtube where we can see a full demonstration of the process.

Program Abstract: Do you have worn books that you need to keep? Can’t repair them? Need to protect some of your rare volumes? This hands-on training will show you how to make quick and simple book enclosures from sheets of folder-weight paper. We’ll provide the supplies and books. You bring your ability to use scissors and to draw lines along a ruler.

Dinner in the hotel room then lots of NCIS followed by a chaser of the movie "The Game Plan" with Dwayne Johnson.

The Preconference

Today was the big day... The Preconference. This is the view from the room I was teaching in, there were many distracting ravens doing acrobatics during my presentations...

Melinda and I got up early, dressed, loaded up and headed down the elevator to registration. There we found out (allegedly) where I would be speaking. Hijinks then ensued as we tried the two elevators we knew about and much walking around before finally asking the concierge dude where to go. there was a much hidden third elevator we needed to use. Thank heavens we left early. After arriving I got to set up and then present. EEP. I think it went very well, I found it interesting, they were talkative and we had a good time.

I skipped a few of the exercises on the biggest challenges for time and sanity's sake. The ones we focused on were the most important and the discussion was interesting. Lunch was a boxed wrap thing that we ate in the room, continuing the previous conversations.

As the session ended I realized how much pain I was in from standing. I sat down and stayed there for a long while. Melinda was a lot of help. She gathered up all my debris and put it together. Page came with us back to the hotel room so that I could keep the boxes/handouts/binders to take to other sessions. She had a hand truck which was great, I was much too tired to be lugging the box 'o stuff around anymore.

I tried to nap but it eluded me. So I rested and rested. We made arrangements to meet Arlene downstairs. While waiting for her a bus pulled up and unloaded all of these older folks wearing fur coats and toting lots of luggage. Eventually we started getting up and holding the door. The doors to the hotel are not automatic and they are big and heavy. It was our good deed(s) of the day. In particular I noticed a couple of ladies with stretched faces and poofy duck lips, tons of regular folks and one stylish lady with gray hair, fancy boots with heels and a really long fur coat. Melinda said 'that's the Rebecca of the future' and I totally agreed with her. Arlene arrived and off we went to Sorrento's for amazing Italian food. I had the four cheese pasta with vanilla ice cream for dessert.

By the time we got back to the room (just before 8) I was more than tired. I got ready for bed and by the time I got in it I was ready. It's been hard to sleep recently (aka the last few weeks). So I was a bit worried that I'd lay down and wake right up. I didn't. I slept. It was great.

Out and About Anchorage

Morning started really early, or late if we're still on Idaho time. I woke up at 5:00 a.m. Alaska time and stayed in bed for another 1.5 hours just because. We had arranged to meet Arlene at the Snow City diner for breakfast.

Getting dressed is always a challenge, do I go with super warm clothes cause we'll be outside or light weight ones cause we'll be inside. I was going to wear my red shirt, but Melinda beat me to it and wore hers. Good thing I changed my minds, cause when Arlene showed up she too was wearing a red shirt. I ended up with lightweight wool socks, blue silk crinkle shirt, black pleather vest, and black pants.

We walked over to the diner and got seated. I got yummy oatmeal with bacon on the side for breakfast. For the first time in a long time the bacon did not give me nausea. Then we went to Arlene's car and she started driving us around to look at stuff. We found a flock of redpolls and many common ravens. The zoo was next, (I should have worn the long underwear).

The zoo was filled with native animals that were feeling frisky. I've never seen a wolverine running, and running, and running. The polar bears were wrestling, the wolves were frisking and the ravens flew close enough for us to hear the buzzing sound their wings make. We heard boreal chickadees though we didn't see them.

Next we went to sams club for me to pick up the last supplies for the conference, then off to the grocery store. This means we don't have to buy breakfast every day. (Phew) Then we headed over to the library. Arlene needed to work at the desk and I needed more pictures of the library, particularly the exterior.

First Arlene showed us to a break room where we could eat lunch. I had picked up a piece of quiche from the grocery store and some chips. The quiche was icky so I tossed it, ate a few chips and carried on. Frankly, I wasn't that hungry cause breakfast was very large. While waiting Trina came in and we talked some and then Jodee from collection development then Page and... Well, Page came back and we went to her office to go over paperwork and other miscellaneous things. Eventually we went to Arlene's office. Melinda stayed there and I left my stuff and took off with the camera to get more photos.

It was surprisingly warm 40 degrees, semi-sunny and slightly humid. A lovely afternoon. I took pictures of the outside of the building and then more of the inside and then back to Special Collections. Arlene had girl scout cookies. She had LEMON girl scout cookies. I didn't know they came in lemon. Yummy. After much hanging around we left.

An early dinner at the Arctic Roadrunner (location 2) came next. I ordered the grilled 3 cheese sandwich with onion ring bits and tomato ravioli soup. It was truly delicious. Then back to the hotel.

We rested while Arlene took care of her kitties and gathered up her exhibit. We then met her downstairs and helped her assemble the multipieced Alaska, Dogs, Librarians display. When finished we toddled off to bed.

Heading for Alaska

I couldn't sleep last night, way too much stress about getting on the plane. I finally just gave up at 5:00 a.m. and got moving, slowly. By now I was already packed so I watched tv and did the morning stuff. One of the channels was playing mockumentary about what would happen if there was a huge pandemic and we lost a large percentage of the population. It was kinda fascinating.

I realized that I was dressed fine and had makeup on so Nick fluffed Barkley and we tried to get the picture of dog and librarian that Arlene wanted. Barkley thought we were trying to play so he was acting the fool. We used my camera so I could choose to email them, or not, that evening. Surprisingly Nick managed to snap 3 really good photos of us.

We left and I was thinking we were leaving a little late, I hadn't factored in the dog fluffing time. We went through the McDonalds drive through just in case I didn't get real food on the trip. On our way to the freeway Nick realized he'd left his phone. A potential problem for sure so we stopped and then headed out again. Now I really was nervous about the timing. I know I can make myself crazy with trying to be early everywhere so I breathed deeply and tried to focus on other things. Technically I only had to be there an hour before takeoff. The problem was that the boarding pass said the time of boarding not takeoff and I guess it freaked me that there was a difference. I would have preferred to be there by 9:30 (an hour before boarding) instead of 10:00 (an hour before takeoff). We go there by 9:40 which was way good enough. There is no curbside check in at the I.F. airport, so the stopping at McDonalds and getting change was completely unnecessary.

There was no screening of passengers being done early so Nick sat with me till that opened up much later. I had confessed to Melinda earlier that I was most nervous about the planes and my weight and she said she'd asked mom to pray about it for her. I asked Min to add me to mom's prayer list. I took Rebbecca's advice and really dressed up for the plane, skirt, blouse, jacket, jewelry makeup and all. I don't know for sure whether it was the dressing or the prayers but for the first time in a long time I wasn't pulled out of line for a more thorough going over. Neither were my bags. (phew) I was through the first hurdle.

Upstairs while waiting for my plane I looked at my phone only to find that it was down to the last power bar. EEP. I bought a bottle of water from the vending machine and plugged my phone into the nearest outlet. I was exceedingly nervous and unable to settle to a task, whether it was reading or whatnot. (there I've used the whatnot word in a sentence like a proper idahoan). I called Nick to let him know he could head out. I didn't have anything on any of my bags that was going to be tossed by the tsa. So boarding was occurring and while the seat looked small, I fit and was able to put both armrests down. The guy who was supposed to sit next to me was able to sit elsewhere cause the flight wasn't full. The seatbelt closed and all was well with the world. It was a short trip from I.F. to Boise and the steward said I'd have plenty of time to get off and buy some food in Boise before reboarding and heading to Seattle. I took his advice and much to the chagrin of the coffee girl bought a simple turkey and provolone sandwich without coffee, treat, or apple. I ate half of it and stored the rest.

Boarding in Boise was complicated by a tribe of children. On the plane I was seated next to a guy (who wasn't squeezed) who was one of the chaperons of this 4th grade class. The class had a teacher who was entered in the Iditerod. They got to build his sled for him. I'm not certain I'd be willing to race in a sled built by 4th graders. Apparently he has done this before and it's been fine. Weird. I also got to promote libraries to the guy sitting next to me. He thought librarians were a dying profession. NOT. But it still points out the problem we have with perceptions.

At Seattle I had to climb some stairs to the main airport, I was able to heft both my purse and my computer bag fine (another phew). Hooray for all the working out I've done for the past 4 months. I stopped at the nearest stand to find out what my next gate was and where it was. Down a hall, down some stairs and to the right then a train ride past two stops. EEEK! I turned around and there was the mob they were headed to the same plane I was so I just trailed along behind the speeding 4th graders. One last trepidation, would this new plane fit me. I got on board and SUCCESS! This one was even better. I ended up surrounded by 4th graders and couldn't have been happier.

On the plane I bought a deli pack. The purchasing of food on a plane isn't a bad idea after all. It certainly means you get more choices. I read, I tried to nap and I played with my Nintendo ds. As we approached the Anchorage airport we encountered a lot of turbulence, but the landing was smooth. I had arrived and no airport drama had occurred. I did do a lot of deep breathing, in part to make sure I was not holding my breath and to also be a bit more calm about the whole thing.




After deplaning I headed out to find my luggage. On the way I found Melinda and Arlene. And off we went. Luggage, car, visit to the gorgeous park by the airport, hotel check-in, unpacking (Arlene went home to feed the kitties) then out to dinner at a diner. The diner had a chili burger so I had to try it. Turns out it was a carne con chili burger, (mostly meat, very few beans) I ate some, but not all. The strawberry milkshake was what I wanted most.

After dinner Arlene dropped us off at the hotel and Melinda and I both crashed.

Book Review: Good Time Girls

Written by Lael Morgan, "Good Time Girls of the Alaska-Yukon Gold Rush" is a book that we picked up in our travels in Alaska. I finally finished it last week.

It is an extremely well researched book. Ms. Morgan definitely did the work to make certain her sources were valid. The scope of source material is also outstanding, from newspapers to legal records. It is beautifully illustrated with photos of the girls/women involved in the text.

The book contents are fascinating enough that I read the whole thing. Okay, here's the thing. I hate scholarly writing styles. I know that academics are encouraged to write in a manner that adheres to a dispassionate, even handed, balanced accounting of the facts. But I find this to be boring and tedious. I bet Ms. Morgan has delightful anecdotes about her research process, what she learned that she could not include for lack of verification, and it would have been fascinating to see how she felt about what she learned. I am very, VERY tired of dry academic writing.

"Good Time Girls" is fabulous in that the topic is quite interesting and entertaining and the quotes and stories are delightful. I even laughed out loud at one point, which was quite a surprise. So my rant against academic writing is leavened in this case. I'd love to hear Ms. Morgan talk about this book, the women in it, and how her research process went. I bet that's even better than the book. Alternately, if Lael Morgan has literary interests, she could mine her material for novels and short stories.

I do recommend reading this if you have an interest in the history of Alaska or the Yukon, or in the roles of women settling/opening the west.

Day Seventeen - Back to Haines Junction

Monday June 9th 2008
Drive from Anchorage to Tok to Haines Junction
610 miles – estimated 12 hours of driving


This was quite the drive. Again, road work, lower speed limits and stopping made this into a 19 hour drive. What was particularly weird was having it be either twilight or daylight for the entire drive. The owner of the Stardust motel was fabulous. I called when I realized that we were not going to get there till after 10:00 p.m. He said which room we’d have and left the door open for us. We paid in the morning. THANK YOU Mr. Stardust man.


On our way to Anchorage we started listening to the unabridged version of Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. On our way out of Anchorage we finished it. Interesting book, certainly made me want to do more yoga.


There were a lot of these road cuts in Alaska, each adorned with messages in white rocks.


We came into Alaska and went to Tok then north to Fairbanks, and then south to Anchorage. On our way out of Alaska we went northeast out of Anchorage to Tok and then began retracing our steps. This meant that we got to see more of Alaska including the enormous, and awe inspiring Matanuska glacier. As the day wore on and we were greeted at every turn by beautiful scenery I finally gave in and slept part of the time. I’d wake up and WOW another stunning vista. It became a running joke. Nick nudged me at one point for a stunning vista plus rainbows.


Image: Matanuska Glacier

At Glennallen AK we pulled over at a diner/gift shop. I was craving a grilled ham and cheese sandwich and while it wasn’t on the menu, the cook/owner made it for me anyway. He had overheard me commenting on it’s absence from the menu. Here is where Nick scored the moose poo earrings for his sister. After lunch we hit the road again. Our last souvenir stop was at Tok.


Crossing the border into Canada this time was much weirder they were really worried that we might have guns, or knives, or ammo, and that clearly we intended to kill their wildlife.


Image: Con artist at work

So we’re driving and driving and this shabby, and damp looking red fox runs up the bank and out into the road. He then stops and heads right for our car. I was rolling the window down to take pictures when Nick barked for me to roll it back up. Good thing I minded because that naughty fox jumped at my window. I had the paw print to prove it for weeks. He then turned and headed for the next car coming towards us. And then we found out why the fox was behaving badly. The people in that van tossed bread out to the fox in order to get the fox to stick around. We pulled up and I suggested they shouldn’t feed it or try to pet it because it might have rabies. They were definitely trying to touch it. I feel bad that humans cannot control their personal desires long enough to understand that they have signed the death warrant for that fox. He will run out on the road looking for food and the driver will not see him and that will be the end of him.


Image: Monolithic domes in Gakona Alaska-home to the Igloo Cabins...

Stardust Motel
Box 5342
Haines Junction, YT, CA



Receipts:
All Alaska Gifts & Crafts (souvenirs) – Tok AK
Hitchin Post (lunch) – Glennallen AK
Young’s Chevron – Tok AK






Image: Home for Beaver


Wildlife & Birds:
Pond By Road in Yukon
Pacific Loon
American Wigeons
Red Tailed Hawk
Ring Necked Duck
Bufflehead
Ravens
Rusty Black Birds
Mallards
Cliff Swallows
Northern Shovelers
Lesser Scaup
Solitary Sandpipers
Trumpeter Swans
American Wigeons
Northern Pintails
Green Winged Teals
Northern (Yellowshafted) Flicker (Taiga)
Beaver
Red Fox

Out of Alaska: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157605628539816/
To Haines Junction: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157605633348348/

Day Sixteen - Hanging out in Anchorage

Sunday June 8th 2008
Hanging out in Anchorage

I slept like the dead and did not get up till very late. We went to breakfast at a great little diner then hung out in an internet café so I could catch up on some writing and upload photos. It was very important to get the notes from the interviews converted to typed notes as soon as possible.


Image: Anchorage is filled with public art featuring fish, this is one of my favorites

Arlene took us birding at a local park and then wrapped up the outing with lunch back at the Moose’s Tooth.

We ate the remains of our grocery store finds that evening and Arlene introduced us to the television show: Greg the Bunny. This is one FUNNY sitcom though you do have to have a bent sense of humor to enjoy it. I was too tired to watch more than a couple episodes. Nick stayed up longer cause he’s got more stamina, no wait, he slept the whole way down to Seward the day before and pretty much the whole way back.


Image: Deluxe dog team and dog sled transport


Receipts:
Jackies Cafe (breakfast) – Anchorage AK
Moose’s Tooth (lunch) – Anchorage AK
FM Fuel – Anchorage AK
Fred Meyer (grocery) – Anchorage AK


Image: Owl pellet

John's Park Anchorage
3 Toed Wood Pecker
Common Redpoll
Boreal Chickadee
Black Capped Chickadee
Red Breasted Nuthatch
Yellow Rumped Warbler
Alder Flycatcher
Robins
Ravens
Magpies

Image: More public art

For more photos see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157605627513148/

Day Fifteen - Seward pt 2

Saturday June 7th 2008
Part 2: Resurrection Bay & Return to Anchorage


I don’t have enough adjectives to describe the trip out onto the ocean, we saw so many things. What has stayed with me is the raucous sound and sheer number of puffins nesting on the cliffs and flying through the air; the sound of the glacier calving ice into the bay; the sight of so many baby seals on the icebergs; the pod of orcas swimming together; the sight of a humpback whale breaching. I had never seen a humpback whale do that before. The first black bear was spotted by the captain, it was on the shore digging barnacles out for dinner. I spotted the second black bear when I was scanning the mountain trying to identify seagulls. There was a big round black rock, no wait, it was a bear eating seagull eggs. I think it was Arlene who first alerted us to the mountain goats, looking like white fluffy bits on the rocks of the mountain. She is also the one that pointed out the ping-pong balls in the trees. Each one of those myriad ping-pong balls was a bald eagle, astounding. We talked and looked and looked and looked and it was wondrous.


This guy was very generous, he had brought a supply of eyeglass wipes and was willing to share. I certainly needed it as the spray from the sea and the drizzle of rain kept mucking up my glasses. Another passenger that I will call garrulous girl was from New York. She works as a self-employed researcher and was very talky, kinda fun though.


Image: Orca fin

After several hours I did have to go into the cabin and get warm. There was another point when headache came and flattened me and my ability to be anything but grumpy. This passed soon and I was back to loving everything. Arlene has both before and after photos of my moods.

On our way back to port the crew made us warm chocolate chip cookies. This cruise was definitely the highlight of our trip north. Arlene gifted us with this trip and we are very grateful.


Upon debarking we headed into town for food! Arlene led us to the Apollo restaurant http://www.apollorestaurantak.com/ and its exquisite cuisine. The food was heavenly, Arlene and I split an order of fish and chips (fresh halibut) and another order of pasta. Nick ordered the baked halibut stuffed with crab, shrimp and scallops wrapped in phyllo dough. I promise that if you ever need a restaurant recommendation and Arlene gives you one, you won't regret going.


After we were completely stuffed we went shopping for a few more souvenirs and then got in the car and headed out again. It was a long and very exciting day.


Image: Birds nesting on cliff, one of the many places that were packed with birds.

Receipts
Once in a Blue Moose (souvenirs) – Seward AK
Apollo Restaurant – Seward AK


Wildlife & Birds:

Pacific Loon
Double Crested Cormorant
Red Faced Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
Brant Goose
Long Tailed Duck (Oldsquaw)
Mew Gull
Glaucous Winged Gull
Glaucous Gulls
Black Legged Kittiwake
Common Murre
Thick Billed Murre
Pigeon Guillemot
Kittlitz's Murrelet
Rinocerous Auklet
Horned Puffin
Tufted Puffin
Canada Geese
Robins
Northwestern Crows
Rock Doves
Magpies
Ravens
Robins

Image: Grizzly bears heading across the gravel river bed towards the mountain. They're the roundish brown things on the left side of the photo. Click on the picture for larger versions.

Mountain Goats
Dall Sheep
Harbor Seals With Pups
Stellar Sea Lions
Orcas
Humback Whales
Black Bears
Grizzly Bears

Drive to Seward: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157605622954082/
Out on Resurrection Bay: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157605623736900/
Home from Seward: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157605629835815/