Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Another day another dollar

Work today was more of the same: sit, read, email. There are a few people my age who go walking every day during lunch, so I joined them. They walk with purpose, so I had to kick it up a notch to keep up. They were both very friendly though, and Sophie even invited me to join her and a few other people on a 40 mile back packing trip this weekend. It sounds fun, but considering her pace during lunch I don't know if I could handle 40 miles in 3 days. I'm beginning to realize that Alaskans live life with intensity. My theory is that they have to fit in all of their adventure and activity during the light months. And, as everyone is eager to tell me, come September summer is over and winter begins. I suppose I'll soon see what they're talking about.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Return from my short retirement

Today I began my work. It seemed to surprise everyone in my office, who thought I wasn’t starting until sometime in September. No one but Bradford were expecting me, and he of course doesn’t get in until the afternoon. So they all scrambled around to find stuff for me to read and get my computer set up. Margaret (who was the CSTE fellow before me) was really helpful at giving me resources and setting me up with different projects.

To start with I’ll be working on this on-line course taught by a professor out of the University of Illinois, Chicago (I thought I’d finished this class stuff). The course is part of a CDC training for the state public health workforce. For the course I’m working with a few other people in my department (MCH (Maternal and Child Health) Epidemiology) and investigating maternal depression during and following pregnancy (for epi folks, using PRAMS). I also got into contact with the head of the Epi unit, who is going to let me participate in the next outbreak investigation. Apparently there are more outbreaks during the summer (which ends with August). After meeting with Bradford I have a number of options of projects that I can design. He’s letting me do a little research into the topics before I decide which ones to do. All in all it was a pretty interesting day. I haven’t hit up websudoku yet….

Friday, August 24, 2007

Ahead of Schedule (Wrangle St. Elias to Anchorage)






Day 6
Mileage 290
Today we were planning on spending the day in the park, and camping the night before heading into town, however, the weather made us change our mind. Our stuff was still pretty damp from the night before and after cooking breakfast in the unrelenting rain we decided to head for the finish line. Of course, as luck would have it. After making the drive out of the park and down the highway the rain let up and sun came out. The rest of our drive was warm and sunny. It wasn’t all a loss, however, the scenery was great! We captured a few pictures of glaciers and the Matanuska Valley. The glacier pics may one day be published in history books (think about it).

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Nat'l Park # 2 (Haines Junction to Wrangle St. Elias National Park)






Day 5
Mileage: 395

We got a decent start this morning, out on the road by 7:30. But right away we were stuck behind a Canadian road crew (who happen to stay at our motel) that was painting yellow lines on the road. Once we got past them (leaving yellow tire marks down the highway), we were stopped yet again for blasting work in Kluane, the Canadian half of the park. A little drive longer, and we were back home in the good ol’ US of A. We stopped off at a grocery store in Tok for camping supplies, and set up our camp in Wrangel-St. Elias National Park. We made a little fire, and put our supplies away in the car because Emily thought it might rain. Then it rained, and we raced into our tent at 8:30pm. We played cards for a while and then went to bed. What a soggy night.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

The Last Big Drive (Liard Hot Springs Park to Haines Junction)






Day 4
Mileage: 510
Wildlife: bison

We woke up at 5:40am to get an early start. We broke camp and were out on the road by 6:15. Right after we left we saw a bunch of bison along the roadway at about 5 different spots. It was actually sunny out, and the roads were straight, flat, and with little traffic, so we made great time. We had lunch at Whitehorse, the capital of the Yukon Territory.

Haines Junction is where the Alaska Highway breaks off from the Haines, AK highway. Haines Junction is also the location of the self acclaimed Alcan highway’s best Chinese restaurant. Perhaps there isn’t a very high bar for this, because we were less than impressed. Although it was prepared and served by an authentic Chinese family. After dinner we walked around town a little and found a field where they’ve built structures for swallows to build nests. Apparently a single swallow can eat around 1,000 mosquitoes each day (they missed a bunch), which helps the town to cut down on pesticides. We also stumbled into a general store that had the bumper sticker: “If you can read this sign, thank a teacher. If you can read this sign in English, thank a soldier.”

More Day 4 pictures






We wanted to include some pictures of the scenery around our motel in Haines Junction.
The first three are right outside our door (actually taken on the morning of Day 5).
The next was taken from the parking lot, and the last one is a picture of a weird town statue.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

We like it hot (Fort Nelson to Liard Hot Springs Provincial Park)






Day 3
Mileage: 190
Wildlife: caribou, sheep
Because we put in the extra miles the day before we were able to get a late start on the driving. We arrived in the park around 3 and set up camp. After exploring a bit (there really wasn’t much to explore…Did I mention we are in the middle of no where?) we walked along the boardwalk over the bog to the hot springs. Liard hot springs is a unique hot spring, because it is a bog rather than a river. So, plants and animals that normally wouldn’t survive at this elevation and latitude are able to survive. Our book said that 12 species of orchids grow in the ecosystem, but we weren’t able to hike up to see them. There are normally 2 pools open, but the “beta” pool we closed, because of bear trouble. Apparently a mom and her cubs were staking out the area. We did just fine in the “alpha” pool though. It was plenty hot (between 30 to 40 C). The hot water comes in at around 50 C and mixes with the cold spring water. Neither of us was able to get within 20 feet of the source water. It was hot, but also nice and relaxing. Especially after all of the sitting and driving we’ve been doing. We had dips before and after dinner (Neil had a buffalo burger – it was one of the best burgers he’s had in a while – it tasted like sausage).

One cool thing about the campsite was that you could buy a giant Rubermaid of firewood at the gate for 5 dollars. But instead of hauling it to your site yourself, they drop it off for you, with kindling. And it was super dry. Emily got our fire going with only one match. The S’mores were tasty.

More pics of Day 3






Day 3 continued:
Here are some more pictures:
There are actually two pools at the Hot Spring: the Alpha pool (where we were) and a Beta pool (a little further away). A Momma bear and her cubs were walking around the Beta pool, so it was closed off.
This is Emily doing what he loves best: making roasting sticks for marshmallows. Our fire got nice and toasty.
Another picture from the road, and Emily walking on the boardwalk back to our campsite.

Monday, August 20, 2007

A soggy day (Prince George to Pink Mountain...I mean Fort Nelson)




Day 2
Mileage: 505
Wildlife: nothing (I think it was too wet)
We got up early again this morning to get a jump on driving. Luckily our car was still there with all my belongings. Another Yank from Wyoming who was making the move to Alaska had his car broken into and his passport stolen. They also made away with his gas! No one touched Big Boy (our newly named wheels).

It was raining so hard today that we decided camping was not the best of ideas, and after driving through the Pink Mountain camping grounds, which were basically RV hook-ups in someone’s field, we decided to keep climbing north. Although we did get a little scare when our ‘Check Engine’ light kept going on and off. But we made it to Fort Nelson, which had the world’s nicest Super 8 (complete with water slide and waffle breakfast) but we decided to live modestly and stayed in an inn down the road.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Northward Ho!!!! (Seattle to Prince George, BC)




Day 1
Mileage: 574
Wildlife: deer, bear
We left this morning a little after 6:00 am. It was dark and raining, and it continued to rain on and off throughout the entire day. We made it through the border without incident (although Neil got really nervous beforehand and couldn’t eat his muffin). For lunch we stopped off in Cache Creek, where we saw our first order of Poutine (apparently a Canadian favorite: fries with cheddar and brown gravy on top). After about 6 hours of our audiobook, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, we arrived in Prince George in time for dinner. Although Prince George is the 4th largest city in the province (80,000), there weren’t many restaurants open. We settled upon a Greek restaurant, which we gave a “C”.