A truly Alaskan evening

I'm not sure if my evening began in the Fred Meyer parking lot, or perhaps in the Subway, but it surely must have started after I left the concert. This afternoon I attended a classical-ish male accapella ensemble concert. They turned out to be very good, mixing it up here and there with some percussion and light comedy. They appealed to the crowd that would enjoy a good classical symphony, but Oliver and I were certainly not the youngest in the room.
Oliver and I parted ways and here my evening must have began. It was about 6pm and I had a few hours to kill before my intramural soccer game at 9:30p. I figured now as good time as ever to try to track down a 36mm allen wrench I need to complete the winterization of my car (to remove the radiator plug and insert the engine block heater so my coolant doesn't freeze). I swung by Alaska Interior Hardware, but considering it was a Sunday evening, they were closed. Alright, no small business this time, I just need a wrench - onward to Home Depot. Well, Lowe's didn't have it either, surprise surprise. I'll just have to catch the little guy when he's open.
At this point I decided to grab some food. I had seen 3 Subways since I started driving around, so I picked the closest one and headed in. I was patiently waiting for my turn to order a sandwich when I realized something strange on the belt of the man in front of me. A sidearm. Plain and simple. Couldn't tell you if it was a glock, 9mm, or even a BB gun, but there was a gun on this guy's side nonetheless, in a Subway sandwich shop. Not sure what threatened him, but hey, if he feels he needs it. He ordered a sandwich for him and his wife, got in his beat up red pickup truck with a dog, and a birch tree cut into pieces in the back, and drove off. Nobody seemed to take a second look, except me...

Not four minutes after I sat to eat my dinner a homeless man came in and sat straight across from me in the empty chair and asked for some money. This put a bad taste in my mouth (not to mention the smell) and appeared to make the elderly people enjoying their dinners around me uncomfortable as well. The manager quickly ushered him out. I was thinking of buying the guy a damn sandwich, but when I left there was no sign of him.
Onward to Fred Meyer! If you've never heard of Fred Meyer, don't worry, I hadn't. It is pretty much an Alaska equivalent of a super walmart. In the parking lot it is possible to observe anything from ladies with mullets smoking cigarettes to young asian women parking cars at very odd angles. On this evening in particular I observed both the aforementioned. I talked to Lauren on the phone a bit and then went in to do my shopping. Nothing special inside really... this time.
After making room for my groceries next to my water jugs freshly filled courtesy of the Fox Watering Station, I headed to the Student Rec Center to play some indoor soccer. We won, 1-0, which completely made my night considering we don't win very often. Sweaty and smiling I headed just a quarter-mile up the road to IARC to take a shower. Showering at home in the dry cabin would consist of a bag on a tree, so the free hot showers for IARC employees are very much appreciated. I sang a little song and hopped back in the car to drive to my cabin.
I decided to take the scenic route, which I often do, which leads me out of town on a large loop to the Goldstream Valley. About a mile or two down the dark road I came to a car pulled over, no signals, lights on, hardly off the side of the road. "What is this? A moose? what are you doing?" I looked, I can't see anything, so I drove around him real slow and kept onward. I did notice a bit of illuminated smoke, but nothing special.
I took me a minute to realize that this was not the moonlit clouds and smoke I have become accustomed to seeing in the valley. "Spellbound" by The Doves was playing. The sky was glowing. In a high, long streak, it ebbed and flowed like a slow moving whispy cirrus cloud. It was barely green, mostly a dull white. I had finally seen it - aurora!
Sure enough, I happened to have my camera in the car so I pulled up next to the mailboxes on Willow Run, right before I'd turn on to my street. Here I had a stellar view of the glowing northwestern sky. I got out, shut the door, put the camera on the hood (I didn't have my tripod). Before I had a chance to push the shutter, something pulled my attention from the glimmering night sky.
"Munch munch munch munch."
Brush brush swish swish.
"Munch munch munch."
"Oh shit." Sure enough, directly across the road were two moose. They didn't seem to mind me, my car, my noise, or the passing of other cars. They were about as indifferent to me and headlights as they were to the aurora. I figured it was moose at first, but I didn't get to see their sheer size until a car passed. The calf (who was no baby) looked almost as if he'd been caught in a prison spotlight, looking guilty with half a shrub hanging out of his mouth.
Nice. So there I was: on the side of the road in only a fleece at 32F, hair still wet, snapping shots of the aurora, listening to the crunching of bush in the dark. I snapped this shot off.

The green in the shots comes from the length of exposure time I needed to capture the faint light of the aurora. To my eye, it was a white glow with a hint of green. As impressive as this little display was to me, I've been told that this is nothin. Hopefully only a taste of whats to come!
My camera battery died and I figured it was a good time as ever to get to the comforts of my cabin. I felt as though I had finally arrived in Alaska. And I also feel now a bit more comfortable with the idea of encountering a moose on the trail to the outhouse! Thanks for reading,
-Patrick

PhD anyone?

Nice.

First snows

Well, winter has certainly arrived. I logged the first snowfall a few days ago, but today I woke up to the first complete layer of snow to coat the upper hills. There's been a steady, light snowfall all day so far, so there is already a bit more than this. It seems this is how snow will normally fall, too. Slow, steady, peaceful.

This is the view from the outhouse. Much better than the back of a door, huh?

The Road Lottery

The only road that goes into Denali National Park looks like this. In the summer, it is only open to busses for people to get taken back into the park. Every year, they open it for people to drive their own cars in, which was this last weekend. Lucky for me, friends of my friend Marlyn (Dave and Vicky) won a ticket in the lottery for a car on Saturday. So we spent the day driving into the park and stopping more times than I would care to count! The terrain varied immensely from the start of the road to where we turned around, and displayed the vastness of the Alaskan wilderness. I forget the tally for the day, but we saw moose, bear, eagles, cranes, sheep, and a fox. Oh yeah - and arctic squirrels.

This bull moose served to welcome us to the park. We weren't even to the part of the road you need a pass for yet! He was "rutting" - chasing down some cows. If they moved, he moved. Priorities.

Meet the horde. We never saw this many people again, but whenever there was wildlife near the road, you could bet there were people who had already spotted it.


Burning off a little morning fog...



Doll sheep in a high mountain pass near the road.

Fog rolled into the lower valleys in the late morning, creating a very mystical atmosphere.

This shot has two animals in it. Well, at least 3, but you can't see the squirrel. This momma bear proceeded to dig for about 15 minutes until she successfully dug a ground squirrel out of its hole! I got to witness the chomping through some binoculars. To the victor goes the spoils. I only wish I could have seen the size of the hole, she practically disappeared into it a few times.

Peaks no numerous as not to be named.

The infamous bridge to nowhere.

There ya go, a little taste of the park road.

Take those turns slowly now.


What state am I in? Sometimes those high tundra hills look a lot like desert.

First...

Let the record show: September 22, 2009, 9:40am, frozen water has fallen from the sky.

Autumn in Fairbanks

Just a few shots I've taken around Fairbanks and the Gold Stream Valley (where my cabin sits). I had trouble really capturing the sheer yellow of the entire place since the trees are so thick they prevent good vistas. But, I have never seen a place so golden.

This is the view from out front of the Chemistry Building. It is actually a place tour buses come to show off the view. The peaks in the distance are the Alaska Range. Denali is way off to the right, and wasn't visible at the time.

My front yard.

A little pond in the Goldstream Valley.


Goldstream Valley Road. I assume this is why they call it the Goldstream Valley. Those hills won't be yellow for long...

Trees in the tundra grow to stunted sizes from lack of sunlight and exposure to sub-zero temps for so long.

This is the Natural Sciences building (it houses Chemistry, Physics, and Geology). I teach my chemistry labs in here and take a class.

This is IARC: the International Arctic Research Center. This is where my research lab is housed and where I have a desk. That satellite dish is about 3 stories tall. The big ball on the left is the radar for the National Weather Service, who has their office here, as well.

IARC at dusk.

Winter is looming! I think the entire town is tip-toeing around the fact that the first snow may be in 1-2 weeks.
Patrick

Welcome to Alaska

Last weekend I was fully initiated into the Alaskan lifestyle with a packrafting trip in the Alaska Range. It was in the area south of Fairbanks, in between Fairbanks and Anchorage on the Denali Hwy. Packrafting is just that: pack - rafting. We packed in, something like 25 miles, over passes and through valleys, before putting our boats in at the foot of a glacier.

Here's the crew. From left to right: Heather, me, Ben, Ed, and Dea. I work with Dea in the lab, I'll be helping her with her field campaign this winter. They are all friends and were happy to bring me along on my first packraft.





Just like all the trees around here now, the tundra was turning. This made the hills an incredible gold and red. Apparently tundra is normally all green!

The big one was out, showing itself fully in a clear sky. That's Denali.

Those are some of the other headliners in the Alaska range: Hess, Deborah, and Hayes I believe.

There were many alpine glacier lakes, too. Good for dunking in the numbing cold water. I think my average dunk was about 8 seconds.


Caribou were everywhere! We probably saw about 25-30 on the whole trip. They are very curious animals, too, always interested in us. Then they'd snort, throw up their heads, and trot away.
The hills were literally covered with wild blueberries!

The final decent to the river...




The Susitna River. Perfect weather made for an ridiculously beautiful experience.