Last Day in Alaska

This is it.  I have so many photos I haven't posted, and so many stories I haven't written about, but I'm already leaving.  I can hardly believe it.  I don't want to leave.  We completed our last Discovery Lab open house today.  They were super fun.  It's amazing watching kids get excited about learning and science, and it's also really fun having conversations with adults and parents.  It is not so fun giving formal presentations, but even that went well yesterday.

Thursday was our one free day in Homer, and it was a blast.  The guys and I did the Grewingk Glacier Lake hike, which was nice easy hike.  Photos will be posted in the future.  The guys attempted to teach me to throw respectably.   Then we met up our high school intern and grad student friend and went bowling.  Well, we tried to go bowling, but apparently the owner of the bowling ally hates tourists and doesn't open his establishment in the summer.  So instead we skipped rocks on Bishop's Beach.  It was so lovely.  And once again I had to be taught how to throw respectably.  For dinner we met up the Boss, and had a really great dinner at a local cafe.  (We also learned that Boss can skip a mean rock.)  I am very happy she liked the pottery cups that we got for her as a thank you present.  It was just all really nice.

Friday the whole Kasitsna Bay gang, interns, grad student, and science staff went to the famous Salty Dog bar on the Homer spit.  It is known as the NOAA bar and has NOAA relics hidden amongst its walls.  But we were kicked out after about 15 minutes of being there, because one of us interns is under 21 (not me!).  We didn't think it would matter if he wasn't drinking, but the lady working the bar picked him out of the crowd, and told him to come back in a month when he was of age.  It was a shame we had to leave, but we got a good laugh out of it.

Okay.  Packing time.  Then DC.  This is going to be rough.  I went a little shopping crazy this last week....  Wish me luck.

I'm Back!

Hey all.  Things are pretty hectic right now.  I got back from the cruise on Monday, ran over to the Lab for a presentation that evening and then took the water taxi back over to Homer on Tuesday evening.  (Goodbye my lovely Lab!)  I'm just about to head out to set up my Discovery Lab presentations.  Wish me luck!  Photos and a more thorough update to come.

Oceanographic Cruise

Hello all!  I FINISHED MY REPORT.  It was a crazy intense long weekend of 24/7 report writing, but I got it done, and I've sent it in for feedback.  (It didn't help that the weather was beautiful and sunny all weekend.)  The final product ended up at 32 pages including figures and the appendix.  Now I'm working on putting together presentations and a "Discovery Lab" station.  But before those things happen (get excited!) I am going on an oceanographic cruise to Lower Cook Inlet for three days.  It will be like those little field days I've written about before, except I'll sleep on the boat and work for three days straight.  I'm the only one of us interns going with out boss and some other folks.  I'm a little nervous, but mostly excited :)  I haven't gotten sea sick yet, so this seems as good an opportunity as any.  The dots on the map below designate all the spots we have to stop and take samples (heave heavy devices and buckets of water over the edge of a large boat... while the guys go hiking...)

Then after my cruise we do presentations in Seldovia on Monday and then we're done at the lab and head over to Homer :,(  There's roughly a week giving presentation in Homer and then we're off to DC.  I can't believe how fast it's gone.  I don't want to leave.  I've got to go pack for my cruise, but remind me to blog about THE MYSTERY OF THE RED WATER at a later date!  

Buckle Down Time!

AAHHH!!!  Now is when it gets real.  Buckle down time to finish processing all my data, making graphs, writing my report, making a slide show presentation, and creating material for my Discovery Lab.  It doesn't help that today we went kayaking during the work day.  (It was beautifully amazing and amazingly beautiful.  I love kayaking, and we couldn't have had better weather.)  I'll have to make up the work this evening, but, if I'm honest, I would probably be working until I went to sleep anyways.

Fourth of July

Late once again, but now you can see the wonder that is Fourth of July in Seldovia, Alaska!

Senator Lisa Murkowski.  I met her later and gave a brief presentation about my research project.

Ground breaking for the new cannery (year-round jobs for Seldovia)

Most of the town (including my lab) participates in the three block long parade.  Here is an example of a float.

Main Street

Getting pumped for canoe jousting with Chris

Get Set

Go!

Our bout lasted a LONG TIME

It felt longer to me because I lost my paddle half way through

and then I was the one to fall in

Go Drawer G Gangsters! (Our team name)

But I hadn't had enough of the water so we signed up for the survival suit relay

:P

If your ship is going down you're supposed to jump into one of these suits so you can survive longer in the icy open sea

but ours was huge and  just filled with water.  It felt like 20 lbs in each limb in limb.

which made it nearly impossible to walk on land

This is how to get in: lay it flat and slide in.  Our team won third place, with a cash prize!

I celebrated by dancing polka in the street.