Bears

In my final hike in Seward (tear), Jean and I went to our favourite trail, the Harding Icefield, to try to see some wildlife and the Lord sent me out in style. We saw 5 bears...the last 3 were a mother with two cubs. The first one was walking down the trail toward us and was so curious he would have come up to us and touched us if we hadn't yelled at him. Here are a few pictures, but it was getting dark so some are a bit blurry.

More Pictures

Green Alaska

Sunset

Spooky

Glacier water

Lupin

From the summit of Mt. Alice

Hannah the dog

Clouds

Me

Jean and Travis

Colors

Floating Birds

Life

Yesterday brought yet another of the many blessings I've received since leaving everything I knew and heading to Alaska. After finishing up my duties in the bird laboratory, just before I went home, I was told one of the chicks was hatching (there are a number of eggs layed by our sea ducks, called Eiders). I got to watch (and film) for about 40 minutes while this little chick pushed his way out of the egg and opened his eyes to the world for the first time. An amazing and glorious sight. The little guy crawled all around his hatcher box for a while before finally cuddling up in his towel and getting some well-deserved rest. Adventures can happen at any time here...one of the many reasons I'm grateful to have been rescued from my cubicle and given a chance to enjoy such wonders. Thanks be to God.

Brown B'er

A quick post just to provide a few pictures of the only time I saw a brown bear here. As fate would have it, I was without my camera for a rare moment and there he is. Luckily, my mother's camera was available and although it didn't zoom very far, we still got the proof Scott's always demanding.

Pictures

Since I'm so often, and so lovingly, informed of my slothfulness in updating my blog, I thought I'd make a new post for the purpose of displaying a few pictures. At the top here is not Alaska. That is actually the Environmental Science building at Miami University where I'll be confined for the next few years (except on the trips to Kenya, Costa Rica, and the Netherlands, tee hee).
A black bear around 2nd Ave, near the SeaLife Center (a little blurry...sorry)

Anchorage at midnight (also a little blurry)

Near the Exit Glacier area, also around midnight

Sailing in Resurrection Bay

Seward boat harbor

Seward got green

A midnight sunset in Seward

A Sad Day

It has been a while, my patient faithful, since I wrote. While I could cite the winds of change, a busy summer in Seward, or lots of visitors as potential catalysts for my litery absence, I'll digress and shamefully admit I should have stayed more up to date. I half excitedly and half regrettably report that I'll not be reporting from the far north much longer. I have fallen in love with Seward, Alaska and my job at the SeaLife Center and I'm not eager to leave, but Miami University, who has offered me a golden opportunity to get a masters degree in Environmental Science, is unfortunately located in Ohio...a most unexicting state compared to where I am now...and compared to all other states in the union. The silver linings are that MU has the number 4 ranked ice hockey team in the nation and the road trip from here will be great. Not to mention I'm really excited to get my long-awaited science degree. I'll be loading my truck on August 4th and heading southeast but perhaps providence will bring me back here after I'm done. One can only hope. In the meantime, I'll keep on filling my blogs with Alaskan, not Ohian, pictures. One thing is for sure...seeing as how I haven't felt air any warmer than 65 degrees since leaving Tennessee, I'm going to be cranky when I step into the sticky Ohio heat. Cest la vie. Also, if you didn't notice, there are sea lions on the rookery in the picture on the bottom. Cute little guys, eh?

Visitors

I just had a visit from Beth, Scott, Lindsay, and Derek from Chattanooga. We had a chance to tour all over the state, hitting up Homer, Soldotna, Fairbanks, Anchorage, and Denali National Park. I think everyone had a great time and though I'm fearful of stealing any of Scott's thunder, I did include a good picture of a puffin he took while he was here, as well as a picture of the first bear I had seen that we saw on the highway up to Fairbanks. In other news, I have two roommates now that work at the Center for the summer, so my apartment is a little more lively now. My folks will be visiting later this month and for the first time, I'm seeing a green side of Alaska. Most of the swow, except the mountaintops, is gone, and there are budding trees and green grass. And I now am working in the avian department some at the SeaLife Center, just once a week for a few hours, working on a research/breeding project with some northern seaducks called Eiders. It's been a lot of fun and I'm getting to learn a lot about them, which is neat...I used to get to learn a lot about disability insurance. I finished Crime and Punishment as well (Dostoevsky) and recommend it highly. I especially appreciated a very redemptive ending and a strong theme of the Christian idea of salvation through suffering, especially considering the author. That's all I've got for now...until next time.