I SURVIVED!

The sun is out, the bugs are chirping, the wifi’s always on, and there’s not a bear in sight. I’m back in New Jersey!

Since Kelli left, I’ve pretty much been running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Work has been really busy. Last Monday and Tuesday I worked in the lab all day prepping for our big day in the field on Wednesday. On Wednesday Dave, John and I went to a site out the road and collected almost 200 soil samples! On Thursday and Friday I was in the lab again processing samples and getting them ready to be sent off to another lab.

Amidst all the work I have done a few fun things. After work on Friday I went downtown, got some free beer and chips (anything with free, beer, or chips alone is heaven for me), then treated myself to a burger at a bar.

On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday night I went over to the glacier in the hopes that I’d see bears trying to catch the salmon that had just started running. Living in Alaska for the past two months I’d learned all about what to do if you encounter a bear, I’d laughed at foolish tourist bear stories, I’d seen a bear in the woods with Mark and Di, I’d seen one at the office, on the boat cruise. But I’d never actually encountered one on my own, and I almost wanted to just to see how I’d react, if I’d remember everything I’d learned. Well, on Thursday I got my wish. I was running to the glacier when I heard a loud rustling noise in the bushes right next to me… too loud to be anything but a BEAR! It poked its head up, looked at me, and came a little bit CLOSER! I backed away and was calmly (frantically) saying (yelling) “hey bear, hey man, it’s just me.” It felt like forever that it was just me and the bear, I was having tunnel vision, but pretty quickly a group of people came up behind me and I felt a thousand times better. I played it cool after that, but they had definitely seen the whole fiasco. We all watched as the bear kept walking along the edge of the woods and eventually crossed the road. It then made its way into the creek and meandered through the streams, lazily grabbing at salmon occasionally. Don’t worry mom (and others), there are viewing platforms set up so that everyone is safe and the bears don’t feel threatened. I’m not sure if everyone there called up all their friends, but eventually there were probably about 50 people there watching. At times, I couldn’t decide what was more interesting: watching the bear or the masses of people trying to get pictures. The whole thing was a pretty magical experience. Except for the fact that I was wearing running shorts and the mosquitoes were having a Thanksgiving feast on my legs.

Spotted this cutie at the glacier, right on the walking path

My "running buddy" as one man referred to the bear

On Saturday I met up with Alex downtown and we hiked Mount Juneau! It felt like a NJ summer day- warm, sunny, not a cloud in the sky. I promised myself I would never complain about it being too hot here, but damn it, it was rough. We climbed over 3500 feet in the blazing heat, getting passed occasionally by old people and runners. What the hell?! As cliché as it sounds, the view from the top really made it all worth it. We sat up top for a half hour maybe, watching a dog play in the snow, rationing water and fantasizing about lemonade and icecream instead, and examining our sun burns. On the way home I stopped at a convenience store and chose the beverage that made me drool the most-an orange cream soda. On Saturday night I got an unexpected visitor around midnight. No, it wasn’t a bear, it was someone who was locked out of her bunkhouse apartment. I let her stay at my place since I had an extra bed. Pretty random.

That's the path we came up!

Overlooking Douglas Island and the Gastineau Channel

On Sunday I went to my favorite spot overlooking Mendenhall Lake and wrote a bunch of letters. I had planned to work on my tan in the hopes that it would be as warm as Saturday but this is Alaska so what was I thinking?! I wrapped my beach towel around me and huddled down all afternoon. At night, I went over to John’s house, met his girlfriend and a few of their friends, and had pie with berries that they had picked from their backyard.  

Monday was the calm before the storm. Tuesday was my last day in Alaska! I did field work with Di in the morning and successfully led us to the yellow cedar site I’d gone to a few times (Di had never been). This whole summer I had always followed Mark, Di, John or Dave to any field sites we went to, so I was really proud of myself that I was able to lead the way and not get us lost. We had a relaxing day in the field, then after work met up with another coworker and celebrated my last day with a beer at a nearby bar. After that, I went to dinner at my boss’s house with his wife and son. I had salmon for the last time in Alaska! Over dinner, we all tried to convince his son to go to sleepaway camp for the first time. I shared with him a story about going to girl scout camp years ago, being terrified but then loving it. And I realized I could have just as easily given this summer as an example! I’ve learned that almost every single time, something positive comes out of doing things that scare me and this summer was no different. 

Anyway, after dinner I drove over to the glacier for one last attempt at seeing a bear catch a salmon. It was cool to see the bear last week, but I wanted that stereotypical bear-with-salmon picture. Oddly, I had a feeling that I was going to see something cool that night. I can’t really explain it, and it seemed too good to be true, but these types of things always end up happening to me and I was hoping the streak would continue that night. I wandered around for a half hour with no luck and since it was getting dark, I decided, sadly, to give up. I was driving away when I noticed the commotion usually associated with a bear siting: cars in front of me stopped or parked at odd angles, people wandering around on the edge of the woods. Sure enough, a man told me a bear had been seen! I ran back to the viewing platform, anticipating the bear’s path and it eventually met me up at the river. Within a minute it had grabbed up a salmon, I snapped a picture, and I finally felt satisfied with my Alaskan summer. The rest of the night was filled with packing, cleaning, polishing off the last of icecream and brownies (not complaining about that!), and returning the Milks’ car. Packing was quite an affair. I was too worried to even try to lift my bag that night.

The precious picture

Wednesday morning I couldn’t put it off any longer and I had to lift my bag. My worst fears were confirmed: this bag was heavier than it had ever been, even after a semester in Scotland. So the fact that it weighed in at 55 pounds at the airport was no surprise, but it did send me into a bit of a frenzy. I threw things into my carry on left and right until it was exactly at 50 pounds. I got to Seattle pretty painlessly. Some of you may not know, but I had plans to come home a day early and surprise my boyfriend on his birthday! My parents had invited him over for dinner, but really I would be the one cooking him dinner! So when he called while I was at the Seattle airport, buzzing with people and announcing flight arrivals and departures left and right, I panicked! Finally, I got up the nerve to call him, making sure it wasn’t until 12pm Alaska time so I’d be on “lunch break,” and coughing violently every time they made an announcement. He had no idea. Flight to Newark was long but tolerable because I kept asking the flight attendants for more snack mixes and they kept on giving them to me. My mom picked me up around midnight and Newark was a mad house. Yesterday (Thursday) I basked in the warm weather, inhaled some good Jersey peaches, and made Owen’s dinner!! He came to the front door, I opened it, and he lost it. He was pretty shocked I had kept this a secret and that I was home in the first place. So shocked that he couldn’t even eat dinner at first! We had a great night together, I took him to fireworks at a park afterwards, it was SO NICE to finally be together again.

Tacos with chipotle marinated chicken, fruit salsa, and sour cream-salsa topping, served with Alaskan beer

Reunited at last!

Now that I’m home, some final thoughts about Alaska:

Having a car: Subie changed my life, and I’m not exaggerating, just stating a fact. The first part of the summer was pretty freaking difficult, biking to work, working my butt off in the field, then biking home, then going for a run. I was always exhausted. Getting groceries was a fiasco. I walked home four miles in the rain with all my groceries. I biked around 15 miles from downtown home, just so I could enjoy the Fourth of July. I had visions of biking 40+ miles to see a scenic beach. It all was pretty insane. Once I got Subie to use, life was so much simpler.

Having survived: Many scenarios of not making it out alive crossed my mind at one point or another. Getting injured or lost during field work, killed by a bear, kidnapped by an insane hiker, falling off a mountain, crashing on a float plane… it might sound crazy but there were just lots of ways to get hurt up there. So it feels really good to come out of the summer alive and well.

What is respiration: A little birdie (my mom) told me that everyone is wondering what respiration is. We use a machine to measure the amount of carbon dioxide leaving the soil, which will be later used to calculate the contribution of temperate rain forests (which is where we worked in) to the global carbon budget. 

THANK YOU for all reading my blog posts, listening to my rants, and supporting me and my crazy adventures. It really was the Alaska Dream.

The Journey of the Jersey Peach, Aka Kelli's Visit to Alaska!

I know it’s been awhile since I wrote. I left off at the part where some random dude proposed to me at a burger shack. Summary of events: I said no, fled the scene, and called Owen. After that, I had a pretty uneventful flight back to Juneau then frantically got ready for Kelli’s arrival!! Disclaimer: this blog post is gonna be a doozy, Kelli visited for 11 days and we did so much!

The day she got here (a Thursday) I planned to take the bus to the airport. I ended up screwing up the bus I was supposed to transfer onto, so I had to walk the last bit to the airport. Didn’t bother answering the text from Kelli- where are you? Uhh… walking my way over there…. Eventually I found a cut through path in the woods that led over. Only in Juneau. When we finally reunited I don’t know what I was more excited for: her or the Jersey peaches, magazines, and new running sneakers she brought me. Is that horrible? I really love magazines. But in all honesty, it was soo nice to see her! We dove right in- we took the bus downtown and hiked on the Mount Roberts pathway past the tram station. On the way up, we started talking to this couple who was traveling around Alaska. Since they didn’t have kids or grandkids of their own, they essentially pretended we were their kids and told us all about their travels. They even took a video of the trail and included us in it. High up on the trail, we saw a marmot, a grouse, and grouse babies. Two months ago, if you asked me what a marmot or a grouse was I couldn’t even tell you. That night, we had dinner with Bill and Sarah, the father and daughter of the Awesome Family. I’m so glad Kelli got to meet some of them. We feasted on pizza and cheesecake and told stories about Alaska until Kelli was pretty much asleep at the table. Also, they let me borrow their car!! I'm not religious, but "God Bless that family" seems to be the most appropriate phrase here. Subie, as they call her, is an old Subaru and she is AWESOME. It’s got nothing on Ole Faithful, my 15 year old Oldsmobile back at home, but it’s a close second.  

On the Mt. Roberts trail

Friday we drove Subie downtown and picked up tickets to our boat tour for the day, where I was informed we had exactly five minutes to park, pay for parking, and make it over to the boat dock and on the boat. Cue the panic! No joke, paying for parking involved an intricate folding of dollar bills and placing them into this tiny hole in a peg-like board. Seven times we did it! We arrived on the boat sweating and flustered, two young and crazy girls amongst calm, elderly cruise goers. After that fiasco, the rest of the day was great! The boat ride went out to Tracy Arm- Fords Terror Wilderness (isn’t that the coolest name?). We saw 5 bears along the way and then when we got to the glacier we saw hundreds of seals and huge pieces falling off (calving), big enough to make waves that rocked the boat. I’ll let the pictures do the rest of the talking. That night we got dinner at a restaurant overlooking the docks downtown. Our waitress was mid-sentence, about to take our order when she asked if we were twins! Rough status for me.

The splash created by a piece of the glacier calving off

The boat came right up to the waterfall!

Mama bear with tiny brown cub

Saturday we went mountain biking out to Herbert glacier with Sarah and her friend! I felt pretty legit, whizzing through the woods on a bike. That night we watched tv together, Undercover Bosses, and both wept. This is what happens when you get two sisters together.

We made it!

Kelli and Sarah's friend

On Sunday I did a 14 mile run and Kelli biked with me as my support vehicle. After that we drove out the road (remember, there’s essentially only one road in Juneau) and had a picnic lunch at Auke Rec, this cool area with tons of covered tables. We walked out along this arm to the tip and debated crashing a party. We also drove out to something called the Shrine of Saint Teresa to see what all the hubbub was about. It is still unclear exactly what the shrine was.

Goofing off at Auke Rec

Monday I worked in the morning and sent Kelli off downtown to test her wits against the masses of tourists. Mark and I did respiration work at two sites on Douglas Island. We picked Kelli up on our way home. She survived! I was off the hook after that, and it was a sunny day so me and Kel drove home, changed, and went swimming in Auke Lake! Never in my wildest dreams would I have believed it would have been warm enough one day to go swimming here. The water was freezing but who cares? And there were other people too- jetskiing, on inner tubes, everyone enjoying their one day on the water. Afterwards we got shakes and burgers and Hot Bite and walked down to the docks, eating and admiring fancy boats.

Auke Lake- don't be deceived, the water was frigid!

Tuesday we went downtown and found the infamous Silverbow Bagel shop which I had been told was owned by New Jerseyans and thus actually had decent bagels. Confirmed. While souvenir shopping, we came across this awesome quote: “When where you live inspires what you do, we call that living life Alaskan.” I worked in the afternoon, Mark and I did the third respiration site on Douglas Island and I got to hear his very best bear encounter story. It was our last day working together before he leaves next week!

"Before I die I want to... see the Northern Lights." Looks like I'll have to come back to Alaska!

On Wednesday Kelli went to the library for a Skype conference call. Meanwhile, her older “hardworking” sister sat around and shot the shit. Actually I went for a run around Auke Lake, there was no work for me to do in the lab! That afternoon we drove out the road to Eagle Beach, the site that I had been dreaming about going to all summer. It’s at least 20 miles from the bunkhouse and before I acquired Subie I actually told myself I’d bike there. That’s how badly I wanted to go. It’s just a really scenic beach, and we walked around taking pictures, watching bald eagles, and laughing at each other at our improper shoe choices. Kelli wore sneakers so I had to carry her across the water at one point; I wore flip flops and had to do a strange chicken walk across the muck so they didn’t sink in and rip right off. We also drove all the way out to the end of the road. Nothing like that in New Jersey. Once home, we frantically packed, ate, and then John (who I’ve done field work with) dropped us off at the ferry terminal. We hopped on a ferry en route to Skagway, a town north of Juneau in Southeast Alaska. I had been told about a magical place on the ferry called a solarium, where supposedly there are deck chairs and people who choose not to get a state room camp up there in sleeping bags. Well, we found it and it was frucking awesome (If I change the word, does that make it OK to use? It was so cool that it really deserves a curse word.). It was super full, so Kelli got the last deck chair and I set up on the floor next to her. We ate snacks, read, and watched in awe as everyone went through their nightly routines, brushing their teeth, taking contacts out (actually that was Kelli), and reading books by the light of headlamps. It is unclear whether I slept at all that night.

Eagle Beach

The solarium while everyone (except me) slept

We got into Skagway at the beautiful hour of 4:45am. I changed, brushed my teeth, and washed my face at the ferry terminal and was reminded of my homeless hitchhiking days. Then we walked to town, only a few minutes away. Skagway is a tiny, former thriving Gold Rush town. Now the main attraction is tourism. Funny thing was, even though no stores were open there were others on the street too, all of us who came off the ferry. When the first coffee shop opened at 6am, everyone convened there. We got breakfast and I tried to sleep under a newspaper, unsuccessfully. I did manage to fall asleep on my hand though. After that we picked up a rental car after a bit of confusion. We ended up getting an 8 person van…  Lots of room for the one backpack we brought with us…. We quickly named it White Shake because it was white and shook for about a minute after we went over any bump in the road. The brakes were also rather questionable. Basically, if we saw something we wanted to stop at along the way the car couldn’t brake fast enough so we’d blow past it, then turn around up ahead and creep our way back to the site. This happened about five times that day. So where did we even go? We traveled far and wide, across continental borders to Canada! We wolfed down the apples we had brought with us before we got to the border for fear we’d be searched. We drove through British Columbia and then into Yukon Territory out to the town of Carcross and turned around at Emerald Lake. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous. Only what I had ever seen in a magazine. We met a group of Germans at the world’s smallest desert, were lured to see Husky puppies but snuck in for free, and I snuck a picture of an awesome, $30 per person suspension bridge through a ploy to use their bathroom. Back in Skagway we drove to Dyea, a nearby ghost town with nothing left but was once thriving. We were warned that the road there was steep, winding, and narrow. Perfect conditions for White Shake. Per Kelli’s demands, we drove about 15 mph the whole way up, letting every single car pass us. We finally made it, with only enough time to do a quick run/walk, and saw pretty much nothing. Because the town no longer exists. We were even more disappointed because the rental car guy had nearly guaranteed that we’d see a grizzly bear up there, and we saw zilch. But then! As I was backing up White Shake (after having joked with Kelli to GET IN THE CAR NOW as if I’d seen a bear), we saw a MOTHER EFFING GRIZZLY BEAR! I turned behind me to back up and it was off to our right, on all fours and walking into the woods. I kid you not, it was like seeing an actual monster living among us. That thing was huge. So, the precarious trip up to Dyea was all worth it in that one instant. We made it back down and proudly returned White Shake. That night we checked into our hotel, ate dinner, and wandered around the town of Skagway. By 7pm, it was almost entirely deserted. It was a very curious town to say the least.

White Shake, what a beaut

World's Smallest Desert

The suspension bridge picture I snagged

On Friday we walked around town then somehow found our way to a waterfall, despite our directions being “turn at the red barn” and the fact that there were no signs whatsoever for it. Then we walked back to town, got a kick ass lunch, and got a ride from our hotel back to the ferry. The solarium was sadly empty because the ferry wasn’t going anywhere overnight. We hunkered down in our sleeping bags anyway and sat on deck chairs right out on the deck, staying even when it started drizzling. We were toasty warm and probably looked insane. You can decide for yourself. Back in Juneau that night, we picked up somewhat of a hitchhiker from the ferry and John dropped us off then gave him a ride into town. We watched a movie with Alex about Timothy Treadwell, the man who lived with grizzly bears and eventually got eaten by one. Delightful.

Cozy on the ferry deck

Saturday we adventured on Douglas Island. First we hiked up a trail winding through the ski mountain. Close to the top, we stopped at a construction zone area to eat lunch. All of a sudden, this guy (Kelli claims it was a leprechaun) ran/lept out of the construction building. I asked him about getting to a better viewpoint and he simply said “follow the wooden boards” and then flew onto the trail and off he ran, into the abyss. We made our way along that same trail, much slower than him, until we were actually in the clouds and couldn’t see a damn thing even if the view was right in front of us. So we headed back down the mountain, debating whether that guy was actually real or not. We got lunch on Douglas at the Island Pub and feasted on an amazing pizza, then drove out to Sandy Beach and I drooled at how cute everyone’s dogs were.

Following the wooden boards

Sandy Beach

Sunday, Kelli’s last day here, we went on a helicopter ride in the morning! Hell yeah! I got to sit next to the pilot, Kelli was next to me, and we flew over the glacier here in Juneau then landed on it. We peered down crevasses, drank glacial water, and watched our guide slather his face with “glacial scrub.” Ahh it was so cool to be on the glacier that I was always looking at from so far away. After the ride I went for a 15 mile run, Kelli biked. We went downtown and after stretching out my creaking body we got a huge mint dessert from the Hangar restaurant. Best. Ending to a run. Ever. At home, we shoved all Kelli’s things in her bags and drove to the glacier one last time to look for bears and salmon (we had gone probably four times already). No bears but we finally saw the salmon running! It was a nice last Alaskan thing for her to do. Then I dropped the kid off at the airport and I was alone yet again. Naturally, I took a bath immediately after getting home.

Yeah, we're cool

On the glacier!

That was almost a week ago. What have I been doing since then? You will find out in the next blog post because if I write any longer and if you read any longer we will both go insane!

Sunny Prince of Wales and Sketchikan

I have 1 hour to get this blog posted before the mall kicks me out so here goes! I left off with the day before we left for another “business” trip to Prince of Wales. I biked to the grocery store to buy groceries in prep for Kelli’s visit and a new water bottle because Owen said he wouldn’t talk to me until I stopped drinking out of a pasta sauce jar. I overheard someone saying that the jökulhlaup, which means flooding of glacial waters, had happened at the Mendenhall Glacier. So after grocery shopping I biked over there and it was crazy! Huge trees were halfway covered in water, paths were closed, logs were floating down the river. Awesome.

Flooding at the glacier

Underwater garden

I saw a porcupine!

Saturday morning we flew to Ketchikan on a commercial plane then took a float plane to Prince of Wales. It was sunny and hot. I’m dead serious. I’m so excited I’ll just come right out and say it- the next four days were also sunny and hot. A freak of nature occurred. Anyway, the float plane ride was fun, except for this super strange Christmas song that the pilot played which included a verse about tampons. There was a maggot-covered mushroom at the Hollis bunkhouse, in case you were wondering. Di, Mark and I did respiration work for a few hours then went grocery shopping. This time I restrained myself but still bought peach rings, chips, chocolate Chex Mix, and chicken wings. Di and I then ran 9 miles to the bunkhouse we were staying at for the next two days. It was a great run along the ocean, and we talked the whole way. Later that night the three of us pigged out on beer and two different types of pizzas. Before bed Peter, one of the guys staying at the bunkhouse, and I baked surprise brownies for Mark (it was his birthday a few days ago).

Our pilot

Near our bunkhouse in Craig

Sunday morning Di and I lit candles in the brownies and presented them to Mark- he had no idea we were doing this! Despite the fact that he saw us buy brownies and candles (he thought they were gummies), the scent of brownies filled the bunkhouse the night before, and we asked for his lighter to light the candles. We pulled it off! Plus we got to eat brownies with breakfast. That day we drove almost two hours to get to our work site. We took lots of pictures of “extreme respiration” as per the request of the creator of the measurement equipment. After we finished work, we drove around on remote back roads looking for the town of Naukati, which Di and Mark claimed had a general store that they had seen in a video. I was praying it sold icecream. Finally, after an hour we found it! No icecream but we did get delicious cream sodas. I felt like such an Alaskan. On the long drive home, we munched on snacks from the feed bag, as Mark calls it. Had a kick ass dinner of fruit salsa, chicken, and chipotle-sour cream in tortillas that Di made.

 

Working hard or hardly working?

Berries from the side of the road!

In cream soda heaven

Found a starfish!

View from near the bunkhouse

On Monday we moved out of the Craig bunkhouse and into a Forest Service cabin at Polk inlet. We had a long day of work involving lots of mosquitos, a possible high off of DEET, and a bear sighting! Di almost walked right up to the bear when I spotted it in the woods. Di and I went for a short run and then went swimming! We cooked shishkabobs over the fire for dinner. I had a field day taking pictures that night.

Referring to a cafe along the side of the road

Our cabin is off to the right

So pretty!

Tuesday morning Di and I woke up around 6am and ran for an hour! I thought I was going to hate it, but it actually was awesome. I swam again, the water was freezing but it woke me up for real. It was another long day of work. At one point, a huge stick, maybe 6 feet long, had gotten attached to Mark’s backpack and he dragged it for a little bit before turning around and realizing he had a tail. At another point, Di tripped in the woods and just fell to the ground and stayed there for awhile. I packed all my stuff up because I was getting dropped off at another bunkhouse for the night- I was leaving a day early to get back in time for Kelli’s arrival. Anyway, we were all outside ready to get in the car but we somehow all just sat down and started eating chips. Finally we drove to the Hollis bunkhouse. I made dinner for the three of us, then Mark and Di left to go back to Polk Inlet. I watched an episode of Game of Thrones with people at the bunkhouse.

On Wednesday I took the ferry from Prince of Wales to Ketchikan. It was a three hour ride, pretty fun. I read, listened to a guy playing a harmonica, and napped. Once I got to Ketchikan I navigated the local bus system like a pro and paid only $1.50 to get to and from downtown! I wandered around with my huge backpacking backpack and got the usual comments- “That must weigh as much as you!” I precariously navigated tiny, busy tourist shops with the pack. I was wearing a Cornell hat and shirt, and that must have been the magic combo because two different people approached me saying they researched at Cornell or had relatives that went to Cornell. Both of them shook my hand and one guy said his mom would be so happy. I came across an interesting group of drunk guys that swore they could show me the most kick-ass view in town, I found it on my own, thank you very much. I also responded to the name “Red Boy” ( I had a red shirt and red hat on) which was actually referring to an old man. When I was so tired from carrying my pack that I could barely stand upright, I got lunch at a little burger shack. Since the government was paying, I went hog wild and spent $20 on a burger, fries and a milkshake. Livin’ big! As I was about to leave, this guy, maybe in his upper 20’s, came up to me and shot the shit for a bit and then asked if I WANTED TO MARRY HIM!!?! He said that I was so cute, I should move back to Washington with him… It was so strange. I did not know how to respond. So between the drunk guys and the marriage proposal, I thought Ketchikan lived up to its Sketchikan nickname. To be continued, the library is closing!

A cute street in Ketchikan

Down at the docks

 

Beauty, Bears, and Beer

Thursday was such an eventful day I had to post about it before I leave for another work trip. I took the bus into work and then went for a run around Auke Lake, a trail I had been hearing about all summer but still hadn't set foot on. My office building actually looks out over it, so it was tantalizingly close. Well, it was awesome! 

Looking out at Auke Lake

Chillin with my bear spray after the run

Later that day at work I was sitting at my desk on the computer when all of a sudden.... I SAW A BEAR RIGHT OUTSIDE THE OFFICE! The other woman in my office room and I watched it sniffing around and I was so excited I stood up on my desk to get better pictures. By that time the rest of the office had heard the commotion so we all went outside to watch it. It walked all around the front of the building and then eventually went back into the woods. 

Cinnamon colored black bear cub- so cute right?!

Then after work I went to The Alaskan brewery (the best local beer here) with some people from the bunkhouse. We got to tour the brewery and tried a lot of free samples. I basically got tipsy for zero dollars. That night I watched a movie with my neighbors at the bunkhouse. What a great day! Today I'm prepping for our work trip to Prince of Wales. Mark, Di and I leave tomorrow morning!