A friend shared her pictures from the whale necropsy out of Whittier. I am in the yellow rain slicker. I really did drive the boat for a bit, but then we saw a whale nearby and our captain took over. The last picture is of a momma sea otter with her pup! Let me know if you can't get the website below to work and I will email it to you.

One more! I love this sign.

The first picture is Nicole playing with Chinook. He is actually a Malamute and was very cute. The second is me holding one of the babies. Lastly, I am in a picture with Tread, who was the team leader of Mitch Seavey's 2004 Ididarod winning team. He takes part in a little demonstration of the gear the people and dogs wear during the race. He looked so embarressed! I bet he didn't expect retirement to bring shows for tourists!

All the people working at Ididaride were super nice. Nicole and I had a great time!
Since we had gone out on Friday night and got up early, I came home and took a nap before going over to the hotel.

And now the pictures of the cute puppies!

This is one of a new litter. Its eyes were open but not the ears.


So the first part of the "tour" is a guide showing you a map of Alaska with the Ididarod route. It is approximately 1100 miles (oops I wasn't listening). Then you walk through some rainforest and come to a clearing with the dogs.

It was kind of sad how each dog had about 4 feet of chain to walk around its barrel. The dogs might not look like what you'd expect. They are "Alaskan huskies," which means mutts. They are a lot skinnier and smaller than Siberian huskies. They perked right up get when it was time to pull! Part of the tour is having a set of dogs pull you for 2 miles on a modified 4 wheeler that fits 8 people. Nicole and I didn't get to participate in this part because the 10:30 tour was also full.

But we did get to pet lots of puppies. The puppies were a little shy at first...


But then they came over!

Saturday morning, Nicole and I got up way early and headed over to Seavey's Idieride. The first tour was at 8am, and if there is room, us interns can go out for free. It ws full, so we walked over to a creperie we passed on the drive. The owner was this elderly guy from Belgium. He has been in the US for 41 years. In talking to him, I learned he has had 5 way bypass heart surgery, worked with Jacque Cousteau, and had a daughter who was a state swim champ. He made me a delicious spinach, egg, cheese, and tomato crepe. Nicole went with the blueberry and it rocked! It had home-made whipped cream and Nutella, sprinkled with almonds. I am definately getting that one if we make it back out there.

The shop was cute, with each table covered in money from around the world. It was a little odd that there was a hawksbill turtle on the wall. I asked him about it and he said he used to do turtle rehab work somewhere. The turtle was his favorite and when it died, a co-worker had it taxidermied for him. hmmm...

I have a little time to catch up on some pictures. Here is a picture of my mean swing at softball. The guys on the team say I have a "Pete Rose stance." I think they may have been making fun of me a little. Oh well. Sometimes I get on base.



This picture is from the night Jenny and I explored Small Boat Harbor. We had some fancy drinks and yummy brie!

Finally, a few more pictures from the Intern Nocturne. We watched movies and slept over at the SeaLife Center. Neat!

Hello! Sorry I have been out of the loop. This week, like so many others, has been really busy. Let's catch up.

Tuesday night, we had softball. Unfortunately, the Sea Sluggers lost in the last inning. I sat out the first 3 innings because we had an extra girl. Maybe if I had played the entire game, we could won. Shoulda woulda coulda. Oh well. I am going to miss the next game because the night was switched to Thursday. Thursdays I am at the hotel. Bummer.

Wednesday the sun was out! I spent the afternoon driving around town with Travis and Sarah, looking for businesses who will sponsor the Wildlife Rescue Run on August 4th. (For $400 you can be a sponsor and have your logo on the collector t-shirts. Contact me for more info). It was nice to be in a car and explore some areas of town I don't usually get to. After work, I scanned the other half of my thesis pictures. What a relief! My goal was to scan the pictures. It took less time than I thought. I know need to concentrate on my pre-proposal. The researcher in FL I am working with gave me some feedback on his goals for the project, so now I have a better understanding of what he wants. I can home to work on a manuscript and my proposal. I hadn't had dinner yet, so when Nicole told me she was going out to dinner with a bunch of friends, I tagged along. I had to eat, right? After dinner at Yoly's, a co-worker called and said he was out at the Alehouse. My friends were going there anyways to play pool, so I went out too. I met some great people and after pool was over we went to the Yukon for a live band called Salem. They were pretty fun! We danced a little bit and chatted with some other co-workers who were already at the Yukon.

Thursday night, Hotel Seward had an open house. The new owners wanted folks in town to see the renovations and how the hotel has been spruced up a bit. I worked my tail off, but the party was great! Great food and good people. Some of the interns even came by. I had to make lemonade (it took an hour because I didn't have a juicer) which everyone said was fabulous! I ran around all evening (picking up garbage, refilling food dishes, cutting yummy cake), leaving Bethanie all alone at the front desk. The party was a success though. The owners of the hotel are great people, and I know they are going to do great.

The weather was gorgeous on Friday during the day, so I skipped lunch and went home from the SeaLife Center early. I went for a short run. It was only the third time I ran since coming to AK, and I have been sick. I need to starting doing some activity. For rainy days, I bought 2 DVDs of Tae Bo from the used goods store for $2. Hopefully that will whip me back into shape. I miss spin class! It is going to kick my butt when I get back to school. Back at the hotel in the evening.

I have more pictures from various activities to post, along with what I did on Saturday. It's late now though, so I think I will go to bed. Check back soon for pictures and more adventures!