Sunday, May 13, 2012

Hey all, its Corey (Dr. Stilts). It was our last full day and our final group got to go fishing (Yeah).  We also cleaned our cabins and packed our bags. We tried to get all the souvenirs in as well.  At the end of the day we went to AJ's Steak and Seafood and had a nice dinner out together. Tomorrow we are off for to Anchorage with a short stop at the wilderness center and we will be back at EC by 1:00 PM on Tuesday.

It has been a great trip and we had a really great class.  I believe they learned a lot and I have already heard them planning their next trip back.  I hope you have all enjoyed our blog ......

-Corey-

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Hello!  This is Amy and Stephanie. Today was a very adventurous day! We went hiking all day. We met our guide Jenny in Homer and then took a boat to where we would be hiking. The hike had lots of different parts to it. We started off in a field station for Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies where they had touch tanks for us to look at various creatures from the ocean. A lot of the creatures were similar to what we had seen on our tide pool exploration a few days ago. From there we began hiking along the trails. Our first stop was "lost and found" lake and then we headed off to a native settlement. Jenny and Deb, our other guide, told us that people lived there up to 8000 years ago! By this point we were all getting hungry so we hiked up to Moose Point to have lunch. We enjoyed the great view of Gull Island while we ate. After that the hike began, and all of us (or so we thought) ventured back down the mountain. A few minutes into it, Dr. Stilts received a phone call from someone he "didn't know" so he hung up. Turns out, it was Stephanie calling in distress because she was separated from the rest of us. Jenn and Jenny went back to rescue Stephanie once we figured out what had happened. Once everyone was reunited, we maneuvered our way through giant boulders in order to get to a beach. We got to sit on Otter Rock (pictured above) and look at tide pools. From there we hiked back to the boat and we were EXHAUSTED! Overall though, it was a great day!

Friday, May 11, 2012

Hey Everybody! It's Abby and Annie! Today was EPIC! Our journey began at 4:45 a.m. We voyaged across the Kenai Peninsula to Seward for...dog sledding and whale watching!!!!!  The dog sled, as seen in the photo above, was rigged up for our "Ididaride." The dogs were so excited to pull us. They were all very ferocious and  powerful (and by that we mean fluffy and adorable!). They were wet, and mildly stinky, but we pet them anyway! We met more celebrities than expected today. We met Hugo, the lead dog from the Disney Movie Snow Dogs! We also met Danny Seavey, from the famous Seavey family who are known for their victories in the Iditarod. Grandpa Seavey was one of the founders of the Iditarod and it was really great to hear about the history behind the race. We know you're all wondering and yes...we got to see the puppies!!!! They were sweet and fuzzy and we were tempted to sneak them away into our vans! Did we mention we like dogs? ;-) After we had our fill of dog hair and slobber, we went whale watching. We were lucky to see so much wildlife on this rainy/sleety/snowy day. We saw 4 or 5 humpback whales, lots of stellar sea lions, a lonely sea otter and many sea birds from the boat. We all survived our voyage through the sea and celebrated with a delicious warm cookie as we headed back to Seward.

Thursday, May 10, 2012


Hey everyone~! It's Jenn here!

 So today turned out to be not only a very interesting day but an exceptionally fun one too! The day began with a trek out to the Homer Spit, for the annual Shore Bird Festival which Homer prides itself in every year. The concept of the festival, is for bird watchers from all walks of life, to come and view a wide variety of birds that only stop in Homer this time of year to rest and refuel before continuing on to their breeding grounds where ever that may be. However, its not exactly a festival. This may be because today is Thursday, and only the first day, but we will never actually find out because we have so much else planned to do. So we walked the Spit, browsed through the shops, and went to a delicious little cafe for lunch.

After lunch, we met up with our guide at the Beluga Slough trail for the first of several different activities that had been planned for us. Our first activity was a walk through the marsh, to view some of the birds that had migrated. We saw a sand hill crane, and some geese, but for the most part that was it. The ground was wet, or saturated, but it was an experience all its own, and we learned about the different mud consistencies in the estuary.

The next activity we did for the day was determining the pollution level in Beluga lake. The way to do that was to check the amount of bugs we could find around a dock, and the numbers we ended up collecting told our guide a lot about the health of the lake.

The final activity of the day was snow shoeing at the Wynn Nature center on top of the mountain overlooking the city of Homer and the Homer Spit. It was a very unique experience and an excellent way to end the day. Everyone had a wonderful time, despite those, like myself, who took a face plant into the snow when we tripped.

That's it for today!! Thanks for reading!

Wednesday, May 9, 2012


Hello from Heather and Abby! Today we went clam digging as a volunteer project for Alaska Fish & Game. They are in the process of collecting clams from various beaches to monitor clam harvest. We assisted them by clam digging at Ninilchik beach. We began by suiting up in chest waders, boots, and rubber gloves. Then it was time to get muddy...really, really muddy! We trudged through 6 inches of silt laden mud that engulfed our feet making it nearly impossible to walk. In times we got stuck and/or fell, leaving some in need of assistance to get out.
After a few minutes we were used to the mud and just plopped on our knees to begin digging. We looked for dimples in the sand, marked the location of the clam by sticking a wooden dowel in the dimple, and began quickly digging to one side of the wooden dowel. Finding the clams was tricky as they "ran away" through the mud as we dug after them...it became a race against the clams! We were surprised at how fast they could move. Even more challenging than getting the clam, was recovering the clam without breaking the shell. For the study, the clam shells needed to be intact. Regardless of their condition, we kept every clam we dug up. The people that dug from the tide going out to the tide coming back in were clam digging for about 4 hours. We could not feel our hands or use them by the end of it because they were sopping wet and freezing cold.
Now we had to clean and process the clams. We heated a large pan of water in which the clams were drop into in order to cause them to open their shells. Next the visceral mass (clam meat) was removed from the shell and put into another bucket of water to clean and cut out the icky parts. All the intact shells were bagged and given to AK F&G for their study. We bagged the clam meat into other bags to bring back to the cabins and cook for dinner.
The day was definitely a new experience and super tiring! Some of us did not enjoy the dig, while others had fun; however, all of us agree that it was a wonderful experience to have and a memory that will last forever! Farewell and we will remember to blog tomorrow, so stay tuned. :D

 
 Helloooo from Macy! Like Moody said, we're a little behind schedule but I'm going to talk to you about what we did yesterday. We woke up early to head to Kenai, Alaska to learn a little bit about homesteading in Alaska. This was one of my favorite events because I have studied archaeology for the past two spring terms so it was really interesting to see the old cabins and artifacts from the earliest European and Asian settlers. But, alas, I'm getting ahead of myself. Our first stop was at a Russian church which our host, John said was one of the most photographed places in Alaska, so of course we had to stop long enough to take a few shots!
     After we traveled to Soldonta to see the Historical Society and Museum. This was my first outdoor museum, and it was incredible to see some of the earliest Alaskan homes. The Historical Society has collected old cabins from along the Kenai River. One of the cabins was a trapping cabin and it was filled with old tools that trappers would have used to clean and stretch the hides of animals that they had gathered throughout the winter. Many of these one-room trapping cabins would have been built along a single man's trap line. Another cabin was set up to look like a fisherman's cabin, so that we could see the typical equipment and netting used for fishing and processing. The picture on the post is actually a building that was used by fox farmers back in the day. This is was a "kitchen" would look like. The farmers would use this building to cook food for the foxes that lived in pens around the farm. The "roost" on the top of the building is where the farmers would observe the foxes to make sure that mating was going according to plan and also to watch mothers to make sure that they were raising their pups sufficiently. The Society also had some small  wooden fox dens so that we could see where the foxes were housed. Other buildings included an outhouse, an outdoor freezer, and the terminal of the old airport that used to be located in Soldonta.
     In Kenai we saw some cabins from Homesteaders. There were many funny stories about bachelors living in very small and poorly constructed cabins until they got married and the women demanded larger and more women friendly cabins. One of the men specifically tailored his cabin to provide his wife with everything she could possibly want including one of the very first Maytag washing machines! It was really awesome to be able to walk in the cabins and see how people lived. After, we went to a visitor center where we all did a scavenger hunt and found clues hidden in the paintings throughout the museum. It was supposed to be an independent project but we all ended up working together anyway! Our last stop in Kenai was at a movie theater where half of our group went to see the AVENGERS! GREAT GREAT MOVIE! Dr. Stilts was a bit of a critic but the rest of us loved the film. After the movie we went to dinner at a Mexican Restaurant and then headed home! Great Day!
Ahoy everyone! Sorry for the missing blog posts, the past few days have been a bit busy, but here we are again! So for Monday, on May 7, we started the day off with an Intertidal Walk. Two guides, Lisa and Ingrid, from the Islands and Ocean Visitor Center took us on an education walk on the beach during the lowest tide of the year. The big moon's effect on the water pulled the tide out so far that we were able to sea amazing sea creatures  that surface "when the water and land meet". We saw ribbon kelp, acid kelp, billions of barnacles, green, purple, and neon red starfish, octopus, crabs, anemones (Christmas ones are red with green strips), etc. It was so cool to be so far out into the water and to have the chance to see the bottom of the ocean floor!
After the walk, we went to the "Two Sisters Cafe" for lunch. It was a nice cafe with a hipster feel. It happened to be meatless Monday and all the food was vegan or vegetarian, needless to say, Heather was in Heaven! We sat on the back deck to eat and dry off in the warm sun. We returned to the Islands and Ocean Visitor Center to attend a lecture on Oil Spill Clean Up Efforts. It was interesting and we learned that we have gotten better with quick and efficient response, but not where we should be.
For dinner, we ate fish chowder that I cooked, I'm glad to hear that it was liked. Chicken stir fry was made by a group of students and it was delicious! We had movie night and had our mind blown from watching Inception! Great movie!! Tuesday is going to be a day of history!

-Alexis-

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Hi all! Brian here bringing you tonight's blog from "Still Sunny @ 11 o'clock" Alaska. Today was my group's day to go fishing, but, as you can see from our photo of the day, last night's Super Moon ruined our tides for us. That mixed with 40 knot winds and 6 foot swells made it a little bit difficult to launch a boat and would have made for an unpleasant day on the waters. Anyone who has been on Alaskan waters knows that things can change quickly and not always for the better. So with the help and persuasion of our "Pole Bender" Greg, we decided at 7 o'clock that we should just get back in our pj's, put our lunches in the fridge, and head right back to bed. Hopefully the weather holds up for Saturday or Sunday and we will be going out then, so stay tuned for that everyone! Well, while my group was resting, the other groups visited the Pratt Museum for our last and final visit for Elmira College. That is where our picture of the day is from. The Pratt Museum has a beautiful boar Alaskan Brown Bear in its bear exhibit and as you can see (from left to right) Ryan, Moody, Jen, Heather, and Reese had a blast there. It was a pretty cool place to check out if you are in the area. Some of the group went to check out the newest addition to the Nicholas Sparks section of your DVD rack and went to the theatre in Homer to see The Lucky One, which I have to admit, they all said was a pretty good movie. Its not my style, but something tells me eventually it will come across my television unwillingly. Haha. We'll now for my favorite part of the day, dinner! Dinner was simple tonight. No...I know what you all are thinking.We did not have delivery. Instead, we had DeGiorno. Haha. After that we all met in the Bear Den and finished the night off with a fantastic flick, The Departed. Although it did not go over well with some of its viewers, it cannot be denied that it was a fantastic movie with a fantastic cast of individuals. Well, its time for me to write all of this again in my journal tonight. =D Until next time all! Goodnight! #AlaskaEC2012

Saturday, May 5, 2012


Hello! This is Annie!  While the first group was out fishing, the rest of us stayed ashore doing all kinds of stuff! This morning outside the Moose Lodge there was, you guessed it! A moose! She was relaxing in the snow and we enjoyed watching her from the porch. Later, a few of us, including me, went down to the Anchor Point Beach. The tide was really far out this time and there was a lot to look for along the beach. Did you know the Alaskan tide changes are some of the most dramatic in the world?!  Dr. Bezotte spotted a half-eated sting ray in the tides and took it out for us to get a closer look! It was really cool to see it's jaws up close. Before we got to it, there were two eagles feasting on it! As we hiked along the beach, the tide started coming in. At some points we got our shoes wet and muddy in the wet sand that tried to pull them off! We hiked past some cliffs and saw lots of eagles along the way. After we got back to the lodges and had some lunch, we all piled into the van and headed to Homer for some food and gift shopping and for a tour around the Pratt Museum. There were some really interesting exhibits in the museum that pertained to our projects and a lot of information about the Exxon Valdez oil spill. After the museum we went for a short hike to the beach where we saw lots of dogs! Our group always seems to run into really nice dogs almost anywhere we visit. I can imagine our future trip to go dog sledding will be a favorite for most all of us (who aren't allergic ;-) ). We met up with everyone for dinner at the lodges and had chicken and yummy mashed potatoes along with some of the day's catch! I can't believe how fast this trip is going! Everyday is a new adventure and memory. There is so much to see and I hope I can come back here some day!
Hey everyone it's Jenn and Ryan!

For yesterday, today, and tomorrow we separated into three different groups.  One group goes to the Pratt Museum, one group goes fishing, and one group has the day off (yay!).

The Pratt Museum is a natural history museum that gives details about the wildlife and plant life of the Kenai Peninsula.  It sounds like fun, but Jenn and I didn't do that today.  We're told there's a lot of "stuffed animals."

The day off group is responsible for cooking the dinners, and tonight we had a traditional Italian cuisine.  Very delicious, but still boring.

On to the fun stuff.

Today we went FISHING.  Serious fishing.  Our group consisted of Dr. Bezotte, Alexis, Reese, Heather, and obviously ourselves!  Altogether we caught a whopping 33 fish.  There is a limit on how much Halibut we were allowed to catch due to fishing laws, and we were only allowed two each.  We also caught 21 Cod, which there is no limit for.  They are supposed be especially delicious this time of year, and we have had fish the last two nights with dinner.

Yesterday they only managed to catch one cod, one salmon, and one halibut.  We were met with a little more luck today, but never had a chance to fish for salmon due to the REALLY HIGH waves.

For me, Ryan, it was incredibly fun watching Heather reel in fish after fish.  She is small but fierce.  She caught something today that completely snapped the line as she struggled to hold on.  We are still all very curious what was on the line.  I am sure by the time we get back we will have an incredible fish tale to tell all you lovely folks back home.

For me, Jenn, I especially enjoyed how we reeled in the fish very frequently. It seemed as though someone caught another fish every ten minutes. As we sat out there rocking, laughing, and talking, I felt that this may have been one of the highlights of the trip for us all and we wish the fishing group tomorrow just as much luck as we had today.

That's it for today.  Stilts says "peace out."

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Hey all! Reporting to you today is Alexis and Reese. Although today was not as adventurous as yesterday's hiking exploration, it was a day focused on education. It was a school morning for all of us, even back home in the "lower 48." We started the morning off Skyping our professor's daughter's fifth grade class at 9:30 am Alaska time...1:30 pm Eastern time. They were very excited to see us and they asked us plenty of questions about our trip so far. It was precious to see their faces light up when they heard things such as, how much snow is up here (17 feet at Exit glacier), how big moose are, hearing how we got flakes of gold during our gold sluicing day, and how late the sun goes down (10:30 pm) and how early it rises (4:30 am)! Sometimes you miss being that young, but nothing can beat the things we have seen up here. After lunch, we headed into town to get our fishing licences for the weekend of deep sea fishing. It was an interesting process, but we are all set and ready to go! Now we are hoping the weather cooperates for the weekend. 
Then we ran to the store to pick up some food..again, it is unreal how expensive things are up here, but as we have heard from the locals, food doesn't come cheap and a lot doesn't come fresh. It is tasty nonetheless, and we enjoyed a dinner of BLTs and tater tots; yum!
Earlier though, we attended a lecture at the Islands and Oceans Visitors Center. Lisa told us about the research that their 30 biologists  are conducting on the coastal islands all the way around Alaska involving seabirds and climate change. The lecture was very informational and after we used a computer simulation to give us an inside look on how talented these biologists are. We had to try and count how many birds were in a picture in 10 seconds and try to be within 5% of the total. This is the percent their biologists have to consistently be within in order to go out into the field. It was a lot harder than we thought it would be! Some students were better than others, but we all had fun and can't wait to go back on Monday. Until then, keep checking the page out and enjoy our pictures!

Alexis & Reese

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Hey, this is Emma and Sam!!! Back from an exhausting but amazing day of hiking and kayaking! We started our day getting on the road at 7am. Ugh! We drove down to the Homer Spit where we parked and met our True North Kayaking Adventure Guides. We were all fitted with rain gear and rubber boots and boarded their two boats, the Bonnie Ann and the Harlequin. It was about an hour long boat ride out across Cook Inlet through many tiny islands and unique rock formations. We even slowed down to see some playful sea otters and their newborn pups! Once at the rock beach, we all unloaded our gear and started to prepare for our kayak adventure. We got a quick orientation from one guide Ben while we were fitted for life jackets and spray skirts.  We were paired up in double kayaks. Then we SHOVED OFF! We paddled out into open water and explored the numerous coastlines of the  Fox Islands. On our journey we saw many curious sea otters as well as a few porpoises and a harbor seal.  After arriving back at the rock beach, we packed up and headed back on the boat to our hiking trail. While on the boats we ate a delicious lunch prepared by a local bakery. We passed a huge rock formation with thousands of migrating and mating birds. We also drove through Halibut Cove which is a small artist community. Our guide gave us some cool information about the residents, both past and present.  Once we arrived at the start of the Glacier hiking trail, we started up the steep vertical stairs. Not even five minutes into the walk we encountered  a small black bear hiding in the brush. After everyone took his picture, we continued on for about an hour, encountering some rugged and icy terrain! We finally arrived at the base of the Glacier Lake  where we relaxed, had some hot apple cider, and took many a photo. There even was a nice little outhouse for everyone to use conveniently. After a lengthy rest we packed up and hiked back out to the ocean where our two boats were waiting for us. Then we made the final journey back to the Homer Spit. Everyone was exhausted, some even fell asleep on the boat ride  home. Once back on the docks, we said our final goodbyes and thank yous to our beloved tour guides before we all piled back into the vans to head back home for dinner. Pizza!!! Bedtime might be a little bit earlier than usual tonight! Thats all for today. See you all tomorrow!

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Hey everyone! This is Amy and Stephanie! Today was a VERY interesting day. We began the day by visiting the Norman Lowell Art Gallery. He had over two hundred and fifty of his paintings displayed in the gallery, and they were all of Alaskan scenery. They all really captured the essence of Alaska. After that, we traveled to the local Russian village and had a true Russian experience with a woman named Nina. Nina prepared a authentic Russian meal for us, and also exposed us to many Russian customs. For instance, the men in our group all got larger portions because of their gender. After we finished eating, she had Dr. Bezotte and Macy dress in Russian outfits because they bought something at her gift shop. From there, we took a driving tour of her village. She explained what each building represented to the people and we also got some nice pictures of bald eagles. She was a very entertaining hostess, to say the least! After departing from the Russian village, we went to the Anchor Point Visitors Information Center and had the opportunity to listen to a local speak about the history of Anchor Point. We learned a great deal about its discovery and how people made homestead here. It was really fascinating. Overall, it was a great day and we are looking forward to many more exciting days to come!

Monday, April 30, 2012

Hello everyone! It's Katelyn and Lauren reporting today. Well this morning started bright and early with a 7 AM wake up call that put us on the road by 7:30 on our journey to Seward, AK. The three hour car ride was prolonged a little by our inner tourists' need to take pictures. We stopped at two locations that gave us great photo-opportunities; which is where the photo of the day was taken. When we finally arrived at Seward we had some extra time on our hands. Most of the group took this opportunity to visit some local shops and purchase some souvenirs for friends and family back home. At around 1 o'clock we went to explore the Alaskan Sea Life Center. We were split up into two groups that took turns going through the aquariums while the other group got to witness the behind the scene workings of the facilities. Here we learned about the various aspects of the center; rehabilitation and reintroduction of marine wildlife. After which we heard a presentation from John, who has been doing research for twelve years on the decrease in population of harbor seals. So, after such a long day, we were rewarded with another long car ride back to the cabins. After a delicious meal, we surprised Reese with cakes and cookies in order to properly celebrate her 20th birthday. The rest of the night will consist of journal entries and recovering from such a busy day.

Quote of the day: "my sea otter had to go to rehab, and I said no, no, no."

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Beach Volleyball at Bear Paw Adventure.
Beach Volleyball - Alaska Style!!

Hello from Macy and Heather!

     So today was our first day of scheduled Alaskan activity after taking yesterday to recover from our traveling day. We woke up late and headed to the beach to see some of the beautiful mountains and ocean inlets that surround Anchor Point where we are staying. Some of the students even opted to put their bare feet in the freezing Alaskan waters! We spent a lot of time taking pictures and were even able to see a young bald eagle perched on the rocks along the shore. We were very lucky to have clear skies but we had our first confrontation with the cold Alaska winds! We were grateful for our hats and gloves! After getting our fill of the scenery, we headed back to the cabins to make lunch.
     After lunch we all got a little restless and decided to stage some goofy photos for friends and family back home! We all dressed in what warm weather attire we had packed along with boots, hats, and gloves. We headed outside to take some pictures of us playing volleyball! When we got to the volleyball court we were happy to see how much snow there was! We knew the snow would make the photos even more enjoyable. We took a lot of pictures and videos of the group playing volleyball before the cold and wet snow drove us back inside. The picture of the day captures how much fun we had taking these photos and definitely captures a wonderful memory that will last us all a lifetime.
      After our volleyball excursion, we headed back to the cabins to change back into our warm clothes. It was time for gold sluicing!! John and his son along with a couple friends brought us buckets of soil, coal, and bedrock from the beach. They taught us how to clean the debris and sift out the larger rocks and silt. After removing the larger stones, we then ran the rest of the silt through a sluice! All of our hard work was rewarded when we started to see real gold flecks that had been isolated through the sluice! I'm glad that we were actually able to find the gold in the native Alaskan fashion! It was also great to meet the people of the area and hear a lot of stories about the way of life n Alaska. Everyone had great stories to tell! We also were able to buy some homemade fireweed jam made by a local woman in the area! It was cool to buy something that can only be made in Alaska!
     When sluicing was over, John and his friends treated us to a backyard barbecue! We had hamburgers and hot dogs and they were even considerate enough to provide veggie burgers for the vegetarians in our group! We are very lucky to have such wonderful people looking out for us during our stay. After dinner we spent the rest of the evening preparing for our long journey to Seward tomorrow!


Saturday, April 28, 2012

Group shot at the beach (on the Homer Spit)
Well we arrived safely and had our first nights sleep at Bear Paw Adventure. Got up this morning and saw our neighbor resting in our backyard.

-Corey-

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Welcome to the Blog

Welcome to the Alaska 2012 Blog. We will be updating everyone on what we are seeing, experiencing and learning once we get to Alaska.  Stay tuned :)