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."

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!

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-