23 July 2008 Planes, Cabs, Trains, Feet, Buses, Friends, Vans, Boats, Cars, Planes

Hello darkness, my old friend,
I've come to talk with you again,
Because a vision softly creeping,
Left its seeds while I was sleeping,
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence.

Thanks Simon and Garfunkel

I am back in Lake Worth, Florida **and reflecting on my whole experience. Although my **brain is mulling **over what I learned about **carbon, global warming, Arctic birds and how I am going to teach all of this to my students, this moment I mostly think of my travels around Alaska. I will have plenty of time to process my **increase of knowledge while in Barrow as I set pod casts and video's **into motion during this next week.

We had a wonderful adventure with most of our days under the skies of amazing weather.

We left Barrow and went to Fairbanks **for only a night to sleep. We caught the train and headed to **Denali. I have to admit I was absolutely exhausted and appreciated the night at the Denali River Cabins. After our first night it rained and was hard to get motivated. We actually tried to book another night, just so I could rest, but it did not work- **in hindsight I am thrilled we had to move on. **

We were able to scan the town a bit and then we hit the train. It was a great ride,very relaxing and roomy! It was fun to wander about the different cars with restaurants, huge windows and dome cars. The dome cars allow you to get a birds eye view.

We went to the visitor center to check in our extra luggage – this was a huge task for me to let go of Vortex (so named) – my computer. We tent camped for two nights at Savage River.

The first morning we awoke to the rare (so we heard) sighting of Mount McKinley showing herself free of clouds!

We took some robust hikes and saw some rare to us animals such as porcupines, Wilson's Warblers and Moose. We also took the traditional bus tour all the way up to the Eielson Visitor Center. We saw many creatures along the way, such as Willow Ptarmigan, Grizzly Bears, Caribou, Moose and Rock Squirrels. The drivers were extremely knowledgeable and although Rob and I don't typically do the " touristy thing" this was a great nature adventure.

Funny – we had every intention to hike a lot, but it was so warm and sunny that we ate lunch and **took a long, long snooze! **

We took the train once again and this time headed to Anchorage. Dustin Solberg is PolarTREC P.I. 2007 Ann Harding's fiancé. He picked us up from the rail station. Ann and Dustin were kind enough to let us stay at their previously rented condo. http://www.polartrec.com/greenland-seabird-ecology

Unfortunately I did not get to see Ann, because she was in the Aleutian Islands area setting up logistics for another research project. It sounds like an amazing trip! Thanks so much to Dustin and Ann! Please come to Florida!

We loved staying at their place. It was the perfect respite. The flower garden out front was spectacular - we even found a tooth in it!

We explored Anchorage a little and caught up with sleep! Had a great dinner at Humpy's and I even participated in a Hoola Hoop contest. I came in 3rd place and received a consolation prize! -But the waitress said she thought I came in 2cnd!!!

We took a Stage Coach Van to Homer, AK. The southbound drive was beautiful and relaxing. We had the most amazing dinner at Captain Pattie's on the Homer Spit. I have never in my life tasted King Crab legs like the ones I had that night. NO BUTTER NEEDED!

Homer is an adorable fisherman's village with Bald Eagles flying about the cute shops on the "spit". We stayed at Whalesong that night. This bed and breakfast was adorable and was truly a place I could have stayed for months on end. Carol made some amazing granola to go with yogurt! http://www.thewhalesong.com/

We headed further south to Kodiak Island aboard the ferry "Crusty Tusty" or "Trusty Tusty" as the locals call Tustumena. I always love being on ships, it brought back memories of traveling the Greek Islands with Andrea and of course of my NOAA Teacher at Sea Shark Cruise last year.

The start of the trip was epic for me, before we even left the harbor we saw Kittiwake moms balancing on the beams with the chicks.

The calm waters and clear skies made for the perfect opportunity to see wildlife. Karen Deatherage was an Alaskan Fire and Wildlife naturalist on board **who helped us identify many birds, such as the **Tufted Puffin, Kittiwakes, Glaucous Gulls **and many others. We also saw **Dull Dolphins zipping past, sea otters, Western Stellar Sea Lions and we guessed about 100 whales (or at least their blows), most of which were Humpbacks.

Kodiak was wonderful. We stayed in another great bed and breakfast with Mary. This cute space looked right over the Harbor.

Kodiak is the second largest island in the United States, with Honolulu being the largest. It is fishing village. I could easy spend a month on this island, especially if the days were as bright and sunny as we had on our first day.

Although I enjoyed driving around and exploring Fossil Beach, Surfers Beach and walking trails on lakes and through wild flower meadows around Abercrombie, my heart sinks in the tidal pools along Near Island Beach. Barnacles, Mussels, various sea stars and sea anemones covered the earth. I am mesmerized over and over by so much life in one area!

Second place would surely go to the flowers everywhere and 3rd place would go to walking the docks, looking at boats and talking to locals. 4th place would be watching the fishermen bring in King and Pink Salmon!

Our trip back to Homer was in the evening. The highlight and demise of this trip were the Arctic Terns at a stop we made to Port Lions. They were perfectly posed on a light post waiting for me to photographer them- I saw them and went to lift my camera, when one of the crew tossed a super large rope and off they went only to return as we were leaving.

I slept like a baby on my top bunk that night and woke to the Homer Harbor. We even had some time to do a little shopping before we caught our flight back to Anchorage.

We gathered our luggage from Ann's place, wandered about Anchorage and shopped then took separate planes back to West Palm Beach.

As I boarded the plane at 8pm the pilot reminded me that it was midnight at home on the east coast! I tried to sleep but perpetually gazed out of the window. We flew right over the Yukon mountains – Amazing and my camera was packed :{ Then the sky grew darker and the sun on the edge of the earth blazed like fire on the horizon – again camera packed! :[ . The sky drew even darker and I saw a star – the first one I had seen since June 9! It was special!

** Some Birds of the Trip**

From the tropics – home for now