Farewell, Fairbanks

Current temperature in Fairbanks: 28 F

 "I have lived through much, and now I think I have found what is needed for happiness. A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them. And work which one hopes may be of some use. Then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbor. Such is my idea of happiness." ~Chris McCandless

      A few days ago my mom arrived in Fairbanks and I packed up my things to go home. It was sad to move all of my things out of my room when it feels like just yesterday I was turning it into a home. We toured Fairbanks for a few hours and then started to head south to Denali. We spent the night in a Healy, just north of Denali National Park. Here there was a cute little bar called The 49th State. It looked quite run down from the outside. The ground was thick with mud and water and the puddles that had formed gave off a smell reminiscent of a swamp. However, outside of the bar is the "magic bus" used in the making of the movie Into the Wild. I took a picture in front of it just like Chris McCandless posed in front of the original bus. I find it interesting that to everyone in the lower 48 the story of Chris McCandless is an inspiring story of chasing your dreams, however in Alaska it is viewed as nothing more than a lesson of how much of an idiot it take to wander into the Alaskan wilderness alone. It definitely makes me see the story from a new perspective. 

     The next morning we started into Denali with Anchorage as our destination. We took a turn off road that lead deeper into the Park and I saw my first Ptarmigan. For those that don't know, it is a rather dumb grouse like bird which unfortunately is the state bird of Alaska. I have heard them referred to as 'The chicken of the north'. It was a beautiful drive into the heart of the park, but McKinley was shrouded in clouds. 

     We also drove into downtown Talkeetna, which was quaint, but otherwise rather unspectacular. Eventually we made it to Anchorage and checked into our hotel. We went to dinner at a brewery across the street that was absolutely delicious. 

     The next day we drove down to Seward. The drive is absolutely beautiful going along the coast and through all the terrain one pictures when they think of Alaska, breathtaking mountains and crystal clear creeks still shedding their icy sheets. Driving through Girdwood we saw quite a few bald eagles. They are actually very common around here.

     Eventually we got to Seward which is a cute little fishing village. The harbor is full of sailboats with a backdrop of gorgeous mountains. We stopped here for lunch and then went to Exit Glacier which we could only see from a distance because the road was closed. I guess that is what happens when you explore Alaska when it isn't tourist season yet.

    On our way home from Seward we stopped at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center in Girdwood. They were letting people in for free because it was Mother's Day. We got to see baby musk oxen, adult musk oxen, deer, caribou, elk, moose, wood bison, black bears, lynx, great horned owls, and porcupines. It was really pretty cool.

    Today we had to return the car at noon so we spent the day moseying around downtown Anchorage. We went to all the touristy stores and stopped into a few places for a quick bite. Eventually it was time to head to the airport and now here I sit in Anchorage airport where I wrote my first post at the beginning of this semester. I can't believe it is already time for me to head home, it feels like I just got here. It is definitely going to be bitter sweet going home, I caught the bug and am just starting to call this lovely state home. I want to thank everyone I met in Alaska for making my stay here so wonderful, my stay was infinitely better than I could have ever imagined it would be. I made some excellent friends and never once felt homesick and I owe it all to all the great people who made me feel welcome. I will always hold a special place in my heart for Alaska and I look forward to coming back soon for another visit. I also want to thank everyone who has followed my blog. I had people from The United States, Germany, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Canada and Spain visit my blog at least once this semester. This semester was one of the best experiences of my life and I wouldn't have traded it for the world. Thanks again for reading my blog, I hope you enjoyed it and getting to experience Alaska through my eyes!

Dining Out

Current temperature in Fairbanks: 25 F

“My point is that you do not need me or anyone else around to bring this new kind of light in your life. It is simply waiting out there for you to grasp it, and all you have to do is reach for it. The only person you are fighting is yourself and your stubbornness to engage in new circumstances.” ~ Chris McCandless

      Sorry, sorry, sorry, I know it has been a long time since I have posted. I have been busy with school work as the semester starts to wrap up. I can’t believe it is almost time for me to leave, it feels like I just got here. As Spring begins to return to the land of Alaska, it brings with it wildlife and sunlight. Small song birds can be seen fluttering around and singing and there are plenty of little red squirrels scampering around. The ravens have also become much more vocal and man, ravens make some pretty exotic sounds. They croak, cluck, caw, and make lots of other unusual noises I don’t even know how to describe. I find it interesting that in native lore, ravens are thought to be people’s ancestors. Along with the return of wildlife comes daylight. The length of the day has almost quadrupled since I arrived. Sunrise is now at 5:59am and sunset is now at 9:38pm and it stays light out until after 10:00pm. It is so strange, and yet the days are still getting longer and longer.
       Along with Spring also comes warmer weather, at least, it’s supposed to, right? The end of March was nice and warm, in the 30s and 40s! T-shirt weather! You know you are fully acclimated when anything above 25 F is T-shirt weather. However, the warmth of March was short lived and the first week of April brought another six inches of snow. 

There is still a little less than a foot of snow clinging to the ground. Even though the weather is definitely warming up, more often than not it still remains below freezing here.
       On March 22nd I went to the ROTC dining out event with my friend Will. It was at the Westmark Hotel in downtown Fairbanks. It was so much different than I was expecting, though I don’t really know what I was expecting. It was a playful and fun formal event with dinner, dancing and plenty of opportunities to mess with cadets. Before dinner a grog was made with ingredients representative of different aspects of the cadets’ daily life. Just a few of the ingredients were protein powder, onions, Mountain Dew, brown sugar, garlic, cranberry juice, cool whip, energy drinks, coffee, maple syrup, and baby food. This grog was then consumed by some of the cadets who could also send others to the grog to drink for various reasons throughout the night. Some people puked while drinking it. There were skits performed by some of the cadets after dinner making fun of each other. At one point some cadets were forced to perform I’m a little teapot in front of everyone. For dessert we had cake with black frosting, and the people who tried it first ended up with black teeth and lips, making a lot of people look like Heath Ledger in The Patriot when Anne puts ink in his tea.

        Three weeks in a row I also went to a place just outside of town called Hilltop Truck Stop. I was told they had the best pie I would ever have, and I have to say I was skeptical. It was a little hole in the wall place, exactly what you would expect a truck stop to be like. A small area with snacks and other items a trucker might need, a small dining area, and a boxed off smoking area complete with a sign that says ‘Please don’t tap on the glass it scares the truckers’. Boy, was that a flashback. Despite the hype, I have to say the pie lived up to expectations. The slice they give you is huge, about a sixth of an entire pie. The first time I had strawberry rhubarb, but the next two times I had a slice of fatman pie. It is a thick piece of pie with chocolate mousse, whipped cream, and a walnut crust. I guess we are not the only people who love their pie, their bumper stickers say ‘I brake for pie’.

  I also went back to Chena Hot Springs a couple times and I must say, it isn’t as neat when it is warmer and lighter out. With the warmer weather, there is a lot less steam, and that mixed with long daylight hours makes all the people you are bathing with clearly visible. Not only that, but you realize how many of them are freaking weirdoes. Last week I went glow putting, it is a small little indoor mini golf course that is a glow in the dark jungle. It was pretty neat (and I totally kicked everyone’s butt).

On a not so happy note, I took a trip to the ER yesterday for a cut on my left hand. I am carving a mask in my native art class right now, and while I was working yesterday afternoon the gouge I was using slipped and when directly into my thumb. I casually got up and left the room to rinse it and get paper towels. The bathroom looked as though I had murdered someone in just a few short seconds. I walked back to class and told my teacher, Da-Ka-Xeen that I had cut myself. “Okay, let’s get you a band-aid,” he said. I told him I didn’t think that was what I needed and pulled back the wad of paper towels to show him that my tendon was clearly visible in the open wound. He walked me to health services who took one quick look and decided to send me to the ER. They had to check and make sure I didn’t damage my tendon, and luckily I didn’t. A lot of localized numbing and nine stitches later I was free to leave. That night my RA brought me a get well card signed by everyone in my dorm. It was really sweet and definitely ended a painful day on a good note.

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All Aboard to Anchorage

Current temperature in Fairbanks: -2 F

“Don't settle down and sit in one place. Move around, be nomadic, make each day a new horizon. You are still going to live a long time, Ron, and it would be a shame if you did not take the opportunity to revolutionize your life and move into an entirely new realm of experience.” ~ Chris McCandless

      Well, it hasn’t been long since my last post, but I have so much to share. I have been to Anchorage on two separate occasions. The first trip was a short day trip for the Governor’s cup. I don’t know if Anchorage can really be considered a ‘day trip’ or ‘short’ when it takes six hours to get there taking the most direct route. The road to Anchorage is long, but absolutely beautiful. When leaving Fairbanks, you drive along the ridge of the mountains outside of Fairbanks and can overlook the entire Denali mountain range. Once you come down off the ridge it is nothing but flat straight road lined by nothing but pine trees for over two hours. Phone service is lost for at least an hour at time, and when signal does come back, it is a sign you are approaching one of only ten towns in the 357 miles stretch between Fairbanks and Anchorage. The vastness of Alaska cannot be fathomed until you drive through it firsthand. Winding through the mountains of Denali was amazing; they look so majestic covered in snow jutting up high above the trees. 

      There is a tourist town located in Denali referred to by everyone I have talked to as Princess Cruise Town. In the summer months it is apparently a port for cruise ships and is bustling with tourists. But in March the town is a ghost town. Not one person can be found and all the buildings are closed until the tourists return. When driving through Denali something that made me chuckle was a caribou crossing sign. You know you are pretty far north when you have to worry about herds of caribou crossing your path. Caribou aren’t the only wildlife you have to worry about crossing your path, once you are south of Denali moose are a very real danger. At one point on the road to Anchorage is a sign that keeps track of the number of moose hit each year, last time I saw the sign, 189 moose have already been hit. Moose are practically pests south of Denali, you are almost guaranteed to see one, we saw eight moose just on our trip to Anchorage and back to give you an idea of how many there are here. They are also very different than moose in New Hampshire, they are freaking massive.
      I was so excited to finally go to Anchorage but I have to say, Anchorage is surprisingly underwhelming. It isn’t very pretty but I don’t really know what I was expecting, it is after all a city. It reminded me a lot of downtown Manchester back home, lots of the buildings are small and shabby looking, and every few minutes drunk natives would be seen stumbling down the sidewalk at four in the afternoon. The only thing that adds a touch of beauty almost as a reminder that you are still in one of the least explored areas on earth is the mountains that stretch up even higher than the buildings, wrapping around the whole city except for where the ocean is. I don’t mean to make Anchorage sound like a dump, there are definitely some nice parts of it, but especially this time of year with all the slush and melting snow, it just looks grimy. One thing I realized upon reaching Anchorage is that the temperature was 40 F, in other words, the first time I had felt temperatures above freezing since leaving home. 
      The Governor’s Cup is a two game tournament between UAA and UAF. Not to brag, but UAF usually wins it. When we got to the game, we put on our war paint and went inside. We had to flaunt our colors being so far from home. 

       There were easily five times for UAF fans there than UAA fans and we were also much more rowdy. The glass would shake from the constant pounding of the students and many of them almost got kicked out before the game even started. There wasn’t much security could do because it wasn’t entirely the fans’ fault. Thompson, the senior goalie for the Nanooks was on the bench right on the other side of the glass and every now and then he would beat the glass at the students and the students would do it back. The game started with a bang, UAF scored in the first nine second. Later on one of the UAF players rammed a UAA player through one of the panes of glass and a referee was pummeled by four players at once. The game was good but not incredibly close, UAF won 3-1 and took home the cup undefeated. This was the 20th and last Governor’s cup. We had plans to stay overnight in Anchorage with some friends, but none of us were tired and it was supposed to snow in the morning so we decided to head home the same night. We got home at 4am.

My next trip to Anchorage was for much longer, it was for this past week for spring break. I stayed with my friend Lance and his family that live right in Anchorage. We got into Anchorage a little after midnight on Friday night. It was too dark to see the outline of the mountains surrounding Anchorage, but I noticed a star made of lights high up on the side of one of them. When bringing my roommate Katia home the next morning we saw two bald eagles in a tree just off the road. Those were the only two I saw while I was there, but apparently they are quite abundant. Katia lives in a town about half an hour north of Anchorage called Chugiak. We went to the mall a few times during break and I was expecting something like the mall of New Hampshire the way it was described to me but it was massive, it was at least five floors and seemed to go on forever. We also watched a lot of movies over break, and I found it quite funny that Alaska still has Blockbuster stores. I can’t even remember the last time I rented a movie from Blockbuster or even saw a Blockbuster store back home. 

        One day Lance took me to Hilltop which is a place part way up the mountain which overlooks all of Anchorage. It was so beautiful to see mountains everywhere right on the ocean. There were also a few mountains visible far out at sea which are active volcanoes. 

      It was so clear you could even see Mount McKinley almost perfectly, which over 200 miles north of Anchorage. Even from 200 miles away its immensity is obvious. For those of you that don’t know, McKinley is the third tallest mountain in the world and the tallest mountain in the world from base to summit. We were incredibly lucky to have been able to see McKinley so clearly, it is only visible from Anchorage a few days out of the year.

      While driving around one day, we saw a mother moose and her calf stuck on opposite sides of a fence. There are long stretches of fence with intermittent gates to help keep moose off the highway as much as possible but to still allow them a place to pass however the calf couldn’t figure out how to get through the gate. It was a little sad to see them struggling but I am sure they figured it out. 

      On Saturday I finally got to go skiing for the first and probably last time this season, but boy, was it a good one. The ride to Alyeska is absolutely gorgeous. On one side of the road is mountains, the other side is a small stretch of ocean with more mountains on the other side. The road weaves back and forth along the frozen ocean nestled against the base of the mountains.

      When you first enter the stretch of road that winds along the ocean, which is also the most dangerous road in Alaska, there is an area called Beluga Point which got its name because it is an excellent place to see beluga whales in the summer. Soon Alyeska came into view, and I have to say looking up at the slopes while driving in I was a little intimidated by it. It turned out to be an excellent day of skiing though. Perfectly clear skies allowed for breathtaking views and pictures from the summit. From the summit, all the skiing was treeless groomers or areas of powder. There was lots of bowl skiing and a wonderful place to traverse to. 

      All good things come to an end however, and it was soon time to head back to Fairbanks. As if a six hour drive isn’t long enough, we decided to take the ‘scenic route’ back to Fairbanks. This route takes about eight hours. It may have been a long trip, but it was one of the most beautiful drives I have ever been on, I almost wish it was longer. The road less travelled by is much smaller and much more windy than the main road, making it a lot more fun to drive. Once you are outside of Anchorage you rapidly begin to enter a mountain range that goes on forever. The mountains are enormous and jagged Stretching high up in the sky and for over an hour you just wind in and out up and down through the mountain range. 

      There is even a large glacier in the valley of some mountains. 

The mountains were beautiful and seemed like they would go on forever, but eventually the terrain flattened into the familiar endless pine trees. Soon after these pine trees became the new norm on this drive, a giant mountain became visible out the windshield, the arrow straight road seeming to lead directly to it. This mountain is called Blackbird Mountain and is visible on the drive into the town of Glenallen. This unusual mountain stands alone in the endless plains of trees. 

Again the road steered away from the mountains back to the endless pine trees winding slowly higher and higher. You may think I exaggerate just how endless the pine trees are here, but I am really not. You could drive for hours and the trees will still stand guard along the side of the barren road. They stretch as far as the eye can see. 

       The slow climb eventually led to an area called Summit Lake. It is a lake in the valley of mountains, 4,000 ft above sea level. The trans-Alaska pipeline is also visible for most of the drive from Summit Lake to Fairbanks. The trans-Alaska pipeline is really nothing spectacular to set eyes upon, but the fact that it is an endless pipe that spans the entirety of Alaska and took 7 years to plan and 3 years to install, is pretty impressive. Summit Lake is a beautiful area; it honestly feels like the top of the world. The mountains are covered in flawless, windblown snow, reaching high above the lake. Small bush like trees stand along the edge of the frozen lake looking like little people. The snow machine tracks make the surface of the lake and the plains at the base of the mountains look like a giant’s doodle.

Eventually we headed back into the bowl of Fairbanks, past The Knotty Shop and through North Pole. After traveling 435 miles, we finally arrived back to campus.

I've Got Sunshine

Current temperature in Fairbanks: -9 F

“Alaska has long been a magnet for dreamers and misfits, people who think the unsullied enormity of the Last Frontier will patch all the holes in their loves. The bush is an unforgiving place, however, that care nothing for hope or longing.” ~Jon Krakauer

       The sun has begun to return to this cold part of the world. The days are much longer now than they were when I arrived. When I first arrived there was a little over 4 hours of sunlight a day. Sunrise was around 10:30am and sunset was at about 3:00pm. Now I am starting to see significant changes. The glow of sun can be seen peeking over the horizon on my way to class at 8:00am and is visible until right before 6:00pm. The sun now hangs much higher and much brighter than before, it is beginning to feel like a winter's day back home again. It is hard to believe the length of my day has practically doubled in just a little over a month. 

The Magic of -40 F

Current temperature in Fairbanks: -12 F

So I promised a video of boiling water evaporating in the air however I don't think it is going to get cold enough again to do it, so just in case here is a video of someone else doing it!

Let's Go Nanooks

Current temperature in Fairbanks: -6 F

Nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun." ~Jon Krakauer

     Hey guys, sorry it has been so long, my number of adventures has been inversely proportional to the amount of work I have had lately, but I do have a lot to fill you in on from this past month. At the beginning of the month I went to Chena Hot Springs Resort which is about an hour northeast of Fairbanks. It is a resort with cabins, a museum, a spa, pools, and best of all, a huge natural hot spring. I went with a group of friends on a Thursday night and if I didn't know any better I would have thought I was in a horror movie being driven into the wilderness which would become my final resting place. The road to Chena was long, straight as an arrow, and barren. Once outside of Fairbanks, we didn't pass another car for the rest of the drive. Being miles away from the closest city the road was shrouded in darkness and lined with pine trees that seemed to edge ever closer to the road, swallowing it up. I was waiting to see a disheveled stranger standing on the side of the road slowly becoming illuminated by the glow of the headlights. Or for the moment a bright light appeared and begin to lift the car off the road. 
    When we got to Chena, we changed in the locker rooms with heated floors and made our way to the spring. We stepped outside into a wood tunnel lit by a dim orange glow that led to the spring. The tunnel ended with a door, I pushed it open and was greeted by huge clouds of fog and steam and the pungent smell of sulfur. I stepped forward expecting earth when my feet started to become submerged in warm water. It was dark with intermittent spotlights, but nothing was visible more than 4 feet in front of you through the steam. The spring was the size of a pond and got no deeper than my neck. When you got close to the boulders lining the spring, the water would get uncomfortable warm due to the natural water seeping into the spring. Cold water is constantly pumped into it to keep it at a tolerable temperature. I am told that it is believed that in the spring under the aurora provides the greatest possible chance for conceiving a boy.

    Oh yeah, and they had a huge snowman at Chena too. 

    One thing I have observed while being here is that almost every single car has a cracked windshield. This is because instead of salting the roads, they rock the roads. It is actually okay to have a cracked windshield in Alaska as long as it doesn't impair the driver's view. I also learned that my dreams and thoughts about UAF were actually not as far off as I had originally thought. I have been told that there are underground tunnels between buildings for the water lines that students used to be allowed to use to get from class to class. There are apparently maps down there and everything. However, they had to stop letting students use the tunnels due to the high number of assaults and rapes reported. As far as the skiing to classes part of my dreams, that wasn't terribly crazy either. There is currently a decent terrain park right on the hill on campus and the other day I actually saw someone skiing to class. I was walking up the hill to upper campus alone when out of the woods ahead of me popped a guy with classic skis and a backpack on. He stood there for a minute, the tips of his skis suspended over the small sharp drop ahead of him. After a slight hesitation he jumped, nearly fell, then disappeared down the hill in a tuck. 

    There have also been a few girl group events. Me and a few of my girl friends here went window shopping around town. For those of you that think New Hampshire is limited on clothing stores and options, come to Fairbanks. There are thrift stores, Sears, a store akin to Super Walmart called Fred Meyer, and a mall that I don't think can actually be considered a mall. It has no more than 20 stores. If you want anything remotely name brand in these parts, you need to buy it online. I also went bowling with a few friends one night. For my statuesque roommate's birthday, who towered over me in heels, we dressed up and went out for sushi. My roommate and I split a screaming orgasm sushi roll. 

    It has been quite warm these past few weeks, well, relatively speaking. It hasn't been colder than -20 F in weeks. There was actually a chance of rain a few weeks ago, luckily we didn't get any. Here rain in the winter is even more dangerous than snow.

    I have gone to a few hockey games this month as well. The games are played at an arena downtown, which is a good deal larger than the Whittemore Center back home. Amazingly, you can actually get a student ticket on the same day as the game, and even get a seat without getting there over an hour before the start of the game. At the beginning of the game, the Nanooks skate onto the ice through a huge blow up polar bear.

    The first game I went to was against the Ohio State Buckeyes. They had won the first game of the weekend against them 6-1 so I was expecting a fun and victorious game. We lost 2-1. I have been trying to bring some of the racy UNH cheers to the Nanooks, but they haven't caught on. One cheer they do, and I am so glad they do, is "sit down, bitch!" when an opposing player gets a penalty. 

    The next two games I went two were this past weekend against the last place Michigan State Spartans. I got to the game an hour early with my friend Will because he had to do color guard (not the flag twirling kind). Michigan state scored a goal early on, but thwarted every attempt by the Nanooks. I swear to God Michigan's goalie has more luck than a pot full of gold horseshoes at the end of a rainbow growing in a field of four leaf clovers. We lost 1-0. At this point I was starting to think I brought some kind of bad New England joo-joo with me or something. 

    The next day they had another chance at a win against Michigan State. While doing homework, We Will Rock You and Another One Bites the Dust played on my Pandora. I thought it must be a sign. I put on my UAF shirt and my polar bear underwear. I was pulling out all the stops. When walking to our seats at the game, a puck from the practicing players flew over the glass and whizzed over my shoulder slamming into the empty seats. It nearly killed me, but I got a puck! The game started out much like the night before, Michigan got off to an early lead. The Nanooks pulled ahead in the second period but Michigan tied it up again in the beginning of the third. With a minute left in the game the Nanooks pulled ahead, the stands went wild. It was the first time I was seeing them win! With 8 seconds left to play the Nanooks scored again. This resulted in a long brawl which left the ice littered with gloves, jerseys and pads. The Nanooks won 4-2. It must have been the lucky undies. 

    I may be going to Anchorage this coming weekend for the Governor's Cup hockey game. I was also invited to the military ball at the end of March. When I found out my first thought was 'where do you get a formal dress up here?'. The answer? Online, of course. Although my mom kindly suggested I make one out of animal hides. Speaking of animal hides, I am working on making a hair clip in my Native Art Studio using moose hide, porcupine quills and caribou hair. I will post a picture when it is finished. I saw the northern lights again, but they weren't bright enough to get pictures of. I learned that it is believed they are dancing spirits of those who have passed and there is a myth that if you whistle at them, they will come down from the sky and take you away.