Summer Solstice

Today (Wednesday) marks the longest day of the year! That is a big deal up here because Alaskans who are here all winter have to deal with so much darkness in the winter months. But at this time of year everyone is used to daylight all of the time. I've gotten pretty used to no darkness, though it took a while to be ok with not having darkness as a cue to be tired and go to bed. I am tired enough every day from work and running that it isn't an issue to fall asleep.

To celebrate the solstice we are running in the Midnight Sun Run this Saturday in Fairbanks. It starts at 10 pm and there are over 3000 runners. It is a big deal every year and afterwards it is a big social event. To celebrate the solstice tonight we made a chocolate lava cake, yum! It was a great treat after a day of work. Once again, we experienced all types of weather in the field in the span of a few hours: started out in lots of layers because of rain, then it got sunny and super buggy, then windy and nice. Also, I soldered in the field for the second time - took a while but it was a success! And only burned myself once - some solder dropped from the iron onto my pants which really hurt and left a mark, but miraculously the pants didn't burn (thank you LL Bean)!

Here is the site for the Sun Run:

http://www.midnightsunrun.us/

Well, another week has gone by and it was very full and busy. I hope to write in more detail in the future, but for now I'll give another overview of the week. Monday through Wednesday was spent working in the field here in Healy. On Wednesday night we drove to Fairbanks and on Thursday and Friday morning we did errands around Fairbanks. We also went on a tour of the permafrost tunnel, a tunnel dug into a bluff by the Army Corps of Engineers. More on that to come! Elizabeth and I had a good run on part of the marathon course on Thursday night - it is a very long, constant uphill and I ran 3 miles up and 3 down. It's good to practice for what's to come in September, but it hurt! It was nice to get back to the quietness of Healy on Friday and we did some work in the field on Friday evening. On Saturday I went into Denali and saw a lot of wildlife and got some views of the mountain. It was a great day! Today was a nice day off - pancakes for breakfast, did some chores, ran 12 miles, and made granola. Here are some photos from my trip yesterday and soon I'll post more with a description of the trip.

lots of bear sightings! My favorite was seeing a mom and her two cubs running across a snow field

a view of Denali - we were lucky to see it - only 30% of people who visit the park see the mountain because it is usually socked in by clouds 

Here is an update on the end of the week. Yesterday afternoon the UF crew from Fairbanks came down to Healy - they are visiting for the weekend. For dinner we went
to a restaurant called the 49th State and then
we then drove down towards Denali to a place called Denali
Village. It is called "Glitter Gulch" by locals and is the tourist hub before entering the park. There was a
folk/bluegrass band playing and we knew some of the musicians. The drive from Healy to Denali Village is beautiful and on the drive home I was glad it was still light
because I don't know the road and it runs through a canyon with
steep walls and lots of curves. On the
drive home we saw a fox and a moose! It was cool to be in a new place
since being on the same road for a whole week and also weird to be in
public with people who are clean. Today I got to sleep in and we are planning to hike Mt Healy, which is just south of us. It should be fun! Tonight we are having a cookout. 

I'll give an overview of my first week in Alaska before I write about the details of life and the work. I flew to Fairbanks on May 30 (a long but amazingly delay-free 4 plane trek from Maine to Alaska). Fairbanks is the largest town in this part of Alaska and there is a UF Gainesville research team that is based there. We stay with that team when we go in to Fairbanks for groceries, etc. So when I arrived in Fairbanks I stayed in University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) apartments and did lots of errands for our projects. I also got to go on a run with Elizabeth in the really nice and extensive trail system of UAF. We also went out to dinner at a restaurant called the Pump House and sat outside on a patio next to a river, introducing me to the infamously dense mosquitoes of AK. We drove the hour southwest to Healy on Friday afternoon and settled in to the cabin. On Saturday we spent most of the day working at the two field sites we have (I'll talk more about those later). Sunday we did some work in the morning and I went for a run in the afternoon. Sundays will be my days off. We've been working in the field all week doing all sorts of things, from regular data collection to trouble shooting and replacing parts. I have already gotten more use out of my leatherman then I have since I got it for high school graduation (thanks Dad!). We have worked in all forms of weather and it changes very frequently. The views from the field site are amazing. Other than work, I have been running and have started to follow a running plan in hopes to do the Equinox Marathon in Fairbanks on September 15. Running here involves very long hills, awesome views, and being barked at often by sled dogs. I hope to write a more comprehensive post soon about what my days are filled with, but for now I'm going to bed. CJ

Here is my justification/goal for this blog:
It is hard to be in contact up here and I feel bad sending long email updates people might not want to receive, so with a blog I feel better because people can visit it only when they want to. I hope to give some description of the work I am helping with as well as an idea of the awesome things I am surrounded by (i.e. really big mountains!). I'll try to post photos and interesting stories about what we are up to.

With that, I'll soon try to post a recap of my first few days up here. Stay tuned.