Another day off

It has been another three day gap since I have posted on here, so here goes.

Tuesday was my field trip day. Once a week, the interns get a day off from work, aside from their other day off from work, to go on a free field trip. Myself, Michael, Vanessa, and Kristen got to go on the 26 Glacier Cruise in the Prince William Sound based out of Whittier. Whittier is a small town about fifteen minutes away from Portage. We had to drive through a tunnel cut straight through a mountain to get there. It took about five minutes to drive through the tunnel going twenty five miles per hour. The tunnel was originally just made for trains to come and go to the port town of Whittier, but it is now open to cars during certain parts of the day. Whittier is an interesting town. Alaska imports a lot of materials by way of ships, and Whittier brings in a third of those shipped in materials. Also, the only road to get to or from Whittier is not always accessible. You have to know the schedule of when the tunnel is open to cars, or you may have to spend the night in Whittier. Another interesting thing is that there are no private houses in Whittier. Everyone who lives in the town either seasonally or permanently lives in one bug apartment building. No houses can be built in the small town. This is Whittier:

 And here is the apartment where everyone in Whittier lives:

The cruise was fun. Apparently by the end of it, we were suppose to have seen twenty six glaciers, but I wasn't counting. I liked seeing the bald eagles, the sea otters, the seals, the glaciers, the mountains, and the waterfalls. So basically, I liked all of it. It went from about noon to 5pm. They served us really good Alaskan cod fish and cole slaw. I dared my friend Michael to mix a packet of lemon juice and then six squirts of Tabasco sauce into his coffee, because they were there. He did, so I did too. It was the most vile drink I have ever drank. I have even drank my own urine before in a mock-survival scenario while in Tanzania two summers ago, and this may have been worse. I washed it down with a normal cup of coffee and went on with my day. I almost threw up before our boat even left port.

We made it back to Portage and had the rest of the day off. I think we watched a movie in the barn after that, but I can't really remember. So that's it for the 31st of May.

Wednesday, June 1st:
Back to work today. I finished planting the last of the vegetables in the garden. They were broccoli plants. I was glad to have that all squared away. After I was finished with that, Erin asked me to go into the Kodiak brown bear enclosure with her to help feed them. I had never gone into that enclosure before, so I was pretty excited. When we got in and walked up to where the bears were playing by the fence, I realized they were a lot bigger when there is no fence in between them and you. Although they are only 15 months old, the femals still weighs in at about 115 and the male around 130 lbs. They could do some serious damage if they wanted to. They huffed and puffed as they smelled me, the new guy who had never been on there before with them. It was pretty nerve racking, but I stay calm and collected. I didn't want them to sense that I was afraid. I helped feed them their premium puppy chow and stashed some away in various parts of their enclosure so that they could search for it later. I was feeling good about leaving the enclosure. I didn't want to overstay my welcome. It was a pretty awesome feeling to be standing two feet away from two bears that will some day grow to be between nine to eleven feet tall and weigh between 500 to 700lbs for the female and 1,000 to 1,500 lbs. for the male.

I did a few more chores throughout the day, like bottle feeding the moose calf, which is always a good time. He is really cute and growing by the day. He is playful and likes chewing on jackets, coats, shoes, camera straps, and basically anything you bring in their with you.

After that, I went on a 12 mile round trip bike ride to Portage Lake and back with some of the other interns. It was good to exercise, especially in a very pretty area on a very well kept bike path. We watched another movie in the barn then called it a night.

Thursday, June 2nd:

Today was my day off for the week. I slept in until 11am, and just rested til about noon. These long days make it hard to go to sleep until late. It doesn't get dark until about 1am and it starts to get light again by about 3am.

I made a huge breakfast this morning which consisted of a big bowl of wheat Chex, two big pancakes, one egg, and 6 sausage links. I made lots of smoke and smells in the kitchen during the making of this meal. After breakfast at noon, I cleaned up my room, put pictures of the cruise on Facebook, then helped Erin get some brush for the animals. Although it was our day off, Erin and I were bored and wanted to do something outside. I drove the big 4 door Ford F-450 diesel across the highway to a dirt road where we cut down willow, alder, and balsam poplar branches and small trees for the animals at the center. We have permission to do this- at least that's what the other interns tell me. We gathered a good load then delivered them to the moose, porcupine, muskoxen, elk, and Sitka black-tailed deer. They were all very appreciative. When we finished to that, I fixed the vacuum which meant pulling out about a pound of hair and dust balls from the suction tube, as well as two plastic forks. That seemed to have been the problem. I then gave my room a good vacuuming.

After that, I fed the two Great-horned Owls, of which I am personally responsible for feeding. We all got our assigned animals and since I worked with birds of prey last summer, I was given the owls. Their names are Hootie and Snappy. No, I didn't name them, but if the naming were up to me, those would probably have been the same names I would have given them. They are pretty low maintenance- some mice or quail everyday and a fresh new water bucket for them to take a little bath if they feel like it. They are pretty cool looking birds.

Following the feeding, I went back to the intern house for dinner, then went for a bike ride with two other interns who went for a run. I did not want to run as I had just eaten dinner number one of two. I eat a lot around here. I just have this thing where if there is free food available, I cannot refuse it. I have eaten more hot dog, reindeer dogs, and cheeseburgers in the last week than I have had in the last two years. Seriously. At least one if not two meals a day consist of food you would find at a high school football game. I will soon begin to look like a high school football coach. No offense to high school football coaches, but you know what I mean. Anyway, the other interns marvel at how I am not sick of the concession stand food here yet, and I am wondering how I am not either. I think it is because it is free for us, and I can't turn down free- especially in my current economic state. That $140 worth of groceries is going to last way longer than I thought at this rate, but my cholesterol level is probably sky rocketing. Well, as they say, "when in Rome..."

Anywho, after the bike ride, we all decided to play wiffleball in the main parking lot of the center, right in front of the gift shop/concession stand area. It was a lot of fun. We played boys versus girls, because we are all still in 6th grade. Actually, it was one of the girls' ideas. The men victoriously triumphed, although being down a player. It was brutal right down til the end.

On the way back to the interns' house, myself and three other interns decided we should try to hand feed grass to North America's largest land mammal- the Wood Bison. We watched them stick their tongues through the fence and try to reach the grass, so we decided to give them a hand. The big bull nearest me accepted the grass, hopefully as a peace offering. It was fun feeding him knowing that his head alone probably weighed more than my entire body. Bulls can easily weigh or 2,000 lbs. with some topping out around 2,250 lbs. They are an immense animal with power to spare. They are the tractor-trailers of the North American land mammals.

Well, time for some sleep. Another day of work tomorrow. Can't wait. Oh and I finally got my navy blue Dickies work pants today. Now I won't be the only intern wearing blue jeans instead of uniform pants anymore.