Life as a PolarTREC teacher in training is almost a 24-hour a day adventure for 8 days. After 16 hours traveling by car, three planes, and a van ride, I arrived at the hotel in downtown Fairbanks. Because of the 4-hour time difference between the East coast and Fairbanks, I promptly wake up at 3:30 am every morning ready for training. Since training starts at 8 am, I am able to do homework for morning work. Training consists of many hours on the computer, playing with satellite phones and learning about our expeditions. Most of the time we are in meetings trying to solve communication challenges that will arise when we are on our trip. We look forward to the several field trips scheduled throughout the week.
Alaska is hot... as long as you stay inside. The locals say it is hot outside as the temperatures range from 0 - 20 degrees F. Because of this balmy, spring weather, some car owners are forgetting to plug their cars into an electrical outlet at night so that their car battery will start the next day.
Robbie Score keeps us running. She is the one responsible for finding a meteorite from Mars!
Outside of the hotel in Fairbanks
Food glorious food-what is there more like it? Salmon, halibut, moose, caribou sausage pizza, and blueberry pie are all scrumptious Alaskan food. Although Fairbanks is a smaller town than many East coast towns, one can find the usual assortment of fast food chain restaurants.
Hand picked blueberries from the Alaskan wildlands
Animals are abundant but I have seen just a few, mostly dogs. After a visit to the Large Animal Research Station at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, I can add muskoxen, caribou and reindeer to my Alaska list but no Rudolph. At the Research Station, scientists study these polar hoofed animals called ungulates. Muskoxen have a thick undercoat of fur to keep them warm. It is called qiviut (kiv-ee-ut), an Inuit word for extremely fine underwool.
Muskoxen can run as fast as 35 mph. Their fur is combed each spring for the soft warm undercoat that keeps them warm in -50 F.
Can you tell the difference between caribou and and the closely related reindeer?
Imagine what I could do with a horn like that.
A skull of a muskox
The inside of the horn
Whose scat is this?
With racks like those one would never have to wait in the cafeteria line again!
Each night, I continue to work on the computer as I eagerly await a phone call from the front desk when Northern Lights are sighted. So far, no phone calls.
Quizzy Question:
Qiviut is a q word not followed by the letter u. Can you think of any others?
What happened to the other antler?
Where is the other antler? What do you think happened to the other antler?