I have no idea what a huge bull moose would be looking for on the side of a highway in the middle of Anchorage but there he was watching the world go by. I had only been in Alaska for an hour but after sitting on the plane all the way across the country from Washington, DC, I needed to stretch my legs and I suppose he did too. The moose and I are apparently the only ones who walk around town in the city of Anchorage. This might be because there aren't that many sidewalks and those that are there are very slushy! He must have hit the road on some mission though and I had my own...finding glacier glasses. Glacier glasses are a special kind of sunglasses that protect your eyes when you are looking at ice for long periods of time. When you look through normal sunglasses your pupils dilate, or get bigger, because there is less light coming in. This is fine under normal circumstances. When you are around ice though, a great deal of light reflects off the snow (think Albedo Effect, third graders!) and can come in the sides and bottom of the glasses to damage your eyes and give you a mean headache. Hence, the quest for glacier glasses.
So, there I was hoofing it to find these things (no last minute packing or anything) and there was Mr. Moose. Here in Alaska I guess you can't even run to the store without your camera because you never know what you might run into on the side of the road.
I'm off to Dutch Harbor tomorrow where I will meet the scientists and the boat! Stay tuned...
How much is too much? From bunny boots to peanut M and Ms, survival gear for the next seven weeks!
These glasses come with superhero powers. Note-passers beware!