The following video contains clips of our time spend in Seward, AK where we went whale watching and hiking as well as spent time in the Alaska Sealife Center and Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center.
Wartburg's 2014 May Term Alaska Trip
Friday, May 23, 2014
Seward
Whale Alert! Watch for footage of awesome Alaskan wildlife!
The following video contains clips of our time spend in Seward, AK where we went whale watching and hiking as well as spent time in the Alaska Sealife Center and Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center.
The following video contains clips of our time spend in Seward, AK where we went whale watching and hiking as well as spent time in the Alaska Sealife Center and Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center.
Homer
This video contains clips of our time spend in Homer, AK which includes the numerous restaurants and museums we attended as well as our sea kayaking adventure!
Working at Hope ... in 35 seconds!
The following is a compilation of our time spent volunteering for Hope Community Resources including painting, home care, equipment organization, and assisting with the Hope Walk and Roll.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Day 22: May 21st
Our final day in
Alaska.
We solemnly left Seward in
the late afternoon. The bus ride to
Anchorage would take approximately three hours.
However, we stopped at the Trail Lake for a final group photograph. The reflection was amazing! We also stopped
at the nearby Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center to drive through the animal
exhibits. The Conservation Center is
home to black bear, grizzly bear, elk, caribou, fox, lynx, deer, and the only known
heard of wood bison in the state. We finally got to see bears! While not in the
wild, this was the next best thing. They
were playing and relaxing in the water.
While we were driving, our
views of the lakes, forests, and mountains were slightly obscured by a ghostly
haze. The fuzziness on the horizon was
caused by a forest fire burning a ways away from our destination.
We arrived in Anchorage and
stopped one last time a Hope Community Resources. Two students, Malindi and Kelsey, will be
working at Hope over the summer. They
were departing us at this time. We said
our goodbyes and Malindi and Kelsey were on their way to their new summer
jobs. We also headed over to East 20th,
our home away from home in Anchorage to pick up some clothes and equipment people
had forgotten. We said one last goodbye
to the Irish students and also ran into Malindi and Kelsey who will be staying
at East 20th during the summer.
Saying another goodbye, we headed down to the coast to wait relax before
going to the airport. We played on a
playground by the coast, called friends and family, and relaxed by the
water.
Our flight boards at 8:45
PM Pacific Time and will be arriving at the Minneapolis and St. Paul airport around
6 AM Central Standard Time. See you
soon!!
(C) 2014. All photos below are the
property of Benjamin Bogard. All rights reserved.
The Sea
The sea tells a story.
It tells of the life it brings,
And the lives it claims,
Its deep dark waters are home to some,
A final resting place for others.
The sea tells a story.
It tells of the cycle of life
Running through its waters,
Fish, spawning, dying sinking to the ocean floor,
Returning to the circle that engulfs all life.
The sea tells a story.
It tells of prosperity,
Yet how that prosperity can be unforgiving.
Nearly everyone will experience its vastness,
But some will remain there forever.
-Ryan Bundy, 1996
It tells of the life it brings,
And the lives it claims,
Its deep dark waters are home to some,
A final resting place for others.
The sea tells a story.
It tells of the cycle of life
Running through its waters,
Fish, spawning, dying sinking to the ocean floor,
Returning to the circle that engulfs all life.
The sea tells a story.
It tells of prosperity,
Yet how that prosperity can be unforgiving.
Nearly everyone will experience its vastness,
But some will remain there forever.
-Ryan Bundy, 1996
Day 21: May 20th
This morning was a late
morning for us to recuperate and sleep in.
We also got to enjoy a continental breakfast in our hotel. At around 10:30, we walked a block over the
Alaska Sealife Center. Part museum, part
animal exhibit, part research facility, the Alaska Sealife Center is a unique
institution that merges animal research and rehabilitation with public access
to the animals. We walked through the museum
portion, reading about Alaskan wildlife and conservation. We also were able to see a gallery of
gorgeous paintings by V Rae. However, it
was the sealife displays that grabbed everyone’s attention. Students sat for extended periods of time watching
puffins swim and seals play in the water as well as getting hands on with some
crabs, sea cucumbers, and starfish in the hands-on section. After an hour or so to ourselves, we joined
back together as a group for a behind the scenes tour of the center. We learned about the animal rehabilitation
process and the other scientific research that is unique to the center. The steller seal lion colonies we saw during
our Kenai Fjords tour are also being monitored by the center via remote
cameras. They study the sea lions to
understand mating patterns and group dynamics.
Lunch was on us for the
afternoon. Students enjoyed everything
from Chinese food to smoke house barbeque.
With recommendations from Susan, a few individuals enjoyed the best
gelato outside of Italy at Sweet Darlings.
In the afternoon, we bussed over to exit glacier for a short hike just
over a mile. Along the path, signs
marked the distance of the glacier for specific years. While we couldn’t walk on the icefield,
seeing the glacier up close gave us a good perspective on size. The glaciers we saw during the Kenai Fjords
tour were three to four times as massive as Exit Glacier.
In the evening, everyone
hunkered down to finish their papers and journals before the bus ride back to
Anchorage.
(C) 2014. All photos below are the
property of Benjamin Bogard. All rights reserved.
Day 20: May 19th
Off to Seward!
Today was an incredibly
early day! To get to Seward for the Kenai Fjords tour by 11 AM, we needed to be
leaving Homer by 6:45 AM. After getting
in the bus, the majority of us instantly fell asleep. Some caught up on their
journals or worked on the class paper, but willpower faded into sleep. We got to Seward early and ready for the tour!
We toured with the Kenai Fjords Tours out in Resurrection Bay. Boating out into sea, we saw a little
wildlife including two eagles and many other birds. However, we hit the jackpot with our first
whale sighting! A pod of orcas with a baby were swimming in a cove near
Seward. After watching them for a while,
the curious orcas swam right up to the bow of our boat! With that topping off
the beginning of the trip, we headed over to a glacier. On our way, we saw a group steller sea
lions. For the view individuals who
stayed at the bow of the ship, they were almost blown away by the intense winds
created by the boat. Once at the glacier,
our captain talked about the loss of glacial ice over the years as well as the
anatomy of the glacier. Unfortunately, we
only got to see a few small ice chunks calve off the glacier. Heading back out to open ocean, we hit really
rough water. The boat was bouncing almost
as bad as the small water taxi after our sea kayaking adventure. From a distance, we saw a north pacific
humpback whale and some dall porpoise. Usually the porpoise love to play with the
boat and chaise it; however, these ones were not interested. The captain then took us to an island complex
where tons of birds where roosting.
While traveling around the island, we saw a bald eagle snatch a bird
clean out of the water! We traveled to a couple different islands in an attempt
to see roosting puffins. We saw many
other roosting birds, but only saw a few flying puffin. Heading back through choppy water, the crew
of the ship made us chocolate chip cookies which tasted excellent after a long
day out in the cold wind. The total
runtime of the tour was approximately six hours. By the end, everyone was exhausted. For dinner, we ordered in pizza and everyone
enjoyed a meal together. The rest of the
evening was spent hanging out together and writing both journals and our final
paper.
(C) 2014. All photos below are the
property of Benjamin Bogard. All rights reserved.
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