We're going Hiking!

Last night we had homemade lobster!!!!  It was so good!!!!

On our off day today me and Amelia decided that we wanted to do a little hiking.  We first fed the animals before we headed out.

We stopped at the post office to load up the yukon with about 20 boxes!  Then we stopped at the Merc (Grocery store) to pick up some bread for Jeremy.  Then  the adventure began! 

Right down the road is Virgin Creek that has a beautiful waterfall that is still frozen!

We also found what may be weasel tracks.

We jumped back into the yukon that we named Totonka, and headed to Whittier.  Whittier is only 12 miles away from Portage and we went throught the whittier tunnel to get there. 

The town has less than 200 people there but in the summer it is packed full of tourists.  We pulled over on a back road and walked along a trail.  The trail took us down to a creek that emptied into the whitier bay.  We saw a few bald eagles.  It was such a gorgeous view!  I think it is my favorite place so far in Alaska. 

On the way back to the tunnel we stopped on the side of the road because something caught my eye...it was an otter!    The picture isn't that great but at least you get the point.....

we also saw a seal, but it was only at the surface for a brief moment before it left.

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fnewswatch.nationalgeographic.com%2F2011%2F03%2F30%2Fhow-mother-natures-inventions-are-changing-our-lives%2F&h=91b98

link to Dr. Jordan Schaul (my boss) article for National Geographic

Sunday Cleaning

After waking up a little late today my day never stopped until about 6. 
We started right off the bat with cleaning the chicken coop and the deer enclosure.  It was so nice having 2 people to clean everything.  We had both enclosures cleaned, and diets prepared all before noon.  Then we moved on to training the cubs with blueberries. 

Snickers also had some trining today.  He did so well!  I think it was because I used peanuts to train with.

 Yesterday, I was able to see Joe Boxer climb a tree....

Hugo, (the eleven year old grizzly is on the left), Patron on the right, and Joe Boxer is in the tree.

Mukluk also had her enclosure cleaned.  We hoped in the yukon that we named Totonka and drove around the center.  We threw a lot of oranges and grapefruits to the Musk Ok, Moose, and baby musk ox (Mukluk). 

We also went down to the big bear enclosure to talk to guests about the bears.  Today was a long day and we are finally heading home for the night.  Sorry this blog seems short, but I am exhausted!

Goodnight lower 48,
ErIn

Almost 2 months!

I can't believe I have been here for almost 2 months!  Wow!  Time has just been flying! 

It is so nice having another intern here, not only to help with the chores, but to also just have another person to talk to.  We get along great!  I finally found my camera after 2 days of tearing my room upside down to find it under my bed.  So now I finally have some more pictures to post.

Yesterday was just a day into town to run some errands.  On the way back I was able to get a good pic of the train that goes by every day...

Today was the first day that it felt like we were getting into more of a routine.
The typical things like preparing diets, cleaning bowls, and checking water bowls all took only about an hour between two interns.  Now, since the center is getting busier there is always going to be one of us that will stay at the big brown bear exhibit to make sure no one is breaking any rules.  We also are there to answer questions.  Today was interesting because I actually got to see Joe Boxer (the male brown bear that weighs about 1100 pounds) climb a tree!

Later, we trained the cubs with Jordan and they are getting so big!  I am continuosly amazed at how much they are becoming more and more adaptive to their training. 

It has been snowing for 3 days!  Go figure, after winter is over the snow arrives.  Winter officially ended on March 19th.  There may be even more snow coming in on tuesday.  The sun was able to peak through today and we quickly took some beautiful pictures of the center. 

I ended the night with The last night skiing day for the season. 
And topped it off by making some Uncle Dan's ranch dressing....it knocks Hidden Valley out of the park!

Goodnight Lower 48,
ErIn

Porcupine Presentation

The alarm went off a little bit earlier this morning since we were doing a presentation.  We loaded up the porcupine in his kennel and headed to Girdwood.  We met Kelly (our boss) at the Little Bear Playhouse. 
We also brought a baggy of snickers favorite treats.  Peanuts, clementines, and corn are a few of the things he loves.  Kelly talked about the porcupine and then we brought him out on a table.  I also had a paper mache made to see if he would play with it in front of the kids.  It went great!  He had his whole head shoved inside the ball and the kids were able to pet him. 

Kelly then bought us lunch and some ice cream! Yum!  I had the flavor called Death by Chocolate....this is no surprise if you know me.....

We headed back to the center in a food coma.  I drove amelia, the new intern, around the center to see all the animlas.  Then it was off to do a few chores.  We fed the animals, spent some time with Mukluk, and then headed in for the night.

I quickly ate a plate of nachos and then headed to soccer.  There were 7 people there tonight so we were able to play 3 vs. 3.  It was so much fun, but I am definitely out of shape!  My feet are killing me and I am about to pass out from exhaustion!
Goodnight lower 48
ErIn 

Louisiana in Alaska

I am not going to start my blog off with "So", I was told it sounds as if I am just continuing an story.  I like the sugestions on how to improve my blog.  I also want to thank all of my blog followers.  It encourages me to have an exciting day so that I can type about it.  Yesterday was filled with many cleaning tasks. 

We straigtened up the bear cub exhibit a lot more and then tried to train them a bit.  I say tried since they were not really in the mood.  We cannot force the cubs to train if they don't want to. 

I cleaned the porcupine house and then headed over to clean up mukluk's enclosure.  She is getting her baby horns in so I try to spend as much time as I can with her. 

I am getting ready for tomorrow when I pick up the new intern. 

On Monday I was going to distribute the diets a little earlier since I was heading inot town to pick the intern up.  I added a few blueberries into the bear cub food just mix things up a bit.  I also tossed them a few clementines.  I headed to town around 1:30.
First I ckecked the mail.....hmmmmm I got a package, can't wait to open it...
Then I was off to Anchorage.  I went to walmart where I filled up the entire cart with things for the bunkhouse.  I also needed to get a few items for a presentation on Tuesday.  I wasn't able to get everything, but it was time to go pick up the new intern.  I picked up Amelia and immediately I think she is going to be a lot of fun to work with.  She is from Ohio. 
I took her grocery shopping and we headed home. 
Tomorrow is going to be alot of fun , because we will be doing a presentation at a school using our porcupine, Snickers.  I can not wait!  I will tell yall all about it tomorrow.  Also, I opened my package and found a gourmet dinner waiting to be created!

Thanks Devin!
Goodnight lower 48
ErIn

Here is a pic of one of the moose I saw 2 nights ago....

so yesterday (Saturday) was a busy day with visitors.  We trained the bears in the morning and it went great.  We are trying to get the cubs more and more seperated from each other as we are training them.  They are realizing finally realizing which one of us trains each of them.  Jordan works with the male (Taquoka) and I work with the female (Shaguyik).  We just call the female shaggy....it's just easier. 

So then we stopped by the barn to visit Abi's birthday party.  She is the owners' daughter.  She turned 4. 

So we went back to the cub enclosure and cleaned it up a bit.....

Then we decided to do another training session with them.  I was so excited becasue Shaggy learned her first command from me.  Most of the time the commands that we teach them, are just captured to begin with.  For example, I saw shaggy sitting onher hind legs and as soon as she did this I said "Up" and immediately rewarded her with a grape.  She did this numerous times after that.  It was a good feeling to see that she is making progress after just a month of being here. 

This is Taquoka on his hind legs.....

  We also put their old crates in the enclosure for them to play with.  We want them to be comfortable with these since they will go to Sweden in similar crates when the leave in about a year.   They will live their lives out at a bear park similar to the AWCC.  They are unrelated and will not be breed.  Since Kodiac Bears are not a threatened bear there is no need to breed them in captivity.  It is also hard enough finding room for bears in captivity.  They can not be re-released since they missed out on learning fital skills from their mothers.  They would also probably become a dangerous bear since they are associated with humans now. 
 We place food around their crate to get them more comfortable with it.  Shaggy pushed this crate aroun all day long. 

  Later I placed a bowling ball in with mukluk to see if she would play with it like the other orange ball.  It was really icy so there really wasn't much to video. 

Then at the end of the night Kat and Jeremy (2 roomates) made a bet that if Syracuse gets to the final four he has to take us out to dinner....

  Also, I wanted to let my faithful readers know that my wonderful mom ordered me a Gopro head camera.  I will be able to wear this camera on my head as I do things like training with the cubs, play with the animals, or even ski....so once I get that camera you should be expecting some awesome videos!
Thanks again mom! (Lub ya most!)
Goodnight lower 48
EriN

2 Moose!

So after waking up with my Gourmet Hot chocolate I was off....

Here is how foggy it was this morning...you couldn't even see the mountain across the street...

Today was a nice and busy day.  We trained the bears and it went great!  We used the donated blueberries to train the bears.  This is how many blueberries were donated...

yeah it's a lot.....

after we train the bears we end the training session on a good note...

Then I fed everyone else their lunch.....

Adonis got a huge salmon filet today...

Ok then later I was told that I had a present waiting for me in the barn...what could it be?
It was a new pitchfork!  So I wanted to break it in by cleaning the chicken coop.  I know...It worries me that I got excited over a new pitchfork.  But I guess it beats the one I was using before that was split down the middle and half the length.  I had to use gloves to not get splinters!

So it was already 6:00!  So we headed into town to check the mail and fill up the water jugs.  On the way we did another cache and even saw 2 moose!

The it was back home to clean the whole house! We have a new intern coming in on monday so we wanted it to look nice. 

What a good way to end the day.........
Goodnight lower 48
ErIn

Out of Shape

Yesterday was another day off.  So I fed the animals and headed to Anchorage.  We ate lunch at a sushi place, grabbed some groceries, returned a few items, went to Sam's, ate dinner at a delicious restaurant called The Glacier Brew House, and finally topped the night off by watching Rango and it was 10 by the time we got home! woo I am tired....

So on Thursday it was a really slow day since spring breaks are over now here and the Iditarod is over.  A native of Alaska won the Iditarod which was the first time since 25 years ago! 

So we got to do some training with the cubs today.  They are getting really big and they are so playful! 

 We trained them with grapes and apples today...

I was super excited to have a nice delicous cup of gourmet Hot chocolate that my FBB sent to me (Favorite Book Buddy)  come on really? you didn't know that lingo?  So it was nice break in the day....

We also got a huge pallet of donated blueberries form sam's....they are so good!  I even had few handfuls!
On the way back from grabbing a container of blueberries I stopped and threw some to the black bear named Kuma....

Later, I raked and scrubbed the Owl enclosure out...it was gross....

Today was kind of any early day so I headed in around 4:45 and had some Nachos...oh yes I love nachos....did I mention that I had them for breakfast.....

To end the night we played some basketball in town for 2 hours!  We also stopped on the way and found another Cache that was hidden nearby the local pizza joint. 
Basketball was a lot of fun but, my feet are screaming at me right now...
But it was a really good workout...
Well I can honestly say that I am exhausted...so gonna watch an episode of the office and call it a night..
Goodnight Lower 48
ErIn

Skiing and Soccer

Today was my day off.  So I woke up early to take care of the animals before we went skiing.  So we got to the mountain around 11:45 and we were on that mountain for four hours!  That was a calf workout!  Here is the view from my new and favorite run on the mountain...

to the right is a restaurant and if you go around this mountain that is on the right you will get to anchorage in about 40 minutes.

So when we were done skiing we headed back to the center.  On the way back we did another adventure of geocaching.  Remember this pic...

 well there ended up being a cache right behind me that was hidden! I love geocaching!

So I got back to the center and fed the animals.  Then I was excited that I got a call from my grandparents and I had a lovely conversation with them....Love Ya most!  Ha there!...(inside joke)

I had indoor soccer in about an hour so I got ready for that.  Indoor soccer was back in Girdwood which is where we went skiing.  Soccer started at 7 so I got there and no one was there!  So around 7:15 the first person shows up....and that was all that showed up for the whole time!  Well I still got to kick the ball around so I still had fun.  He said he will call everyone next time before it started.  On thursday I think we will try basketball.  Well it's about that time....
Goodnight lower 48
ErIn

My first youtube video

Now that we have gained an hour it seems so much easier to wake up in the morning with the sunlight beaming through the window.  Anyways it's off to work!

So first I do my rounds by opening the chicken coop so that they can enjoy the sun outside.  Then I feed the Sitks black tailed deer.  Next, I water down the dog food for the bears and then I head in to prepare the porcupine diet.  So I get to the kitchen grab the fish to let it thaw out and get snickers' food ready.  Today he got grain, lettuce, and 2 clementines.  He was happy to see me....

 Then I found out that a video I uploaded last night onto youtube of our baby musk ox was posted on the AWCC facebook page.  It made my day. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdB2-r5Cji0

So later I went back and cleaned snickers area up a bit and rewarded his good behavior with lunch!

I got a few pics of what our baby musk ox will grow up to look like....

They top out at about 800 pounds. 

Tonight we did a little geocaching to end the night.  If you don't know what this is here is the link...
http://www.geocaching.com/

It is sort of like a treasure hunt.  It is a great activity to do with friends or family.  All you need is a hand held GPS then you just go to the website and type in your starting address and it will show you all the hidden caches in the area.  So once you pick a cache that you want to find you plug the coordinates into your GPS and off you go.  Well I took my roommate along with me since they had never done it before.  Luckily, we found it and here was the view from the cache...

Not a bad way to end the day.....

Goodnight lower 48
ErIn

The Past 3 Days

Ok sorry I have been MIA; the past three days have been really busy.  So 2 days ago was a normal work day.  I did somehow manage to go running in th emorning.  It was a gorgeous day....

Later, we went to downtown anchorage to listen to a band play that night.  After walking around everywhere we decided to eat at Uncle Joe's Pizza place.  I had a chicken euro for the first time and I loved it. 

After the band was finished playing we headed home for the night.

So yesterday I knew that Mukluk needed some attention.  She was brought to the center after her mother was killed by a bear.  It happened on a camp named mukluk. 

I cleaned out Mukluk's (baby musk ox) bedding.  It took a whole bale of hay to replace the old straw.  She was loving the wheel barrow.  She only knocked the wheel barrow over twice, and of course it was completely full!  Here is a few Musk ox facts:
they were almost hunted to extinction in alaska.  They get up to bout 800 pounds.  The horns are 4 inches thick on their head, with an additional 3 inches of skull to protect them.  This is needed since they hit things head on ...literally.  When the males are in rut you can hear the banging of their heads up to a mile away. 
Anyways so last night we headed to Girdwood for another band that was playing.  The band was called the punch brothers and I really liked this music.
Today (day 3) we all needed to be up extra early since we had a tour coming in at 9:30.  We open at 10 usually.  The tour was a group of highschool students from canada that were headed to Japan for spring Break.....hmmmm wonder why it was canceled.  They were really funny to watch in the gift store when they were checking out.  They were all trying to get rid of their one dollar bills.  They kept saying how they hate american money and it's all the same color.  Which I thought was interesting since they have the queen of England on their money bills.

We just got a fresh pallet of donated food from costco so I went and rummaged through that.  I filled the bucket with pears, cantaloupe, and oranges, lemons, and grapefruits.  So I made my rounds and threw some pears to the musk ox, cantaloupe to the bears, lemons and grapefruits to the moose (they love citrus fruits), and to end the day I gave mukluk a papaya.  Here are a few pics of the center...

this is the intern/employee housing

and this is the drive into the center...

Taquoka says "Goodnight lower 48"

I created a monster...

Today was busy!  I had the past 2 days off and now there was some cleaning that needed to be done.  I wanted to give snickers another paper mache for some enrichment. 

He really liked it...
so then I grabbed the rake, shovel, and wheel barrow and I was off...
I cleaned out the chickens and they were so happy that I had an egg later waiting for me. 
Next, I needed to feed the bear cubs lunch.  I also gave them a couple of apples. 
I also cleaned out the sitka black tailed deer, and the porcupine's house.  So tomorrow I will only have to clean the eagles the owls. 
So mukluk (year old musk ox) needed a toy....so I threw in the plastic ball that the bears like to play with...

then she got a little more excited about the ball....

So then I headed home to make some yummy taco soup...... and now I am lapsing into food coma
Goodnight lower 48
ErIn

Busy Day Off!

Woo! So I finally got home from being in town all day long!
It was my second day off and I used every minute of it to run errands.

So I woke up at about 8:30 and prepared the diets so that on my way out to Anchorage I just needed to feed them.  So at aroun 11:00 am the animals were fed and we left to go to town.  On the way to town we stopped in Girdwood to go to the post office.  I sent a few post cards out and mailed a book to my book buddy back home.  Then we headed to drop the car off to get the oil changed.  So while that was getting changed we ate lunch at subway and then walked over to Walmart.  I asked if they still took film for photos and they didn't. :( So grabbed a few bottles of finger nail polish and out we went.  We checked play it again sports, a store that sells used sports equipment, for some ski gear and unsuccesfully we headed back to pick up the car.  Next, it was the Alaska zoo! 

 
So we walked around here for a bit.  Here are my favorite photos...

  The zoo was a lot of fun!  And I even got one of those pennys that you put in the press machine...I collect them.  Ok I have been wanting to get some film developed so we dropped it off at walgreens.  So then we headed over to REI and I returned some ski gloves that I wasn't happy with...
Next stop....another play it again sports to check out the ski gear.....ok still unsuccesfull...
Alright hmmmmm...sports authority...I have been looking at a pair of indoor soccer shoes since I wanna join the indoor league in Girdwood.  They play on tuesday nights for $5...Yep I left the store with abrand new ball, shin gaurds, socks, and shoes...good thing pay day is friday!
Ok we have dinner reservations at Kobes!  Yay!  My roomate has never been there and they had a coupon so we decided it would be a good place to try.  It was delicous!  Woo...its 9:15 when we finally are leaving the restaurant!  So we run over to walgreens and pick up my film.   But guess what?  There were lines through every single picture!  So i took just the CD since she said that wouldn't have the lines.  We run to the grocery store so I can get some ingredients for taco soup tomorrow night and FINALLY head home.  On the way home I finally got to see the......Auroura Lights!  They were so cool!  Too bad the pictures just looked like a black nothing :(
Well it's midnight and I have a very long day!

Goodnight lower 48
ErIN

It's been a month!

I can't believe I have been here for a month already! 
It was a really busy day.  Right away around 11 this morning I had a tour bus come in.  They were from an elderly care facility.  A bus full of elderly people made me really nervous with a road full of ice!  Don't worry there were no injuries. 

After preparing all of the diets I went in with the bear cubs.  I spread peanut butter around the whole enclosure for them.  The bear cubs are fed a type of puppy chow and then I add water to it.

I also headed over to the brown bear exhibit to see if they were awake.  I did see the coyote.  His name is

Wile E. Coyote.

So after walking around and chatting with all the visitors I was super hungry.  For dinner we went to the only mexican restaurant with a 45 mile radius.  It was really good!  Still not tex mex but I would definitely go back for those nachos!

anyways now I am lapsing into food coma

goodnight lower 48

ErIn

church and back to work

Today I got ready to go to church.  After church we ate lunch at the resort.  I had a portebello muchroom on a pretzel bun....it was pretty good.... So it was back to work...
When we got back to the center Mike (the owner) had a message from Sarah Palim's father saying he stopped by to say hi to Mike.  They will be back though...

It snowed about half an inch yesterday so all of the ugly silt was finally covered up.  It was a warm 25 degrees today and sunny out.  The Iditarod took off today at 2 so the race is on!  I am rooting for Lance Mackey to make win number 5 and break the record.  Or I am rooting for Martin Buser, because I like his personality.  The Iditarod is known as the last greatest race on earth. 

It was so nice out today that I decided to take the porcupine out for a wheel barrow ride.  It got super busy when I did this so I wasn't able to get a picture, but I will next time.  Later, I went and visited the baby musk ox.  Her name is Mukluk.  She is almost 1 year old.  Her mother was kiled by a bear and some men saw this happen so they were able to save her.  The musk ox have a layer of fur called the Qivuit.  It is 8 times warmer than wool and softer than cashmere.  However, only the natives are allowed to harvest the Qivuit.  I will get a good picture of her tomorrow. 

I also learned how to work in the gift store.  I think I like working outside better.  Anyways, so I headed home after a really busy day. 

One thing that I have learned is our smoke detectors are very sensitive....

Goodnight lower 48
ErIn

Snow Day

FINALLY! An actual snow day!!!! It hasn't snowed for 2 weeks!!!!  But I will get back to that later...
So today wasn't anything other than the typical chores.  I did get to sweep and hose off some mats...yay for me....but other than that I really just did the normal tasks. 

One of the interns that has been here the past 3 summers asked for us to feed Jack the moose some bananas for her since it was her birthday...

Boy just looking out my window I am so excited that it is still snowing!  I might go night skiing tonight,,,hmmm but still haven't made up my mind

Ok well tomorrow I will post some pictures of the baby musk ox..
Goodnight lower 48
ErIn

Taking some Pictures

Well I didn't have any tours today, but I still enjoyed the day.  After finishing the basics, I walked around and talked to the visitors.  I grabbed a cup of apples and did a little training through the fence to show visitors what we are training them to do.  I also went and visited with the porcupine again.  I think tomorrow I will take him for a wheel barrow ride.  I had a little free time so I decided to use the flexible tripod that I got with my camera and go take some pics.

On top of the future site of Black Bear Mountain, where we will move our 2 black bears to....

 In front of the 3 brown bears' exhibit....

  View from black bear mountain with wood bison in background...

Goodnight lower 48

ErIn

So this is going to be a two day post again...

here is a video of the male Kodiac bear cub playing....

I also collected 1 and half eggs from the chickens.  Here is why I say 1 and a half...

I got to give a tour today  to a bus full of journalists...I definitely was asked a bunch of questions....

later, I babysit for a few hours and called it a night....

goodnight lower 48

ErIn