My students loved using the blog for their write-ups of the Natural History of Alaska (BIO 104) field trips this summer. They were given a few guidelines then left to be creative in how they interpreted those guidelines. The guidelines were: date, time, weather, location, list of species identified & a short narrative. Only one of my four students (very small class) was local & two were from other continents. They ended up writing, as much for the folks back home, as for the class. It allowed them to share their explorations with the world & their friends as well as post pictures of the places and themselves in the places. It surpassed my expectations as a learning tool! Thanks for showing me this avenue & 'making' me use it in the class. When I have time I will summarize their lists into a single list for each location. My plan is to keep the blog, maybe add some of my own observations & use it for other classes. It may not be the best tool, but it will be a start at a comprehensive document of species for PWS. We took a 3 hour trip twice a week near town, with one all day trip to Columbia Glacier and an overnight to McCarthy.
Clicking on the title should take you to the classroom blog.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Summer Travel or how I spent my summer vacation!
Vacation? What vacation? Mine was a working vacation crammed into the middle of 2 intense 6 week lab science classes. That being said it was awesome.
My prius & I drove from Valdez to Tacoma where I put all my worldly belongings on a uhaul. The car was put on a trailer & towed behind the uhaul. The trip down was fast, but great. My little car got 50+ mph even on the roughest parts of the road. I saw lots of wildlife. My original intent was to fly & drive a uhaul back. That plan chanced when the friend who was to help had a massive heart attach & cardiac arrest 3 days before I was to leave. All her keys were lost by the EMTs, but her life was saved. She was still in a coma when I left. Having no Credit card (by choice) I was unable to rent a car, so I drove. Planning to camp on the way down, chanced to sleeping in my car after I saw 3 brown bears near where I planned to stop in the middle of nowhere. Being small means I can sleep in my car! As it was comfy, easy to set up & cost nothing, I did this all the way down. I love to drive long distances, see all the plants & animals, the different geology of each area. The Alaska highway is a great place for all that. Very meditative. I've become quite good at taking pics from a moving car or pulling over suddenly onto the side of the road. Scientists are trained to be observant & I am very good at observing nature! Best of all it had very few people. I'm not really a people person, or at best like my people in small numbers.
Once I got to Tacoma, I camped in a state campground in Gig Harbor, near where my storage unit was. I had planned on doing a lot of sorting in the week I'd be there, but driving took half that time & I spent most of the rest of the time visiting my friend. Another friend came up from Oregon to help me drive back up. That trip was much longer & took waaaaaaaaay more fuel, but we had a great time. I am grateful for the extra person to help drive & keep me company. My friend & I go back 20 years and haven't been able to spend much time together for several years, so that was really great! I went back to teaching two days after we got back and just finished last week.
I now have all my stuff (and then some) & its like Christmas. I've been sorting as I've had time & am planning a BIG garage sale later this month. You are all invited! A great excuse to come to Valdez, eh?
I've been out on PWS twice since returning & am always just totally awed by the majesty & beauty of it all. I'm finally getting my fishing license tomorrow & planning to get my own salmon here real quick.
Summer is slow & wet this year in Valdez, but the berries are starting to come on: salmon berries, blueberries (high & bog), crow berries, cloud berries, nagoonberries, currants & more. Oh YUM. The bears have been very bad in Valdez this year. They've relocated a couple browns & have had to put several black bears down as people aren't using proper precautions and they are coming into town. I put a bear bell on my dog when I go for a walk & if he becomes uncomfortable we turn around. I'd like my encounters with bears to be from a distance.
I'd love to hear how others spent the summer!
My prius & I drove from Valdez to Tacoma where I put all my worldly belongings on a uhaul. The car was put on a trailer & towed behind the uhaul. The trip down was fast, but great. My little car got 50+ mph even on the roughest parts of the road. I saw lots of wildlife. My original intent was to fly & drive a uhaul back. That plan chanced when the friend who was to help had a massive heart attach & cardiac arrest 3 days before I was to leave. All her keys were lost by the EMTs, but her life was saved. She was still in a coma when I left. Having no Credit card (by choice) I was unable to rent a car, so I drove. Planning to camp on the way down, chanced to sleeping in my car after I saw 3 brown bears near where I planned to stop in the middle of nowhere. Being small means I can sleep in my car! As it was comfy, easy to set up & cost nothing, I did this all the way down. I love to drive long distances, see all the plants & animals, the different geology of each area. The Alaska highway is a great place for all that. Very meditative. I've become quite good at taking pics from a moving car or pulling over suddenly onto the side of the road. Scientists are trained to be observant & I am very good at observing nature! Best of all it had very few people. I'm not really a people person, or at best like my people in small numbers.
Once I got to Tacoma, I camped in a state campground in Gig Harbor, near where my storage unit was. I had planned on doing a lot of sorting in the week I'd be there, but driving took half that time & I spent most of the rest of the time visiting my friend. Another friend came up from Oregon to help me drive back up. That trip was much longer & took waaaaaaaaay more fuel, but we had a great time. I am grateful for the extra person to help drive & keep me company. My friend & I go back 20 years and haven't been able to spend much time together for several years, so that was really great! I went back to teaching two days after we got back and just finished last week.
I now have all my stuff (and then some) & its like Christmas. I've been sorting as I've had time & am planning a BIG garage sale later this month. You are all invited! A great excuse to come to Valdez, eh?
I've been out on PWS twice since returning & am always just totally awed by the majesty & beauty of it all. I'm finally getting my fishing license tomorrow & planning to get my own salmon here real quick.
Summer is slow & wet this year in Valdez, but the berries are starting to come on: salmon berries, blueberries (high & bog), crow berries, cloud berries, nagoonberries, currants & more. Oh YUM. The bears have been very bad in Valdez this year. They've relocated a couple browns & have had to put several black bears down as people aren't using proper precautions and they are coming into town. I put a bear bell on my dog when I go for a walk & if he becomes uncomfortable we turn around. I'd like my encounters with bears to be from a distance.
I'd love to hear how others spent the summer!
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