A Day in Homer, Alaska

Another Day in AK

By now I think it's pretty obvious how much I love to travel to wild and rugged Alaska.  I've been there on four different trips, and I would gladly add another.  With all my AK featured posts though, I've neglected one town that I've passed through a number of times: Homer.  On my last trip to Alaska, I decided to spend a day in Homer and actually explore the town a bit.  

I stand next to an example of a totem pole at the Pratt museum in Homer.

Barrow, Alaska

On the Top of the World

I've visited Barrow, Alaska a few times as part of my PhD studies.  Barrow (called the top of the world my Alaskans) sounds so exotic perched at the most northern point in the United States on the Arctic Ocean.  It was exotic, but in ways I did not expect.  It also opened my eyes to the struggle of Native Alaskans not just to be a part of the modern world while retaining their heritage, but also to just living a healthy happy life.

Riding the ATV of one of our bear guards on the beach of Barrow.

Alaskan Glaciers

Glaciers: Alaska's Mountains of Ice 

I've been to Alaska several times as part of my PhD research, but it was not until my third trip to Alaska that I finally set time apart to explore glaciers up close.  As a geologist from Florida, I have always wanted to climb and hike over these expanses of ice so dense, it emits a blue hue.  If not the sheer size of glaciers impresses visitors, the fact that these mounds of ice move should.  The immense mass of glaciers combined with the pull of gravity ensures these ice masses move downhill, although often so slowly as to be imperceptible to the naked eye.  I am not a glaciologist, and this is by no means a glaciology class.  I give an introduction to these wonders so as to explain why I wanted to explore them so badly.  

Standing in front of Exit Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park.

Traveling For Work

A Phytoplankton Growth Experiment in Alaska

I knew as an undergraduate that I wanted to see as much of the world as possible, and that having a career that included traveling would make that easier.  So I focused on careers where traveling would be guaranteed.  Now I am finishing my PhD in Earth and Planetary Sciences.  As part of my PhD research I have traveled to Alaska multiple times, Rhode Island, Oahu in Hawaii, and Spain, not to forget I had the opportunity to move across the continent to California for four years which drastically increased my ability to road trip to new states and national parks. 

In the Anchorage airport with all of my equipment for one of my many fieldwork trips to Alaska.

The Endless Tundra: North Slope Alaska

Why Not Visit the North Slope of Alaska?

The north slope of Alaska consists of all land north of the Brooks Mountain Range, which is itself over 200 miles north of Fairbanks.  The north slope is comprised of tundra, slopes of hills or flat land covered in sponge-like brush and grasses.

The tundra of north slope Alaska, with the Brooks Range in the distance.