Today was a very busy and long day! We started our adventures at 7am. We drove 3 hours to Seward, Alaska to visit the Sea Life Center there which is like an aquarium. On our way to the Sea Life Center we stopped at various places and took pictures of the beautiful views of the water and mountains. We even stopped at a sight where we could see a volcano off in the distance. It is not currently erupting, however there are 5 active volcanos in Alaska all near where I am staying. The one we took pictures of today is called Mt. Redoubt. It last erupted in December of 1989.

Once we arrived to Seward we had some free time before we could go to the Sea Life Center so we all went shopping for some souvenirs and had lunch. After that we went to the Sea Life Center where we broke into two groups and went on "behind the scenes" tours where we got to see how injured Alaskan sea animals such as sea otters, harbor seals, and sea lions are rehabilitated and taken care of until they are healthy again. Sometimes the injured animals are able to be released back into the sea, but some of them have to spend the rest of their lives in the Sea Life Center because they would not be able to survive on their own in the sea.  In addition to the tour, I got to touch a sea anemone and a starfish and look at  sea lions, harbor seals, puffins and birds on display in the Sea Life Center. It was a fun experience and we got to take lots of pictures. Then once we were done at the Sea Life Center we had to drive the 3 hours back to our cabins. We did a lot of traveling on the road today. We got back to our cabins around 8pm.

This is a picture of the Mt. Redoubt volcano off in the distance

This is a picture of me touching the sea anemone at the Sea Life Center

Here I am touching a starfish at the Sea Life Center

This is the huge sea lion swimming by me at the Sea Life Center

This is a harbor seal

This is one of the views we stopped to take pictures at on our drive to Seward Alaska. The lake was still slightly frozen over so we ended up walking out onto the ice. 

We did lots of different things today all in Anchor Point where we are staying. I started my morning off by going for a walk with a few people and we spotted a bald eagle in a tree. Then we went  to the beach in Anchor Point and we walked around the shore. Some people from my group were even brave enough to try dipping their feet into the water. I was not brave enough mainly because I did not want to freeze my feet off literally! I can only imagine how cold the water is. We were able to take lots of pictures at the beach and we even saw another bald eagle only this time it was a young one who was yet to develop its white head. It was brown with spots. This afternoon we hung around our cabin and all made an attempt at playing some volleyball. The funny thing was there is still snow on the ground so we played "beach volleyball" in the snow. As a joke to make the pictures look silly we all wore shorts, t-shirts, hats and mittens. Believe it or not it was not too cold being outside in snow while wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Later in the day we learned about finding gold in Alaska and we got to actually pan for some gold. We participated in a process called gold sluicing where we cleaned through dirt and searched for pieces of gold. We actually ended up finding some gold but it was just tiny flakes. We were told by the time we were done sluicing for the gold we had found about 1/10 of an ounce of gold. If we had found a whole ounce worth of gold we could have been holding 1,700 dollars worth of gold. That is how much they said an ounce of gold is currently selling for. We ended the day off with a barbecue with some delicious hamburgers and hot dogs. Words cannot even begin to explain how much fun I am having here in Alaska and how beautiful it is. I've never seen any other place like it before.

This is the whole group I am with in Alaska. 

This is the whole group being silly after our volleyball game. We were having a snowball fight.

All of us being silly in our shorts and t-shirts out in the snow

This is the group of people who decided to try going into the water. They said it was freezing!

 

This is the bald eagle we spotted. See if you can find him.

Me trying to separate the dirt in search of gold pieces

Part of the gold sluicing process

Working on finding gold

This was the final process of the gold sluicing. We ran the dirt we separated through the machine and if there were any pieces of gold then they would stick at the top and not go down the pipe

I made it to Alaska! Here the time difference is four hours behind the time in New York. We are staying in log cabins in Anchor Point, Alaska. We arrived at the airport in Anchorage, Alaska last night and then had to drive 3.5 hours to our cabins. The drive was beautiful. There are mountains everywhere and most of them are still covered in snow. The biggest difference from New York and Alaska is the daylight. We were driving at 10pm and it was still sunny and bright out. There is only about 6 hours of darkness each day in Alaska. On our drive to our cabins we passed three moose on the side of the road and apparently a bear (which I did not see). This morning however, I woke up and went for a walk around the camp and got to see a moose finally. The adventure is just beginning. I will post again soon.

This is the cabin that I am staying in located in Anchor Point Alaska

This is a female moose that I saw on my morning walk right behind the cabin that I am staying in

This is a photo of the view we had on our drive from the airport in Anchorage to our cabin in Anchor Point. We have rented two 12 passenger vans to drive us all around Alaska these next few weeks.