Exit to Exit Glacier

Here are the accounts of May 27th or "Last Day of Alaskan Adventures with Joey"   =(

Sadly the adventures had to come to an end as we headed back to Anchorage for our red eye flights this day. Our last moments together for two months... and some crazy moments they were. Tried to go tide pooling in Homer before we left. When I say tried to go tide pooling I mean that we went out to the beach at low tide and walked around but didn't really see anything super cool. I guess when there are super low tides, you have a greater chance of seeing octopus. Oh well. We originally wanted to do a hike out at East End Road where you could see some nice views of Kachemak Bay, Kenai National Park and the volcanoes, but it rained over night and we didn't get up early enough. Again, oh well. So we left Homer and as a last huzzah, we went back towards Seward so we could hike out to see Exit Glacier. Along the way we stopped at Tern Lake to watch the Arctic Terns hunting for fish.

This one liked perching on the sign.

I like thinking it means "Stop for Tern."

Exit Glacier is the most accessible glacier in the park; all of the others can only be accessed by boat or hiking long distances. It is a short 1 mile or so hike, but you get to stand very close to the glacier which is a surreal experience.

The Outwash Plain of Exit Glacier. 

Joey and glacier!

On the Outwash Plain.

We wanted to get closer, but we would have had to ford a river.

I just included this to show the difference between June 2007 and May 2014.

After this quick, rainy hike, we got back to our rental car to discover it had a flat. I went to ask the park ranger lady if there was a repair shop nearby in Seward. She said there were two, but both would probably be closed at that time. Darn sleepy little Alaskan towns, closed after 5pm. So we had to drive the WHOLE way back to Anchorage on the spare tire. Luckily the Sterling and Seward Highway speed limits are not that fast. A little nerve-racking but we made it Anchorage in time to get some more fish and chips and some tasty salmon chowder at Humpy's. I am very happy that Joey got to come out this year, and that we got to see parts of Alaska neither of us have seen or explored. I look forward to many more adventures, Alaskan and otherwise, with him!

And now here I am, over one month into the field season, it goes by so fast. Will try to update more again soon. But in other news, seriously check out my Parasitic Jaeger blog. I am happy to announce that it is a hit! Well, to my class I guess. The TA does a weekly "Mail Bag" video where she has been featuring different field notes blogs for the other students to see, and she asked if she could feature mine for this week's video! Woo! I think I'll try to post that video here when it is posted next week, although it takes a REALLY long time to upload on this ssssllllllooooowwwww internet connection here.