If You Can Hear Me in the Elevator, Remain Calm: Our LAST DAY on the Alaska Road Trip!

Our last day!

We were eating breakfast in the cafeteria, expecting another leisurely day aboard the Malaspina, when we noticed a metropolitan area out the window. We were arriving in Bellingham already! (Pacific Time is one hour behind Alaska Time, and we had been chugging along with gusto all through the night.)

The last words we heard on the ferry, spoken by our friend the purser over the loudspeaker as crowds of passengers hauled luggage down to the car deck, were these: “If you can hear me in the elevator, we know you are stuck in there. Remain calm. The engineers are on their way.”

Don’t worry – they got the elevator working, and we all left the ferry intact. The hour-and-a-half drive from Bellingham back to Seattle flew by in the blink of an eye, and before we knew it, we were parking a muddy Prius in front of our house.

Three badass ladies made it home.

Unpacking and story telling commenced immediately. We ate tuna-fish sandwiches for lunch with ingredients from a real refrigerator and our own garden. We changed into city clothes, hosed off Prius, and checked the odometer. The total mileage of our grand adventure: 4,189 miles, with an average gas mileage of 45 mpg. Not bad, red Prius, not bad at all.

Hosed off, packed, and ready for college! (We're off to Whitman tomorrow.)

Looking back, we saw a total of 113 bird species (about 10 lifers for each of us), 21 mammals, and 1 amphibian (the wood frog, Alaska’s only amphibian).

The people we met, the lichens we trampled, the dirt we accumulated, the wildlife we watched… the back-country food and unexpected detours… all will make up the stories my mom and I tell for many years to come. Thank you for reading along, commenting with bird identifications, sharing our blog with friends, and joining us on our Great Alaskan Road Trip.

Yours in adventure,
Nina and Jane

THE END

End of day summary:

• Day of road trip: 18 
• Start: Malaspina ferry (Queen Charlotte Strait), British Columbia, Canada 
• Miles traveled: 195 (ferry) 
• Hours driven: 1.5
• Favorite bird sighting: common murre
• End: Seattle, Washington, United States

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And So Begins A Beautiful Summer

This summer I am delighted, honored, and freakin' excited to have a National Science Foundation-funded research internship at University of Washington Friday Harbor Labs.

How did I get this opportunity? Listen close all you undergrads, both present and future: apply for an REU (Research Experiences for Undegraduates) or two. Or five (like me). Or ten (if you're that dedicated!) Yeah, the odds are slim and the competition is stiff, but the worst that can happen is you don't get the job. And the best that can happen is, you do!

Months before the internship began I was already making friends over e-mail with my groovy (as he would say) mentor Nick and my bitchin' (as she would say) lab partner Anna. Being from Missouri, Anna needed to fly into Seattle and I was graced with her presence a few days early. I got to play tour guide!

We hit up all the best local sites (Theo's Chocolate sampling room, Gasworks Park, The Essential Bakery) but this trip was particularly fish-themed with the Seattle Aquarium, Pike Place Market, and an extreme low-tide at Carkeek Park. We didn't even have time for the Fish Ladder at the Ballard Locks!

We found lots of cool things at Carkeek, like this (ironically very small) Big Skate (Raja binoculata) stranded in an eelgrass bed. At the end you can see how fascinated the kids were by this "baby sting ray."