Thursday, September 29, 2011

The official greeting of Texas A&M

Photo courtesy of my loving parents! 9/30/11 on Emerald Isle, NC
      If you google Howdy, the first search result that pops up is the official Texas A&M homepage.  This may because it is what our online student portal is called, but it is also because I bet more Howdy's are said on this campus in a day than anywhere else in the world.  Exaggeration?  Maybe, maybe not.  It's a pretty populated place, ~230,000 people, and the word is just a part of the rampant school spirit in all its maroon glory.
     People in this town are big on greeting each other.  If you walk past 20 students and have your head up, I'd say your odds of being greeted are 99%.  Standing on elevators, people will talk to you, introduce themselves sometimes.  And Good Morning, Hi, and Hello, are not popular.  The most common salutation, by far, day or night, is "Howdy."  And ever since being greeted by a 20-something guy while I was standing in line in a FedEx office in July, I have made it a goal to be a Howdier (person who greets others with Howdy).  It was just a beautiful word when he said it, but  coming off of my tongue, it initially just sounded clumsy.
     The way that that first Howdy struck me was something I will never forget.  And each time I hear a good Howdy, warm and full-bodied from the mouth of any Howdier, I get one bit more globally oriented to the fact that I am indeed in Texas.  And to return that Howdy with a Hi (or even a Hi!) is not an option; Hi just simply falls flat in comparison.
     Since making it a goal to greet others with a rich Howdy,  I have learned that it definitely takes some practice..even just returning a Howdy properly took getting used to!  First off, I was still taken by surprise when someone walking past me would greet me at all, so a startled Hi! was all I could get out of my mouth the first few weeks of being in Texas.  I quickly noted that the friendliest people of all are people in the Corps of Cadets.  These kids all say Howdy, so if I see one (easily identifiable in their fancy khaki outfits, knee high boots, little hats) coming my way  I know to get ready.
     Anyhow, with practice, I've gotten a lot better at returning Howdy's, but I'm pretty sure people can tell I'm from somewhere else though, because I say it a bit too excitedly and am probably grinning a bit too broadly.  Plus, my voice has, as my high-school drama teacher put it, "a unique timbre to it."  And though I'm getting good at returning it, I have yet to actually be the first to say it, to serve the Howdy, if you will, because it's just not my instinct like it is for these Texans. 
    Overall, I really like the level of friendliness here and this Howdy challenge.  I wonder if when I move from Texas, if I will be such a Howdier that I keep saying it and people will be like, Oh She's a Texan?  Interesting to think about... I just like what greeting people does to how I relate to the people around me.   Getting around on yellow fixed-gear, not an F-350, and not eating animals, among other things, does differentiate me substantially from the average Texan, but when I greet someone with HOWDY, the differences between us disappear.. and we're just two people sharing a moment in time.

     I now have my own profile on the Oceanography student page, it's not much yet, but you can Check it out

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

CRASH BOOM

No, I wasn't trick or treating..
Last night, a crazy thunderstorm took place!  I was in the rec center locker room sending an email when I heard something to the effect of, "Attention all guests (that's what they call us, dunno why), a Red Alert Lightning Warning has issued, Everyone is advised to stay indoors and seek shelter from intense lightning in the area."  I was like Whoa.  Guess I'll postpone leaving!  Finally though, I had to head home and saw that it was lightening up a bit (that's kind of a weird double meaning sentence, as the rain had lessened but it there was still thunder and lightening occuring).  I double bagged my belongings (iPad, cell phone, small notebook, wallet, packet of tea) in plastic and then asked a roaming janitor if I could have a garbage bag for a makeshift poncho.  I was then ready to head out and dodged lightning all the way home (a bit dramatic, but I was kinda scared).  

Ever since Mom sent me Choffy, I've been really in the mood for chocolate.  Actually, I think the story is more like, since I got the raw cacao nibs-for-french press goodness, I remembered how good chocolate tastes and makes you feel?  Anyhow..in the last week I've been drinking it and going through lotsa cocoa powder and baker's chocolate! I've made chocolate tofu pie, dark chocolate brownies, chocolate & peanut butter (reeses!) oatmeal, chocolate milkshakes, and chocolate coconut flour cake. Ya, livin the life ova here. 

Choffy!


Enjoying chocolate tofu pie
 
I finally got creative and tried out the Vietnamese rice papers Stephen had given me back in like April? during his pantry cleanout (tons of free things from the Co-op) and made these deelish red bean buns!  I just kinda thought something up and it was so fun!  I pureed red kidney beans, silken tofu, and stevia for the filling and scooped a spoonful onto the soaked rice papers (10 second soak) and rolled them up..tossing in a hefty pinch of freshly toasted black and white sesame seeds inside and on top. 

Sunday, September 25, 2011

9-25

    Friday a.m. I had my first test of grad school!, in Analytical Chemistry.  Tons of material to review and learn and I started getting prettttty anxious on Thursday afternoon.  Despite my hopes to study smart and follow a nice plan I devised on Tuesday a.m., unplanned diversions and my nerves just didn't allow me to stay calm like I would have liked to.  I was able to quiet my mind enough to sleep a few hours by tacking up stickynotes with formulas and diagrams just inches from my sleeping head.

No, those aren't inspirational quotes on my headboard.  Snapshot of a late night spent worrying studying.
After the exam I felt exhausted. Accordingly, I kicked off my weekend pretty early at 3:00 by heading over to the Rec for a jog and a flexibility-focused Power Yoga class, which was really creatively-led.  I went up and talked to the instructor, Esther, and she said she was so happy to get to share all the cool things she learned from practicing at a yoga school in Korea this past summer.  I enjoyed a deelish mango smoothie and got to catch up a bit with Stephen.  In the evening I got in some good laughs, watching Best in Show (Netflix is my bff--even though movie tix only cost $4 in this town!).

Saturday I socialed it up--a Welcome New Oceanography Grad Students backyard meet & greet in the afternoon (g0d, was it hot!!) where I got to have great chats with a bunch of prof's, play with my advisor's son in the pool, and meet my fellow students a bit more..and then an Epic Shindig bday party, attended by the same grad students (but not any prof's!).  The birthday boy turned 25, which he greeted warmly as "that great age of characters in sitcom's."  I began really practicing my Spanish with several of my new friends who are native speakers, hailing from Ecuador and Colombia.

Today I slept late and just stayed in, doing all my favorite things: reading magazines, steeping things in my french presses, listening to my fav artists on Pandora radio. I learned several new words in The New Yorker, my favorite of which is "saturnine: dark in coloring/moody and mysterious," used to describe a painting by Cezanne.  I read about and then investigated youtube for videos of the amazing StrandBeests of Theo Janson. So so cool.

I went over to the gym next door and watched re-runs of SNL--from like 1999, very funny!  And this evening I'm having a pizza &  movie night!  Probably another French film from the 1970s era, or an opposites-attract romcom.

PIZZA of the brocolli garlic caramalized onions & olive oil variety



Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Warning : ramblings of a dark chocolate-consuming person

My 1st Pacific sunset in San Clemente, CA with Shira & Allison


 Ah the passage of time..suns set, water evaporates from dishes, bike tires deflate (and get inflated by meticulous riders!), schoolwork assignments get completed and graded, friendships continue to blossom despite distances, a new Modern Family season airs (tomorrow!), and another slew of great interviews by Terry Gross has been downloaded to my Fresh Air podcast lineup..a million little things happen every day to make the next one radically and yet sometimes imperceptibly different..some days you just aren't looking for the freckles on the banana that weren't there the day before, ya know? 

     Maybe it's just the dark and deelishous chocolate soymilkshake I just made talking, but I am feeling very happy!  Very fortunate. Very rich. Very very.  I just saw several lovely sights on my ride home from the rec center:  A mob of kids on longboards (must be a longboarding club!),  a small group randomly dancing to Spice Girls outside a building, and some bats flying through the dark.  I love seeing people enjoying themselves and observing things, and bicycling makes for a perfect observation pace I think.  And I feel like my observational powers are somewhat heightened after pressing my nose to chemistry calculations during the day..at least things seem more tremendous or funny or beautiful or fill-in-the-blank.  And as far as my difficult schoolwork goes, I'm finding that when I recognize I'm getting sort of down or bored with the tedious nature of things, I can quickly just sort of zoom out for a bit of Big Picture and grab on to something positive about the day and then begin again, optimistic and fresh.

         And my week is off to a lovely start thanks to plenty of relaxing and preparations of various sorts over the weekend and I have already taken time to stop and smell the curry..Monday at lunchtime I went out with 5 grad students for Indian, even though I had hesitated--Shouldn't I get to work on that analytical chem assignment?  I've got a test Friday!  But I cannot turn down a chance to go out with new friends!  I found out all sorts of things about my friends..like Oh, you're married?! And Indian buffet is such a treat..Yesterday I enjoyed lemon basmati rice, mutter paneer, mushroom masala, and dal curry for instance, and a cool plate with lettuce, tomatoes, mango fruit salad, mint and coconut chutnies, and yogurt raita. The restaurant here in College Station is called Taz and it's really good and casual and friendly..and, importantly, busy.  Glad to see Texans getting their culture on.  Good to see, because there isn't an Indian population here at all like there is in the Triangle back home.
My own locker in the Rec center--w/ all my athletic essentials and niceties
Salad assembly line!  Carrots are next in line to be stick-ified
 Sometimes I just prepare for just the next day and other times I get all efficient and do a few days of salad chopping in one go.  Love the cutting board my grandpa made me and the pottery fish plate Terry made me :)

Sunday morning I baked a CCK recipe I couldn't wait to make (but did b/c  I needed to pick up some applesauce!) b/c of her gorgeous pics of it..Cinnamon Roll Baked Oatmeal.  It was my first time making a baked oatmeal (dubbed "boatmeal" ) and man, it was good!!  Upon my first bite, I just sort of melted into my chair and said Ohmyygaahhh..the mark of a great recipe which I know I will be making again and again.  I also baked Chocolate Covered Katie's brownies using my fav Artisana coconut butter and I threw in semisweet morsels and slices of my fav Endangered Species chocolate bar, the black panther 88 percenter..Mowgli would call it the Bagheera Bar, and so will I :)

Cinnamon bun baked oatmeal! SO good!
Sunday afternoon I thought to myself:  I would love to relax and read my Isotope textbook now in my bed.  Then I remembered the IKEA box next to my bed--which contained my bedside table that sleekly attaches to the bed..and once I envisioned myself placing my studying along and drinking a coffee and then placing that mug firmly on a flat surface..I couldn't get it outta my head and said YES I will Construct!! The toughest part is opening the box--not really, I have a box cutter, but you know, getting to the point where you want to open the box. Many small assembly difficulties along the way--the Ikea cartoons could use a bit of improvement, but what instruction manual is perfect?-- but I just kept at it.  Until it was born! and I adorned it with a nice scarf and was well pleased.  There's a drawer for my various chargers and a shelf for my reading material.  Oh and placing my mug on a firm foundation is just as pleasing as I thought it would be :)

Bedside tables are the best! Esp. when your bed doubles as your couch so your bedside table is your coffee table too!

Monday, September 19, 2011

Chillage @ the Village

Man, the Village cafe in downtown bryan is sooo great!! The second i walk in there I'm so happy to be there. Lit just with soft natural lighting from the big windows, live music wafting from the far end of the restaurant.. and one girl complimented my hair and outfit and introduced herself (cool name, Eudelle!) and another employee introduced herself too.

I had brought a couple weeks-old issue of The New Yorker I picked up at the gym next door.


So Stoked to see that Haruki Murakami is a contributor to this issue!!! A fiction piece. Haven't finished it yet.


I really enjoyed reading and mulling over "How to be good," an article on moral philosophy centered around the life and ideas of Derek Parfit, a British philosopher.

I ordered the fruit and toast plate again cause its so so good! The homemade bread is crazy good, soft and thickly sliced, and the fan of granny smith apple slices just thrills me.


The live music was just what I was in the mood for on a lazy calm saturday..An original folk/feelgood rock singer guitarist named Chad Petty.


The tables in front of me soon filled with lunching maroon-wearing people who were almost certainly going to the football game. They came and went. I was so happy to just sit and read and accept kind refills of coffee.

Shout out to my friend Stephen, who loves pineapple (that was prevalent in that excellent fruit cup), who introduced me to Mr. Murakami, who can make deeeelishous anything he wants to, including homemade bread, who I wish could join me for chillage at the village, and who I think of wheneva I'm washing dishes at my kitchen sink.

Friday, September 16, 2011

choffy?!

Mom sent me a package!! waaaaay more fun than the Analytical Chem text I'd gotten the day before! Contents? A big bag of Choffy!


What? You don't know what Choffy is? It's chocolate (pure cacao really) that you prepare like french-press coffee!


I set it all out and went to sleep dreaming of how magical a brew it would be in the a.m.

Ma knows I love hot beverages (I drink like 5 cups of tea a day and usually a cup of coffee too) and adore my french press. I actually have 2--a little one and a big one. Mom also got me the pictured glass electric kettle, which has no plastic and thus no BPA.

Mom brought BPA awareness to my attn when I was about 14, when word was first getting out about it leaching from plastics into water when subject to heat. So glad! I distinctly remember the shift from our fam buying bottled water to using our new stainless steel Kleen Kanteens. Now BPA-free is en vogue and becoming ubiquitous in water bottles! but neglected in other areas where it matters a lot, like hot water kettles! Anyhow..I digress..I was talkin Choffy!

I brought water to boiling and then let it cool a sec before pouring 6 oz. over 2 T. of Choffy. I let it steep 5 mins. before pressin the press :) and pouring straight into my waiting sweet lil blue mug (which Dad got me at Crema!!).


It was a deeeelisous first sip!! Choffy has all the Xcellent qualities of lovingly-made french press coffee, all rich and aromatic with all the oils nicely incorporated. It is safe to say that I am a huge Choffy fan. 5 stars.


I made my brew this morning a hair stronger and it was even better. I found Navitas cacao nibs-- earlier this year and fell deeply in love, definitely my favorite form of chocolate, so bitter and buttery when you chew it up! Obviously, from that comment, I am not a person who is averse to bitter.  And I def. enjoyed eating the Choffy "grounds" later too! This is a perk over french-press coffee! hah So so good, not quite Navitas but still really good to eat for an intense chocolately taste-sation.  Oh, but even if you don't like bitter, like you don't enjoy black coffee, you'd still like Choffy w/ milk and sugar I am sure.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

xoxo cookie dough

When I went grocery shopping this week I picked up a bunch of ingredients for baking.

Fresh jar of artisana coconut butter lurking back there! And cocoa powder, semisweet chocolate chunks, vanilla extract, and Vietnamese (really strong!) cinnamon.

I got some exciting new flours, including coconut which I'm most stoked about. I've already made a dessert pizza with it and it was supa tasty!
Cookies! Oat flour and chocolate chip. I Haven't gotten a cookie sheet yet so I my big cast iron skillet acted as a sheet surrogate.

I only baked one skillet-full and ate the rest of the dough by itself, to jazz up my cereal! I didn't use any eggs, no worries.



Sloths really like cookie dough on their rice krispies too.

I'd rather be a sparrow than snail

Happy day.


It's def worth dragging myself out of bed to have time for a nice leisurely breakfast listening to Morning Edition.


I raided the chemical oceanography section of the library today--sorry classmates: I just took all the best ones. You can have Broecker's seminal work 'Tracers in the Sea,' but all the pertinent details are referenced in the ones I nabbed. The last problem in the assignment I'm working on is about making 1 Liter of artificial seawater..it's a little difficult and I will be using Excel to show my work, but I've got all the ion tables I need for it now :)


Me @ my desk. Carrie just got a supa cute new panda tea set for the lab!


Fun w/ chia seeds continues on an adventurous dinner salad--green leaf lettuce, sauerkraut, flax seeds, onion, and kiwi wheatgrass kefir. Crisp, cool salads taste sooo good in this texas heat that continues on, unabated.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Ch-ch-ch-chia!

Just went downstairs for the Monday oceanography seminar. Today it was given by a biological oceanographer whose lab is right next to ours, and she studies Harmful Algal Blooms (aka red tides) on the Gulf coast. HABs are a more correct term b/c not all red tides are red. One of the collaborators of Dr. Campbell's research is a professor at UNC-W and so she mentioned my alma mater on like 3 slides, which made me smile and brag to the kids next to me, Thats my old school! Calling it my 'Alma mater' is just too adult.

I got my 1st analytical chem quiz back today and I did OK! This afternoon I went through it and found the answers to all the bits I missed, and re-learned how to calculate standard deviation on my graphing calculator. A new friend I was talking to at Revolutions the other night said that she would lend me all her Isotope geochemistry materials if I came by her office..so I totally took her up and stopped by today! She gave me a textbook and all the powerpoint print-outs and sample problems, so I'm in a lot better shape for conquering that difficult class!

Now I'm headin over to the student rec center for a yoga class

I love going grocery shopping at Brazos Natural Foods and thought I'd share a gallery of pics I call, Whats in my Fridge? Lotta new-to-me products but many familiar favs

Lemon, black plums, and 2 lil pears.

Veggies on the Loose Celery & carrots; yukon, russet, new and sweet potatoes; a turnip, another lemon, and some radishes.

Not pictured: produce crisper on the left containing 2 gorgeous green leaf lettuce heads.

A carton of frozen yogurt made by Double Rainbow in San Francisco.


I got some almond milk yogurt I'm excited to try and a cool green yogurt kefir beverage with wheatgrass and kiwi! Oh and a kombucha..probiotics out the wazoo!


Flax seeds, chia seeds, and wheat germ in re-purposed glassware.


For the first time, I purchased and sprouted chia seeds and am def a fan! They just look cool! I've been aware of them for a couple years I think, but never had the urge to try them before I saw them next to the ground flax seeds I was out of. Chia is native to Mexico and S. America, and sprouts in just 15 minutes and look super cool on a spoon or in a jar, as a gelly nucleus forms around them, similar to a tomato seed. Chia seeds have good fatty acids and lotsa other benefits..but They don't really lend any taste, just a texture. Bob's Red Mill has lots of ideas for recipes with it, but for now I've just eaten a spoonful of it or had it on cereal.


Chia seeds are capable of making cool designs, which is why I'm a really a fan, as I have said, they have no taste really. I made some fun spirally designs today, buy yesterday was just sorta 'experimental.'

chiachia

Sunday, September 11, 2011

gr8 wknd

Ah, the weekend. I now live for the weekend! I didn't feel the need to do any homework yesterday and don't plan to do any today either! Plenty of time during the week. I am continuing to catch up with friends in NC that I haven't talked to in foreva and am just reading, and listening to music in my lovely Apt.

This a.m. I simmered some irish oats for a deelish breakfast with a black plum and pb&j toast


And I enjoyed some locally-roasted Kona beans, french-pressed


I kicked off the weekend on friday by going to a goofy Cardio Happy Hour class at the rec center..I tell ya I may have a good capacity for cardio workouts but I am pretty lacking on coordination skills! The instructor used a Bosu for Step aerobics-type moves and I wasnt so good at getting the motions right, but definitely did better by the end of the class. The main problem with the class was that the girls in it were just too serious! No laughing or chatter or anything. I was definitely laughing at myself and smiling because I was so happy to be jumping around, out of the office, caught up with homework and all and having taken my first quiz in the a.m.!

On friday afternoon I also popped over to the library to check out a free read! 'after dark' by Haruki Murakami. It is a story that is woven together from different perspectives in the course of a single night. I woke up saturday a.m. and couldn't wait to dive in. I also listened to the podcast of Science Friday from the day before.


I went out for frozen yogurt with Carrie and Eric in the afternoon. Carrie left today for San Francisco, as she's going on the big R/V Atlantis cruise from SF to San Diego with John's colleague, Dave. I was going to go, but we realized I would be much better off starting classes with the rest of the new grad students this fall rather than heading out for more pre-studies field work. Carrie loves cruises and she's super stoked. Anyhow, we went to a place called Red Mango, which was new to me. Review: though their flava selection was on the small side (half a dozen), the quality of the mango, blueberry, and dark chocolate flavors really Wowed me. The dark chocolate tasted like a really really good Wendys frosty.


Last night I went out to the Revolution cafe&bar in Bryan where Eric had told me several 'ocean kids' would be meeting up at. It was really hip! and a dozen oceanography majors, some that I had met in july and some I just met in class this week, were there. So so nice to get to hangout in the courtyard strung with lights and listen to live music(singer/guitarist and back up guitarist) that started up around 10:30. I got the house sangria that someone recommended to me, and it was very good-strong and sweet.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

I'm feeling more capable every day! Granted, it took me a solid 5 hours today to correctly work out my first 4 radioisotope homework problems, but I'm gettin the hang of things! Time is definitely on my side--I can just sit at my lab office desk and devote myself to my schoolwork all day really! Which is what I'm going to need to do to keep up with the 2 subjects (analytical chem and isotope geochem) that I don't have as much background in as other students do.

I only know my way to 4 buildings on our massive campus, but they're the only ones I need to know--the Oceanography building(duh), library, the chemistry building, and the rec center. The office I get to share with Eric and Carrie is on the 9th floor of the oceanography bldg and thats where I get to hang out and study and share pots of coffee, tea(we blossomed some loose leaf green in a glass teapot today!), and eat/ toast/ microwave our lunches as we please. And ask for homework help!! Gosh I never woulda gotten those HW problems solved today if Carrie hadn't showed me how she was solving them! Carrie and one other new friend of mine, Fenix, are in the radioisotope class with me and we're the only ones! We actually telecast in to the class which is being taught (to a packed room of 4 guys) at TAMU-Galveston.

So anyhow, I'm loving the time I have at my disposal and am realizing that maybe I will actually survive! That was in question at this time last week..After I reach a stopping point in the early evening, I head over to the rec center for a nice workout. I have gotten my own locker at the rec center and a pass to any group classes (yoga, power yoga, pilates, cycling, salsa!) I want. This week though, I've been laughing and laughing as I watch episodes of Friends (its a nonstop marathon this week on Nick@nite!) on elliptical-esque machines. Its a very very busy rec center and you can see everything because of all the balconies and overall openness. Even the raquetball courts are made of clear walls. Ping pong, badminton, indoor soccer, and basketball are always going on. Oh and rock climbling! Thats very popular too. The 4.5 lap to the mile track loops around it all too, on the 3rd level. I just have been running or hopping on a machine, doing some situps and pushups, and hittin the shower. On my
list (after the friends marathon ends next week) are swimming and badminton, a lovely game in my opinion.

This a.m. I enjoyed a deelish! soymilk banana shake, fresh from my blender.


Tasssty.


At school today I munched on a collard/apple/carrot/celery salad with my fav homemade dressing, lemon tahini, whilst taking a break from those fearsome radioactive decay problems. I make a concerted effort to really step back from the work I'm doing for at least a few mins every hour or so, pour a fresh cup of tea or whateva. Loving the genesis of routine!

Sunday, September 4, 2011

hip hip for weekends

Wanted to update that Slumber Saturday was a raging success..Totally great Mental Health day..i watched lots of movies, but the 2 that held my attention most were both documentaries. The weren't extremely compelling or anything, but I liked them all the same..one was on 6 very different people training for the Chicago marathon, and another was on the font known to type designers as Helvetica. The rest of us just see it and absorb it everywhere and its just like air. I read an interesting article about secularism lending to a Be Here Now type of mindset but overall I didn't get into this particular issue (Aug 15) of the New Yorker as much as the last one I picked up (June 13) and read every bit of. I feel so much more relaxed today.

I woke up so refreshed today and headed out to pick up my friend Cara for a coffee date! Its her last day here in the US, as she finished her meteorology intern project very successfully and is flying back to Germany tomorrow. I know I'm going to miss her but so happy I have had a friend to have a bunch of first experiences with: the student rec center Olympic pool, the restaurant/shopping district known as Northgate, the great great city of Austin! and The Village cafe in downtown Bryan--which we went back to today of course! I enjoyed a divine plate of toast and fruit and a hot mocha w/ dark chocolate, vanilla, and honey. Cara loves the frsh squeezed OJ. It was so good to catch up.

Speaking of catching up..


I didn't do as I thought I would and call friends and fam yesterday! I didn't feel like thinking or talking about myself or Alaska at all! But I hope to get a few calls out today and this week ;). It's so so good call people but lately I feel like it will be hard to do so when there's so much to catch up on and so many changes I'm going through and things to do! But I consistently forget that it never is difficult like I think it will be.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Drivin on the Kenai Peninsula

    On Monday morning, after seeeing a pod of humpbacks!!! on the water-taxi, John left me at a loading ramp with our 1,000ish pounds of equipment while he went to rent a UHaul.  Karl the water-taxi captain had been rather overwhelmed upon seeing all our gear, but he relaxed as we drove across the bay and shut off the boat so that we could all take in the whale sighting just to the sound of the whales' breathing--bliss
   After loading the UHaul truck, we peaced out of Homer and headed up the Kenai Peninsula for Anchorage, a straight shot on the Alaska Hwy.  To say that it was a stunning drive is an understatement.  And I saw my first moose!!  He was just chillin facing the road, I saw him and called out, MOOOOOOSE!  and startled John, who was at the wheel.  It was my first time in a UHaul.  
    That night we met up with our fellow scientists and went out to the Glacier Brewhouse for last night end-of-fieldwork revelry!  I gotta say that the scientists I've been with have a hard time not talking about science even when they're relaxing!  I mentioned this to Natasha during dinner and she agreed.  Good time any way. I enjoyed the excellent on-tap IPA, salad, and mushroom pizza.  I had a real hankering for mushrooms while in Alaska.  Adina, the chief scientist, ordered a  hot Kahlua coffee for dessert and I totally followed suit. 

     Here's some pictures from the drive!