*FAIRBANKS * AK: Aurora * Oil * Polar Bears!*

Mom came to visit the first week of April (April 1-6). We spent the first half of the trip in Fairbanks (this post) and the second half of the trip in Seward (next post).

FAIRBANKS AK:  THE NORTHERN LIGHTS

For those of you who don't know, Fairbanks is much farther North than Anchorage; its latitude is 64° N. Anchorage AK is 61° N.   Minneapolis MN is 44° N.    Seattle WA is 47° N. The Earth's Magnetic North Pole is 83° N.  The Northern Lights are visible between 62-70° N.

We stayed at a great b&b called the Aurora Borealis Lodge located at the top of Cleary Summit, 20 minutes North of Fairbanks. The guest lodge (behind my mom and I in the photo above) contains 4 rooms, each with a Northern-facing window, ideal for viewing the Northern Lights from inside. The lodge has a walkie-talkie system that would seem to make Aurora-viewing fail-proof (however, we managed to miss it the first night).

We spent two days romping around in snow shoes searching for meese.

We had dinner at a great local brewery (both nights) and saw some spectacular Northern Lights (above). 

The Northern Lights (also called the Aurora Borealis) are a naturally-occurring phenomenon. Their explanation requires a vague understanding of geo-magnetics, so I dedicated a separate post to the topic.

NPR recently featured an interesting article on a 2-minute video of the Northern Lights recently posted on youtube; click this link for the article. Click this link (or the caption below) to go straight to the video.

The Trans-Alaska Pipeline (Also in Fairbanks)

The Trans-Alaska Pipeline runs a distance of 800 miles and transports a maximum of 2.136 million barrels of oil from the Prudhoe Bay oil fields (in Northernmost Alaska) to Valdez AK, a Southern port town. It was commissioned in 1977 by the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company (a partnership between major oil companies: BP, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, Koch Industries, and Cheveron Corporation). 

We also drove down into town to check out the University of AK- Fairbanks; this proved yet another failed moose-sighting attempt; however, we did get some wild-life viewing in by way of ice sculpture. :)

The Northern Lights (AKA: Aurora Borealis)

The Northern Lights occur between 62-70° in the Northern and Southern latitudes. 

VAGUE INTRO TO GEO-MAGNETICS:
All things or particles (any small or large mass or substance) have magnetic fields. All things are magnets, to some extent. 

The Earth has a magnetic field with a North Magnetic Pole that lies at approximately 83° N. The smallest particle of oxygen (O2) up in the sky also has an infinitely smaller magnetic field with a magnetic North and South. 

The Earth's larger (and stronger) magnetic field pulls on all particles that also have magnetic fields; this causes charged particles up in the air to collide. The resulting collisions cause tiny explosions that can collectively be viewed at night (when most other light is absent). We call the natural phenomenon of these collective explosions: The Northern Lights (or, the Aurora Borealis).

MORE FUN INFO & LINKS:

Click on the captions below for an interesting article recently posted on NPR; or, go straight to the video.

Video footage of the Northern Lights

Article on NPR

March Meese (plural for moose?)

New Digs!

Upon my return to the tundra in March (after a brief visit home for a funeral) I was able to spend some time "settling in" to my new apartment and exploring the surrounding area. The picture below hardly does justice to my new building. However, those white peaks in the background are not clouds; they are mountains! As I am able to see them every day, I am one happy camper. :)

1601 Medfra Street Anchorage AK 99501

EARTHQUAKE!

06:19 AM AKDT on 3/25/11: We had an earthquake here in Anchorage! Just a little one - 4.3 magnitude - about 2 hours North of Anchorage, but it was large enough to wake me up from sleep at 6AM. It lasted 15-20 seconds and literally felt like two people were having sex on my bed. [Don't worry Mom & Dad - I'm only referencing what I've seen in movies]. I came to the conclusion that what I'd felt WAS an Earthquake (and not my neighbors); though I was not quite confident enough to ask anyone: "was there an earthquake this morning?"

I spent most of the day eaves-dropping on the nurses and tech's conversations at work - to see if anyone was talking about an earthquake. This was to no avail so I finally asked one of my scribes if there were ever earthquakes in AK/Anchorage. LUCKILY there are "All the time!"

University of Alaska-Fairbanks' Geophysical Institute runs an Alaska Earthquake Information Center tracks all nearby seismic activity, and recorded a report that confirms my story.

Meese Ski!

As the days are finally beginning to stay lighter longer by the end of March, I have been able to get some great twilight night ski's in before the sun completely sets (at around 9PM). Below are some beautiful pictures I took while stopping to suck some wind. 

 

I was very excited one evening when I saw a MOOSE standing literally on the classic tracks I was skiing on. He was just chompin' on some branches and so of course I took a picture. Moose can actually be fairly dangerous (despite my impression of them as being a bigger dumber version of a deer); as I began to wonder how I should continue on my ski, the moose casually moved on. :)

AS PROMISED LAST WEEK...

MOVIN' ON UP!

Brenna Bray

1601 Medfra St

Apartment #503

Anchorage AK 99501

Now that I have settled into a much more comfortable residence I can bear some snapshots of my previous dump (below). My new address (above) is actually a 2-bedroom apartment, complete with living area and kitchen. The CEO of our company was in town for our "go live" in February and she occupied one of my 2 bedrooms for exactly 1 week. She has since left, and I now have more bedrooms than I know what to do with. GEE, THAT WOULD BE PERFECT FOR VISITORS! ; )
                    
  

 My own bedding (on right) does little improvement...

*IDITAROD*

I am tempted to jump straight into the pictures; however, I feel obliged to provide a brief written introduction to this historic event. Think back to Jack London's companion novels The Call of the Wild and White Fang; or, recall the Disney adaptation starring Ethan Hawke circa 1991. Recall the Klondike Gold Rush at the end of the 19th century; sled dogs provided vital transportation, communication, and supplies to Alaskan towns and mining camps. Iditarod Alaska was one such mining camp seated along the Iditarod River, in the heart of the Iditarod mining district. Now a long-time ghost town, Iditarod is considered the half-way-point for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on the Southern Route.

 

The Iditarod Trail runs from the relatively populated southern city of Anchorage to one of Alaska's northernmost homesteads, Nome.

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is held annually and provides the Alaskan people with an opportunity to celebrate their Pioneer roots. Anchorage Alaska typically holds a "Press Start" much like a winter carnival on the first Saturday of March (March 5th this year). Downtown Anchorage is put on pause for a day and downtown "main street"is transformed into a race start. 

Though I had a lot going on the day of the press start in Anchorage (work still hectic, upgrading my living situation, and preparing for an unfortunate flight home), I was able to catch a few token snapshots (below). I was also able to snatch up a fallen "bootie" from one of the sled dogs - perhaps it will bring good luck? :)

Hungry for Victory! ;)

UPDATE

The hospital I work at (http://www.providence.org/alaska/pamc/) recently changed from a paper to an electronic medical record system (EMR).

I have described the transition as similar to changing from a PC to a Mac; in reality, this has been more like advancing from snail mail to e-mail in one foul swoop (literally - this change occurred hospital-wide at 2AM on February 26).

YIKES!

This transition has kept me fairly busy, logging consistent 60-80-hour workweeks over the past month (not necessarily by choice).

I have managed to maintain some excitement though. To keep things short and sweet, I am going to “back log” and post several small posts this week with highlights from the past 2 months (sine my last update).

HIGHLIGHTS WILL INCLUDE:

• IDITEROD & DOG MUSHING
• MEESE! (pleural for Moose)?
• NEW APARTMENT!!
• EARTHQUAKE (HERE - NO JOKE)
• FAIRBANKS WITH MOM
• NORTHERN LIGHTS