Vacation in Fairbanks

I'm back!

I went to Fairbanks for a week to spend some time with my cousin. I just got back last night, so today will be spent unpacking and getting resettled in at home. My cats are like Velcro this morning!

I took the train up on Monday. That was a nice trip. Long, but still nice. I left the train station in Anchorage at 8:00 am and didn't get in to Fairbanks untill around 8:30 pm. I did, however, get to see a Mother Moose and a brand new born baby, 2 black bears, an eagle in its nest, and even got to see Denali - the whole thing, even! It is so tall it has its own weather system around it, and is usually covered with clowds - but I got a beautiful view.

Chris, my cousin, works at UAF in thier biology department, so I got to spend some time in his lab with him. He was extracting DNA from some blood samples taken from some common mures (water fowl) out in the Pribolof Islands. I had never had any lab experience, so it was fun for me. I think he thought I would be bored, but I loved it.

He even took me over to the classrooms where he teaches and let me look thru the microscopes! And, as a bonus, I got to hold a human brain in my hands! How cool is that?

We went to the Large Animal Research Station (LARS) and looked at the Musk Ox and Caribou. We went to the Alaska Bird Observatory (ABO) and looked at birds. We went to the Museum and looked at the exhibits there (they have some really nice dinosaur bones). We took his dog Pato out for a swim in the Chena River.

We had a great time - but I must say, I'm glad to be home. I took a flight home on Alaska Airlines because I knew that I'd want to just get home as quickly as possible (just one hour as opposed to 8 hours by train).

Thanks, Chris!