Yesterday Claire and I finished up some gardening.  It's starting to look pretty good!  I'm trying to work on not worrying too much about if we're doing things exactly how they should be done and what people want.  I'm starting to figure out you really do have to be able to be more independent, make decisions, and just go with it with this internship.  I really like that about it...it's a good skill to work on and have, to take more initiative.  It reminds me of W.I.L.D. (Women's Initiative for Leadership Development), a club I participated in at MSU.  Jodi was always talking about initiative and how crucial it is in the workplace...it was her favorite word!!  You were right Jodi ; ) Anyways the garden is shaping up to look pretty great and I can't wait to see how it grows and develops, especially after reading directions and questioning ourselves while planting something as simple as carrots.  Haha have I learned nothing from those "agonizing" gardening days my parents had us do to earn a beanie baby?!  The day wasn't too crazy...Erin went with Sarah to go pick up 12 pallets of meat donated by Walmart.  That's right....12 pallets!! I've never seen so much meat in my life.  Below is a pic of Nicole's awesome packing job, just one of the many freezers we used.  I also did my first porcupine presentation with Snickers with Claire.  I never thought porcupines could be so friendly...or so smelly.  He's definitely got an interesting odor to him haha I'm waiting for the day visitors think it's us interns not showering.  Claire and I did feedings as well as another musk ox feeding for visitors to watch.  Walter ate a fair amount of grain while Hamm was more interested in sucking on Walter's ears.  It went much easier than the Lynx feeding.  Kaltag and Venetie were pretty active yesterday.  Erin says they tend to be more interested in what you have even after you throw them some meat.  She wasn't kidding!  I was in the middle of talking about the Lynx to visitors and Kaltag just kept coming towards me with no signs of stopping even though she had some tasty beef right next to her.  I decided I wasn't down for a nice swat in the face so I got out of there pretty quick. 

It was a rainy day at the center today.  Below is a pic from the ticket booth, where I spent my morning.  Nothing too exciting happened today.  Bristol Palin came to the center today so she had quite a few film crew members come in.  I'm not sure if I saw her pass through or not.  To be completely honest I had no idea what she looked like until I googled her when I got home so it's possible I checked her in at the ticket booth without even knowing it haha.  I hope she enjoyed the center and it'll be nice to have the center seen by those who watch her show.  Erin, Claire, and Nicole left to go pick up some moose calves but I have yet to see them.  My evening has been filled with work for my online summer class.  SO close to getting that degree.  I keep putting my work on the back burner...yikes!  It's hard to focus on school work when your in a place like this. 

Today I started out at 8 am and did my first bus tour at 8:45!  It was a bus of Australians and they were so happy and excited to see the big bears (two brown and one grizzly).  Thank god they were out and about since I left the salmon burger I was planning on using to entice them to come out in the kitchen.  They have 18 acres (the largest bear enclosure in North America) so they aren't always visible.  JB was loving the spot light as he was sitting up and posing for the cameras.  The group thought it was the funniest thing.  The tour went well and it was nice to get over that initial first tour hump.  I also had a chance to do one more tour, also Australians.  Both bus drivers were extremely laid back and nice which helped calm the presentation nerves.  I also got to spend time with Jewelie as Doug Lindstrand, an amazing Alaskan photographer that takes MANY pictures at the center, caught me feeding her breakfast.  The rest of the day was full of feedings, trash duty, and gardening!  Erin, Nicole, and I got started on planting the center's garden by planting some onions.  As I was giving the elk some bananas some of the center's visitors pointed out another baby elk had just been born.  Sure enough there was a wobbly legged baby taking it's first steps.  We're up to three now!  I got to top the day off by bottle feeding Walter and Hamm.  We advertised this feeding so there was a small audience...of course Walter was extra hungry and rambunctious sucking my finger like crazy in between my legs while Hamm was finishing up his bottle haha.  On my walk back to the intern bunkhouse I noticed Toquka being super active and playing with an antler in the water.  It was so entertaining to watch...priceless.  Sarah, a returning intern, also came in today.  We wrapped up the evening by celebrating Jack's (one of the moose) 4th bday.  He was chowing down on the watermelon and bananas he got as a treat.  One of the continuous donors of bananas (Cindy I think?) even made a cake for us interns along with another big box of bananas.  Overall another great day interning at the center.

*courtesy of Doug Lindstrand

Today Jeremy, Claire, and I went to Anchorage to go to the market and then a "hike" (more like walk haha) at Eagle River's Nature Center which was beautiful.  The market reminded me of Shipshewana.  I even bought a Matrishka doll.  I really liked Anchorage, it has that whole bigger city but still surrounded by nature thing going.  I think Andrew, who's heading out there in August, will really like it.  Eagle river was pretty cool as well.  We spotted two moose as well as two moose calfs.  Unfortunately I still don't have my real camera's charger so I couldn't zoom in for a good pic with my iphone.  

Next stop was Cosco = dangerous.  Claire is quite the Cosco enthusiast... I couldn't help but buy a big jar of pickles (HOLLLAA OTHER HALF!)  Doesn't matter how expensive pickles are, I'll always crack.  Jeremy (definitely the cook of the house) made us some salmon that was real tasty for dinner he got at Cosco.  We also had another intern come in today, Scott.  Gangs almost all here.  A few of us went on a 12 mile bike ride to/from the frozen portage lake.  I'm not much of a biker...needless to say my legs are dead.  But once we got there it was worth it for the view.  Sometimes I still can't believe I'm in Alaska for the summer!  I'm off for some s'mores : )

*Btw the first few pics are from a short hike we did in Girdwood yesterday *

I've finally started up my blog!  I'll be keeping you all posted on my next year and a half or so adventure working at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center near Girdwood, AK and the Surfing Dairy Goat Farm in Maui. It's been quite a start as I packed all my things up (thanks to my best friends) and said all my goodbyes.  

I made it to Anchorage after being bumped a flight and delayed at midnight last Wednesday.  Luckily I didn't have to work the next day.  I thought the view out my window coming in was amazing but it was nothing like the Seward Highway on the way to the center.  Since I had my first three days off (just worked out that way with my scheduled days off and when I arrived) I had a hard time finding things to do after catching up on sleep and settling in.  I was anxious to get started and learn since it seemed like everyone else around me was working.  During those days I watched Kara feed the two baby musk oxen we're bottle raising at their 11 pm feeding and went to Girdwood with Erin (our head intern) to the ski resort for a porcupine presentation.  The musk ox babies are named after the mayors Walter Hickle (sp?) and J. Hammond.  They're so cute!!  I definitely don't mind their late night feedings.  We just recently put them on display so here Erin and I are moving them to their new enclosure.

Later in the day we picked up another new intern Claire from the airport, who we thought was coming in Monday.  Claire's from Hawaii and it was refreshing to have another newbie around to learn the ropes with.  Since Claire came in Erin thought it'd be easier to train us all together so I got to start interning a day earlier!  My first day we learned feedings, went on a behind the scenes tour, and worked on other misc. projects.  It was SO great.  The next couple days we were able to put a harness on Hershey (thanks to Claire's skills with horse training) and walk him around, he's one of our male reindeer.

There are so many amazing animals here it's hard to choose favorites. The bears are always so cool to watch and feed, I'm surprised how playful they are!  On an evening walk around the center the other night we saw JB (Joe Boxer, one of the brown bears) playing in the water with an old tire. The lynx kind of freak me out but they're so pretty and interesting to me.  Then there's Jewelie...the sweetest deer you'll ever meet.  One of my favorite things to do here so far is walk around the center in the evening after it's closed.  We also went on a nice bike ride (MT, Marcie, Claire, and I) to Moose Flats where we thought we saw a Moose further away and Blue Ice Trail.  The views here are so great, I can see how people fall in love and never come back.  The other night we got a moose calf who was bit pretty bad by a pack of dogs.  Mike MIller, the owner of the center, let us take control and patch him up as Claire sutured him!  She did an awesome job.  It was such a great experience.  The moose is standing and taking bottles so hopefully he continues to do well.  Finally yesterday Erin invited MT, Nikki, and I to come to Anchorage with her and Walter (one of the baby musk ox) to do an hour interview at the ABC studio.  I've never been in a studio like that before so it was cool to get the chance to go along for the ride. We even got to join her on T.V. in the last segment when she talked about the internship program at the center.  Till next time!!