49th and 50th bound!!

Tuesday and Wednesday were my ticket booth/gift store days. This week they were really fun! I had some great conversations with the visitors and even met some funny people from Hawaii and a mom and daughter from Michigan who ended up buying a qiviut scarf. Qiviut is the winter coat musk oxen shed from their coats and its one of the finest fibers in the world. It's softer than cashmere and warmer than wool. Only the natives here in Alaska can harvest it. We have some really pretty qiviut products in the gift store (especially a couple head bands I've been eyeing). Because it's such a fine fiber sweaters, scarfs, etc. are super expensive.

Yesterday was a bit of a stressful morning. It's so hard to concentrate on my summer class being here and I was racing to get my research paper done all morning that was due later in the day. Thank goodness one more week left! Uncle Bryan, Aunt Deanna, Caleb, Abby, Emma, and Gideon all came to the center for a behind the scenes. It was so great seeing them after such a long time. Like Lucian I can't believe how big and how much older everyone is but I'm sure it's even more surprising to those older than me seeing me older too! Haha. I'm thankful family is here and am really looking forward to spending more time with them. Definitely some fishing with Bethy and Amanda and a few weekends in Anchorage with Uncle Bryan and fam. It's always fun to take people in enclosures and show them around but especially loved ones. I think Gideon really liked feeding snickers peanuts and Abby was enjoying Hamm (one of the baby musk ox). I wish I had my camera to take pics of them! I'm sure that won't be the last I see them at the center : ) I also took a walk and fed the bears some of the cranberries Amanda and Bethany gave me. They LOVED them! I spent the rest of the evening reading a book in the observation deck in the sun then watched some O.C. with Christina and Nicole.

Today was the PERFECT summer day. The weather has been unbelievable. I didn't think it'd get so warm here in Alaska...even hot! Today I was roastin and I think we all got some sun. Jeremy, Claire, Christina, Erin, Melissa, Marcie, and I went to Girdwood to send out some mail and then went and hiked Crow Pass. It was a 3 mile hike and it was definitely more strenuous than Gull Rock in Hope. It wasn't so bad until that last little part. I was cookin and rubbin the snow around us all over my face and neck to cool off haha. But I made it! And the view and wildlife was great. We saw some mountain goats and I even saw my first bears in the wild. Don't worry Dad, they were far off. It looked like some little bears and mama trying to cross a big snow patch. On the way down I definitely slid down on my hands and knees in the snow but it was so fun I didn't even care. We were singing (well, trying to sing) songs from the sound of music and making our way down some rocky parts. When we got home we all went to Moose Flats to go swimming. The water was cold but it was fun. Never thought I'd go swimming in Alaska either. It was just what I needed since I've been missing summer days in Michigan.