A little bit about Kodiak

Sorry it's taken me awhile to do another blog... I'm sure you all have been anxiously anticipating my next post. I wanted to familiarize everyone with Kodiak a little better. Below is a pic of the island. I live near the town Kodiak.The red line by Chiniak Bay is all the road system for the whole island (key words being whole island). So there's hardly any roads as you can see, about 40 miles worth. Then the orange dotted line that takes up 2/3 of the island is the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge. It's about 1.9 million acres with only a few cabins on it that can only be accessed via boat or plane. That is the only way to access the other towns on the island as well. So the Refuge mainly consists of animals and wilderness, but it's there for the purpose to protect the animals and their habitats.



The town of Kodiak is pretty much a fishing/coast guard town. It has a good mix of people with a rugged atmosphere. It actually has the friendly small town feel to it and everyone is super nice. It has a rich Alutiiq and Russian-Orthodox history.There was also a navy base here in World War II which they have now turned into Fort Abercrombrie State Park, which is gorgeous. Kodiak is a beautiful town surrounded by the massive ocean and mountains. Here are some of the pics I've taken so far:

 This below shows the first cruise ship of the season in the water there, it's from the Holland America Cruise Line. Kodiak actually doesn't get too many cruise ships though, only like 15-20 a year.

 You can see a little bit of Kodiak on the left there.

This pic is taken from the harbor and shows a nearby little island.

Last week I finished up my training... yay! It went really well though. The Refuge had everything super scheduled for us interns and I learned so much! We had guess speakers, hikes, tours, bear training, a boat ride and so much more. I feel like I'm a Kodiak Island expert so if you have a question, let me know. So one of the places we were able to visit was Ft. Abercrombie State Park, which I mentioned earlier was a fort in WWII. It is a wonderful park with great trails and it's gorgeous with all the moss covered spruce trees and the ocean. Here are some pics and that's Liz with me...

Gorgeous, isn't it? I also have some pics from our boat ride. This was the first time I've ever ridden out on the ocean and let's say I don't have my sea legs yet. Lol.

 Okay so we saw a boat on fire while on our ride and the firemen were working to put it out. It was kinda crazy... turns out it was from welding they were doing on the boat.

Well I have a lot more pics and a lot more to talk about but I don't want by blog to take 8 hours to look at so I'll make another one soon. Oh and just to clarify, the pics when it's all nice and sunny out is not what it's normally like. I pretty much haven't seen the sun in 2 weeks... but this weekend I will!!!! (I'm excited). This weekend is also Crab Festival which is a pretty big deal here. There's obvious crab and fair type food, a parade, rides, and other fun activities. Everyone have a great rest of the week and remember to pray for the tornado victims & families! Thanks for reading! =)

Home Sweet Home

Okay here is blog # Dos... very exciting, I know. I've obviously been messing with my background on here... I can't decided what I like so it might change here and there, just go with it. So I just successfully completed one week of training... yay! It went really well, I love every one who works for the Refuge. It's a great mix of people and they are so nice. Training this week consisted of learning about the Kodiak and the Refuge. They made it interesting by letting us explore town and we had guest speakers come and talk to us about the Kodiak bears, whales, sea lions, and the other crazy animals on this island. Next week they are going to take us to some local state parks & for a boat ride & we get to start working on camp stuff some more.

I am living in the Refuge's bunkhouse this summer. The house is for volunteers and is out of town 4 miles. It has 2 bedrooms and a bathroom on one side for guys and the same on the other side for ladies and the rest of the house is a shared space. It's crazy right now because there are 9 people living here and there's about to be 3 more coming in around Monday. So there is James, Ross, Steve, Isaac, Adea, & Jane who are all biologists (plus the 3 other people coming) and they are going to be going out in the field (that's somewhere in the Refuge's 1.9 million acres of refuge) to study animals. They are split into three different teams: one will be studying the Kodiak bear, another the mountain goat, and the last one is studying a really rare bird called the kittlitz murrelet. They're going to be here for a week & a half training/getting ready then they'll be gone the rest of the summer and only coming in every once in awhile. Then Mike, Liz, and myself are the camp crew and we'll pretty much have the house to ourselves till the end of August. Here are some pics of the hizzouse:

Here's our recycling center... yeah there's 5 separate bins.

Here's my room! And yes Mom I make my bed everyday.. actually I'm like the only one that does.

And the best part ever is my sweet government 16 passenger ride (please try not to be jealous):

I'm really looking forward to this summer. I'm get along with my co-worker/housemate Liz like a dream. Yesterday we kept saying the same thing or finishing each other's sentences... it was kind of creepy but wonderful at the same time. She's a funny gal. We've gone a few bike rides together and here's my proof:

Actually funny story, first time we rode together we went out for a few miles and we were about back to the bunkhouse when I totally wiped out on my bike. I did like a side slide thing scraping my left knee pretty good (put a hole in my tights & it was bleeding decently) and I had dirt all on my right side. I don't even know how I accomplished that, but I did. I blame the bike because it's a men's mountain bike and I basically have to run and jump on to it because it's so high lol. But I am totally fine from my biking injury, Liz got the first aid kit and took care of me... so I'm in good hands here.

Well I think that's all I have for now. I plan to do a bio on some of my housemates and more on Kodiak next time. I still can't believe I'm here right now! It is so beautiful here being next to the mountains & the ocean. I'll leave you the the view of Barometer Mountain, a view I see everyday. And I plan to climb it one day this summer. Laters!

Welcome to Kodiak!

Well I have never been a blogger before but I decided to become one during my internship this summer in Kodiak, Alaska. I thought it would be a good way for my friends & family to stay connected with what I'm doing. Plus I've had about 5,000 people ask me to send lots of pics so this will be a way to share pics with everyone.

So first off a little bit of background on my internship.... I was hired by the SCA (Student Conservation Assocation). The SCA is a great organization that helps students find internships all over the United States that are usually for the government in parks, research, refuges, etc. They pay for housing, travel expenses, and give you a stipend. It's a pretty good deal. Therefore naturally I applied for some internships through the SCA that were all over the nation... I got selected as a candidate for the Kodiak internship... had an interview.. got the gig. So my internship is for the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge and I will be helping put on camp for environmental education. I arrived here May 8th and will head back to OK on August 28th. So to clarify... I am on Kodiak Island, living in the town Kodiak, and working for the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge.

A few things about the island: 1.) there is roughly 13,000 people on it (12,000 live in the town Kodiak), 2.) the Refuge takes up a good chunk of the island, it is 1.9 million acres, 3.) it home of the famous Kodiak bear, 4.) it is also home to the nation's largest Coast Guard base, 5.) it has the nation's third largest fishing port, and 6.) I'm living on it.

I arrived Sunday, May 8th at 10:30 pm and this was my view:

Yes, this is at 10:30 pm. But for those of you that have some preconceived thoughts about Alaska's sun time, this is was I can inform you of Kodiak: no the sun does not shine 24 hrs a day... this summer will get to about 6hrs of darkness... and yes it does get dark.

May 9th was my first day and it consisted of orientation & training... there are other summer interns just like me but I'll share more on them later. The first day went great! It was just mainly getting to know the staff, the Refuge, and everyone's favorite: the rules! Ha! But for lunch they showed us interns Buskin beach and it was so amazing. It was so neat to just chill and take everything in. I'm excited to learn about this new ecosystem and environment. Here is some pics I took from the beach:

I'm still really off from the 3 hour time charnge and am extremely tired. Everything seems so surreal though and it's hard to believe I'm going to be living here for the whole summer. Thanks to everyone for praying for me & checking on me. More to come soon :)