Finished!

Well, I'm in Barrow again but I have made an effort to go walking late in the evening after working all day. On most days, I'm finally winding down at 10:00 at night but there is still plenty of daylight for walking. One of the highlights of this trip was seeing a very large polar bear about 300 yards off-shore on the ice. It was poking around an opening in the ice, repeatedly diving in and coming out. Someone mentioned that it was probably hunting a seal. After watching for about 15 minutes, it was dragging something on the ice away from town. It must have been successful. I don't have a decent camera so no pictures. The other exciting thing is getting the phones in the BARC (Barrow Arctic Research Center) to work. I felt very bad being responsible for getting phones into the building before it was occupied and having it take so long. Oh yes, I also finished StartWalking IV sometime this week. I just noticed the number of steps was over the 1.7M needed to finish. For some reason, this one doesn't have me as engaged as the previous 3 programs. No prizes I guess...

On this trip, I'm doing much better on my diet than on previous trips. Moderate amounts of food and stopping when I first get a feeling of fullness. The Japanese restaurant here has a great sashimi selection. Sashimi, miso soup and some steamed soy beans make a great meal. I'm quitting a bit early today rather than run myself into the ground. I was originally trying to finish early and leave on today's evening flight since there is going to be a motorcycle ride tomorrow with a group from church. Guess I'll miss out on that.

Solstice

After being a slug all day, I walked into town this evening for the Solstice Festival. They blocked off several streets downtown and it was like going to the fair with all of the booths and live entertainment. It is starting to get really warm now with temperatures reaching into 80°F but while walking along Farmers Loop, there was a nice breeze blowing. I forgot to sign up for the Midnight Sun Run so I figured the walk was close enough. It was right around 9 miles. Feeling exhausted from the drive back from Seward. At least next month when we drive to California, there will be additional drivers. I almost had my son drive some but he had never driven the truck before so it didn't seem like a great idea.

Sunday afternoon - went for a couple of short walks and a short bike ride. Right now I am sitting in Macdonalds waiting for my son's shift to end. I for one will be glad when he gets his license. Lots of clouds building up to the north so it must be time for the afternoon thundershowers. I just noticed that I'm almost done with "Expedition Everest" a.k.a. StartWalking IV with less than 80k steps remaining. Should be done by the end of this week but then again, I'm going to Barrow again so who knows.

Seward

Seward is a beautiful place. Lots of waterfalls, mountains and sealife. We've rented a nice house at Miller's Landing a couple of miles south of Seward and we're here with my brother and sister and their families. Sort of a mini-reunion. There are a lot of nice gravel roads to walk on and the beach is pretty nice though it is cooler than I expected. At least there are no mosquitoes. Yesterday, I walked for a couple of hours in the afternoon back and forth along the beach road and it was wonderful. The clouds burned off and there were a number of boats cruising around. I forgot my binoculars (among other things) which would have been nice given the amount of birds and sea life around here. Several family members are opting for a cruise later today but I think that I'll be lazy again and relax. It's 5:00 in the morning and I'm awake. That can't be good.

Update - I ended up going on the cruise. The good part was spectacular scenery, saw lots of humpbacks, sea lions, orcas, and more otters than I can count. The bad part was the nausea. Initiated by my medication and amplified by the movement of the boat, after a couple of hours, it didn't matter what they spotted, I wasn't interested. We left on Friday and drove all the way back to Fairbanks. On the way in, we noticed a few thousand cars parked between Ester and Fairbanks. Wonder what was going on?

Finally, a day off

It seems that I've been going continuously for the last couple of weeks. It was nice to sleep in for a change. I'll be on annual leave for the next week so maybe I'll be able to get in some serious walking again. I haven't make consistently my ten mile per day goal for quite a while. Too tired. I ran into town a couple of times today and didn't take the bike. Just felt drained.