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Friday, October 19, 2007
Sorry, but not much to take photos of...
Before heading out to the lab today, one of the snowmobiles had to be
fueled up.Every vehicle up in alert runs on JP8 jet fuel, doesn't matter
what it is, it runs on it.
Waiting to go!
Venture out around the lab today.
Hard to see where the snow and the sky meet.
Self portrait, the wind had died down when I was out so it wasn't that
cold, only about -15°C.
There are power issues at the lab, they lost a phase in one of the
transformers that brings power from the base, as a result the lab is
running on the auxilary power unit (APU), the generator holds enough
fuel for about a day. There is another tank that holds about a weeks
worth of fuel and then the fuel tank on the track vehicle holds a couple
of weeks worth of fuel. As long as the wind is blowing the right way, it
doesn't affect our measurements.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Bettles, Alaska
Bettles is further north than Iqaluit, Nu but not further north than
Pond Inlet (or Alert). A map showing where Bettles is located.
The site was on the north side of town. Some of the trees had to be cut
down and cleared. The ground was like walking on sponge. It wasn't flat
and some places would suck you in. Below it a few feet is the permafrost
layer.
This building was made in Fairbanks and brought up to Bettles on the ice
road last winter. There was no power at the site yet, it seems the
National Park Services gets tied up in the same red tape and levels of
bureaucracy that we encounter when setting up our sites. They had a
portable generator for the training of the operators.
The airstrip at Bettles is quite busy, they are three air taxi companies
that fly in and out a couple of times a day.
It was very quiet and peaceful at the site, save for when the generator
was going. Also the constant hum of the mosquitos in your ear was
distracting.
This guy was hanging on the wall in the lounge of the lodge I was
staying in.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Around Town
I can now say I have been to the remote interior of Alaska and survived.
On the second day I went for a walk around town. And when I say town it
is just a few buildings. It wasn't quite 24 hour sun, but pretty close,
there were only a few hours of night, the days would start getting
shorter by a few minutes each day until they hit 24 hour dark by
November. This is the building I stayed in, it is part of the Bettles
Lodge.
This is the new National Park Service Visitor Centre that was being
built. It was replacing a previous one which burnt down a few years ago.
The NPS, the Fish and Wildlife Service, airport and the Bettles Lodge
are the main employers.
There are only two lodges in town, but both are now owned by the same
person. It use to be separate families and it was pretty much a
Hatfield-McCoy type of deal. Eventually one drove the other out of
business.
A close-up of the moose skull.
Much of the time I was in Bettles it was sunny, partly cloudy. Yesterday
we watched a storm blow around us. There was thunder and lightening, but
we missed most of it.
Some stats on Bettles. Although it is called Bettles it is really
Bettles Field, the original town is downstream, but was pretty much
abandoned once the airstrip was built.
The main Bettles Lodge. There is a large portion of tourists from Japan
and Germany. The majority of them pay big bucks to come in
February-March during the prime Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis)
viewing period.
It is a Historic Place.
The Bettles Ranger Station. Most of the National Parks Service staff are
seasonal, except for one lone guy who stays through the winter to keep
the buildings going.
We had to make another trip out to the site. The mosquitoes were even
worse than the previous day. Those birds in the picture are actually
mosquitoes.
Everyone had on their bug dope and bug jackets on today.
Here I am in front of the lodge.
Fairbanks, Alaska
I had some time in Fairbanks before my flight back to Anchorage.
Fortunately one of the National Parks Service guys we went to Bettles
with offered the use of his truck if I wanted to take a tour. It sure is
a different way of life up here, can you imagine someone making the same
offer in Toronto to a guy they met the day before. This was Jim's truck.
I made a quick drive downtown and parked near the visitor centre. The
Chena River flows through the city.
This monument is next to the Visitor Centre. It honours Alaska's
"Unknown First Family". It is by Malcolm Alexander and is 'dedicated to
all families past, present and future, and to the indomitable spirit of
the people of Alaska's interior'.
This monument is the Alaska-Siberia Lend Lease statue. The memorial
commemorates Russian and American aviators and support troops
responsible for ferrying nearly 8,000 American-built warplanes from the
Midwest through Canada to Fairbanks, where Russian pilots then flew the
planes to Siberia during World War II.
"Da-plane, da-plane!!"
Next I went to the University
of Alaska Museum of the North. The campus is situated on top of a
hill and it gives a view of Fairbanks. Like any building paid for by
public funds controversy surrounds it. The NPS guy said there were
complaints about the winning design and the location.
The main hall is a natural history of Alaska. This a skull of a bowhead
whale.
This is a bronzed cast polar bear, it almost looked like it was a huge
jade carved bear.
It's amazing how big these things are.
A flying squirrel.
A complete caribou skeleton.
The remains of a baby wooly mammoth they found in the ice. You can see
the head, shoulder and one leg.
A display of gold.
A big brown bear at the entrance. They had a good exhibit called "Forced
to Leave". It is a photo exhibition that tells about the World War II
evacuation of Alaska's Japanese Americans and Aleuts.
Another part of the museum is Alaskan art. This is some crazy looking
outhouse.
Some antlers on a wall.
This bear painting goes beyond the canvas.
You can almost feel the caribou rushing past you.
Another shot of the exterior of the museum. As you can see the weather
in Fairbanks was beautiful, they have been going through a stretch of
weather in the 80's, this part of interior Alaska must have similar
weather to the interior of BC.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Downtown Anchorage
I headed downtown when I got back to Anchorage to pick up some t-shirts
for the girls.
Around town they had these salmon on a stick, I think it is like the
Toronto Moose, Halifax lobsters, Victoria whales and Winnipeg bears.
Alaska celebrates its 50th year in 2009.
The Anchorage Visitor Information Center with its sod roof.
The 4th Avenue theatre built in 1947. It is no longer a threatre but a
banquet hall.
Some eskimo statues on a sign.
I tried one of the reindeer sausages, it was quite good.
An indian outside one of the gift shops.
The Bear and Raven statue.
Looking down 4th Avenue.
This hotel was down the street from my hotel.
My rental car was a Dodge Calibre, just like the one I had in Sept Isles
last month.
Gas prices in Anchorage were $4.39 per gallon, that was the equivalent
of $1.17 per litre. The average price in the US is $4.11 per gallon.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Deep River Trip
I spent the week in the Deep River/Chalk River area. I was up at our
site located in the AECL facility at Chalk River. I stayed in Deep River
this time. It is a lot closer than Pembroke which was nicer. The
restaurant choices are limited, so we did end up down in Pembroke one
night. All the towns in that area are along the Ottawa River.
We had a good week of weather, unlike the Toronto area that had a lot of
rain and thunderstorms. Deep River is located across the river from the
Laurentians.
The town of Deep River was constructed in 1944 by the federal government
as part of the Manhatten Project for employees at the Chalk River
nuclear facility. The population is approximately 4300 and suprisingly
it has its own police force.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
The Dairy State
I'm down in Madison Wisconsin this week for the National Atmospheric
Deposition Program annual meeting and scientific symposium. The
hotel/meeting area is next door to the state capital. In the afternoon
there was a rally over at the capital, when I walked over it turned out
to be a Barack Obama rally and the key speaker was John Kerry, one of of
the early runners for the Democratic presidential ticket.
At this point I could hear the speakers but I wasn't sure who was
speaking. Other than the Obama/Biden and McCain/Palin ther was no
indication who was going to speak.
The view of the State Capital building.
I think my camera is on it's last legs, while I was taking pictures it
started going screwy. It looks cool, but it isn't suppose to look like
that.
It turned out it was a Obama/Biden rally to get people out to vote
early. John Kerry spoke for about 15 minutes, in 2004 when he spoke here
he had Bruce Springsteen with him.
There was a group of McCain supporters trying to drown out the speech.
Some of the people a rally will draw.
I took this guys picture for Angela.
It was interesting standing there watching some American politics on our
Election Day. 
Monday, November 17, 2008
Change of Plans
The weather wasn't co-operating forcing us to make a change in our
itinerary back to Toronto. We arrived at the ferry terminal, only to
find out that due to the weather the ferry had been cancelled. It meant
we had to drive back along the north shore along highway 138. The drive
along the north side is a little more hilly and the highway isn't as
nice. We did have to take another ferry at Tadoussac across the Saguenay
River.
Our rental van.
Our stop for the night was in Lévis, just outside of Quebec City. Not
sure what this building was, but it looked like it was cut in half.
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Around The Camp
Temperatures for the week were hovering around -15°C during the daytime
and in the -20's overnight. We lucked out with the weather, usually it
is colder and overcast when I'm here at this time of the year.
Our ride for the week was a 2009 Dodge Durango.
Here is the sticker price that I found in the glovebox.
A row of buried ATV's that they use in the summer.
If you got off the main path the snow was deep.
Found this fake cat in the residence. When it was sitting on the couch
it looked pretty real.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Goose Bay, Labrador
I'm in Labrador this week for a few days. I lucked out with the weather,
it was sunny today and a some of the same for tomorrow. This is my first
visit to Goose Bay and Labrador. Here is a map showing Goose Bay.
There is about 150 cm of snow on the ground.
The site is located at an Environment Canada Upper Air site located in
town.
My car rental is a Pontiac G6.
There is a lot of snow here.
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