18 March, 2001

Hi Butterfield School, Mrs. Murray and Mrs. Spooner and the gang in Room 12!

The journey begins....... It was last April that I began applying to the TEA program. After many essays and a great deal of encouragement, I finished the application and was accepted. Now the journey really begins with my week in Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska. I am her to study and learn as much about my upcoming summer to Wales, where I will be part of an Archaeological team. This summer we will be working on the northwestern most point of land in the continent. Wales, Alaska was a very important village in pre-contact time (before the coming of Europeans or Russians). There were approximately 500 people in the village. It was one of importance because of the subsisetence living. They hunted whales and, seals, and walrus. We will be working at the sites in Wales to try and prove the importance of Wales in the pre-contact period as well as the idea of hunting as important and vital to the subsistence of their livings.

As you fly from Massachusetts, you look down from the plane and see cities and hills, lots of them. All of a sudden I looked out my window and started to see white snow covered mountains. The captain came on the intercom announce we were over glaciers and the tallest mountain in Canada, Mt. Logan (19,000 feet). It was an awesome breathtaking site. The rest of the flight was equally as exciting looking out over giant peaks as we flew over the Alaskan range into Anchorage. I am now looking forward to tomorrow and a day at the Anchorage Museum of Natural History and Art, some bookstores, and hopefully souvenirs. Monday, weather permitting will be a trip to Seward, through the Kenai Fjords.

Question for my class: What is the longitude and latitude of Anchorage and Seward?

I said I may take a trip on Monday, weather permitting. What supplies should I have with me in my car? Why should I have to check on the weather in Alaska before I go anywhere?