I lost the lake but then I found it

I am currently sitting in the library in Seward staring out the window into the torrential downpour. It has been raining non-stop since I woke up this morning and the forecast shows no signs of letting up any time soon. Seward weather is finally here. I had a good run with the sun for a while, but it seems to be taking a permanent vacation. I played outside in the sun, got burnt a couple of times, and actually wore shorts on two different occasions. I am pleased with the amount of time I got to spend in the sun and while I'm sad to see it go I'm also excited to see the real Seward weather! Speaking of real Seward weather, I feel like I'm becoming more and more of a real resident of this town. I know all the good coffee spots, got a library card, know how to show you on my hand where In Alaska I live, got a safeway card (with an outline of alaska on it) and actually gave an Australian couple directions the other day. If you know anything about me and my sense of direction you probably know that I most likely sent them in the entirely wrong direction, but It still felt good to say that I actually live here.
 Time passes strangely here, the halfway point of my internship came and went without me realizing and now I have only five weeks left here. It baffles me how fast the weeks fly by now. I didn't even realize at work yesterday that it was my friday until I was leaving the shift. This weekend will be a lot more subdued than last with all the rain. Last weekend I had lots of adventures in the sunny Alaskan wilderness. Monday me and my roommate Sophia drove to Exit Glacier (the only entrance to Kenai Fjords national park accessible by road). We hiked up the mountain a little ways until we came to a great view of the glacier and we sat on a nice rock together and just soaked up the beautiful view. We could see tiny humans down below trekking along the ice, which is still something I would like to try. The view was just 360 degrees of raw wilderness and mountains. One of the most beautiful places I have ever been. I can honestly say that I am the absolute happiest when I am hiking, especially in such a gorgeous place as this. I always feel like i'm just filling up with happiness like a balloon and soon i'll just float away into the blue sky and wispy clouds over the mountains and trees. such a great feeling.
Tuesday I did an awesome hiking trail called Lost Lake! It was 14miles round trip and covered all sorts of different landscapes. It started out in forest then came above the tree line exposing an expanse of snow capped peaks and many waterfalls running down them from the snow melt. Later the scene changed again to trekking through evergreen forests and mosses. Lost lake was nestled in the middle of a circle of mountains and was fed by snow melt.

Just as we broke the tree line

The flowers here are awesome

Sitting and enjoying the awesome scenery

Taking a well deserved rest mid-trek.

Here is lost lake!!

When we reached the lake It was still half frozen even though the air around us was hot and humid. I immediately pulled off my socks and shoes and waded in. Instantly, all the heat in my feet evacuated and was replaced with an awful stabbing pain. it was SO COLD. I couldn't keep my feet submerged for more than 30 seconds with agonizing pain. So i guess I couldn't go swimming. That is another thing I miss about Michigan. I love swimming so much, and it just kills me that I live next to a gigantic body of water that I can't swim in. Every time I see it I get the urge to just jump in. I know this would be a horrible idea, so I refrain. But I do miss lake Michigan, and swimming EVERYDAY in the summer back home. 

Us at lost Lake!

Maybe you can't tell but im in excruciating pain here.

Us- dirty, sweaty, and exhausted after we completed the hike! (left to right: Eric, Kaitie, Me, Cheryl and Emily)

It was such a perfect day for the hike and I am really glad we were able to do it in such good weather. 

Lets talk about work! I had the coolest weekend. It started off with a rather unfortunate event. Our most recent seal intake- 06 (due to press issues and doners being able to name animals, we were not allowed to come up with names for our seals) had been diagnosed with Megaesophagus. Its a congenital disease where the esophagus swells and the animal experiences extreme gas and regurgitation. It can be treated with antibiotics and we had to be extremely careful when tubing the seal, but it is not something that can be cured.  We guessed that this is the reason why the seal was abandoned by his mother in the first place. Its just survival of the fittest and he was not worth the energy the mother would need to invest in him. Its a sad truth but it happens more often than you would think. Saturday 06 had an acute aspiration event and suffocated and passed away. It was really sad but he had been in really bad shape. Everytime he regurgitated a little would trickle into his lungs and he was slowly drowning in his own vomit. At least he is no longer suffering and there was nothing else we could do for him. After a somber Dr. Elizabeth told us the news we had a moment of silence for the poor seal. Later we had the opportunity to practice exams on him and learned to take blood. For seals the best place to extract blood is through the spinal column inbetween vertebrae. So it was really helpful to be able to practice drawing blood on him. The next day I got to assist with his necropsy to further test and know for sure the reason for his death. We did end up finding fluid in the lungs so most likely this was the ultimate cause of death. I was in there for three hours with Dr. Elizabeth helping to take tissue samples and often holding back large pieces of flesh for her so she could cut out organs and weigh them and section them into pieces. This may sound revolting to some of you but it was the coolest thing I have done here so far. I love learning about the anatomy and seeing how everything fits together. I was even allowed to cut some of the organs out and do some of the dissecting. It was a really great learning opportunity. It was wonderful also how Dr. Elizabeth explained everything she was doing and why. She is a really good teacher and I learned a lot while I was doing it. I was definitally covered from head to toe in blood at the end, so I had to shower to come back into the rehab room and resume caring for the otters. Speaking of the otters, I am in love with our little girl otter. She is the most cuddly and affectionate little girl. Also her coat is coming along very nicely so she is so soft. I love her so much!!