If you have the desire for knowledge and the power to give it physical expression..

FAIRBANKS - Monday's scorching temperatures caused several wildfires in Interior Alaska to blow up. A reported 649 fires have burned more than 3 million acres in Alaska so far this season, putting the state on pace to break the 2004 record wildfire season record.

While the official high temperature in Fairbanks was 89 degrees on Monday, just shy of the record of 90 degrees, thermometers throughout the area showed temperatures several degrees warmer.

Heavy smoke was degrading the air quality in and around Fairbanks Tuesday, with visibility reduced to less than a mile in many areas. At noon, the state Department of Environmental Conservation Air Quality site showed concentrations of PM2.5 particulates at 315, a level deemed hazardous.

Paulette told me today the smoke was as bad as it was in 2004..I knew yesterday's 90 degree weather would be bad for the fires..the smoke now is some of the worst I've seen. I'm glad it cooled off and is in the 60s today..90 is way too hot for here!!

Colleen is the new kitty I'm sponsoring..she has epilepsy and kidney disease..aww. She's so cute though :)

( 16:One of your favorite classical songs? )

Today's trivia: England is the windiest country in Europe

Today mom and I saw Jurassic World (we wanted to get away from the smoke for awhile. The movie was in theater 16 :D)..it was pretty good! The raptor trainer guy was awesome haha. That's amazing that it had the biggest opening weekend of all time in North America and that it's the 16th (heh) highest grossing movie of all time..nice!

Here are a couple pics of the smoke:

Grossss..I hope we get some rain soon (the red building on the left is where I work haha)


The sun always looks so eerie when it's smoky..

( 7:A song to drive to? )

Today's trivia: There are more than 25,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean

Thirty-eight new fires were reported around the state on Friday, most of which were sparked by lightning. Even with the arrival of hundreds of firefighters from the Lower 48, firefighting resources are spread thin.

Two fires -- one a fire that spread from a dump in Newtok, the other a lightning-sparked blaze near Nulato -- that normally would be actively fought have been placed in monitor status because of a lack of resources, according to the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center's daily briefing.

Eleven fires are currently staffed, with the top priority remaining the Card Street Fire on the Kenai Peninsula.

Fire crews responded to a blaze in Nenana at 315 Mile Parks Highway that claimed three buildings and two outbuildings, but did not spread far into the surrounding woods. Three Nenana engines and two Clear Helibase Tankers were on scene to help extinguish the fire. The fire was turned over to the Nenana Fire Department.

Hot, dry weather is expected to continue, with no rain in the forecast.

Yikes..they're saying the warmer weather is supposed to last until fall. D: I was looking at webcams throughout the Interior and saw this crazy smoke at Northway..today I read there was a fire in Northway too. A bunch of people on the Kenai Peninsula have lost their homes..sad. I hope no more crazy fires start..cooler weather would be nice too..

( 5:A song that needs to be played LOUD? )

Yikes..this fire near Anchorage/Kenai has gotten pretty bad..my friends that live down there are all saying how bad the smoke is. It's 78,000 acres and was caused by a campfire..I'd feel SO guilty if my campfire did that. D: I don't think anyone's homes have burned though, which is good

One more:


I can't believe the chokecherry trees are blooming already..usually they bloom in June! They smell SO good haha

( 20. be your favorite video game character or be your favorite movie character? )

The smoke has been really bad yesterday and today..ew. Last night it actually rained! It cooled off too, which felt amazing. The smoke just came back though (I read there were high winds in the Alaska Range from a Chinook and that may be a reason it's so smoky). I wonder if the winter will be this dry..

( 2. A .gif of someone that is happy )

Yesterday my parents and I went up the Steese Highway to see the scenery and pick blueberries (mom said we were going on an adventure haha). We could see the Stuart Creek Fire had flared up again (it's been hot again..most of it's contained though) and saw another new fire further in the hills. When we got near Chatanika Lodge we could see more smoke close to the road..we hoped it wasn't the lodge! Luckily it wasn't..it was this old dredge across the way from the lodge. A guy said it was really historical and was sad to see it burning. He said fire trucks had come (which passed us) but they said it wasn't worth saving and were just gonna let it burn. He thought two GIs might have caused it (later the newspaper said these guys had pulled on a pulley which caused a spark. They ran to the lodge for help but it was too late). We walked up to see it. It was definitely interesting to watch it burn. There's only like 10 of those dredges around the Interior, and someone said that one was the best preserved. That's too bad! After watching for awhile we went down the road a little and picked blueberries. There were a ton of them! It looked like no one else had discovered that patch yet. After that we drove further to check out the Chatanika River. It got smokier too as we got close to that other fire. The river sounded so soothing..I wish I could sleep to it every night! <3 I wanted to see the other fire, but dad didn't want to drive "so far" (and it was late). Later I learned it was only like 5-7 miles further! Aw mann..though the firefighters didn't want people there anyway. We had dinner at Chatanika Lodge (the food took forever to get to us..they were messed up from the dredge fire and people calling and stuff) and drove home. I didn't expect that on the drive up there haha..guess we got our adventure. :P I posted one of my pics on the News-Miner's Facebook page and they posted it on their site! I'm famous! ;) Hehe

( pics from the day )

This video was taken by a firefighter on the other side of the Chena River from the fire. Wow, those flames were intense!! Pretty scary. I hope the cooler rainy weather of the past few days has helped get the fire down. The volunteer I talked about before came in today..he said the flames from the first fire were a half mile from his house!! D: He has other people and their dogs over at his house too. The residents up there are prepared to leave pretty quickly it sounds like. He was saying people haven't been sleeping cause they're so scared..aww. :( I was glad to see him and hear firsthand how it was going up there..

( Ask three people 'what keeps you going?' and post their answers )

Would you rather know when your spouse is going to die and have to tell them or know when you're going to die and not be able to tell your spouse? Both sound awful..

Today's trivia: The South Pole gets colder than the North Pole because the South Pole is at an elevation of 9,000 feet, while the North Pole is close to sea level. Also, the South Pole is surrounded by ice-covered land, while the North Pole is surrounded by the Arctic Ocean, which moderates its temperature

Yesterday we got up earlyish, had breakfast, then drove to my apartment so I could get my hiking boots and stuff. Mom's coworker Troy (who relieved her at Northway) and his wife Ashley met us there. We all got in his truck and he drove us there. The smoke in Fairbanks was REALLY bad..probably the worst it's been..ew. At Eielson AFB we saw this huge smoke plume! I was surprised, it hadn't been like that the day before! I later read the fire had grown and was now over 40,000 acres! They're saying it's zero percent contained..they're working hard but it's proving hard to work with..yikes! Thankfully we left the smoke behind after we passed Eielson. It was gorgeous, I was so happy seeing the snow covered mountains in the distance. <3 We went to the bathroom and had lunch at a lake near the glacier..there were these birds that seemed unhappy we were there and we saw a dead baby bird on a rock. Its mom was standing over it and a couple birds were standing nearby..they got angry at us if we got too close. Aww, they were in mourning! :( One actually divebombed Ashley, it was funny haha. We continued to the glacier down that crazy rocky road haha. We parked and started hiking! It was chilly but fine when you were moving. This hike was better than the first time I hiked to it since then I had just started Paxil and was feeling sick, plus I was disappointed I couldn't walk on the glacier. I was much happier this time haha, though it was still really annoying and hard walking over rocks the whole time. I was curious to see how much the glacier had receded, and it definitely had quite a bit..aww. :( As we got closer we saw a bunch of people on the glacier! We talked to one guy and said if you went around the bend you could get on the glacier from an ice bridge..yay! (Why I couldn't walk on it before, the ice bridge had melted) He said it was a lot of walking though. Another guy said he got up on the glacier and there was a nice view and it was well worth it. It was definitely a lot of walking..I think it was over three miles just to get to the face of the glacier. But we all made it and crossed the ice bridge to the glacier, fulfilling my dream of like 4 years to walk on it. :D It was pretty cool, and not even that hard to walk on! I got some fresh glacier water (yummm) to take home. We wanted to crest the top of the glacier but we soon saw that distances are deceptive and you'd probably have to hike a long way..the glacier is bigger than you think! We had already hiked so far and not everyone was comfortable going further, so we turned back. I was not looking forward to the long hike back haha (my feet were killing me!). Buuut we made it back fine..I'm surprised how well I did! Mom called it glacier fever haha. I was definitely proud of myself. I was sooo sore though. It was AT LEAST a 6 or 7 mile hike, maybe even 8. Woww. We drove back (Alaskan problems..putting your sun visor down at 10 PM :P), had dinner at Delta Junction and drove home. Luckily the wind was blowing the smoke somewhere else. My feet and ankles are quite sore today haha..but it was certainly worth it. :D Now pics, they're pretty awesome! (I borrowed mom's camera haha)

( gulkana glacier, oh my! )

Yesterday when mom and I were going to Weight Watchers around 6 mom said she smelled smoke and saw a plume (she wondered if someone was doing a controlled burn). I didn't, and forgot about it till the meeting ended at 6:30. I definitely saw a big plume then, and it definitely wasn't a controlled burn. I looked on my phone at dinner and found out it was at mile 16 or 17 Chena Hot Springs Road. I wanted to go and see it, but of course they blocked the road and would impede firefighters anyway. Two Rivers Lodge was in the path of the fire, but luckily a ton of people responded and no buildings were damaged (we saw one of the firefighting planes..cool!). It definitely smelled smoky this morning (I'm weird and love that smell haha). I think forest fires are an exciting part of living here (as long as no one gets hurt or anything!)

( some pics and an article )

Would you rather be too naive or too cynical? Too naive

Today's trivia: George Washington became a slave owner at age 11. He went on to own 300 slaves

Yesterday a chinook came through (way to knock the pretty leaves off the trees already :() and stirred up the Dry Creek Fire again. It must have been smoldering or something. I could smell the smoke and could see it on the Ester Dome webcam. Looking at it now I can still see some smoke, though nothing as dramatic as last month. Here's a cool pic someone took last night:



( 26. Tears )

Would you rather get stood up at the altar or have someone stand up during your wedding and reveal that your spouse to be has been cheating? Get stood up

Today's trivia: Raindrops can fall as fast as 22 miles per hour