Fairbanks continues to reinforce the record number of days with temperatures of 80 degrees or higher. The temperature yesterday climbed to 85 degrees at the Fairbanks Airport, which broke the previous record for August 7th of 83 degrees set back in 1968. Fairbanks has now had 35 days this summer with a temperature of 80 degrees or higher and 14 days with a temperature of 85 degrees or higher. The average number of days each summer of 80 degrees or higher is 11 and only 3 days are 85 degrees or higher. The hottest temperature observed this summer was 92 degrees on June 25th and 26th.

Woww..this is crazyy! August is usually rainy and cool! I heard another fire started on the flats (luckily not endangering anything..it seems like a lot of fires happen there). I'm tired of smelling smoke haha. The poor plants all look super stressed and a bunch of spruce trees are dying from beetle damage :(

I got a message on my home phone from a guy investigating the dredge fire and to call him back. Wow! (How did he get my number?? Haha) I should call him back but the phone is scaryyy. D: lol

( Day 25 - A song you could listen to all day without getting tired of )

Would you rather eat a package of cookies for breakfast every day for a month or drink 15 cups of coffee a day for a month? Eww

Today's trivia: The squirting cucumber can shoot its seeds up to 40 feet

OmgomgOMG I had no idea this existed!!! That is SO awesome! The glacier looked very impressive when it was surging haha (you can still see where the glacier used to be when you drive by there). I so wish I could have seen that..I wish it would surge again! The poor glacier looked like it had receded even more when I drove past it on Saturday. :( You can barely see the bottom of it from the road. *sniff* The lodge in the video is still there too! I'm so grateful for this video, one of my favorites ever! Thanks, 30s filmmaker! :D (This is what the glacier looks like today)

( 29. A picture of you holding up a handwritten sign with an adjective that describes you well )

Would you rather have the kind of personality that causes people to believe you're a conniving manipulator or a pathological liar? A manipulator

Today's trivia: Almost call calico cats are female. The one in 3,000 that is male has an extra X chromosome and is thus sterile

Today's our last day in Hawaii. :( That make me sad..I like it here. I've become fond of the Hawaiian language too..it's so interesting and hard to pronounce haha. I read in Fairbanks there's freezing rain..ew. I'll be hard going back to reality..especially since school starts the day after we get back home. I'm gonna post the pics I have uploaded so far!

( high ridge mountain, crystal clear blue waters.. )

Today in class we talked about glacial landforms, like moraines, erratics, etc. Yess..I've been waiting for her to teach that haha. I love learning about glacial landforms. We only have two lectures left before the final..noooo! Glaciers seems to have gone much faster than earthquakes. Boo :( (The title of the entry is from one of my favorite glacier books..for some reason I love the title of that chapter haha. I also really like the word "mundane" now :P)

I've lost 5 pounds since starting Weight Watchers! I didn't think I could do it haha. It's kind of gotten easier too. Even though it wasn't that long ago I think about my past eating habits and I'm just like "ew!" Like I'd eat half a bag of Chex Mix in one sitting and eat crappy frozen meals every night. I mean I'll still eat cookies and stuff but try to eat healthier during the week. I still have popcorn and SoBe on Fridays. I think the key is just to just moderate what you eat and have more fruit and stuff. I'm rather proud of myself :)

( 62. Magic )

Would you rather eat 30 cigarette butts that you find lying on a beach or eat five pounds of wet leaves that you find on the ground after a rainstorm? DEFINITELY the leaves

Today's trivia: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a bored doctor, writing his Sherlock Holmes mysteries during the long stretches between patients

Today I saw a vole in my office haha..it went under a shelf and I don't know what happened to it after that. Weird haha. Then I was biking home and I sped up to catch the light and suddenly this vole appeared. I tried to swerve and miss it..I looked behind me and it was squirming on the ground. I quickly stood my bike up and picked the vole up and got it off the street. I stood petting it hoping it would be ok. Eventually it roused itself and I put it in the grass..when it walked I could see one of its legs wasn't working..oh nooo. :( I hope it can heal! I felt bad, though I'm glad I didn't catch it full on. Poor thing..

Wow..Frank DellaPenna of Cast in Bronze was on America's Got Talent! When I lived in Texas I went to a Renaissance festival called Scarborough Faire and one year he performed there (he plays a carillon) and I fell in love with his music. He came back other years and I'd watch his shows (twice a day even haha) and we'd talk and we became friends..he was special to me. He even invited me backstage once without his mask. I know one of his dreams was to be on TV and get his music out there so I was so happy he was on AGT! I heard the judges didn't like him though..wtf. Another reason not to like that show..one time I watched it and this very talented guy named Luca was voted off..never have liked it much since then (my Luca bias is showing :P). I keep getting comments on my YouTube videos of Frank since he was on the show haha..I hope more people see his awesomeness! Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de1muOmwBQo

( Day 94: A picture of something really old )

Would you rather wake up nude and unharmed on a park bench and have no idea of how you got there or expecting a costume party, dress as a giant banana for a black tie affair and have to stay the whole night? The banana

Today's trivia: The pygmy shrew, at 1.3 grams, is the lightest mammal

UAF called yesterday and said the Introduction to Field Methods in Glaciology class was canceled cause not enough people registered. Booo. :( Then later on Facebook I saw something about Girls on Ice, where high schoolers go to the mountains and study things..THEY were gonna go to Gulkana Glacier and study it and present their findings. That made me SUPER jealous and upset. UAF said to try again for the class next summer. I will..PLEASE SIGN UP OTHER PEOPLE! Haha

OMG BLUE SKY! I haven't seen the weather this nice in ages. I'm glad..I was REALLY tired of rain and clouds. Hopefully it'll stay..

( Day 75: A picture of someone/something you miss )

Would you rather have to watch, with your friends, a video of every argument you've ever had with your siblings or every argument you've ever had with your parents? With my siblings

Today's trivia: Hell's Canyon in Idaho, at 7,993 feet, is the deepest river gorge in America

Dana and I are back from Valdez. The weather was somewhat better than yesterday..of course, since we're not on a glacier cruise. :P I actually found a Valdez shirt this time! Finally haha. :P The mountains were gorgeous, but THERE WAS FRESH SNOW ON THEM! DUDE haha. I bet last winter's snow isn't gonna melt by winter. Usually you can see all the glaciers clearly but if you didn't know they were there you wouldn't have seen most of them cause of all the snow. Once we got 50 some miles inland the weather became nice and sunny. There was fresh snow in the Alaska Range too!! Last winter's snow hasn't melted all the way there either. Hopefully some glaciers will be growing now. ;) Mt. Deborah and stuff looked amazingg and so pretty..they're always snowy but the extra snow in the sun was just..*drools* I love mountains. We made it home pretty quickly I think, even after stopping for lunch at Paxson and getting ice cream at Delta Junction. We saw two moose! Her vacation is complete. ;) Haha. Dana leaves soon. *sniff* It was awesome though, sharing Alaska with her. I bet she loved it :D (Pics in the next few days..too tired to upload them now :P)

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.”--John Muir
<3

Grandma died yesterday. She hadn't been doing well so it wasn't unexpected, but still sad. At least it was at home in her bed and she's not suffering anymore. I feel guilty about not seeing her before though..

Dana's coming to visit in July! We may have to do things on our own since mom has to work. Taking the train to Denali would be cool..

( Day 92 - Something weird in your house )

Mom said dad's in California and grandma's not doing well..she's basically bedridden and always in pain. Man..I wish I visited her before. :/ I don't know if I could handle seeing someone like that. Death would probably be better, though sad *sniff*

The Chinook brought snow too..at least it's warmer

( Day 64 - Favorite childhood book )