Moose!

Westchester Lagoon

I have been in Anchorage for some time now and finally have my appointment set to debrief. I once again have the apartment to myself which has been nice- for the first few days. I love the silence and solitude, absent of the incessant hum and sometimes roar of the diesel engines, the sound of the pots clanking against the side of the boat as they are retrieved from the water, and the metallic scrape of them sliding back into the water as they are redeployed. But it does get old, as I have no one to interact with and I have done most things of interest that are within walking distance. I confess, an amount of boredom has definitely set in as I await debrief and redeployment. Yesterday, in an effort to abate the monotony of the day, I went on a walk to the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. I refuse to say I bit off more than I could chew, but the trip was quite a bit more of a walk than I had expected, as I did not do much of any planning ahead of time. Round trip, it was about 12 miles.

One of my complaints of the last couple months has been that I have not seen any bear or moose (from a safe distance of course), which are supposed to be somewhat common sights here in Alaska; especially because a couple of my other observer friends had seen them. I had hoped to see one along this trail, as it is where my friend made his sighting. After walking to the tip of the peninsula to the airport and admiring the spectacular view of Cook Inlet; the nicely rounded snow-capped mountain in the foreground, and it's more distant, entirely white, and craggy neighbors, I couldn't help but be slightly disappointed at not having seen one.

Coastal estuary along trail

I began my trip back, this time veering inland on the trail that would take me to the urban route home. I was talking to my sister on the phone (I may have even expressed discontent in my moose-less sightings to her) when about half an hour into my walk, I saw this dark brown shape moving off in the distance by the road. I told her "I'll call you back, I think there's a moose!" Sure enough,

The Moose!

there it was. It was at a safe distance and was quite unconcerned with my presence, and the presence of the cars that were flying by, as well as stopping in the middle of the road right next to it to take pictures. After taking my fill of photographs, I happily continued on my way back to civilization and somewhere to eat. I was talking to my girlfriend, sharing my exciting news, and she graciously saved me from starvation and found for me a restaurant called "The Rustic Goat" on the street I was on that I stopped into. The food, ambiance, and decor was quite nice. They provided the food I needed to get home, and the beer I needed to take the bite off the low/mid-thirties cold that was setting in, as the sun had long since fallen. All that remained was to get home, and I did. Out of the boredom came a very eventful day.

The Rustic Goat