For anyone who’s been waiting for a post, my apologies. As a seasonal wildlife field technician, my mind is often on the upcoming months. For the last few months my thoughts have focused probably 90% of their time on wanting to know what I’ll be doing this summer. With that being the case, I haven’t had tales of my life running through my head. I’ve had plenty of musings on…
We’ve all heard that a picture says a thousand words. One picture from college captures my feelings when I learned the truth about Wildlife Biology, and that one picture explains my life thus far. When I started college, I was pursuing a degree in Wildlife Biology. After one year of courses, the idea still sounded reasonable. My thought was to have a job that would keep me outdoors as much…
Rather early on in my years in Fairbanks, I’ll admit I wanted to list myself as being in a relationship (on Facebook). Unfortunately I wasn’t able to specify my partner’s name because Alaska didn’t have an account. I couldn’t say I was “In a Relationship with Alaska.” Little did I realize just how correct that statement would become. Apart from Michigan, Alaska is the place where I’ve spent the most…
Following an exhilarating day of grain sampling (looking for good kernels and cobs of corn inside certain plots in a cornfield) and field condition surveys (listing crop, post-harvest condition, and relative stages of flooding), I went for a sunset run. Then life made me laugh. Right before I headed out the door to run, the power went off. Thinking it would probably be back on by the time I returned,…
At the end of every Runners’ World issue, “I’m A Runner” features a somewhat known figure who is also a runner; the page summarizes their history or interest in running. As a high school cross country runner, outdoor adventurer, wildlife field researcher, and introvert; consider this my 2 cents’ worth. While growing up I remember thinking I was pretty good at pushing the merry-go-round. Although that was ages ago and…
If you’re tired of hearing about New Zealand, stop reading now. This story came to mind again recently because it’s one of my favorites from my time in the southern hemisphere back in 2011-2012. As a refresher, my schedule for working with North Island brown kiwi in the Hauraki Gulf consisted of 2 weeks spent playing and working, followed by 2 weeks of travel time. For the first and only…
To cut straight to the point, this park is badass. After multiple backpacking trips inside the park, I’ve determined that’s the most fitting description for its personality. Seriously, Mount Doom is wicked steep and a pain to hike up because of the scree, but the surrounding landscape has nothing as ominous as the otherworldly feel of the slopes of Mauna Loa. Both of my trips were recommendations from a friend,…
I’m doomed. While in NZ I discovered that author Bill Bryson writes highly entertaining books, and many of them just happen to be about his travels. I’ve read a fair number of them since, and a friend just passed on another to me: Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe. I knew I’d be in trouble dreaming up trips before I even cracked open the book. Bryson didn’t fail to…
(from a Greyhound bus and BART train in SF Bay area on Christmas Day 2014) Dear Coach Dantonio and Spartan football team, This letter is a couple of years late, but all of the sudden I felt the need to write and share it anyway. My name is Steph, and although I’m originally from the NW suburbs of Detroit and love MSU, I didn’t go to college there. I actually…
Well, having felt unmotivated to write over the last 3 weeks, let me share what I’ve spent my time doing. I started my birthday by deviating from what had been my tradition, but it was for good reason. Typically it’s the one day a year when I have ice cream for breakfast. However, I wanted to see what running downtown in a big city like Seattle would be like. I…