Spring? Break

So right now, I'm in the middle of attempting to finish out my LAST THREE WEEKS of my English degree, and as such these posts will come in fits and starts until about the second week of May.  It'll be great!  With my coveted degree I can finally do what I've always wanted...live a humble existence where I probably won't see many movies in theaters.

As with any college student, spring break is something I have looked forward to every year.  A week off from class!  I can do anything I want!  However, being a college student in Alaska, the "anything I want" tends to take on a different meaning.  Aside from one rather memorable trip to Boston, they have all been spent either in Alaska or visiting family in Oklahoma.  But this was my last spring break!  My very last chance to do something memorable and exciting.

Then I heard about the Pacific octopus.

Not in general, mind.  A specific Pacific octopus.  One that had laid eggs.  And these eggs had hatched.


Before I go any further, I want to take a side trip down a grammar alley.  It is a common misconception that octopus, like hippopotamus, is pluralized as "octopi."  It's not.  Hippopotamus is Latin, hence the "i" ending, whereas octopus is Greek.  Since the word has been incorporated into modern English, the correct pluralization is, in fact, "octopuses."  I know.  I feel like Sylvester from Looney Tunes when I say that.  HOWEVER.  Like I said, octopus is Greek.  As such, the technically correct pluralization is "octopodes," pronounced "octopidees."  We can now back out of the grammar alley, into the sunlight that is this blog.


This particular clutch of octopus eggs was located at the Alaska Sealife Center, waaay down in Seward.  For any non-Alaskan types reading, Seward is a small fishing town about 2 1/2 hours away by car.  The Seward Highway, where it hugs the coast like an insecure spouse, is one of the most dangerous roadways in Alaska, particularly in winter.

But I am brave.

See, an idea had started to percolate.  I was too poor to fly anywhere, and couldn't get the time off from work in any case.  The boyfriend, who works in a lead and zinc mine 500 miles away, would be getting back in town in the middle of my break.  And while I couldn't arrange the time off to take a real trip, a day trip was just about doable.

After outlining my plan of "drive for several hours and see animals," the boyfriend readily agreed.  He, too, is a transplant from Oklahoma, and hasn't seen much of Alaska.  "The wildlife preserve in Portage is open, too!"  I said.  "Their bears are awake!"  I said.  "OOOH!"  He said.

So we went.

The first leg of the drive was uneventful.  The day started sunny, if brisk, and we were hopeful that it would stay that way.

Hah.

By the time we reached Portage, about 1/3 of the way to Seward, the snow had begun to fall.  And fall.  The first animals we saw were a group of moose, looking thoroughly apathetic and moosy.

Sup?

That was taken around 11 AM.  We stayed at the center for about an hour, snapping pictures of more snowy, apathetic Alaskan animals and one very confused eagle.

Humans are dumb.

The highlight of this pitstop was, for the boyfriend, the bears.  The brown bears weren't yet up and moving, but the black bears were.  And lemme tell you, I have lived up here for 16 years.  I have been to this particular center before.  I have seen their bears!  I have not seen their bears this adorably groggy.

ALL the stretches!

I have never wanted to pet an apex predator so much in my entire life.

Thankfully, I have in my possession a modicum of common sense, and refrained from literally poking a bear.  By noon we were driving.

By 1 PM we were incapable of seeing the road.

Unfortunately for us, the weather forecast predicting "snow" was woefully inaccurate.  We had stumbled into a blizzard.

Like, BLIZZARD.

I was spending my spring break up to my eyeballs in snow.

The 2 1/2 hour drive that started at 10 AM finally ended around 2:30 PM.  Not including the hour-long pit stop in Portage, that's an extra hour of travel time, where we desperately hoped and prayed to the snow gods that we would, in fact, stay on the road, and not die a horrible snowy death.

Thankfully it worked, and we arrived in Seward without any problems.

Finally we could see what we came to see.  Octopuses!  

Octopuses!

We spent about an hour in the Sealife Center, gooning around and looking at various other sea critters.

Yo.

As we were getting ready to leave, I realized something.  Remember how I mentioned that Seward is a small fishing town?  Well, in the summer, the population doubles and tourists are catered to.  Everything is open!  There is so much to see and do!

In March, not so much.

Still, though, we had a great time.  There is something to be said for madcap adventures in snow; if nothing else, the terror-fueled adrenaline rush that was the drive there and back was good for us.