Conservation, Historic Preservation, and Sustainability- Disney Style!

Do you ever have days when you know you have plenty to do, but you're just tired and can't seem to focus without a lot of effort? We're having one of those days today. It seems like it took forrr-evvv-errr (Sandlot, anyone?) to get schoolwork done. As a result we decided to take the rest of the day off and just relax at home.

Before we left for our adventure, we knew we'd be spending the largest amount of time here in Central Florida. Many amusement parks and attractions are less than 20 min away, so we knew we'd have the opportunity to visit them often. Unfortunately, it's just to expensive to piece out a day here at one park and another day somewhere else. So we decided as a family to use our budget for Disney season passes and forgo the rest this time.

Having season passes means we can visit any time we like (except black-out dates), which means we can use them like gym memberships. I mean, when was the last time you went to an amusement park and left under 10,000 steps?! We've also discovered that Disney has a lot of educational programs within the attractions. I've got you curious, haven't I? Well, let me tell you about a few things we've experienced.

When driving into the Magic Kingdom parking lot, we drove past rows of solar panels. It was a surprising but welcome sight to see. Apparently Disney is one of the major corporations leading the way for sustainable energy practices and global conservation efforts.

At Epcot we went to "The Land Pavilion" and went on the "Living with the Land" ride. It starts off as a boat ride through different landscapes and then takes you into working labs where scientists are busy developing sustainable growing methods with hydroponics, greenhouses, and innovative growth structures. Much of what's grown there is served at Disney restaurants throughout the parks! I encourage you to visit the links in this post to learn more because it's really interesting! There's a lot of potential for global implementation.

Epcot is also hosting the "International Festival of the Arts" through February, which allows us to try new foods and see art from the artists, themselves! That, along with being able to learn more about different countries, makes Epcot my favorite of all the Disney Parks.

One of the chefs plating a culinary delight!

This example is the Deconstructed Purple Sweet Potato Pie, Salted Caramel, Bourbon-soaked Cake and Marshmallow Whipped Cream. Yum! 

In the Animal Kingdom you'll find the Kilimanjaro Safari ride where you can board one of their vehicles and be taken on a tour through their actual wildlife refuge. You'll drive next to real lions and rhinos, plus a host of other animals, and see what their natural habitats are like. The guide gives you information about each species and what kind of conservation efforts are in place to help protect them in the wild. They also give you information about the main threats to each species, such as poaching. I was surprised to learn that the veterinarian we're seeing here (vaccinations for our dogs) also works with Disney as one of their animal experts. Apparently Disney keeps experts and conservationists on site to make sure their animals have the very best care at all times. She was really proud of the work they do and was able to give us a few tips for educational programs, like the bird show, which our youngest son loved!

The Tree of Life at the Animal Kingdom was built around an old oil platform! Now that's recycling!

Those are just a few examples of things we've discovered so far. So, in addition to being a fun day out, our season passes have turned out to be a great opportunity for exercise and up-close education with actual animals and field experts. Another added benefit is we don't feel obligated to stay there all.day.long. When it gets too hot or we're all tired, we can just go home and come back another day. Believe me, this is not something we'd be able to do normally so we're enjoying every minute while we can.

That takes care of the Conservation and Sustainability parts of the title, now for the Historic Preservation! If you've been following my social media feeds this week, then you've seen my new baby! No, not an actual baby. ;-) I am now the proud owner of a Singer Featherweight 221 sewing machine! It was manufactured in 1955, which makes it over 60 years old and it still purrs like a kitten!

You may be wondering why I'm so excited about "an old sewing machine". Well, I'll tell you. I'm a quilter and love to sew, for one. We had to keep things light on this trip so I only brought a small project with me. When we were in Alaska, though, I met with some quilters and many of them were using Singer Featherweights. I asked them why and they told me it was designed for people who live in remote places or compact quarters (like a trailer) because they are small, lightweight (only 11ish lbs!), easy to maintain yourself, and total reliable workhorses. Well, after a recommendation like that, I was sold and found this one for sale here in Florida.

Just for scale, the blocks are 6 1/2"

Just looking at it makes my heart sing! Now I can work on getting my state flowers quilt top finished before we return home next summer!

- Jen

P.S. If you were wondering about the Fire Ant bites/stings from the launch last week, they are healing nicely. I learned that the bites turn into blisters and then they take a long time to disappear.....education in all forms on this trip! ;-)

Out of the Wilds of Alaska

Did you miss me? Probably not if you follow any of my social media feeds. If you don't, please feel free to do so. I've been posting a picture a day to show the highlights of what we've up to (when we're on the grid, that is.) The links should be at the top right side of your screen.

We're now an hour behind Seattle and safely settled in to our Alaskan home for the next few months.

It feels like we've been riding the rapids since we left. Just when I was able to catch my breath, we were off again! Needless to say, blog writing took a back seat to exploration, and rightfully so. We've seen things we never expected and have been places we've only dreamed about. "Awesome" is the only word to describe it. The drive through Yukon Territory was especially amazing. Here are a few pictures of some of the sights we saw just driving the Alcan (Alaska-Canada Highway)- all taken by me. Please forgive the bug guts in some of the shots. It just wouldn't be a road trip without them...

Here's the mile marker from Dawson Creek I was hoping to get. My husband was sweet enough to indulge me.

This was the sunrise in Fort Nelson, BC at 4:00am. It was so amazing to see these colors in the sky. I swear this picture is completely untouched. Oh, and the sun never sets during this time of year in Fairbanks. Totally true!

My oldest spotted this solar halo over Destruction Bay, Yukon. It can only form when conditions are right in the atmosphere. http://earthsky.org/space/what-makes-a-halo-around-the-moon

All over B.C. you'll see these native Inuksuit monuments, which are symbols for "in the likeness of a human", which means that someone has been here and you are on the right path, according to a native person we spoke to and this website: http://www.inukshukgallery.com/inukshuk.html

We loved seeing wild animals in their natural habitat instead of a zoo. Here are some we were able to get pictures of:

Black Bear

Dall Sheep

Buffalo

A momma grizzly with her two cubs

 This is a close up of momma. Don't worry, we followed every safety precaution. They just happened to be walking next to the road.

Elk

Moose

These foxes were just out playing with each other on the road.

Snowshoe Hares

We also saw a few porcupines (which are about the size of a bulldog), deer, eagles, hawks, ground squirrels, a coyote, Sandhill cranes, bighorn sheep, ravens, seagulls, swans, Canadian geese, and more!

The scenery has been awe-inspiring. There's just no way it can be captured with a camera. We took a million pictures, and still, they just don't do justice to the majesty of the landscapes we experienced. The flowers in the first picture are fireweed. We have it in Washington but it's EVERYWHERE up here in Yukon and Alaska.

We learned things we didn't expect, like the Dalton Highway is actually pretty well maintained. In fact, there were even adventurous people riding their motorcycles and bicycles on it. We had to wait for pilot cars a few times when we hit maintenance crews.

We followed the Alaska Pipeline all the way to Prudhoe Bay and then took a shuttle to the Arctic Ocean. The Pipeline has posts to keep the permafrost under it frozen and it's built to move both up and down and from side to side in the event of an earthquake.

This is the camp we stayed at in Deadhorse. I love their logo...

Some of the other buildings in town. When we were there, we were told to watch out for the grizzly that was wandering close by. We also had to be quiet in our room because of the day sleepers. It was a great experience having a glimpse at what life is like up there for the workers- very communal. 

Pipelines in Deadhorse

The Arctic Ocean

The narrow strip we were able to walk to get to the ocean access from the oil fields.

I was surprised to learn that Arctic tundra is squishy and spongy. Also, trees in the arctic circle are skinny and sad looking because of the soil and the amount of time the sun is out for photosynthesis. http://tundralpine.weebly.com/soil.html

Mosquitos are insanely abundant in the arctic circle and the weather gets really warm. It was in the 70's when "crossed the line" and we were in sweatshirts in Deadhorse. No, we didn't see any polar bears or seals. They follow the ice pack, which happens to be further north right now. 

We also visited Wiseman and Chena Hot Springs. The renewable energy tour was amazing, especially the hydroponics and thermal energy use. Those people have some fantastic ideas which are being used right this very minute! Check it out at: http://www.chenapower.com/ I'd never been to hot springs before and was surprised at just how hot they were. The staff was excellent and I love how the campus creates almost zero waste. Amazing!

This is a glimpse of the springs. We took this right before visiting the Aurorium (where you can go during the colder months when "the lights are out.")

 The tomatoes and lettuce were perfect! What they don't use, they sell. What they don't sell, they donate to local communities. Fantastic!

I know I've given you an eye-full in this post but the adventure has just begun! Please send me your questions and I'll try to get them answered in a timely manner.

I hope you're all enjoying summer wherever you're reading this. Until next Friday!

- Jen