More Alaska pics

A few weeks ago when we first began to have some sunshine, I was pretty excited to see our first few flowers showing up, so here they are :)

And on to Alaska... I was impressed with the cute exam tables they had at the clinic there... so fun!

I especially liked that this was a LADY dolphin with her pretty eyelashes...

This turtle was super-cute too

I loved how the whole hospital had these nice cutouts everywhere with different Alaskan animals

baby moose? deer? you decide

cute moose

Snow-covered Alaskan mountains from the airplane

Downtown Anchorage--I thought the mountains were impressive

This bear was HUGE!

The pipeline visitor center was a very cute log cabin

I liked that this sign on the pipeline advises NOT climbing on it because YOU could fall and hurt yourself... not that it would be bad for the pipeline... Alaska is so polite!

This was just a pretty sign at the pipeline

I always love signs like this!

The glorious pipeline

Another view

So my trip to Alaska was brief and pretty much I just worked, other than the zoo in Anchorage during my layover, but we did check out the pipeline because it's not far from Fairbanks where we were. Here's a little info on the pipeline:

• The Trans Alaska Pipeline System was designed and constructed to move oil from the North Slope of Alaska to the northern most ice-free port in Valdez, Alaska.
• Length: 800 miles.
• Diameter: 48 inches.
• Crosses three mountain ranges and over 800 rivers and streams.
• Cost to build: $8 billion in 1977, largest privately funded construction project at that time.
• Construction began on March 27, 1975 and was completed on May 31, 1977.
• First oil moved through the pipeline on June 20, 1977.
• Over 15 billion barrels have moved through the Trans Alaska Pipeline System.
• First tanker to carry crude oil from Valdez: ARCO Juneau, August 1, 1977.
• Tankers loaded at Valdez: 19,625 through April 30, 2008.
• Storage tanks in Valdez- 18 with total storage capacity of 9.1 million barrels total.
• In twenty years more than eleven billion barrels of oil have gone through the pipeline.
• The Alyeska Pipeline Service Company operates the pipeline. This company is made up of seven oil companies. They are: BP, ARCO, Exxon, Mobil, Amerada Hess, Phillips, and Unocal.
• 88,000 barrels of oil go through the pipeline in one hour.
• There are 42 gallons of oil in one barrel.
• The oil in the pipeline takes 4 and a half days to travel the 800 miles.
• When the whole pipeline is full of oil it holds 9.04 million barrels of oil.
• There are people in little buildings along the pipeline that help to make sure that the oil continues to flow and that work to prevent spills from happening. There are 10 of these pumpstations along the 800 miles of the pipeline.
• Every year it costs 210 millions dollars to run the pipeline.
• Max temp: 145, low temp -60!

Ok, hope you all have a great weekend!

~Cathy