Travels and ice.

I arrived safely last night at the Honolulu Airport.  I always have Roberts of Hawaii meet me at the airport because they meet me at the gate with a lei, escort me to the baggage claim area, and then to the hotel for about the same as the people who are authorized to make regular runs around the airport using a huge sight seeing bus.  I also book by tours through them because they have always been polite, on time and give me good value for my dollar.

I realize many of you are going to be turned off about the following part.  Its about ICE!  Yeah, I know ice is not interesting to most folks except to make sure you have enough to keep your drinks cold or if its on the road and makes driving more hazardous.

But there are people out there who study the different types of ice because each has different characteristics.  You know there are a few places that use frozen sea ice as a landing strip in the middle of winter because they do not have enough land for a proper landing strip.  Yes it makes their local air strip.


Now back to the Geophysical Institute,  right after you enter the building, you go down the hall a bit and just on your right is a upright freezer with a clear door filled with several types of ice from sea ice to icicle ice.  I didn't know there were so many different types of ice.

The permafrost core in the upper right is important to people in Alaska.  Before building your house, you need to take samples of the area to determine if there is permafrost under ground.  If you don't build right, the house will fall apart as the ice in the soil melts. 

There used to be one out on Farmers Loop Road that had three parts all leaning one against another sort of like toppled dominoes.  It happened because the builder didn't check for permafrost and built the house normally.

On the side of the freezer are explanations of all the types of ice they have. I think its cool and the tour guide did not give me enough time to stop and read everything.  I can go back again when I'm in Fairbanks to read up on it.

Now I am off to the beach to check out the waves and do a bit of walking, pick up some hair clips and enjoy the morning before I have to head off to the conference.  Enjoy your day.