On a chilly morning in Denali, the AGLP participants awoke to a uniquely creative song sung by the junior leaders. Like most other teenagers in the world, we need at least ten hours of beauty sleep, so most of us fell back asleep. When we all were finally up and ready, we packed up our tents and headed to the vans for our long drive to Fairbanks from Grizzly Bear Campground, Denali. The drive is normally about three hours long without any bad traffic.
      On the drive to Fairbanks we noticed how hundreds of trees were burned and dying. We learned that someone had been burning trash in a barrel and it got out of control. It was so sad to see all the trees that were once majestic giants now shriveled-up pieces of wood. It’s disgusting to think that everything started because someone was being irresponsible. Besides the fact that half of the forest was missing, the scenery was still spectacular.
      Everywhere you looked there were snow-covered mountains and peaceful lakes. It was like nothing you would ever see in Marshall. These sights go along with our Alaska saying, “ Life is not about the breaths you take, but the moments that take your breath away”. Pictures of Alaska don’t do it any justice. I can understand why some people return to Alaska every year. Just seeing everything in person would be a great trip itself.
      When we got to Fairbanks, we set up camp at Tanana; surprisingly, no one had any tent issues. While the food committee shopped for our dinner, everyone else enjoyed two hours of free time to explore downtown and, of course, get some ice cream. Downtown itself was a lot like Marshall; it was small and not very busy. There were a lot of little original shops that had items you wouldn’t find in a supermarket.
      After the food committee was finished shopping, we went to do our laundry. Now, you would think this would be an easy job for everyone, but we soon realized how difficult the simple chore of laundry is for some people. People like Brandon Jordon, who claims to have never done laundry in his life, had to be assisted by friends to wash their clothes. Also, driver Tim Cook, father of Cara Cook, had never been to laundry mat before in his life! He’s forty-seven years old! Hopefully they will be able to do their own laundry by the end of the trip.
      After enjoying a delicious ravioli dinner prepared by the Terri van, we hurried off to take a quick shower before hug time. We exchanged hugs as every other night has gone, and then followed up by some good ol’ fashion sleep. With five days gone in this trip, we have seen many things and places and there is still much more to come. We all were excited by the thought of the next day and the days after that.

     Today we woke up to the sweet sound of a wake-up song by Gabi, Cat & Britta. We had to get up early and pack up camp so we could get to Fairbanks in time for lunch. On the car ride there, Liz had a Mountain Dew (which consequently makes her extremely hyper so it was an... interesting ride) and spazzed out the whole trip. Every time something minutely funny happened, she would bust out laughing, which gets old really fast, in my opinion.
      On the way to Fairbanks we saw a lot of amazing things. There were a lot of creeks and rivers, and we went over the Nenana river three times. Every time we went over the bridge, Ishtar sang a song that had "nananana" in it. The van ride was a very good bonding time for all of us, because our van played a lot of games. In the games, we had to think of what each other were like in colors, animals, or movies. They were a lot of fun.
      When we finally got to Fairbanks we stopped at the Tanana Valley Campground and set up camp. While we were setting up camp, we learned that the Mackat van stole our van mascot, Shaniqua. We never did get her back, but we did pick up some cool clothes for her. This particular campground had showers. FREE showers, yay!! After we finished pitching the tents, the food committee went to Sam's Club while our van went to Michael's to get stuff for the nerd dance and the Midnight Sun baseball game. Emily, Jenny, and I got navy-blue and gold felt to cut out letters for our sign. A bunch of other people were there buying other things too.
      After our little excursion to Michael's, we went to the laundromat to do our laundry, obviously. We didn't have enough time do all our laundry because it took too long to do one load. Also, the laundromat was very expensive, so I hope the next one is cheaper. Plus, the laundromat was about two times smaller than the one in Marshall, so we were very cramped and hot. The pop machine decided to quit working, but luckily there was a Subway next door.
      Before dinner, Dr. Seifert made a riddle in the dirt that went like this: O-T-T-F. The two clues were; it's the first thing you learn and it goes on forever. You couldn't ask any more questions, and if you figured it out, you wrote the next letter and didn't tell anyone else. After a while, we had O-T-T-F-F-S-S-E-N-T. Well, can you figure it out? I hope so, because I'm not telling you anything.
      Even though the showers were free, they were very, very cold. We figured out that if you turn the knob to "H" (which doesn't stand for hot, it stands for hypothermia), it was five times colder than if you turned it to "C" (for comfortably cold). At "C", it was at least sort of semi-warm. Well, let's hope that the day tomorrow is less puzzling and that the showers are warmer.