Anchorage

Anchorage, Alaska

May 1999

Over Memorial Day Weekend, the 1999 University of Florida Steel Bridge Team participated in the National ASCE/AISC Steel Bridge Competition in Anchorage, Alaska. This means we all got to travel to Alaska and witness some of the most beautiful scenery and wildlife I've ever seen. We spent 5 days there, which seemed a lot longer, since daylight lasted almost 24 hours, with darkness from about 2 am until 5 am. We competed over 2 days, and came in 6th in the Nation. We also got to play! We went on a little hike near the campus, a big hike on a mountain led by a professor from the University of Alaska-Anchorage, and went on a 5 hour train ride to Seward where we went on a cruise and saw otters, whales and puffins! (oh my!) Here are some of the pictures...

This is looking down from the mountain we hiked up. We saw a hang-glider soaring over the moutain. What a view he must have had!

A waterfall from the cruise we took. It was very cold and rainy that day, but scenery like this (and lots of hot chocolate) made up for the chilly air.

A scene from the window on the train ride to Seward. We kept jumping from our seats to run back and forth to each side of the train to take pictures of snow, glaciers, mountain goats and moose. The 1999 UF Steel Bridge Assembly Team and Captain, atop the mountain we hiked up: Ben Cheplak, Dave Figurski, Dylan Richard, Scott Beresheim, Dave Fouche, and Jess Fronckowiak.

We saw a lot of wildlife on this cruise, and this is one of the funnest...there were plenty of sea lions to see, and they made lots of noise for us. While it was very elusive and hard to capture on film between dives, we did see a humpback whale for a few brief moments on our cruise. When it would dive down, its tail would come out of the water, and it was amazing!

A few pictures from our short hike near campus, my boyfriend Ben and me Also near campus, some of us posed for a group shot: top-Ben, Jaime, Scott, Melissa, Dave, Shaun; bottom- me, Kathy, Ken

At the competition awaiting loading of the bridge, some of my best friends! Kathy, me and Jaime At last, competition was over and it was time to relax, the 1999 UF Steel Bridge Team!

Back to home


This is looking down from the mountain we hiked up. We saw a hang-glider soaring over the moutain. What a view he must have had!		A waterfall from the cruise we took. It was very cold and rainy that day, but scenery like this (and lots of hot chocolate) made up for the chilly air.

A scene from the window on the train ride to Seward. We kept jumping from our seats to run back and forth to each side of the train to take pictures of snow, glaciers, mountain goats and moose.		The 1999 UF Steel Bridge Assembly Team and Captain, atop the mountain we hiked up: Ben Cheplak, Dave Figurski, Dylan Richard, Scott Beresheim, Dave Fouche, and Jess Fronckowiak.

We saw a lot of wildlife on this cruise, and this is one of the funnest...there were plenty of sea lions to see, and they made lots of noise for us.		While it was very elusive and hard to capture on film between dives, we did see a humpback whale for a few brief moments on our cruise. When it would dive down, its tail would come out of the water, and it was amazing!

A few pictures from our short hike near campus, my boyfriend Ben and me		Also near campus, some of us posed for a group shot: top-Ben, Jaime, Scott, Melissa, Dave, Shaun; bottom- me, Kathy, Ken

At the competition awaiting loading of the bridge, some of my best friends! Kathy, me and Jaime		At last, competition was over and it was time to relax, the 1999 UF Steel Bridge Team!