Alaska Adventure Read Online Free Page B

a large poster. On it was a photograph of a magnificent mountain range. Jagged black rock reached high into the sky, the pure white of the snow-covered peaks a startling contrast. Underneath, in bold letters, were the words “Alaska: The Last Frontier.”
    “Dr. Wells?” asked Mariah.
    “That’s me.”
    He sat at his desk, a stack of papers laid out before him. He was younger than she’d expected, probably in his thirties. Through wire-rimmed glasses peered a pair of piercing dark eyes. Thick, wavy black hair covered his head, curling just over his collar. He was dressed casually in a plaid flannel shirt, well-worn jeans, and a pair of scuffed brown leather boots.
    “I’m Mariah Burke. Dr. Lewis suggested I talk to you.”
    “Ah, yes. I’ve been expecting you.”
    “You have?”
    “Nate Lewis called me this morning. Take a seat.”
    Mariah was suddenly uneasy. She could feel her confidence slipping away. She hadn’t expected Dr. Lewis, her genetics professor, to call ahead.
    He was the one who’d first told Mariah about Dr. Wells’s research project. Mariah was the star pupil in his class. The fact that she was also the only freshman in a class full of sophomores and juniors made her straight-A average even more outstanding.
    When Dr.Lewis had called Mariah into his office, she couldn’t imagine what he wanted to say.
    “Mariah,” Dr.Lewis began, taking off the thick glasses that he always wore during class, “I think you have an exciting future ahead of you. You are an excellent scientist. You quickly grasp even the most difficult concepts, your lab work is impeccable.. ..”
    Mariah was about to say “Thank you” when Dr. Lewis shook his head.
    “But there is something missing. You have no experience with the practical side of science. Everything you know, you’ve learned from books. There’s so much more to the natural world than what you can read about on the printed page.”
    Before she could defend herself, pointing out that a pre-med student majoring in biology had little need for anything other than book knowledge, Dr. Lewis handed her a Xerox copy of a journal article. “Have you met Dr. Wells?” he asked.
    Mariah shook her head.
    “Ah. That’s too bad. Ethan Wells is someone you should know.”
    She glanced at the title of the article, still not understanding. “ ‘Limnology of Three Small Lakes on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska,’ ” she read aloud. With a shrug, she told him, “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”
    “Limnology is the study of freshwater lakes and ponds. It’s just one of Dr. Wells’s interests, and one of the many areas he’s incorporating into the research project he’s conducting in the field this summer. He’s taking a group of students with him to Alaska. He’s running a project that involves really getting out there. Actually experiencing the world of science, Mariah, rather than simply observing it from afar. Being part of something like that is as different from studying science in a lab as ... as the difference between reading about Egypt and getting on a camel and traveling through the desert to the Great Pyramid.”
    Smiling, Dr. Lewis added, “I think you would benefit greatly from an experience like this.”
    Mariah’s first reaction had been one of horror. The idea of spending two months slogging around Alaska in a pair of hip boots, brandishing a spray can of insect repellent, was anything but appealing. But slowly it occurred to her that Dr. Lewis wasn’t really giving her much of a choice. He was Mountainville University’s pre-med advisor, advising undergraduate students who hoped to get into medical school one day, and she’d been hoping that he’d write her a glowing recommendation when it was time to apply.
    Then there was the issue of finding a way of making med schools sit up and take notice. A project like this might be just the thing she needed in a couple of years to distinguish her from the hundreds of other applicants to the