Globetracker's Mission: Finding Dewey

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Teacher Edition | View the Map

Week of October 20, 2024

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Monday

Over the weekend, Geo and I narrowed down the flights that Dewey could have taken. Thank you to all of you who voted last week. The majority said that Dewey went to Terminal 1 - - and you were right! Holy Idaho! We also got a phone call from a representative from another airline that flies to Alaska. She said that she saw Dewey board a plane. But here is the part that is confusing. She was working at the ticketing gate, and a man wheeled up a dog crate with a big dog inside sleeping. She explained that the man told her another airline had messed up and taken the dog off a commuter jet. Do you know what a commuter jet is? Those are smaller planes. This particular plane must have unloaded the passengers and the luggage from outside the terminal. Something seems fishy about all of this. Remember we saw Dewey in the video footage, and he was NOT in a crate. So how did he get in that crate?

Either way, at least now we know that Dewey traveled to Anchorage, Alaska. We have a call into the airline that flew Dewey from JFK to Anchorage; I hope they call us back soon. We were told that we had to speak to a manager, and he wouldn't be back until later today. In the meantime, we have been learning about Alaska. Geo really wanted to look at an interactive map of Alaska. (I put the link for the map at the end of this blog entry - click on the link and see if you can figure out which oceans surround Alaska.) It looks like we will be flying to Alaska soon. We are just waiting for final confirmation from the airlines, but our luggage is ready to go!

There are two oceans that surround Alaska - did you find them? A few seas and even the Gulf of Alaska surround this enormous state. Holy Idaho! I never realized there was so much water around Alaska. Did you find the capital city of Juneau on the map? Juneau is found in the Inside Passage region of Alaska. There are five regions in Alaska: the Far North, the Interior, the Southwest, the Southcentral, and the Inside Passage.

Geo's favorite thing about Alaska was Denali National Park. I wish we could see it in person, but at least we could find a virtual tour! This park has the largest mountain in North America - Mount McKinley. "Denali" is the name the native nations in Alaska gave to the same mountain. Denali means "the great one" or "the high one." Denali/Mount McKinley looks awesome, and it is already snow-covered.

- Meri

Denali (Mount McKinley)

Interactive map of Alaska
Scroll down a bit to find the map. This website provides an interactive map with information about all of the regions of Alaska. Check it out! Can you figure out which two oceans surround Alaska?

Virtual Tour of Alaska
Visit the various cool locations in Alaska. Click to drag and get a 360-degree view of each location

Flight Tour of Mount McKinley in Denali National Park, Alaska
Take a flight virtually to the largest mountain in North America.

Tuesday

We waited for the manager of the airlines to call all day yesterday and never heard a word. Thankfully they called us this morning at 8am. Jim (the manager) had done some investigating of his own. He told us that Dewey was on a plane that landed in Anchorage a few days ago, however, that plane continued on to Juneau (the capital of Alaska). Dewey (in his crate) was never removed from the plane in Anchorage, so he must be in Juneau! Jim gave us the number for the manager at Juneau International Airport. We called immediately and he confirmed that Dewey arrived there yesterday and is still at the airport. They are feeding him and providing him water until our arrival. We are currently in the air flying northwest towards Juneau. We are getting closer and should be arriving shortly.

Did you know that Juneau's average temperature is a mild 40 degrees? It is also much colder in the northern sections of Alaska. Another neat thing about Alaska is that the central and northern portions of the state have very few daylight hours during the winter months. In fact, the far north regions have days (or even months) of darkness - no daylight hours at all. Can you imagine living in the dark? I think that would be cool for a day or two, but I would want to see the sun again after a while. In the summertime, the far north also has days of daylight (literally - the sun shines for 24 hours straight)!

Text Message from Pandora:
Pandora to us: U 2 still on the east coast? J2lyk - I know u r in NYC. I wont tell- mlas.

Us to Pandora: Yes, we were in NYC. Now we traveled NW. Cul8r

- Geo

Wednesday

Holy Idaho! I don't know where to start. We arrived at the Airport and were excited to find out that Dewey was still in the lost baggage office. The airline agent went back to get him and his crate, and we heard a scream! We waited for what seemed like an eternity, and then finally, the agent came out and said - "I don't know how to say this, but the dog is gone." I knew finding Dewey this quickly was too good to be true. The agent allowed us to go back to the baggage claim storage area where Dewey's crate was. We searched for clues and found nothing! As we were leaving the baggage claim storage area, we came upon a custodian picking up a ton of garbage. We decided to take a moment to help him out. He asked us if we were the teenagers looking for the dog. Then he handed us a driver's license that he had found in the wastebasket - he said that he saw the person on the license running away in a big hurry (with a dog that was identical to our picture of Dewey). Holy Idaho! Dewey has been taken! His name was Claude Equator. His driver's license was issued in the city of Vancouver, our next stop on this wild goose chase!

Now we are heading back to our hotel room to figure out our next move. Geo and I decided that we had to get to Vancouver as soon as possible. But how should we travel to Vancouver? We could call for a personal driver (although it will be a long drive, but we could start traveling immediately). Our second choice is to wait until tomorrow afternoon and take the next flight to Vancouver. Our third and final option is to head to the train station and jump aboard the 7pm train to Vancouver. What do you all think?

- Meri

Vocabulary Terms:

cardinal direction - a term used to describe all four primary directions (north, south, east and west).

hybrid map - a map that combines satellite images taken of the earth from space with lines for roads and markings and names of landmarks.

Additional Web Resources:

Travel Alaska
This website offers a wealth of information about the great state of Alaska. Don't miss the maps link that includes several useful (and interactive) maps.

Standards for this episode:

Understands the characteristics and uses of maps, globes, and other geographical tools and technologies.

Knows the location of places, geographical features, and patterns of the environment.

Grade 3-5: Knows the basic elements of maps and globes (title, legend, cardinal, scale, grid, meridians, time zones, etc.).

Grade 3-5: Knows major physical and human features of places as they are represented on maps and globes. Knows how to read different maps: road, relief, globe, etc..

Understands the concept of regions.

Grade 3-5: Knows the characteristics of a variety of regions (climate, housing, religion, language, etc..).

Grade 6-8: Understands concepts such as axis, seasons, rotation, and revolution.