01/16/09
Today is a hiking day! Whoo hoo!!! We drove out to the Saguaro National Park out in the desert. We were hiking all day and our group of four made our own trails, ha ha. We ended up going on a walk and climbing through a wash. There were downed cacti, pointy jagged rocks, and a great breeze. Erin, Mark, Brad and I had a great time just wandering around and taking in all the scenery. After returning from the wash, we took the Hugh Norris (aka HUGE Norris) that took us out really high up in the mountains. It was rather hot and all the hills and inclines wore my legs out! I rolled my ankle on the way down = not fun. We had a good time though : ) Honestly, I wasn't planning on today being of the exciting days of the trip so I can pleasantly say that the day was a success! We got home mid-afternoon and we all needed to rest up. Caitlin and I watched Transformers for a little bit and found out later the some of the guys were watching it too! For dinner we went out and got some Subway sandwiches (yum) and some soda / juice. It was fun because we all had dinner and got to chat for awhile. We shared our hiking stories, joked around and even brought up pottery a couple times! I had too much energy so I wanted to walk around some more. I wanted to do like 100 laps but we only got about 27 in ; ) Joe, Adam, Erin and I had some great group hugs to end the night. Everyone needs a group hug sometimes!
01/17/09
Today is our first day up in the mountains. We had a long drive up the mountain and after our busy day yesterday everyone felt like they needed to nap, and we totally did! The high altitude is starting to take its tole on me and I've been nauseous all day : ( Our hike didn't really help today. Hopefully it's not a bug! It's really amazing though being up here. We are imaging tonight and it is outstanding. Adam and I have found the catwalk to be a great, relaxing space. The stars cover the sky and we talked about how small it makes you feel. Lots of shooting stars, planets and galaxies that one could never imagine seeing back home, thanks light pollution. I'm really looking forward to when I get to learn how to run the telescope (hopefully tomorrow). Well, it's like 12:40 now and we still have four hours left. I think I'm going to go outside again and be amazed with all the stars.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
1-15
This day was Thursday. We went on a field trip to the Steward Mirror Lab at University of Arizona. The video and our tour guide explained to us the construction of the mirrors, and it was very interesting. Our guide even had made a small wooden model of the mirror to explain the process. The tour guide for the MMT the day before also had a small model of a telescope. Apparently the profession requires craftiness skills. The threat of a molten glass leak seemed pretty terrifying. Overall a great tour. We then visited a cool astronomy store called Starizona. They had a lot of telescopes and astronomy literature. The owner (I think) showed us some awesome amateur astronomy photos, and 2 astronomy monopolies were purchased. Then we got dressed up real nice for the dinner and opera that night. "Your shirt is nice," said Isa, but Joe looked far snazzier, as usual. We were accompanied by Art and Linda Staubitz, who were very nice and interesting people. We visited an incredibly fancy Mexican restaurant, and I wasn't exactly sure what I was ordering. I was a complete stranger to the various foods on my plate as I explored the culinary environment. It was quite delicious, the white wine sauce really tied together the cod and the artichoke. After an amazing dessert, we saw L'Elixir d'Amore, a comedic opera written by Donizetti. I quite enjoyed the performance, it was funny and the music was good. The night ended with several laps around the motel.
This day was Thursday. We went on a field trip to the Steward Mirror Lab at University of Arizona. The video and our tour guide explained to us the construction of the mirrors, and it was very interesting. Our guide even had made a small wooden model of the mirror to explain the process. The tour guide for the MMT the day before also had a small model of a telescope. Apparently the profession requires craftiness skills. The threat of a molten glass leak seemed pretty terrifying. Overall a great tour. We then visited a cool astronomy store called Starizona. They had a lot of telescopes and astronomy literature. The owner (I think) showed us some awesome amateur astronomy photos, and 2 astronomy monopolies were purchased. Then we got dressed up real nice for the dinner and opera that night. "Your shirt is nice," said Isa, but Joe looked far snazzier, as usual. We were accompanied by Art and Linda Staubitz, who were very nice and interesting people. We visited an incredibly fancy Mexican restaurant, and I wasn't exactly sure what I was ordering. I was a complete stranger to the various foods on my plate as I explored the culinary environment. It was quite delicious, the white wine sauce really tied together the cod and the artichoke. After an amazing dessert, we saw L'Elixir d'Amore, a comedic opera written by Donizetti. I quite enjoyed the performance, it was funny and the music was good. The night ended with several laps around the motel.
Jan 14 & 15
01/14/09
We had a really educational day today, up in the mountains! We got tours of the MMT and the Smithsonian Astro. Observatory. The day started with another long drive up the mountain filled with cheerful songs and dancing (did I mention how fun that is!) and luckily no one had any motion sickness problems. The first thing we looked at was the VERITAS telescopes which were my favorite of the day. They each had so many hexagonal mirrors; to me it seemed like something from a science fiction movie. After checking out the visitor center for a little bit, our car piled into a different, larger truck with our tour guide Bob. We had another long drive up higher into the mountains (again with no motion sickness, yay!) all the way up to the MMT telescope. It was huge! The mirror was very impressive in size. One thing that boggled my mind was how dirty the mirror appeared. There were bubbles from the processing that were pretty big! We did get to see someone cleaning it though (probably the coolest job ever!) The last stop was to a telescope that had the same shape as the VERITAS and unfortunately I don't remember its name. We all got to take turns standing at the focal point so our faces would take up the entire area! It was neat! We came back kinda late in the afternoon and we took a short nap. Afterwards we went to a cool Irish pub "The Auld Dubliner". I'm very happy, it seems like every restaurant here offers a vegetarian alternative which makes me so happy! There are more opportunities here (food wise) than back home.
01/15/09
Hooray for sleeping in! We went to the Steward Observatory Mirror Lab at the university campus. I still think this is odd; the mirror lab is underneath the university football field! I can just imagine all the students jumping on the bleachers above a super expensive mirror! Anyway, we got a very indepth tour of how they make mirrors for some of the largest telescopes. The thing that impressed me the most was how huge and heavy each mirror actually is! I wish I could have seen someone working / building a mirror as the majority of the people there were marking things and number crunching. It was really awesome to learn about how many different steps are involved in making a mirror. Too cool.
In the evening we went out to eat with the Staubitz's to a very fancy restaurant. Again vegetarian food = amazing! Afterwards, they took us to the Arizona Opera production of L'Elisir d'Amore (Elixir of Love). It was good, though opera is not my thing. I prefer a musical if I'm going to theatrical production. That evening we all walked around the motel area which was great to let out all that extra energy! It was a fun day.
We had a really educational day today, up in the mountains! We got tours of the MMT and the Smithsonian Astro. Observatory. The day started with another long drive up the mountain filled with cheerful songs and dancing (did I mention how fun that is!) and luckily no one had any motion sickness problems. The first thing we looked at was the VERITAS telescopes which were my favorite of the day. They each had so many hexagonal mirrors; to me it seemed like something from a science fiction movie. After checking out the visitor center for a little bit, our car piled into a different, larger truck with our tour guide Bob. We had another long drive up higher into the mountains (again with no motion sickness, yay!) all the way up to the MMT telescope. It was huge! The mirror was very impressive in size. One thing that boggled my mind was how dirty the mirror appeared. There were bubbles from the processing that were pretty big! We did get to see someone cleaning it though (probably the coolest job ever!) The last stop was to a telescope that had the same shape as the VERITAS and unfortunately I don't remember its name. We all got to take turns standing at the focal point so our faces would take up the entire area! It was neat! We came back kinda late in the afternoon and we took a short nap. Afterwards we went to a cool Irish pub "The Auld Dubliner". I'm very happy, it seems like every restaurant here offers a vegetarian alternative which makes me so happy! There are more opportunities here (food wise) than back home.
01/15/09
Hooray for sleeping in! We went to the Steward Observatory Mirror Lab at the university campus. I still think this is odd; the mirror lab is underneath the university football field! I can just imagine all the students jumping on the bleachers above a super expensive mirror! Anyway, we got a very indepth tour of how they make mirrors for some of the largest telescopes. The thing that impressed me the most was how huge and heavy each mirror actually is! I wish I could have seen someone working / building a mirror as the majority of the people there were marking things and number crunching. It was really awesome to learn about how many different steps are involved in making a mirror. Too cool.
In the evening we went out to eat with the Staubitz's to a very fancy restaurant. Again vegetarian food = amazing! Afterwards, they took us to the Arizona Opera production of L'Elisir d'Amore (Elixir of Love). It was good, though opera is not my thing. I prefer a musical if I'm going to theatrical production. That evening we all walked around the motel area which was great to let out all that extra energy! It was a fun day.
WOW!
Jan 12th
This was/is my Favorite day, By Far! Today was a day of predatory birds flying a few Inches, if Lucky, away from your head, jammed fingers with a bruised knee, Pots...Lots and LOTS of pots, Adam almost dying, aand becoming gansters. It was All cool.
We started the day off at the Desert Museum. There we saw All sorts of Amazing plant and animal life. We were shown the different predatory birds found around AZ. There was the Roadrunner, Raven, 2/3 hawks, and 2/3 owls. I cant remember their names:D Unfortunately, the Otter Nor the Mountain Lion were there..our the tortoise :P Also, their bears retired...a Nice way to say, yeah...they died.... But, we did get to see an Ocilate (¿sp?), beavers, deer, humming birds (Stupid Camera! It died Just as there were 2 humming birds Right there), parrots, and what not. The cave part, however, was pretty cool.
It was Mark, D.A, and myself trailing along in the back. Mark noticed an opening and found it was a seperate path, we took that instead :D It was to give you a cave like feeling. It was Extremely dark and you had to watch Every step you took. While walking, I thought I saw a wall/obstacle, I stuck my hand out. Yep, there was something there. I jammed my finger Right into it theen I hit my knee off the wall across from it. That section of the cave won, Flat Out! Besides the cave Kicking my Butt, there was a point where you Actually got to see the inside of the cave. It was pretty cool, they had water flowing, mineral deposits hanging down, and what not. It barfed us out to an area that showed the evolution of life. It started from astroids to modern man. Unfortunately, since we took the seperate path, we had to find the rest of the group and skip most of what was there. We caught up with them and saw the rest of the museum. Once done, we all went to the store. Brad managed to find 2 hand puppet animals and was So Proud of himself :P
We ate lunch and back to town. Along the way we stopped at a landscape area. There was a small pavillion at the top of the nearest peak. I wasnt sure if we could go but was DYING to go. I saw a few people walking up so bugged :D Mark enough and we headed up. We managed to pick up a strangler along the way, Brad. The rest of the group, pansies :P, stayed below. The view was Amazing and better than at the pavillion. We didnt stay too long :(
We had 10/15 mins to relax then headed to the AZ Museum. We met scientists working on the pottery and I am just going to say, we know Lots about pottery..........
Back to town we went where shopped a bit and ate at Jonnys Rocket, a small burger place. Man, did they Ever have the Best burger! It was Covered with all this junk and cooked to be Juicy yet not mooing. MMMMMmmmm! The ride back to the hotel was the usual but I needed to get a hat, Caitlyn blister stuff, bread, and other odd little supplies. We were listening to some good classical rock music when it was changed. Lol, just to bug Erin, Joe put on some country :P We didnt listen to it too long but I felt myself getting Dumber and 2 front teeth getting bigger. Well, it wasnt over yet. We then found a rap station. We Blaired the music and rolled our windows down. We Were the nerdiest most gangster group out there :P Oh, also..while coming back from the pottery place, the other SUV almost got into an accident. There was stopped traffic but apparently this one guy wasnt paying attention. He Slammed on his brakes and Squeeled on the pavement. Joe, luckily, saw it coming and quickly got into the other lane. They would have clipped Adam. Luckily Adam And his arm, hanging out at that moment, made it out Ok.
!!!!TOO MANY POTS!!!!
This was/is my Favorite day, By Far! Today was a day of predatory birds flying a few Inches, if Lucky, away from your head, jammed fingers with a bruised knee, Pots...Lots and LOTS of pots, Adam almost dying, aand becoming gansters. It was All cool.
We started the day off at the Desert Museum. There we saw All sorts of Amazing plant and animal life. We were shown the different predatory birds found around AZ. There was the Roadrunner, Raven, 2/3 hawks, and 2/3 owls. I cant remember their names:D Unfortunately, the Otter Nor the Mountain Lion were there..our the tortoise :P Also, their bears retired...a Nice way to say, yeah...they died.... But, we did get to see an Ocilate (¿sp?), beavers, deer, humming birds (Stupid Camera! It died Just as there were 2 humming birds Right there), parrots, and what not. The cave part, however, was pretty cool.
It was Mark, D.A, and myself trailing along in the back. Mark noticed an opening and found it was a seperate path, we took that instead :D It was to give you a cave like feeling. It was Extremely dark and you had to watch Every step you took. While walking, I thought I saw a wall/obstacle, I stuck my hand out. Yep, there was something there. I jammed my finger Right into it theen I hit my knee off the wall across from it. That section of the cave won, Flat Out! Besides the cave Kicking my Butt, there was a point where you Actually got to see the inside of the cave. It was pretty cool, they had water flowing, mineral deposits hanging down, and what not. It barfed us out to an area that showed the evolution of life. It started from astroids to modern man. Unfortunately, since we took the seperate path, we had to find the rest of the group and skip most of what was there. We caught up with them and saw the rest of the museum. Once done, we all went to the store. Brad managed to find 2 hand puppet animals and was So Proud of himself :P
We ate lunch and back to town. Along the way we stopped at a landscape area. There was a small pavillion at the top of the nearest peak. I wasnt sure if we could go but was DYING to go. I saw a few people walking up so bugged :D Mark enough and we headed up. We managed to pick up a strangler along the way, Brad. The rest of the group, pansies :P, stayed below. The view was Amazing and better than at the pavillion. We didnt stay too long :(
We had 10/15 mins to relax then headed to the AZ Museum. We met scientists working on the pottery and I am just going to say, we know Lots about pottery..........
Back to town we went where shopped a bit and ate at Jonnys Rocket, a small burger place. Man, did they Ever have the Best burger! It was Covered with all this junk and cooked to be Juicy yet not mooing. MMMMMmmmm! The ride back to the hotel was the usual but I needed to get a hat, Caitlyn blister stuff, bread, and other odd little supplies. We were listening to some good classical rock music when it was changed. Lol, just to bug Erin, Joe put on some country :P We didnt listen to it too long but I felt myself getting Dumber and 2 front teeth getting bigger. Well, it wasnt over yet. We then found a rap station. We Blaired the music and rolled our windows down. We Were the nerdiest most gangster group out there :P Oh, also..while coming back from the pottery place, the other SUV almost got into an accident. There was stopped traffic but apparently this one guy wasnt paying attention. He Slammed on his brakes and Squeeled on the pavement. Joe, luckily, saw it coming and quickly got into the other lane. They would have clipped Adam. Luckily Adam And his arm, hanging out at that moment, made it out Ok.
!!!!TOO MANY POTS!!!!
Jan 12 & 13
Welcome to Arizona! After a safe flight in on the 11th, we were very excited to start our adventure in Tucson. We woke up bright and early and drove out to the Tucson Desert Museum. I don't think that I can emphasize enough how wonderful the weather is here. Just driving out to the desert was amazing in the fact that we could actually have the windows down! Anyway, the Desert Museum was really neat. I walked around with Adam, Joe and Caitlin and saw a wide variety of animals. On of the most interesting parts was the raptor show. The raven flew extremely close to our heads and I swore that it was going to hit me! My favorite bird that was featured in the show was the roadrunner. Although she is a predator, the roadrunner was very elegant and graceful. I was really upset, though, because we didn't get to see the tortoises. We were looking forward to them!
After a long day at the museum, we went over to the Arizona State Museum were we met up with a really interesting man named Patrick. He showed us a wide variety of pottery and explained a lot about the history of how different styles came into different areas. We even got to go behind the scenes and into their storage vault! It was really interesting.
01/13/09
Today was ALL about taking our pottery knowledge and applying it to real dig sites. We drove forever into the desert, tackling unpaved roads, uncivilized stretches of land, and long plumes of dust/sand coming off the car in front of us. Although we had a really long drive, our car had a great time singing and dancing. It definitely made the ride quicker! Patrick took us to some really interesting dig sites where we could actually pick up real shards of pottery. It's unfortunate that no one has categorized them and Patrick told us that many of the sites will go on to be like that for 10-15 years. He took us to some sites that required us to climb up hills and cliffs (definitely my favorite type!) and I felt like a little kid. I got called "monkey" for my climbing, ha ha. The day was really adventurous and exciting but very draining. On the way home, the front car got a flat tire and it was kinda funny to see so many physicists attempting to help fix a flat! I was kinda creeped out at some points along the drive because all I could think about was the movie "The Hills Have Eyes"... any one that has seen that movie will understand!
After a long day at the museum, we went over to the Arizona State Museum were we met up with a really interesting man named Patrick. He showed us a wide variety of pottery and explained a lot about the history of how different styles came into different areas. We even got to go behind the scenes and into their storage vault! It was really interesting.
01/13/09
Today was ALL about taking our pottery knowledge and applying it to real dig sites. We drove forever into the desert, tackling unpaved roads, uncivilized stretches of land, and long plumes of dust/sand coming off the car in front of us. Although we had a really long drive, our car had a great time singing and dancing. It definitely made the ride quicker! Patrick took us to some really interesting dig sites where we could actually pick up real shards of pottery. It's unfortunate that no one has categorized them and Patrick told us that many of the sites will go on to be like that for 10-15 years. He took us to some sites that required us to climb up hills and cliffs (definitely my favorite type!) and I felt like a little kid. I got called "monkey" for my climbing, ha ha. The day was really adventurous and exciting but very draining. On the way home, the front car got a flat tire and it was kinda funny to see so many physicists attempting to help fix a flat! I was kinda creeped out at some points along the drive because all I could think about was the movie "The Hills Have Eyes"... any one that has seen that movie will understand!
A Fricking LONG Day!
Jan 11th
Ever those days where you wanna go to bed buut you have to get up really early in the morning? Yeah, today was one of those days. I "went to bed" around 2:30am and got up around 6am. Most of that sleep, mind you, was just lying there making sure I packed everything I needed. Luckily, I was able to get up and get everything organized. It wasnt that pretty though. Walking to the DSC, we were a bunch of walking zombies...really, we didnt have a pulse.
The drive to the airport wasnt too bad but the driver was too awake for that hour :P Luckily the airport wasnt too busy, which was nice. Everything was going well till Someone got stuck at the security point...CONGRATS MARK!! He didnt take off his belt and got stopped and sent back. The thing is, he didnt just go back in line...he went ALL the way to the end of the line. Lol, we didnt know what happened to him till we all looked up and saw him coming back through...with a nice tint of red to him:D:P The Best part was, he was the one who made a joke/comment about getting stopped by security earlier. HA!
The flight seemed like a long one. I was fortunate enough that, for the last hour or so, I was too busy looking out the window to pay attention to time. I am used to flat and I was looking at anything But flat! The women next to me was telling me All this stuff about the mnts, all the geography of Az, and some goods spots to visit. She Definately knew what she was talking about.
All luggage was found once arrived and we headed to food. We made a Nice circle getting there *Cough*...D.A. The food was SO GOOD though, made the circle worth it. After that, it was relaxing :D We got a good hour/hour and a half to relax before people wanted to head out. The people in town were ODD! They were punky, gothy, hill billyesk..idk, Brad/Adam can voutch for this. There were strange stores too, touristy like to hooka bars.
Naturally, people got hungry again. We found a small little restaurant and ate there. We were Lucky enough to have a hobo come in and join us. He didnt cause any problems but just Sort of smelled. From there, we went back to the hotel, star gazed for a bit and then BED!!!! The Best part of the day!
Ever those days where you wanna go to bed buut you have to get up really early in the morning? Yeah, today was one of those days. I "went to bed" around 2:30am and got up around 6am. Most of that sleep, mind you, was just lying there making sure I packed everything I needed. Luckily, I was able to get up and get everything organized. It wasnt that pretty though. Walking to the DSC, we were a bunch of walking zombies...really, we didnt have a pulse.
The drive to the airport wasnt too bad but the driver was too awake for that hour :P Luckily the airport wasnt too busy, which was nice. Everything was going well till Someone got stuck at the security point...CONGRATS MARK!! He didnt take off his belt and got stopped and sent back. The thing is, he didnt just go back in line...he went ALL the way to the end of the line. Lol, we didnt know what happened to him till we all looked up and saw him coming back through...with a nice tint of red to him:D:P The Best part was, he was the one who made a joke/comment about getting stopped by security earlier. HA!
The flight seemed like a long one. I was fortunate enough that, for the last hour or so, I was too busy looking out the window to pay attention to time. I am used to flat and I was looking at anything But flat! The women next to me was telling me All this stuff about the mnts, all the geography of Az, and some goods spots to visit. She Definately knew what she was talking about.
All luggage was found once arrived and we headed to food. We made a Nice circle getting there *Cough*...D.A. The food was SO GOOD though, made the circle worth it. After that, it was relaxing :D We got a good hour/hour and a half to relax before people wanted to head out. The people in town were ODD! They were punky, gothy, hill billyesk..idk, Brad/Adam can voutch for this. There were strange stores too, touristy like to hooka bars.
Naturally, people got hungry again. We found a small little restaurant and ate there. We were Lucky enough to have a hobo come in and join us. He didnt cause any problems but just Sort of smelled. From there, we went back to the hotel, star gazed for a bit and then BED!!!! The Best part of the day!
1-14
Today we went to tour MMT. It was remarkable how large the telescopes actually were. What was even more remarkable is how they managed to get the 8.5m mirror up the steep winding mountain roads. In the visitor center the coolest display by far was the pop can display. It showed what a pop can will weigh on each of the planets. When we were looking at the MMT telescopes we had a change to stand on a platform behind it and see ourself projected on the 10m telescope. After we got back for the evening we decided to go an Irish pub for dinner. We learned a couple things while we were there. We learned how to play the YOUR TEAM game and that Erin loves french fries hahaha.
1-15
Today we went to the mirror lab at the University of Arizona. Before we even got in to the mirror lab I notiiced that it was underneath the football stadium which I thouhgt was pretty cool. We got to the the whole process for making the mirrors which was remarkable. The oven for the mirrors were huge and it was just crazy how much the big mirrors weighed and how they were moved from place to place. I really underestimed the time it took for the mirrors to be completed. It takes around 8 years to fully finish a mirror and ship it out. After the mirror lab we went out to dinner and to the opera. Dinner was fantastic but I was not sure what to expect about the opera. It turned out not to be that bad.
1-16
The big hike was today. We went to Saguaro National Park and hiked to the highest peak in the park. The trail was 3.5 miles to the top so it was a 7 mile hike in total. It started out failry flat and got a little rougher as we got higher. From the top of the mountain you could see all over the valley and it looked beautiful. On the way down Adam and I decided to book it. We took off and were going very fast. Not to long into it we discovered that certain rocks allowed you to slip and almost fall off the mountain haha. Adam did a remarkable job at catching himself before falling to his death, which we decied would suck becuase the only thing to grab onto were cacti. When I took the lead from Adam I almost got us lost. I decided that a wash was part of the trail so we hiked that for a little before Adam realized the trail was about 5feet to our right. I got extremelty sun burnt becuase i was trying to get a tan. After the hike we went to a gas station to get drinks so we didnt die. It turned out to be a great trip for Erin and Isa becuase they almost got new boyfriends. Then we came back to our motel where we showered and rested a bit. Later that night we stole a car to go out. We ended up going to Subway and got some delcious subs. When we got back to the motel we had a very long and interesting talk about the pottery we saw the other day with Indiana Patrick. After the talk we went on a walk around the motel. Isa wanted to go around 100 times, which was totally ridiculous but we ended up going around 27 times so we got pretty close. After the walk was over we went back to our rooms for bed but before we went to bed Adam Isa Erin and I had a couple of great group hugs.
Today we went to tour MMT. It was remarkable how large the telescopes actually were. What was even more remarkable is how they managed to get the 8.5m mirror up the steep winding mountain roads. In the visitor center the coolest display by far was the pop can display. It showed what a pop can will weigh on each of the planets. When we were looking at the MMT telescopes we had a change to stand on a platform behind it and see ourself projected on the 10m telescope. After we got back for the evening we decided to go an Irish pub for dinner. We learned a couple things while we were there. We learned how to play the YOUR TEAM game and that Erin loves french fries hahaha.
1-15
Today we went to the mirror lab at the University of Arizona. Before we even got in to the mirror lab I notiiced that it was underneath the football stadium which I thouhgt was pretty cool. We got to the the whole process for making the mirrors which was remarkable. The oven for the mirrors were huge and it was just crazy how much the big mirrors weighed and how they were moved from place to place. I really underestimed the time it took for the mirrors to be completed. It takes around 8 years to fully finish a mirror and ship it out. After the mirror lab we went out to dinner and to the opera. Dinner was fantastic but I was not sure what to expect about the opera. It turned out not to be that bad.
1-16
The big hike was today. We went to Saguaro National Park and hiked to the highest peak in the park. The trail was 3.5 miles to the top so it was a 7 mile hike in total. It started out failry flat and got a little rougher as we got higher. From the top of the mountain you could see all over the valley and it looked beautiful. On the way down Adam and I decided to book it. We took off and were going very fast. Not to long into it we discovered that certain rocks allowed you to slip and almost fall off the mountain haha. Adam did a remarkable job at catching himself before falling to his death, which we decied would suck becuase the only thing to grab onto were cacti. When I took the lead from Adam I almost got us lost. I decided that a wash was part of the trail so we hiked that for a little before Adam realized the trail was about 5feet to our right. I got extremelty sun burnt becuase i was trying to get a tan. After the hike we went to a gas station to get drinks so we didnt die. It turned out to be a great trip for Erin and Isa becuase they almost got new boyfriends. Then we came back to our motel where we showered and rested a bit. Later that night we stole a car to go out. We ended up going to Subway and got some delcious subs. When we got back to the motel we had a very long and interesting talk about the pottery we saw the other day with Indiana Patrick. After the talk we went on a walk around the motel. Isa wanted to go around 100 times, which was totally ridiculous but we ended up going around 27 times so we got pretty close. After the walk was over we went back to our rooms for bed but before we went to bed Adam Isa Erin and I had a couple of great group hugs.
1-13
PURPLE the Drs. jacket was purple :P
1-13 Breakfast... same place, same goodness. Meet Patrick for tour around dig-sites. Very interesting, but very exhausting. The purpose behind the trips was not clear, but the tour around the area was nice. To the cool car: "We are beautiful..." That night, saw the movie for IYA and found it interesting but not simple enough for the average PBS viewer. Horray for chinese food.
1-14 Toured MMT. Honestly surprised by size of mirror and enjoyed watching the guy clean with CO2. Learned silver paint is better than white for keeping out heat on metal. Tour guide liked to talk about trees while on the drive and showed a couple of old mines (including "2 Mines").
1-15 Went to UA for Mirror Lab. Tour was cooll, but speaker was hard to listen to. Saw big mirrors in process for GMT and LSST. Watched neat vid on LBT and was started to find no stablizers on secondary mirror. That night we met with the sponsors of our group (sp. Stoubitz?) and had a remarkable dinner. I got the chef's surprise for dinner including portions of the tamale, chicken with mustard sauce, and spicy beef. Flan for dessert filled a need that I haven't gotten for a while. The opera that night was better than I thought, but the caption people needed to get their act together.
1-16 Walked in National Park and fought to get to the top. Failed :'( but was impressed with how well I did. But now in need of major rest.
1-17 Drive to Kuiper and not really finding an issue with the thin air... yet. Telescope took a while to cooperate with DA. Night one going really well and learning the protocol quickly and hoping the result exceeds expectations. "lots of hurry up and wait"
1-13 Breakfast... same place, same goodness. Meet Patrick for tour around dig-sites. Very interesting, but very exhausting. The purpose behind the trips was not clear, but the tour around the area was nice. To the cool car: "We are beautiful..." That night, saw the movie for IYA and found it interesting but not simple enough for the average PBS viewer. Horray for chinese food.
1-14 Toured MMT. Honestly surprised by size of mirror and enjoyed watching the guy clean with CO2. Learned silver paint is better than white for keeping out heat on metal. Tour guide liked to talk about trees while on the drive and showed a couple of old mines (including "2 Mines").
1-15 Went to UA for Mirror Lab. Tour was cooll, but speaker was hard to listen to. Saw big mirrors in process for GMT and LSST. Watched neat vid on LBT and was started to find no stablizers on secondary mirror. That night we met with the sponsors of our group (sp. Stoubitz?) and had a remarkable dinner. I got the chef's surprise for dinner including portions of the tamale, chicken with mustard sauce, and spicy beef. Flan for dessert filled a need that I haven't gotten for a while. The opera that night was better than I thought, but the caption people needed to get their act together.
1-16 Walked in National Park and fought to get to the top. Failed :'( but was impressed with how well I did. But now in need of major rest.
1-17 Drive to Kuiper and not really finding an issue with the thin air... yet. Telescope took a while to cooperate with DA. Night one going really well and learning the protocol quickly and hoping the result exceeds expectations. "lots of hurry up and wait"
Hiking and more hiking
Friday was hiking day. We into the desert where a group of us triumphantly reached the top peak in the senora desert national park. It was a total hike of 7 miles, 3.5 up and 3.5 down. At the top were around 3,000ft above sea level. Before embarking on the hike my friend Joe and I thought it would be a piece of cake. However, we ended having a heavy weight bout with the inclines we were walking up. It took above 1.5 hours to reach the top. We could see all the surrounding peaks of Kitt and Mt. Bigelow. Down below we could see the valley filled with living places. It was so clear and warm, around if not above 70 degrees. The breeze though was refreshing and actually caused my body to chill. The battle took its toll causing blisters and sore muscles. Going down was fun, though being easier on the legs the looses pointy rocks could penetrate the soles of our shoes. It was good to get back to the motel and relax after hiking for 3 hours or so. There weren't many animals to see, but the scenery was worth it. We did end up sleeping well that night.
Saturday is our first day of observation. We're using a 61 inch telescope to study planetary nebulea. We started taking our first exposures at around 8 pm mountain time. As the sun has gone down the more stars have come out. We can make out the Milky Way galaxy streaming across the sky from horizon to horizon. It is magnificant. It really makes you feel incredibly small in this huge universe as Isa and I conversed about. It's wonderful and there is nothing more that I enjoy then getting away from city and looking at the stars in the night sky. The peace is a gift from heaven. Living in the city my whole life and having noise always around has worn me out. It's just good to get to hear nothing but wind. It allows me to think and really experience the created world around me. Sound distracts me, and this peace allows me to focus my eyes and concentrate on the heavens above. Beautiful!
Saturday is our first day of observation. We're using a 61 inch telescope to study planetary nebulea. We started taking our first exposures at around 8 pm mountain time. As the sun has gone down the more stars have come out. We can make out the Milky Way galaxy streaming across the sky from horizon to horizon. It is magnificant. It really makes you feel incredibly small in this huge universe as Isa and I conversed about. It's wonderful and there is nothing more that I enjoy then getting away from city and looking at the stars in the night sky. The peace is a gift from heaven. Living in the city my whole life and having noise always around has worn me out. It's just good to get to hear nothing but wind. It allows me to think and really experience the created world around me. Sound distracts me, and this peace allows me to focus my eyes and concentrate on the heavens above. Beautiful!
posts for 1-11
1-11 The flight went smooth although the driver liked to break right at the end of the runway... Lunch was at a great and I want to go again. If I'm ever in Tucson, I will not leave without a meal there. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and touring the college town area, eventually getting pretty decent pizza for dinner.
1-12 Apparently, I compete with Charlie for the amount of food I can eat. We visited the Desert Museum and saw lots of Cactii, birds... Lots of pictures taken, but now I'm tired. The AZ museum had some really interesting pottery, but I was so exhausted that I didn't enjoy it as much as I could have. Dinner at Chipotle's left us wondering just how little Erin can eat.
1-12 Apparently, I compete with Charlie for the amount of food I can eat. We visited the Desert Museum and saw lots of Cactii, birds... Lots of pictures taken, but now I'm tired. The AZ museum had some really interesting pottery, but I was so exhausted that I didn't enjoy it as much as I could have. Dinner at Chipotle's left us wondering just how little Erin can eat.
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