Playing Catchup

Instead of writing in detail, get ready for pictures in detail. OK, I know I went to Colorado ~4 months ago, but here you go. I went to visit my friend Eric (who was in my internship last summer) who was currently in Colorado for the summer. I flew to LA then to Denver (most illogical layover EVER, but I did get to see the sun set on the ocean!). I stayed with Eric for his last night in Boulder, CO before we started on our road trip back to Tucson (1000+ miles!). You may ask why I flew to CO, then drove back. We wanted to visit lots of landmarks and explore a bit, so driving was the way to go!

An abbreviated (if you can believe it) history of the trip. I'll skip all the details about getting lost trying to find campgrounds, camping in the middle of some national forest, meeting interesting/strange people we along the way, and all the shenanigans accomplished along the way. Let the photos commence!

Day 2:

The Flatirons of Boulder behind. Crazy Eric in front.

Way above Boulder! How many hikers can you spot??

The sunset on the way to Ward, CO and our campground.

 Day 3:

The drive to the Rockies early in the morning! Beautiful trees (just waiting to be burnt).

The view from Lake Isabelle in the Rockies! The snowmelt made for pristine (and FREEZING) water!

Lake Isabelle below during our short trip into the Rockies!

 What I looked like throughout most of the trip. The scenery was amazing!

Just one of the beautiful scenes on our trip through the Rockies!

Cool patterns on the mountains in CO.

Wait, what is that below the mountains?? THAT'S RIGHT. SAND DUNES.

The Great Sand Dunes in southwest CO. I honestly didn't even know these existed prior to the trip!

Standing on the top of a sand dune... with mountains behind? Nature is cool.

Day 3:

Cliff dwellings on Mesa Verde Park, southwest CO.

More cliff dwellings!

Eric the photographer! The view from Mesa Verde, CO.

Standing on 4 states at once! Four corners, USA.

On our way to Canyon de Chelly, AZ.

The drive in northeast AZ to Canyon de Chelly.

 Day 4:

Canyon de Chelly, AZ. Sheer cliffs!!! Native Americans still live in the canyon!

Don't worry Mom, I didn't fall.

Back in Tucson, AZ!

Greetings from Tucson, Earthlings!

Hello from Tucson, Arizona, one of the hottest places I've ever had the pleasure of inhabiting! I will be spending my summer here for another REU internship, working for NOAO (National Optical Astronomical Observatory)! PS- you know you've been thinking in vi too much when you type a $ to get to the end of a line...

Anyway, I arrived in Tucson on Sunday, traveling from Indianapolis to Dallas/Ft. Worth then making the hop over to Arizona. Notable events on trip over include flying over a wildfire at the AZ/NM border and seeing an 'airplane graveyard'. (Some pictures, not mine, here and here)

After arriving and unpacking my two suitcases that I somehow fit my life into, the first thing I did in the city of Tucson (besides pity-crying a bit at the sheer overwhelming confusion) is get lost on the way to the store. As in, walking in the complete opposite direction I was intending. I guess it helps to know cardinal directions, sometimes, huh! :)

Monday I got to work bright and early, but it WAS ALREADY HOT. The first day of work was spent filling out paperwork and getting to know the NOAO building (it is as confusing as can be). I then met my research advisor, Dara Norman, and we went out to lunch. We chatted about life in Tucson, Indiana, research, the intensity of Chicago winters, and where I could buy trashcans for my apartment. She is a lovely and bright woman, and I'm excited to work with her this summer. I will be working on a project investigating the distribution of X-ray AGN (active galactic nuclei) galaxies in galaxy clusters. Mostly I'll be reducing spectra taken from GMOS (Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph in Chile) but once that is done, I'll be doing some actual analysis!

The NOAO building where I work!

Tucson is so far, a pretty cool place, but unlike anywhere I've ever been. First of all, it's HOT. I apologize for the next 11 weeks of incessant complaining about the heat here. But seriously, the average high for EVERY day in June is 100 +/- 2 degrees. Right now it's only in the 90's, and I shudder to think how unbearable it will soon become. Yeah, yeah, it's a dry heat, but why don't you come over to the Sonoran Desert and tell me that it's not (DRYLY) HOT? 

Ok, some good aspects of Tucson: there is a 360 degree view of mountain ranges surrounding the city! To the north is the Santa Catalina mountains, the west Tucson, the south Santa Rita, and the east Rincon. It's beautiful! 

The view from Target. Some mountains I don't know!

The landscape is definitely desert… Cacti and weird little shrubbies dominate the land here. There are 'mimosa trees' (as I call them), everywhere, as well as palm trees. There are some nice flowering trees and bushes, as well as roses around.... but no grass!!! There is just sand and dirt to reflect back the harsh heat of the sun... *grumble grumble* 

This is pretty much what Tucson looks like. Yup.

The unidentified 'mimosa tree' above... Any suggestions on its actual species? 

The campus is really nice. A couple nights ago I took a long walk around the University of Arizona. My apartment is a nice distance from work, about a 15 minute walk, although google maps says it's a little less than a mile, which in IU walking time means 20 minutes. Tucson, though, is flat as a pancake as far as I've explored!

Palm trees yo!

A big open field on campus and mountains behind.

Some garden or other... lots o' cacti!

Whoa!

The campus at night- RED FILTER LIGHTS! Yay astronomy and dark skies!!!! :)

This place is like another world! The landscape is completely different, the weather bears no resemblance to the midwest, and the Mexican food is SUPREME. While everyone back home is experiencing severe weather, thunderstorms and tornadoes, I would just like everyone to know that I have not seen a single cloud in the sky since arriving four days ago. This year's REU is going to be very different than last year's, but I'm sure it will be a great experience regardless :)

Some big items on my calendar this summer:

• Jenny is going to come visit and stay a couple days with me after she gets done observing at Kitt Peak in mid-July. (Eric too, but he's too lame to stay... something about wanting to spend time with his family or something, sheesh, what a selfish guy!) 
• Go observing at Kitt Peak (south of Tucson) using the 2.1m telescope.
• Visit Elaine in Irvine, CA where she has her own internship!
• My friend Eric P. from last year's REU is going to visit me from Boulder, CO (his REU).
• Eric and I are making a scenic road trip to Simi Valley, CA to visit our friend Nick from last year's REU.

Turns out all the cool people are in the west this summer… Come visit me! :D

Back in the Saddle Again- AZ to IN!

My last few days spent in Arizona were busy busy busy. I was leaving Wednesday morning, and our presentations and papers were due on Monday. We had to give the presentations Tuesday morning. Not to mention the fact that I had to move all of my stuff out of the apartment, clean it, and check out sometime in there.

Luckily I had my paper and presentation pretty much finished the previous week so that I could leave the last weekend for the Arches trip. I put some finishing touches on it Monday and gave a practice talk to Teresa and my adviser. I rushed around Flag buying people souvenirs (of course I wait until the END of my 10 week stay to do this...) then began packing my stuff that night.

Okay, so throughout the summer, the REU students have sort of had a penchant for pulling pranks on each other. To be honest, we pretty much just stole a lot of stuff from Eric (including his phone multiple times, his french press and probably more things). As a final goodbye, Teresa, Nick and myself went over to the boys' apartment at about 9 or 10pm Monday night and stole Eric's mattress!!! We carried it down one flight of stairs, across the property to our apartment, up to the third floor then threw it in mine and Teresa's apartment. Man, I'll tell you: I never knew how heavy a full-size mattress could be... It was totally worth it, though. Once it was in our apartment, we proceeded to jump on it like the mature college students we are.

Nick and I going to town on the mattress.

We put the mattress on top of my mattress on my bed. Eventually around 11 or so, I got really tired. I didn't know what else to do so I just went to sleep on top of two mattresses. At about midnight, I was rudely awakened to a phone call from Eric asking if I knew where the mattress was. The gig was up, so Nick, Eric and I moved it back.

The next morning was THE day. The day where we had to give our research presentations to a room full of experienced astronomers who will probably rip us apart with questions (people from Lowell, NAU, and the USGS were invited). Eek! I was going 4th out of 7, so I got to sit around nervous for a bit. Everybody gave really good talks! I was pretty impressed. I thought for sure somebody would get too nervous and goof up (most likely me) but everybody did really well.

Notice my star trek cup that I brought specifically for the talk! :)

I thought I did pretty well, although I forgot to say some things, and was a little intimidated by the professional astronomers there. I was satisfied though, and that's all that matters! I answered all my questions but one that I didn't know (my adviser answered it for me though).

After our talks- we can finally relax! From left, back: Eric, Nick, Nicole and Teresa. Front: Me, Kathy (program director and our psuedo-mom), Sarah, and Cailah.

Afterward we went to NiMarco's, the same pizza place we visited on our first day in Flag. A few of the astronomers who attended the talks came as well. It was really fun and yummy. After that, Teresa and I ran all over the place (Target, NAU to give Kathy our leftover food, and Lowell to clean out the office). We frantically packed up our stuff all afternoon and cleaned the apartment like madwomen. Eric and I made a recycling run from all the stuff we've been accumulating all summer and got some espresso at Macy's. I don't think I've ever mentioned Macy's but it's a European style coffee shop. They have the best coffee I've ever tasted! But yeah, went back home, cleaned and packed more. Went back to the physics building at NAU to print off my plane tickets (woops! almost forgot to).

Flagstaff sent me off in style!

FINALLY I got back and tried desperately to use all my tortillas by making a lot of quesadillas (I succeeded). We had a last blow-out party with everyone and a USGS friend Eric (too many Erics). It was lots of fun, but I ended up staying up until 3:30... and then woke up at 5:30.

Wednesday, I did indeed wake up at 5:30, and proceeded to run around the place doing all the last-minute things I forgot to do before. At 6:40, the RA in our building came to check both Teresa and I out. We passed 'inspection' and I headed across the street to the parking lot where the shuttle would pick me up. I got Teresa and the boys to come help me bring my stuff (we woke them up at about 6:30 to MAKE them say goodbye to us). My shuttle arrived at 7:10 and I was off to Phoenix. Exchanged my final goodbyes with Teresa, Eric, and Nick and I was on my way.

It was three hours to Phoenix, and once there, I got through security like a breeze and had a couple hours to kill there.

In Sky Harbor Int'l Airport in Phoenix.

I sat around tired and bored until boarding at 11:40. It was a hard goodbye, but farewell Arizona!

Last glimpse of mountains at the airport.

I went from Phoenix to a layover in Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas. I slept for pretty much the whole flight. I had about 3 hours waiting in Dallas, and my flight was a little late. I ended up leaving about 9pm Central time for Indy. I had a pretty amazing flight- I saw an incredible sunset (and Venus!). I happened to look down at the right moment to see a fireworks show going on the edge of some body of water. There was also a big storm in the distance. It was really cool to see lightning from the top down! I timed a minute and saw somewhere around 60 lightning strikes! After picking up my luggage in Indy, it was about midnight. From 7am MST to 12am EDT is 14 hours of traveling. I feel like most of it was just spent sitting around in airports though. I got a lot of reading and gameboy tetris done though!

All of my flights were fine, and I spent the night at my sister's house near the airport after arriving in Indiana. I slept like a brick, or a log, or whatever they say. This summer has been phenomenal and I'll dearly miss Flagstaff and all of the close friends I made there. I was lucky to have all really cool and awesome people in the REU group. I still get to see Teresa since she goes to IU, but hopefully I will see the rest of them at this winter's AAS (American Astronomical Society) meeting in Seattle. Until then!

The perfect sunset on my return flight from Dallas to Indy (notice Venus in the upper left!). Au Revoir Arizona! :)

Arches Arches Arches

In an attempt to catch up on blogs, here I am (I feel like this is all I ever do- get behind then have a burst of blog posts in a short period).

The week following the weekend of Sedona, Bear Mountain was spent wrapping up research and preparing my talk and presentation. I was enrolled in two classes while at NAU, one was based off research where we were required to write a 5-10 page report over what we had done over the summer. The other was based off the seminars we had twice a week. For that class we had to present our research at the end of the summer to those in charge of the program as well as anyone else who wished to attend. More about how those two things went later!

That week for our Dancing on the Square, we learned the hustle! It was a lot of fun! We got a bit rained out during the night, so Teresa and Eric (whom we managed to convince to come) and I went for some fried okra, chicken wings and apple pie at a nearby restaurant. Good stuff.

Ok, so on the weekend of July 30-August 1st, we ventured back to Utah! This time our destinations were Arches National Park, Mt. Peale, and Monument Valley. To start off our journey, we planned on leaving Flag at about 3-4pm Friday afternoon. Of course, road trips never really start on time. Friday it rained REALLY hard in Flagstaff. Like, two inches in 20 minutes hard. Up at Lowell, one of the building's basements was flooding, and on the first floor water was squirting up through the cracks of tiles. It was pretty intense. There's been a lot of uncharacteristic rain lately in Flagstaff (I blame global warming). This is bad news for people living north of town, because of flooding. After the Schultz fire, there's been a lot of flash flooding and it's been a real mess. Anyways, the main road through town, Milton, was completely flooded and impassable- right near the bottom of Mars Hill (where Lowell is located). We were pretty much stuck at Lowell until 5:30 or 6. Traffic was incredibly awful, and no one could get anywhere. Our ride coming to get us took 45 minutes, when it normally takes 5.

Yikes! Okay, so after packing hurriedly and shoving all of our stuff into Eric's car, Eric, Nicole and myself took off for Utah. We were the only ones on the trip because 2 people were going out of town, and the other two had a lot to do with their projects (presentations and papers were due the following Monday). We ended up leaving town at about 6:45... It takes about 6 hours to get to Moab, UT where Arches is!

A pretty rainy sunset leaving town.

The trip wasn't bad at all! We listened to a lot of good music, and saw some amazingly superb lightning for the majority of the ride actually. I wish we could have seen the ride in the light to see the landscape, but occasionally the lightning would light up structures in the distance. It was fun to imagine what they were, but would have been more fun to actually see them.

Nicole fell asleep with my cat, Gwynavere. :)

We ended up getting to our BLM (Bureau of Land Management) campsite at about 12am I think. There were lots of public, first come-first serve campsites around the park. We set up camp right next to the Colorado River and fell asleep to the sounds of water and bugs and to the sight of a nice clear sky.

The next morning we ate a breakfast of bagels (a baker's dozen for the trip!) and coffee. Then we drove over to the actual entrance to the park.

My first photo of the area! On our way to the park entrance.

There were an endless number of cool things to see in the park, so get ready for an explosion of photos. I'll try and restrain myself as much as possible!

We took just about every scenic view stop we saw. The first was just inside the park and had a nice view of the La Sal mountain range. It is named La Sal ('salt' in spanish) because when first discovered in the middle of a desert region, people couldn't believe it was snow on the peaks. Of course it makes sense that instead it is actually salt...?

The La Sal mountain range

The Three Gossips

The Organ. I have a hard time seeing it...

Balanced Rock! Name is self-explanatory I hope.

The Fiery Furnace.

That last photo is of the Fiery Furnace- a really cool place to hike, but you have to buy permits and it's incredibly easy to lost without a guide. Maybe next time! Our hike was the Devil's Garden primitive trail loop. About ~7 miles round trip. It was hike with the most amount of arches to see, so why not? First on the trail was Landscape Arch.

Landscape Arch

It was really cool! Back in the 90's some huge chunks fell off and since then they have deemed it too dangerous to walk under, so you can only get as close as this photo was taken. Next was Partition Arch.

Me standing under Partition Arch!

We had a lunch of, you guessed it, bagels under Partition Arch. Not a bad view at all! We stopped briefly at Navajo Arch next.

Nicole and Eric under Navajo Arch.

We went on to Double-O Arch. It was pretty neat!

Double-O Arch.

Next to the Dark Angel. It only looks like an angel from about this distance.

The bizarre landscape at the park.

We were starting to run out of water on the way back so we were quiet and didn't really take any more photos. We were pretty happy to finally get back. After getting hydrated and taking off our pretty smelly shoes we headed to Moab for some info and ice cream. While hiking in the park, we had seen rain in the distance and wondered if it was still possible for us to hike Mt. Peale, let alone get up to the trailhead. After stopping by the information center, the outcome seemed pretty bleak. The road to the trail was unpaved and after flooding in the area would be impossible to traverse in Eric's Malibu... We decided to wait until the next morning to make the final decision about climbing a mountain. Mt. Peale is the highest peak in the La Sal range at 12,726 feet.

In the meantime, we got some ice cream and espresso at a local shop, then drove to our new campsite at the foot of the mountains, near some lake. It was pretty nice because there wasn't hardly anyone there (bad weather has its advantages!). We washed off in a creek (so classy) and made a dinner of quinoa (leftover from the Zion/Bryce trip...) and veggies. We slept outside on our sleeping bags for a bit, but it started raining in the night, so into the tent we went. It continued raining through the night and stopped sometime in the morning Sunday. Definitely not climbing any mountains. Not only would it be pretty stupid and dangerous, but there's no way we could've driven to any trails.

After coffee, breakfast, and packing up camp, we went back to the park and took a short hike around the North and South Windows (also known as the 'Spectacles'), Turret Arch, and finally went to Double Arch. These were all short, 1 mile or less hikes so it was more crowded than I liked, but oh well.

North and South Windows aka The Spectacles.

Under an arch- maybe Turret?

Double Arch- it was really big and awesome to climb under/around.

Finally, it was time to head back to Arizona. The drive back was fine and dandy. We drove through Monument Valley, which was on the border of Arizona. It was incredibly weird but also cool.

Looks like somebody tilted the land...

Some of Monument Valley.

I drove us back home (so nice to drive for the first time that summer!), and we arrived home about 8pm I think. (We also tried stopping at a dinosaur museum and a coffee shop but both were closed for Sunday).

Woo! An action-packed weekend. I'm a little bummed we didn't get to climb a mountain (sometimes you just want to climb a mountain, you know?), but I had a ton of fun at Arches. It was a unique experience I'll never get again, and the landscape in Utah is incredible!