Journal 5 – 8/15/10 5:46pm
Coco’s restaurant was a place I would definitely go to again. It is kind of like a Friday’s or Applebee’s. It is just better is the only difference. I got a turkey club, but they also have a bunch of other stuff, Scott got a bacon cheeseburger. They have steaks and chicken and salad and all that kind of stuff. It is actually a lot like Brookside in Pottstown.
Anyway, we did more observing last night. It was a lot more waiting than the previous nights, which we still can’t figure out. We didn’t even finish all the star charts we originally were supposed to. But we will have to do them tonight or tomorrow, if possible. We went to the lake near the observatory as well. I got some pictures of the marsh-like area. There were some ducks and I even found a lizard of some kind. It was quite different than the scenery of the rest of the trip. We ended the night at a little before 5 again. I was wiped out so I was out cold as soon as I got into bed. I slept right up to my alarm at 1 today; it took long enough to finally sleep until my alarm.
Got up, ate breakfast, then we went to an extinct volcano. It was pretty cool. We got to see the lava that flowed and all the ash and cinder from the eruption. Unfortunately it was storming. But I did get to see quite a few lightening strikes. We couldn’t really get out of the car because we were so high up, so I got a few pictures of the ex-volcano. My camera battery is officially blinking dead battery now, but luckily there is only one day left. I really wish I wouldn’t have forgotten the charger. Oh well nothing can be done.
So tonight we went to Casa Bonita, a Mexican restaurant. It was ok. Not the best meal of the week, but quite filling. So now we are waiting to return to the observatory. Not sure how much viewing we will do because it is still quite cloudy. Maybe it will clear by the time we get set up. We are approaching the last day of the trip, kind of sad but it has to end at some point. Then I get to go back to school. Yay!
Showing posts with label arizona trip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label arizona trip. Show all posts
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Day 4 Arizona
Journal 4 – 8/14/10 3:45pm
Picking up from last night. We had dinner at some Thai restaurant. I have to admit, it was actually really good. I had a crispy shrimp dish. They asked how hot we wanted our dishes. It was unexpected to me. I really have to start learning about this kind of thing. Anyway, Scott wanted “as hot as you make it.” I went with “the least spiciness” but at least sum. It was really good though. The spiciness wasn’t bad, and it didn’t even hit until after the dish. I think that was the best tasting meal yet. Anyway, we spent the night at the observatory again. This time Scott and I switched roles. He did the coordinates and I did the other data bits. Dr. Augensen took up his same position and slept in the chair in the other room. I spent much of the night listening to Pandora, watching Death Note, and I saw Religulous as per Wayne’s request. I have a post on that as well. I got even more tired than the previous night because I think I was out for about half an hour at one point, if not more. It was a much more relaxed night because the positions of the stars were lower than previously so we had long periods of waiting for them to rise higher.
Now onto today. Well we got back around 4:30am today a bit earlier than yesterday. I was wiped out and went right to sleep, and slept until 11am. Still have yet to awake to my alarm. Today I was only 3 minutes early though, so getting closer. Ate breakfast and made a video of the area surrounding our cabin. It will be posted on Facebook soon, if not tonight. I am such a TV personality though, aren’t I? (obvious sarcasm). Anyway after that we went to some mountain trail place. I think it was called Red Canyon or something. Anyway it was possibly the greatest scenery I have ever seen. Scratch that it WAS the best scenery I have ever seen. EVER. It was absolutely amazing. I have probably 20-30 pictures of the same rock formations. I will put the pictures up when I can. I wish cameras, especially digital, could actually do this kind of thing justice. Oh well. If you want to experience the true awe of this place, you best get out here. The trail to get to the spot we were at was hellish, but with a few bumps and bruises, the Camry we rented finally made it. Then after we left the cliffs, we went to Safeway for some more groceries. And now we are back at the cabin until dinner. I think we are going to Coco’s or something. Not sure what food there is, but you will surely hear of it soon enough. Bye for now.
Picking up from last night. We had dinner at some Thai restaurant. I have to admit, it was actually really good. I had a crispy shrimp dish. They asked how hot we wanted our dishes. It was unexpected to me. I really have to start learning about this kind of thing. Anyway, Scott wanted “as hot as you make it.” I went with “the least spiciness” but at least sum. It was really good though. The spiciness wasn’t bad, and it didn’t even hit until after the dish. I think that was the best tasting meal yet. Anyway, we spent the night at the observatory again. This time Scott and I switched roles. He did the coordinates and I did the other data bits. Dr. Augensen took up his same position and slept in the chair in the other room. I spent much of the night listening to Pandora, watching Death Note, and I saw Religulous as per Wayne’s request. I have a post on that as well. I got even more tired than the previous night because I think I was out for about half an hour at one point, if not more. It was a much more relaxed night because the positions of the stars were lower than previously so we had long periods of waiting for them to rise higher.
Now onto today. Well we got back around 4:30am today a bit earlier than yesterday. I was wiped out and went right to sleep, and slept until 11am. Still have yet to awake to my alarm. Today I was only 3 minutes early though, so getting closer. Ate breakfast and made a video of the area surrounding our cabin. It will be posted on Facebook soon, if not tonight. I am such a TV personality though, aren’t I? (obvious sarcasm). Anyway after that we went to some mountain trail place. I think it was called Red Canyon or something. Anyway it was possibly the greatest scenery I have ever seen. Scratch that it WAS the best scenery I have ever seen. EVER. It was absolutely amazing. I have probably 20-30 pictures of the same rock formations. I will put the pictures up when I can. I wish cameras, especially digital, could actually do this kind of thing justice. Oh well. If you want to experience the true awe of this place, you best get out here. The trail to get to the spot we were at was hellish, but with a few bumps and bruises, the Camry we rented finally made it. Then after we left the cliffs, we went to Safeway for some more groceries. And now we are back at the cabin until dinner. I think we are going to Coco’s or something. Not sure what food there is, but you will surely hear of it soon enough. Bye for now.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Day 3 Arizona
Journal 3 – 8/13/10 2:23pm
Now I have to really think about what has happened since the last post. Everything is starting to blend together. Ok, so last evening we went to Stomboli’s. My parents are going to give me crap, I know. But I actually ate spaghetti and chicken parmagiana. For those who don’t know, I am not a big fan of spaghetti. It wasn’t bad, is all I will say.
On to the later night activities. After the restaurant, we returned to our cabin. We left for Lowell Observatory around 6pm. We got there and learned (for me) and relearned (for the others) how to work the telescope. It is really high tech. We didn’t even have to enter the actual telescope dome. We were in a building next to it and controlling it remotely. It was actually really cool. Once we booted up the computers and all that good stuff, it was still light out so Scott and I took a walk. I got a lot of pictures. And we saw COWS. Real moo-moo cows. Wild, I think, cows. They were roaming free around the Lowell grounds. We got within 5 to 10 yards of them. It was rather weird and cool at the same time. Then we returned to the building and got ready to begin the observing. The guy that met us there, Ed, was pretty cool. He knew what he was talking about. He knew how to work all the machines and computers for the telescope. He was also pretty cool. And he has an awesome dog, Stardust. She was fun to play around with. She kept trying to untie Dr. Augensen’s and Ed’s shoes. It made me want a pet again.
Anyway Ed left about the time we started the observations. All I had to do was type in coordinates and Scott typed in the exposure time and a few other things and we waited for as long as the paper said. Then we went to the next stars. Then wash, rinse and repeat. (I was kidding about the wash and rinse by the way). And we did this all night. From about 7pm to 5am. A few times we went outside to check to see what we can see tonight and see if we could catch any Perseid meteors again. We did see a lot of stars and the Milky Way and some meteors again. It was pretty cool. I was still in amazement even after the previous night. It was really incredible. Anyway we did the typing and waiting. During the waiting periods, I did all kinds of stuff. I watched an episode of Eureka 7. I started up Death Note again. I played around on Facebook for quite a while. I posted my previous blogs as some of you know. By the way, I will either have internet access (at observatory) or cell access (at cabin) but never both. Anyway, the night was long and tiring. We ate our Subway sandwiches around 2 or 3 local time. We left at about 5am. I don’t remember most of the trip. I was asleep for a bit and just out of it for the rest. We got back and Dr. Augensen said we could sleep as late as we wanted because we had worked the whole night. He got up earlier and went to NAU to look at the data. Scott and I remained in bed until 12:30 for me and 1 for Scott. Today is mostly uneventful just breakfast after noon and dinner around 4 or so, then observing tonight again. I am just lounging currently. Wishing I could go back to sleep, but it probably wouldn’t be worth it. Oh well. Be back for more adventures later.
Now I have to really think about what has happened since the last post. Everything is starting to blend together. Ok, so last evening we went to Stomboli’s. My parents are going to give me crap, I know. But I actually ate spaghetti and chicken parmagiana. For those who don’t know, I am not a big fan of spaghetti. It wasn’t bad, is all I will say.
On to the later night activities. After the restaurant, we returned to our cabin. We left for Lowell Observatory around 6pm. We got there and learned (for me) and relearned (for the others) how to work the telescope. It is really high tech. We didn’t even have to enter the actual telescope dome. We were in a building next to it and controlling it remotely. It was actually really cool. Once we booted up the computers and all that good stuff, it was still light out so Scott and I took a walk. I got a lot of pictures. And we saw COWS. Real moo-moo cows. Wild, I think, cows. They were roaming free around the Lowell grounds. We got within 5 to 10 yards of them. It was rather weird and cool at the same time. Then we returned to the building and got ready to begin the observing. The guy that met us there, Ed, was pretty cool. He knew what he was talking about. He knew how to work all the machines and computers for the telescope. He was also pretty cool. And he has an awesome dog, Stardust. She was fun to play around with. She kept trying to untie Dr. Augensen’s and Ed’s shoes. It made me want a pet again.
Anyway Ed left about the time we started the observations. All I had to do was type in coordinates and Scott typed in the exposure time and a few other things and we waited for as long as the paper said. Then we went to the next stars. Then wash, rinse and repeat. (I was kidding about the wash and rinse by the way). And we did this all night. From about 7pm to 5am. A few times we went outside to check to see what we can see tonight and see if we could catch any Perseid meteors again. We did see a lot of stars and the Milky Way and some meteors again. It was pretty cool. I was still in amazement even after the previous night. It was really incredible. Anyway we did the typing and waiting. During the waiting periods, I did all kinds of stuff. I watched an episode of Eureka 7. I started up Death Note again. I played around on Facebook for quite a while. I posted my previous blogs as some of you know. By the way, I will either have internet access (at observatory) or cell access (at cabin) but never both. Anyway, the night was long and tiring. We ate our Subway sandwiches around 2 or 3 local time. We left at about 5am. I don’t remember most of the trip. I was asleep for a bit and just out of it for the rest. We got back and Dr. Augensen said we could sleep as late as we wanted because we had worked the whole night. He got up earlier and went to NAU to look at the data. Scott and I remained in bed until 12:30 for me and 1 for Scott. Today is mostly uneventful just breakfast after noon and dinner around 4 or so, then observing tonight again. I am just lounging currently. Wishing I could go back to sleep, but it probably wouldn’t be worth it. Oh well. Be back for more adventures later.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Day 2 Arizona
Journal 2 – 8/12/10 2:04pm
First I will discuss last night’s adventure to the historic museum and outlook of Lowell and then the trip to the mesa. Well we went a bit late to the observatory site. There were a bunch of people there and there were lines for all the telescopes on display. I’ll be honest I wasn’t expecting that there would be so much stuff around. It is nothing like the one at Widener. Well we watched a movie about Lowell’s observing and what all was discovered at Lowell observatory over the years. I also learned how biased the people of Arizona are with regards to the discovery of the expanding universe. According to them Hubble did very little and got almost all his information from Slipher, the man who used Lowell to find the information. It’s funny how one’s pride can conflict with everyone else’s accepted point of view. Oh well. Anyway we learned some stuff, but didn’t get to go to the telescopes because the lines were so long. There was a nice view of the sky with the naked eye though. On the way back down we went to an outlook that overlooked the city/town of Flagstaff. I got some pictures that I will upload at some point.
Then the greatest part of the trip thus far occurred. We went to the mesa. It is in the middle of the forest and up above most of the tree line. There was total darkness. Except for the stars. It was absolutely magnificent. We could see every constellation ever recorded; of course I don’t know them though, but Dr. Augensen found a ton of them. We were able to clearly see the bulge of the Milky Way. It was fantastic. It is also the time when the Perseid meteor shower occurs and we saw some of those as well. They were outstanding as well. Now that I think about it, I don’t even think the moon was out. I didn’t even realize until right now when I am writing it, the next day. I was so awestruck, that it didn’t even occur to me. One of the few thoughts I had when we were staring up at the stars was: “This is what they saw. This is why the ancients were so astounded by the sky and made all the tales they made.” There is no explanation for the things we saw. It was possibly the greatest night of viewing for all three of us, even Dr. Augensen who has decades under his belt. I am still completely thrown aback that I have never seen this type of thing before. That viewing was enough to make this trip completely worth it. I really hope that I will be invited again.
Now on to today’s activities, we got up at around 9, ate breakfast, then we went to Meteor Crater. That was another thing that blows my mind. This crater was 2.5 miles around and several hundred feet deep and a huge hole in the ground, yet it is one of the smallest craters around. I have probably 30 pictures of the crater and the surrounding area. It is incredible. I am running out of words to use to describe stuff. And I’m only just starting day 2. We got sandwiches for the night and we are going to dinner at Stromboli’s for 4pm dinner. Another ethnic restaurant and healthy breakfast food. This is turning out to be a bunch of new experiences rapped into one amazing FREE (except for souvenirs) trip. I think this will be all for now. I may just take a nap until dinner. Bye bye.
First I will discuss last night’s adventure to the historic museum and outlook of Lowell and then the trip to the mesa. Well we went a bit late to the observatory site. There were a bunch of people there and there were lines for all the telescopes on display. I’ll be honest I wasn’t expecting that there would be so much stuff around. It is nothing like the one at Widener. Well we watched a movie about Lowell’s observing and what all was discovered at Lowell observatory over the years. I also learned how biased the people of Arizona are with regards to the discovery of the expanding universe. According to them Hubble did very little and got almost all his information from Slipher, the man who used Lowell to find the information. It’s funny how one’s pride can conflict with everyone else’s accepted point of view. Oh well. Anyway we learned some stuff, but didn’t get to go to the telescopes because the lines were so long. There was a nice view of the sky with the naked eye though. On the way back down we went to an outlook that overlooked the city/town of Flagstaff. I got some pictures that I will upload at some point.
Then the greatest part of the trip thus far occurred. We went to the mesa. It is in the middle of the forest and up above most of the tree line. There was total darkness. Except for the stars. It was absolutely magnificent. We could see every constellation ever recorded; of course I don’t know them though, but Dr. Augensen found a ton of them. We were able to clearly see the bulge of the Milky Way. It was fantastic. It is also the time when the Perseid meteor shower occurs and we saw some of those as well. They were outstanding as well. Now that I think about it, I don’t even think the moon was out. I didn’t even realize until right now when I am writing it, the next day. I was so awestruck, that it didn’t even occur to me. One of the few thoughts I had when we were staring up at the stars was: “This is what they saw. This is why the ancients were so astounded by the sky and made all the tales they made.” There is no explanation for the things we saw. It was possibly the greatest night of viewing for all three of us, even Dr. Augensen who has decades under his belt. I am still completely thrown aback that I have never seen this type of thing before. That viewing was enough to make this trip completely worth it. I really hope that I will be invited again.
Now on to today’s activities, we got up at around 9, ate breakfast, then we went to Meteor Crater. That was another thing that blows my mind. This crater was 2.5 miles around and several hundred feet deep and a huge hole in the ground, yet it is one of the smallest craters around. I have probably 30 pictures of the crater and the surrounding area. It is incredible. I am running out of words to use to describe stuff. And I’m only just starting day 2. We got sandwiches for the night and we are going to dinner at Stromboli’s for 4pm dinner. Another ethnic restaurant and healthy breakfast food. This is turning out to be a bunch of new experiences rapped into one amazing FREE (except for souvenirs) trip. I think this will be all for now. I may just take a nap until dinner. Bye bye.
Day 1 Arizona
Journal 1- 8/11/10 6:17pm
For those who don’t know I am currently (or just was depending on when I get to actually post these) in Arizona with Dr. Augensen and Scott doing research. This will be the main theme of most of my upcoming posts. Today has been a tiring one. First I got up at 3:30am to get ready for the flight. Dr. Augensen picked up Scott and me at Widener. We got through security and everything relatively easily. Then we sat and waited for our plane for about an hour and a half. We boarded and did all that fun stuff. The ride seemed to go on forever. It was a 4 and a half hour flight across several time zones. Our flight that took off at 7 landed at quarter of 9. Then we got a rental car and drove over a hundred miles to Flagstaff. We ate lunch/dinner at an Indian restaurant/buffet. It was the first time I ever had Indian food, and it was not horrible. Some stuff I wish I hadn’t gotten but it was overall a pretty good meal. Then we drove to the NAU campus. There we met up with the chair of physics and astronomy and an actual astronomer. It was really cool. After that we went grocery shopping for the week, and then came back here to the hotel/cabin we are living in. Sadly, there is no internet access, so I cannot post this while here, but I will post it ASAP. Tonight we are not doing research, but we will be going to another observatory for their observing night. I think it will be fun. I just got back from walking around the woods where we are staying. I got some pictures that will have to be posted. I may have to post all of them together after the trip is over. We will have to see how things go. Well I think that is it for the night. I may post more if something comes up. One other thing I forgot. I thought it was kind of funny how weird the names of some streets are in Arizona. I recorded some of them. Some of the ones I saw were: Bloody Basin Road, Indian School Road, and Stoneman Lake Road. There were others too but I can’t remember them. That should be it for the night.
For those who don’t know I am currently (or just was depending on when I get to actually post these) in Arizona with Dr. Augensen and Scott doing research. This will be the main theme of most of my upcoming posts. Today has been a tiring one. First I got up at 3:30am to get ready for the flight. Dr. Augensen picked up Scott and me at Widener. We got through security and everything relatively easily. Then we sat and waited for our plane for about an hour and a half. We boarded and did all that fun stuff. The ride seemed to go on forever. It was a 4 and a half hour flight across several time zones. Our flight that took off at 7 landed at quarter of 9. Then we got a rental car and drove over a hundred miles to Flagstaff. We ate lunch/dinner at an Indian restaurant/buffet. It was the first time I ever had Indian food, and it was not horrible. Some stuff I wish I hadn’t gotten but it was overall a pretty good meal. Then we drove to the NAU campus. There we met up with the chair of physics and astronomy and an actual astronomer. It was really cool. After that we went grocery shopping for the week, and then came back here to the hotel/cabin we are living in. Sadly, there is no internet access, so I cannot post this while here, but I will post it ASAP. Tonight we are not doing research, but we will be going to another observatory for their observing night. I think it will be fun. I just got back from walking around the woods where we are staying. I got some pictures that will have to be posted. I may have to post all of them together after the trip is over. We will have to see how things go. Well I think that is it for the night. I may post more if something comes up. One other thing I forgot. I thought it was kind of funny how weird the names of some streets are in Arizona. I recorded some of them. Some of the ones I saw were: Bloody Basin Road, Indian School Road, and Stoneman Lake Road. There were others too but I can’t remember them. That should be it for the night.
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