Watermelon Tourmaline: photos

Showing posts with label photos. Show all posts

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Bucket List #19n

The 19th item on my Bucket List is to visit certain national parks. And yes, there are many sub-sets to this item on the list.

#19n. Camp in or visit Zion National Park, Utah.

Erik and I camped in Zion National Park (for the second time) during Spring Break of 2010. We relaxed and went on some easy hikes and even had some misadventures (note: do not buy wet fire wood, it leads to crabbiness).

Ahh! Don't let go!

Near our campsite

Misadventures with the infamous wet fire wood

Got to try out the new tent

Throwing rocks into the river, always a good time.

In May of 2011, we went to Zion National Park again to go hiking with our friends Jamey and Kim. We didn't camp at Zion, but we hiked Angel's Landing (a first for Erik).

Walter's Wiggles

At the top of Angel's Landing

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Road Trip: Part 2

"To get away from one's working environment is, in a sense, to get away from one's self; and this is often the chief advantage of travel and change."
~Charles Horton Cooley

Road Trip: Part 1

It's summer and after a long semester followed by field work and lab work, it was time for a break. So for roughly two weeks, Erik and I are going to enjoy some time back in our lovely state of Minnesota. Also, we decided to drive instead of fly. Here is a sampling of what we saw along our way.

Not so long after leaving Nevada, we passed through the breathtakingly awesome Virgin River Gorge, Arizona. And as two geologists, it was difficult to keep our eyes on the road and away from the amazing rock faces.

Going through Utah we were amazed by the landscapes.

We spent a lot of time in Colorado, but who could blame us with scenery like this? This particular shot was taken somewhere between Gunnison and Denver.

There's not a whole lot to see in Nebraska as far as the landscape goes, which is why we were intrigued by this Gateway.

And then there's Iowa, which most people would call extremely boring. However, the stretch from Omaha to Des Moines is actually quite nice. And there are wind farms! I love wind farms. They make me very happy.

And finally, after three long days of sitting in a car, we made it to Minnesota.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

I Love Little Surprises (the tree outside blooms!)

"Flowers have spoken to me more than I can tell in written words. They are the hieroglyphics of angels, loved for the beauty of their character, though few can decipher even fragments of their meaning."

~ Lydia M. Child

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Campfires

"The fire is the main comfort of the camp, whether in summer or winter, and is about as ample at one season as at another. It is as well for cheerfulness as for warmth and dryness."
~Henry David Thoreau

As soon as I manage to get a tent, I'm going to plan a camping trip. Or maybe, as soon as I plan a camping trip, I'll get a tent. All I know is that Zion, Arches, Death Valley, and the Grand Canyon are all within a decent driving distance, and I want to go camping!

Friday, December 18, 2009

Holiday Goodies

One of my favorite ornaments.

A tasty cocoa treat.

Friday, November 13, 2009

It is pretty grand...

This is definitely the coolest thing I've seen since moving out west:

Photo 1: Grand Canyon, Colorado River, Lava Falls, Lava Falls Rapids
Photo 2: Grand Canyon, Toroweap Overlook

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Life in Vegas Thus Far

Things have been going pretty well so far in Vegas. I got settled into the apartment in a week. Well, mostly. I have a few pictures to hang up and some files to organize, but other than that, I'm pretty much done.

Orientation started today. It wasn't very exciting actually. I thought there was going to be more to it, but we basically just got talked at for a few hours in a banquet hall sized room with 600ish new students in it. It was nice to be able to put names to faces of people I'd possibly need to contact if I had certain issues (where to get paperwork, who to talk to about funding, how to change the people on your committee, etc...). Yet, I would have been fine with just getting a big ol' packet of information and not wasting gas money to do the 20-minute drive to campus. (I took a quicker route this time. Last time it took 30 minutes. Tomorrow we'll see how long the same route takes but with morning traffic...)

Tomorrow morning I'm going to a teaching workshop. Some renowned speaker/teacher/professor is going to be teaching us about different methods to get students involved, I guess. I hope that it's helpful, because I don't see myself as a teacher at all (don't really want to be a teacher at all... but it's how I'm getting paid, and it will be a worthwhile experience). I'm more of a one-on-one person, not a lecture to a big group of people person. I'm actually ridiculously boring to listen to when I'm "lecturing." At least that's the impression that I got during my stint as a Sunday school teacher or during RA training sessions. But oh well, even if the workshop is a bust, I am going to the grocery store (a.k.a. Walmart Supercenter... I don't have to like them, but they're cheap and conveniently located) to get some stuff. I like grocery shopping.

And then Thursday, oh Thursday. I can't wait until Thursday. Here's the first reason. Thursday is the Geoscience Department orientation. So, I'll actually be meeting people that I'll see on a regular basis, and find out what the heck I'm supposed to be doing rather than getting talked at in a crowded auditorium hearing stuff that could have been sent out in a packet. And, there's a potluck, which should be fun.

The other reason I'm excited is that Erik gets back to Minnesota from his European adventure on Thursday. At that point, our long-distance relationship gets upgraded from Gmail chats and emails to phone calls. Yay!!

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Stories Behind the Pictures

I felt like a change of scenery was in order, so I posted a new blog header. Here are the stories behind the pictures that I picked to represent me and my blog:

1) Paraná Basin, Brazil: On this rainy and chilly day while doing field work in Brazil for a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program, we got a bit silly and started taking goofy pictures. In this one, I must have been hungry because I am considering taking a big bite out of a chunk of diamict/till (glacial sediments).

2) Morris, Minnesota: Due to some miscommunications at work, someone ended up ordering 12 dozen roses (they were only supposed to get 1 dozen). Lucky for us random employees, we got to take some roses home with us free of charge! Whenever I get flowers, I end up taking a ton of photos. There's just something about close-ups of flowers. I love them. This particular photo is one of my favorites from the photo shoot.

3) Ponta Grossa, Brazil: On one of our days off during the REU trip to Brazil, we toured Vila Velha State Park. In this park, there are many sandstone formations that have been shaped over time by eruptions, glaciation, and wind erosion. The most famous of these formations, and also the symbol of the park, is the Goblet, which me and my UMM REU buddies are standing in front of.

4) Morris, Minnesota: I got bored one day, though to be honest, I was probably procrastinating from one of the many papers, projects, or my Senior Seminar, which made up the second semester of my senior year at UMM. So, I lit some candles and took a lot of pictures.

5) North of Grand Marais, Minnesota: Sophomore year, about a few weeks after I had started dating the fellow in this picture, our Mineralogy class went on a field trip to the North Shore to check out the rocks and learn about the geologic history of this region. We camped at the Trails End Campground near the end of the Gunflint Trail. Megan (who would be one of my UMM REU buddies the following summer) snuck this picture of Erik and me enjoying the view from our campground.

Edit (5/22/2011): Here is the whole banner, just in case I decide to change the scenery again.