Beyond mountains there are mountains

Resolution: I am not camping for a long, long time. This is exactly what I said when I got back from field camp, and then I ended up going to Wyoming and camping…again. Driving out to Wyoming wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I was with 3 other museum people (one grad student, one post grad, one professor). We drove out in the museum paleo vehicle…which is a 2007 Lexus SUV. Only at AMNH would that be a “field vehicle”. It had 1000 miles on it when we started, but we fixed that. Because we drove we spent a ton of time just on the road and not on the field, but we did end up getting a solid 7 days in the field. Wyoming is very pretty, I like it. It reminded me a lot of Utah from field camp earlier this summer. My camera went nuts, so I need to post my pictures later after I can fix it. Since it was my first real fossil finding trip, I was happy to learn some techniques and find lots of cool bones. The formation is Eocene (approx. 55 myo). There are plentiful turtle, croc, and mammal fossils. We didn’t find any full skeletons or whole skulls but, maybe next year.

 

When I got back from Wyoming I went to my apartment. It is lovely, I am excited to finally get my new furniture (Saturday!), bring all my clothes, and actually move in. I keep just breezing in and out of the place and haven’t gotten a chance to enjoy it yet. I am in CT now getting the rest of the stuff to move in, but after this weekend, I am moving in for good. I love walking around, shopping, looking in used book stores, walking through the park, eating a lot, and going to my nice new gym already. The City is going to be an amazing time, I can already tell. Natalie was already in town for job interviews, so we got to have lunch together. I feel like a lot of friends will be passing through NYC at some point in their lives, so that is great too. I know you guys at Carolina just started school, and I’m kinda jealous I’m missing Chapel Hill, but the city is one of a kind. I start at the museum on the 28th for an orientation. Start class on the 2nd of September. It’s going to be new and totally crazy, but seriously I can’t wait. I promise I will be home and able to update way more frequentlyyy. Yay. Miss you guys!

Did I know I just met the most dangerous dark wizard of all time?

“The beauty of New York rests on a completely different base. It’s unintentional”-The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Well, ta-da, I’m back from vacation in Cape Cod. We could only stay for a few days since my dad always has to work, but it was still fun. I got to go to the beach, skimboard, eat candy, and run by the ocean. As usual, I ate way too much delicious food (clam chowder, lobster, seafood pie, shrimp scampi…you know), so it looks like I will be on a diet for a while. It is a good thing I am going back into the field in a few days because that means a lot of physical labor and a lot of starving. I’m still so nostalgic for field camp though. I keep texting everyone constantly but it just is no replacement for being together 24/7

 

Tomorrow I am going to my apartment for the first time since my lease starts tomorrow! I’m not moving any of my stuff yet but I am going to measure, and look around, and hopefully take pictures to decide what the hell to do to decorate. It’s a good thing my mom is giving me furniture and couches and stuff because that stuff is costs some mad dimes that none of us have, obviously. This Wyoming thing is kind of throwing an awkard cog into my moving wheel, but I’m going to have to make it work. In all of this confusion, I feel like I keep forgetting I am actually starting my PhD program in less than a month…ahh!

 

I suppose it is time for me to go organize my field gear and pick out a mattress. Why are mattresses expensive? Why do things need to cost money? If only I didn’t have to buy apartment things I could get a new camera to replace my broken one…sigh. 

 

PS- New Harry Potter 6 teaser trailer…AMAZING.

City Love

The day that I never thought would come has finally arrived. We officially have a place in New York City! It is this awesome apartment in the Upper West Side on Amsterdam Ave. I am so relieved as it was quite the harrowing process securing this place. Note to everyone out there- if you think moving to the “Big Apple” after graduation will be fun and doable-newsflash- IT’S NOT. Well, I’m not being totally serious but it is a big production. In North Carolina to rent a house, all I had to do was sign one piece of paper and give in $450. In New York City, you need to hire real estate agents, look at 50 billion places till you find which one you want, then go through miles of paper work and cough up HUGE sums of money to secure a decent apartment…and it has to be done in like, one day. But it is over now so I get to move in on August 1st before I go to Wyoming.

 

Yes! I am going to Wyoming. I went to the museum the other day and randomly got asked to go on a small dig (only 4 people) to the Bridger formation in SW Wyoming. It will be my first dig, so I’m pretty stoked. What am I not pretty stoked about? DRIVING TO WYOMING. We have to drive from NYC….ughhhh. It will be pretty boring, but at least I don’t have to fly. We will be looking for Eocene mammals, hopefully we’ll find some good stuff, like this Notharctus tenebrosus found in the very same place I will be going 

 

N. Tenebrosus from AMNH

Until then hopefully I will be buying furniture, going to the beach, and doing SO MUCH OTHER FUN STUFF. 

 

Top 10 Things I Miss About Field Camp (in no order):

1. Going places in groups of 20+

2. Sandwiches for lunch EVERYDAY!

3. Hearing Kathy yell “DINNER!” “WHADDAYA KIDS WANT?”

4. Using phrases such as “Where is ze arch?”, “…which is great”, “jawn”, and “this is why we can’t have nice things”

5. Trundling and snowball fights instead of mapping

6. Adobe Illustrator….not really

7.  No bathrooms

8. Hiking in the most beautiful places on Earth

9. F-Utah party

10. Not having any days off…EVER

I’m back from field camp! which is great.

Hello! By the request of Zena Cardman, I have started blogging again. I really though I might be able to blog while I was at field camp, but then I realized that the entire western portion of the US didn’t have internet access. Seriously- if I hadn’t had my iPhone with me I never would have been able to access ANY internet the whole entire time. We were in really rural places that weren’t really “campgrounds” by most people’s definition. So, I apologize that you all missed some of the greatest stories ever told because I didn’t have internet access. Anyway, I’m back home now, and I really really miss field camp. It was a huge amount of work, and not a lot of sleeping, but I got to hang out with some of the coolest, most interesting people I’ve ever met and hike all day long in some of the most beautiful areas of the country. I consider it one of the best summers I have ever had (right up there with Japan). 

 

Just a day in the life at UNR Field Camp

I had never traveled around the west before at all as I have previously mentioned, but I was lucky enough to go to all of these places in the past 6 weeks: 

Reno, NV; Ruth, NV, Capitol Reef National Park, UT; Kodachrome Basin State Park, UT; Bryce Canyon National Park, UT; Notch Peak, UT; Unionville, NV (Humboldt Range); Virginia City, NV; Lake Tahoe, CA; Yosemite National Park, CA; Tioga Pass/Lee Vining Canyon, CA; Point Reyes and other California coast localities, and Kelseyville, CA

Not too shabby, I think. We traversed over 1000 kms! I didn’t shower, learned a ton, and camped every single day for 6 weeks. I’m in the process of creating a new flickr account to use for my field camp pictures. Even though I crushed the LCD screen on my camera while bouldering in Kodachrome Basin (basically week 1 of the trip), I was able to get a few good shots. I miss field camp! Real life sucks! More on that later. 

 

 

Geology field camp yields a decent male to female ratio

Reno, Reno, Reno

I have made it! Which is weird. Usually I have some big traveling mishap, but not this time suckers. This will be short because I’m sitting in someone’s house who I just met, who is also going on the trip tomorrow, and he went out to get pizza and beer. Anyway, I made it, and we are meeting at UNR tomorrow morning to start our travels across Nevada. Like, 400 miles tomorrow to Ely, NV. Apparently every town in NV has 100 people in it that isn’t in Clark County (where Vegas is). Reno is weird. But I’m excited to drive across the state, meet all of the other 24 people, and get going. I hear we are going to Bryce Canyon and Zion in Utah within a few days too, so, that will be really really sweet. Until then!

celebrate the malleable reality

T-minus ONE DAY: My field camp duffle is mostly packed. It is a huge beast. I really thought I was packing light, too. But seriously, how can I pack any lighter than this?! I have to bring my whole life with me, like sleeping bag, pillow, chair, tent, tarp, field supplies, clothes, ah! So much stuff. Obviously I’m nervous, and worried, like a big idiot. Can someone please make me stop freaking about everything? Probably not. I just have to keep telling myself: All I really have to do it SHOW UP and I won’t fail. But wow, I think I’m going to miss my bed On the other hand, how many people can say they lived in a tent for 6 weeks! Not too many. 

Tercentennial update: Tomorrow is the big Ridgefield social event- THE MEMORIAL DAY PARADE. For once, the weather will actually be nice, so I can go swimming and actually enjoy myself, yay! Except I’ll have to worry about last minute packing. At least I can eat 50 hot dogs and various fattening salads at a party and get my last fill of non-camping foods before field camp. Rach, Katy and I went LETTERBOXING yesterday. If you are reading this and don’t know what letterboxing is- seriously, get with the damn program, have you been living under a rock? Check out letterboxing.org. Anyway, since the 300th anniversary of Ridgefield is upon us, a letterboxing event was set up. We found 7 of them yesterday in various spots around Ridgefield. We are still 4 short of the coveted prize-the commemerative water bottle- and 14 short of being able to enter for the TBA grand prize.

Theories on what the grand prize is: A house, a new Lexus, a pair of Ridgefield boxers, a $15 gift certificate to Mr. Shanes Ice Cream.

I guess it looks like we’ll have to finish letterboxing when I get back from field camp, sorry guys. Is it embarrassing that I just admitted I letterboxed? 

I better get some rest…tomorrow will be a big day. Reno on Tuesday afternoon!!

it’s a beautiful mess, it’s like picking up trash in dresses

Questions you might be asking yourself:

Are you seriously going to write in this blog once every 10 days?

Hopefully I will get on my horse and actually write during field camp and the time beyond. If anyone actually wants to read it. 

Does anyone read this?

Probably not

What have you been DOING all this time?

So much stuff, seriously. Seriously! I finished my thesis and turned it in for binding in the North Carolina collection. I graduated at the world’s shortest commencement ceremony. Really though, why did it have to rain for our commencement? I also packed up my whole house in Carrboro. I was really sad to leave, I love that place. It is so magical and free. I am really excited to move to NYC in the fall but you know, nothing can really replace Carrboro in my heart. I’m really sad school is over, I’m going to miss everyone SO MUCH it isn’t even funny. But, how can I not be excited for all of the fun things that lay ahead? 

Where to next?

Well, I guess I haven’t technically graduated. I am going to go to what is called GEOLOGY FIELD CAMP for the next 6 weeks. For those of you non-geology majors reading this, that means that I go to the desert with some other students for a few weeks and map units of rocks. All day. Every day. WIth very few days off. In all honesty, I am a little burned out from finishing school a year early, doing an honors thesis, and gearing up to start a PhD program in the fall…so my excitement level for field camp hasn’t quite peaked yet. Also, I don’t know anyone going at all. I mean, it was my choice to pick a camp where I didn’t know anyone going, and I’m sure I won’t regret it but I’m just weary. The fact that I hate packing ANYTHING doesn’t help (it is essentially a panic inducing experience). I know I’m going to look back at this in a few weeks when I am having an amazing time, seeing amazing things, and think it was stupid I was ever apprehensive about going. 

Where are you going, exactly?

Good question. I’m not sure I really know. I’m doing the University of Nevada Reno field camp that starts in Reno, and gradually travels through Nevada, Utah, and California. I am excited to see Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah, the Sierra Nevada, and San Francisco. Certainly many photographs will result from this trip. Until then, I have to keep sorting through camping supplies. Ugh.

 

Here is a photograph of a place where I want to be:

 

primary day

This is not your home but you are here now: The name of my new blog. I read this graffiti while I was running in Carrboro. I’m sad I didn’t see it until now. It describes my attitude, and will describe it even more so in the future. Since I’ll be going though numerous moves in the next few months, it is very fitting.

Primary day: Today is North Carolina’s primary! Surprising that it actually matters this time. I’m not a registered voter here, but I wish I was, because I want to vote for Obama. I’m not really a political person, I always wanted to be, but it’s hard for me. I did really poorly on the AP US Government and Politics test in high school because none of the rules and complicated systems of voting made much sense to me. But this election is different, it doesn’t take a genius to realize it is going to go down in the history books as a really big friggin’ deal. I had the privilege of seeing Barack Obama speak in the Dean Dome last Monday. It was so awesome. I don’t know if I like him just because he played basketball with Tyler and the boys, or if it’s because of his awesome new ideas and potential for change (yeah, I said it). I was SO moved by Barack Obama, I even went to his HQ on Franklin Street to get a poster for my window. If I actually went though the trouble of getting the poster, you know he’s a big deal to me. Someone on my way home asked me where I got it, and when I told him he said he was going to get one himself. It made me feel like I was doing something right

Some things I am glad I did: I am glad I bought my plane ticket to Reno. Field camp here I come!