How am I supposed to explain to people who get astronomy and astrology confused what I am going to do for two weeks out of my precious summer, without even fully understanding myself? The extent of my knowledge of astrophysics is nill. In fact is it is a completely new word in my vocabulary. My grasp on astronomy as a whole rages from nothing to sketchy at its best. Nonetheless I am excited just to get to go back to New Mexico.
As far as my place in the group goes, I am one of the youngest. Only one other person, Jon, is going to be a junior next fall. Everyone else will be a senior. I'm still 16, without any background in physics or advanced math. This is partly from the fact that I come from a small school without many advanced classes. Because of all of these factors, I am baffled as to why on earth the people at Earthwatch selected me. Never the less, I'm excited to be here.
16 June Tuesday
My day began at the unreasonable hour for me at 6:00 a.m. I had packed my luggage the night before, which required me to stay up until at least 1:00 a.m. The excitement of what lays before me overcomes my urge to hit the snooze button once more. I got a ride to the airport with my brother in order to catch my 9:15 a.m. flight out of Omaha. The plane I was to ride to Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport was a small, prop plane, which gave me a very interesting ride. We vibrated and shook the entire time (1 hour, 15 minutes), but it wasn't too bad.
Upon reaching the incredibly large airport in Minnesota, I had to take the tram across it to the red terminal. While waiting for my plane, I wrote a letter and thought about how I would meet up with the right people in Albuquerque. In three hours, any my concerns I might have had faded because there at my gate were Galen, Don, Matt, Dana, Megan, David, Jon, and Beth armed with signs and a picture of me. Although I was overwhelmed with instant introductions and handshakes, everyone was friendly. We all trudged down to the luggage carousel, while Galen and Don fired rapid questions at me. Trying to answer questions about what I wanted to do with my life while attempting to appear confident that my luggage arrived on the same plane as I did proved to be a challenge. Since I arrived second to last, we only had to wait for Eylne to arrive from Cincinnati. He arrived late and without luggage, but we left for supper at a restaurant anyway.
Before reaching Los Alamos, we had to take a 90 mile drive through the Jemez Mountains. Combined with the interesting conversations we had at the restaurant and in the oversized van, I got to know the other participants in the Earthwatch expedition a little bit better. I must say the people in charge of choosing us certainly had an interesting method of doing so.
I came to this conclusion during the "informal" discussion on microlensing events, dark matter, and conservation of angular momentum. Needless to say I left Canyon School at a quarter past midnight feeling mentally and physically exhausted and thoroughly confused about what everyone else had an enthralling conversation on. Another thing I picked up on was that they have an abundance of acronyms: DOE, WIMP, MACHO, ROTSE, LANL, ALEXIS, and LANSCE to mention only a few.
At the end of my first day with Earthwatch in Los Alamos, I am feeling both apprehensive and excited about the upcoming two weeks. I have the definite feeling of being at least two steps behind everybody else. Maybe I didn't do enough in the way of preparation or maybe it is because I haven't taken Physics and the name of our project is Transient Phenomena in Astrophysics. I'm ready for a challenge though.
17 June Wednesday
Time and meals here are all cock-eyed. We go to bed at 2:00 a.m. and meet for the first time officially at 2:00 p.m. Today we (the eight students) met up at breakfast, mostly by chance. Beth, my roommate, had leftt, but I was still there finishing my hashbrowns. The other people wandered in, still sleepy to grab some breakfast. Even though I was done, I hung around until they finished eating.
After breakfast we all went to the hot tub in the Mini Health Spa instead of going back to bed. The hot tub, which was designed for four people, kind of overflowed with seven of us in it. It didn't flood the room or anything; it just spilled over occasionally when someone got in or moved around. After awhile we all transferred to the pool because the hot tub got too hot any overly crowded. In the pool we played around with Jon's infinite supply of toys for awhile. Then we played a couple games of Marco Polo. That didn't last too long, even though I got it twice. We also played quite a few games of keep away with a Koosh ball. The teams were boys against girls, but who knows who really won. Later that morning we played a game of Ultimate Frisbee and I was amazed at how winded I got just from running around. I guess this elevation really does make a difference.
That was how we spent our morning. I think that the eight of us are really starting to get along with each other. It is kind of nice to always have people around to do stuff with. We met as an entire group at 3:00p.m. or so at the Canyon School across the street from our hotel to walk up the street to the Bradbury Science Museum. We took a tour, given by our guide, Garry. He was pretty cool, with a shaved head and a shaggy beard. The tour was about the history of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and other stuff. It had a display on atomic bombs, radioactivity, and even a display on the chromosome and genetics of a human. My favorite parts were seeing a human brain and getting my picture taken next to the first director of LANL, Oppenheimer. It was a sculpture made of plaster, and the creators even used real clothes to put under the plaster.
After going back to Canyon School to talk for awhile with Galen about general info and a test we were going to have to take (General Employee Training), we ate pizza from Home Run Pizza.
We then made another trek up to the Bradbury Science Museum to hear the kick-off for their Astronomy Days. Galen talked about the observatory on Fenton Hill, which we would soon become well acquainted with. Also speaking that night was Chad Young. He talked about Milagro, a special project up on Fenton Hill to detect ultra high gamma rays. He also asked if we got a "warm, fuzzy feeling" from looking at the colors in one of his visuals. Cathy Plesko and Guthrie Partridge, undergraduate interns at LANL, talked for a few minutes to introduce themselves and tell a little bit about their experiences with Earthwatch and the lab. Finally, all eight of the Earthwatch students: Jon, David, Beth, Megan, Elyne, Dana, Matt, and I were forced to stand up and tell about ourselves. We also told how we found out about Earthwatch and our background information.
At 9:00 p.m. we met at the Canyon School to have a crash course in CCD cameras and telescopes, courtesy of Don Casperson. I must say that I didn't learn all that I probably should have, but I'll manage somehow. The lesson was an extended one that went on well beyond my time limit for taking in new information. Don was extremely patient and tried his very best to help us understand what was going on.
18 June Thursday
Thursday morning began at 2:00 p.m. for us at Canyon School with a talk by Ed Fenimore on the myths of science and the scientific method that shouldn't be used. He also talked about gamma ray bursts because he is one of the top authorities on the subject. I particularly liked his talk because he knows so very much, but he put his presentation in very informative. Everything he said was aimed towards people our age.
After listening attentively to Ed, we went to a public lecture at the physics auditorium to listen to a talk on Hubble Deep Field by Henry Ferguson. It was definitely a deep talk all right and most of it went whizzing right over my head. I did find one point of interest in a quote he gave. "If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?" --Albert Einstein
Thursday night was our first introduction to the one and only Fenton Hill. Before dark we toured Milagro, set up cables to the pad from Galen's office for ethernet, and became familiar with our new, dusty surroundings. As the sun set, we aligned the two telescopes and prepared the CCD cameras and computers. There are two domes on the newly poured cement pad. One is a clam shell type structure that opens halfway with a MEAD 7 inch maksutov telescope inside. The other structure is a 10 foot diameter dome with a shutter and a C-14 telescope inside.
Most of my time was spent in the big dome along with a few other people. Cathy ran the computer for the most part while attempting to teach others. Dana, Matt, Guthrie, myself, and various other people come and go. The beginning of the observations went super. We got to the C-14 within 6.94 arc minutes on our polar alignment. We also got to see some fascinating stuff: the dumbbell nebula, Alberio, and other celestial sights.
After awhile we took a break, only to come back to a telescope that didn't quite work right. Out of the blue, it would spin randomly or not at all. Our polar alignment went over 69 arc minutes, and we all got frustrated. The dome got to be a little too tight, so it was necessary for us too take breaks in order to keep our sanity. I have to say that I probably learned a lot more about how the telescope works than if it'd all gone smoothly. From that perspective, things don't look as dark.
We continued our night working on the telescope and finally just moving it manually. I got my first look at both Jupiter and Saturn through a telescope. I can't believe how clear they were!! Saturn looked like a little sticker someone had stuck on the inside of the eyepiece. That's how defined it was. After a few more hours, we all closed up the domes and crawled, only half-awake, into the van to head back to the hotel in Los Alamos.
19 June Friday
I awoke late this morning because of our all night observation session the night before up on Fenton Hill. I was so tired that I was almost late for Jim Wren's talk at Canyon School on ROTSE I and II. ROTSE is one more acronym that stands for Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment. ROTSE I is a telescope with four CCD cameras attached. It has patrolled the sky twice per night every night that has been clear since March '98.
After Jim was through, Jeff Bloch talked to us for a short while on the interstellar medium. He explained that it is the matter between the stars. Space is an excellent vacuum with only about one hydrogen atom per cubic centimeter, as compared the about 6.02 x 10^23 atoms. He continued with a discussion on ALEXIS (Array of Low Energy X-ray Imaging Sensors). ALEXIS is used to measure x-rays, map ultrasoft x-ray background, and monitor variable stars.
Later on we went up to use ROTSE I to make observations. We had to go through some high security gates to get to ROTSE I, which was situated across the road from a load of low radioactive blocks. When in got dark, we went in by pairs to learn how to operate the computer. Jim was in there helping each group learn the ropes. When Dana and I went in as the last group, one of the cameras had a problem that made the entire sky look like it had a huge miniblind covering it. We only stayed up at ROTSE I until a little after midnight. That gave us a chance, which most of us didn't take advantage of, to get caught up on a little sleep.
20 June Saturday
Today was spent mostly outside. We left early to hike through ruins from the Tsankawi tribe. The trails took us up the mountainous region and back down again. The rock paths were sometimes so narrow that my feet got stuck. It was also dusty with the typical hot and dry weather we've come to know so well in New Mexico.
The ruins weren't quite what some were expecting. They were just mounds of grass and weeds grown over the ruins. We did get to see the trash pile of the civilization where there were shards of pottery. That was pretty neat to think that the pottery we picked up was so very old, yet it was easily identified as pottery.
After hiking around the civilization, we went to Galen's house where we ate lunch and bummed around for a bit before changing into our swimming suits and going to the local pool in White Rock. The pool was really neat, and bigger than most pools I've every been to.
Most of the time I was in the pool was spent in a basketball game. I thought that water basketball was pretty cool, even if I did have to be really careful not to lose either of my contacts. The teams were slightly uneven. They were basically boys against girls, but I was the only girl on my team. Elyne and Galen were the only guys on their team, though. I think we probably won, but its hard to tell because we didn't keep score. Guthrie, all 6'2" of him, was on our team and he was probably the reason we got so many baskets.
By the time we were done swimming, I was so zonked that I just wanted to crash. Instead Galen took us to the Canyon School and told we had to type these journals. Although it is a good idea, it just takes me so long to get everything typed out. One thing I do like about typing the journals is we're all in the same room and we have a chance to talk each other a bunch.
Tomorrow is Galen's birthday so I bought a card for him from Furr's, which I still have to get a few people to sign yet. We are going to go out to his house for a cook-out and a party, but he doesn't know about the party yet.
21 June Sunday
Beth slept in this morning, and so did most everyone else. Matt, Megan, and I got up and got ready to go to our church services. I had agreed to go with Matt to a Baptist Church in Los Alamos when we were up at ROTSE I. Donna dropped Megan off at a Catholic Church in town. It was a good service, with lots of singing. The whole emphasis of the day was on fathers because today is Father‚s Day. It is also Galen‚s birthday, which is why we‚re going over to his house in White Rock for the afternoon.
We didn‚t leave right away for the Gisler‚s house; we had to pick up the cake we‚d ordered and get our other stuff together. Before the cook out, we sat around and watched the World Cup soccer match that was on. Other, more talented people, played the piano, but basically we just sat around and talked until it was time to eat.
The food was really good, but it wasn‚t what I was expecting from a "B-B-Q." No greasy hamburgers, mayonnaise, potato salad, or brownies in sight. That‚s just what I expected, being from Kansas where beef is supper. Instead Susan had made us fajitas. We had corn chips, guacamole, lemonade, and a fruit dessert. Of course there was the birthday cake we had bought to surprise Galen.
Following our meal, Galen and Susan pulled out all of their unique instruments for us to play around on. I played the sacbut, which was a trombone with part of the bell sawed off. It was still the same to play as the trombone, though. They had harps, harpsicords, a didgerido, and lots of other instruments I‚ll never even know the names to. We played a few songs together. Some of the people were really good, too.
Badminton was next. I had fun playing, but I loved watching Gattacta. It was a neat movie about the future and genetic engineering. That movie was a "thinking movie" because it made me wonder about the future and what this world will be like for tomorrow‚s children.
We stayed at Galen‚s house until the movie ended, then it was back to the hotel. Tomorrow the makers of the dome are coming to help us try to fix it.
22 June Monday
We all went up to Fenton Hill early today, well, before dark anyway. At 3:00p.m. we were supposed to meet with John and Meg Menke. They are the makers of the dome that houses the C-14. Finally, someone will be able to make that blasted thing work. Well, at least we worked on it. The shutter wasn't opening smoothly so we took off the top and sanded down the edges. The Menkes also worked on wiring to help the dome communicate with itself. I got to put on a new weather sensor on top of the dome.
Because not everyone could fit into the dome at once, I got to talk to them and get to know my Earthwatch teammates better. Being from such a small town, it is kind of fun to explain my everyday life to people, like Elyne, who can't imagine having nine kids in your eighth grade class. They live everyday surrounded by people, when I have cows living at the end of my street. The longer I am here, the more I realize just how relative the word "normal" is.
Following supper, we all went back outside to use the new and improved dome. Well, things still weren't working right. The C-14 must have some little guy living in it, because we obviously have no control over what it points at.
Don brought up his radio telescope to listen to Jupiter. It looks like a big antenna that we used to have on top of our house that is connected to a little control box. The sounds the telescope puts out are interesting. We couldn't hear Jupiter because of the position of Io, but it would have sounded something like ocean waves. Not that I get to hear a lot of them in Kansas.
23 June Tuesday
Today we slept in a little bit, but it wasn't enough for me. First on our agenda was a public lecture on the Physics of Star Trek given by Lawrence Krauss. I feel terrible for not listening to everything he said. In the beginning I was wide awake, but the cushy chairs in the auditorium and the big words he used kinda made me drift off. One part I remember very clearly was when he explained how Newton's law of inertia would turn the whole Enterprise crew into "chunky salsa on the back of the bridge." Even without every seeing Star Trek some of the things he said were funny. I felt bad though when I would come to and everyone else would be laughing at some humorous comment he had just made.
Following the public lecture, we drove to White Rock to take the General Employee Training exam. It was an open book test on very basic, common sense stuff. Even though we had all that going for us, Matt was the only one who actually got all 43 questions right. Oh well. We all got nifty red badges, and Galen is breathing easier since we all passed and get to stay now.
After heading back to Canyon school, we listened to lectures by Don and Todd on radio astronomy and neutrinos. I liked what Don had to say because it made me think. I hadn't ever really thought about "listening" to the universe, but there is so much to learn that can't be seen with an optical telescope. Radio astronomy is especially useful because it can be used both day and night.
Todd talked about neutrinos, and I'm sure I would have gotten lots more out of it if it wasn't the very first time I heard the word mentioned. I still found it interesting that millions of neutrinos pass through us and only one might interact. And I also learned that it takes a million years for a photon to reach the earth from the center of the sun.
Up at the Bradbury Museum Jack Hills talked to us about Asteroids, Comets, and Killer Tsunamis. I came in at the back of the group so I sat in the back row next to an old lady who gave me a peppermint because I was really tired and leaning my head against the back wall. I was also completely starved. Following the talk, which made me feel nice and safe to be living in Kansas, we went and ate Chinese food at a restaurant in the strip mall behind our hotel. I don't know what everyone else did with their evening. I crashed at 10:00p.m., right after supper.
24 June Wednesday
We had a field trip today. After driving for four hours and then some, we got there. The main attraction was the Very Large Array (VLA) by Socorro, NM. I made it a point to ask anyone who might know how this group of huge radio dishes got its name. No one really knew though. I suppose its just one of those things. My favorite part was being in a huge flat area with no trees. Minus the ring of mountains surrounding us in the distance, it all looked a whole lot like Kansas. I thought getting to go up into dish #22 was also very cool. The scale that these things are built on is awe inspiring. One thing that really just hit me was when I saw a picture that showed all the known bodies in space through an optical telescope and another picture showed the same thing with radio astronomy. After looking at it for awhile, I just said, "Wow!" I had never realized how useful the VLA might be. Galen and the other people standing around me just kind of laughed, but Galen said that's why I came.
You know what they say--what goes up must come down and so it is with driving somewhere. One benefit of riding in a big gray government van everywhere is that in the eight hours we spent driving we got to get to know each other even better. Almost everyone got into some, shall we say, interesting discussions with a lady named Diane who came with us. I just listened to my discman during most of it. Getting people started on issues like women's lib and music can be a dangerous thing to do.
25 June Thursday
This "morning" I bought some lunch and got into the van at 11:30a.m. to leave for our geological field trip of the Jemez Mountains. Our guide was named Carol; she was pretty cool too. First we saw a big patch of prairie in an old volcano called the Valle Grande. Its owned by a family in Texas who use it for cattle. Its for sale, and even though I'd love to buy it, I don't think that will be possible in the near future. I want it because I love the land itself, but I also love the location. Carol told us about the land and how it was surrounded by a ring of volcanoes that exploded a long, long time ago.
Following the caldera, we went to see the pumice rocks off the side of the road. It all came from the exploded volcanoes. I picked up a few chunks to keep as a reminder. Carol told us that pumice is the only rock that floats. The reason the rock will float is because it cools so fast when it flies out of the volcano that air bubbles get trapped inside it. Everyone laughed when I said I remembered that from the Magic School Bus book and Miss Frizzle. After the stop to pick up pumice, we went to Sulfur Dam. That's where we went on the very first day on the way to Los Alamos from the airport. I hiked around with Jon and got to stand on a high ledge, far above the road and everything else. When I stood up, the wind made me sway because there wasn't anything to block it for me. Then I took Jon's "trail" he found the first day. Convinced he should have been a mountain goat, he chose for us the steepest trail with the fewest possible things to hold onto. My palms are still sore from breaking what could have been a big fall, but I made it.
Next we went to pick up fossils of tiny invertebrates from the ocean, of all places. The little clam like fossils are called braceopods. I was lucky because I found one chunk of rock that had several braceopods, pieces of coral, and another type of fossil that was in a tube like a worm. Then we took a break for lunch and headed to a fumeral. Boy did it stink! Sulfuric acid had tuned the red rock to a stinky white crystaline surface. On the ride back to town, we blasted the oldies station. Even our guide, Carol, sang along with us.
Tonight we went to a talk on the northern lights at Bradbury Science Museum. It was given by Geoff Reeves, and he did a really good job. I think I was the only one out of our Earthwatch group who has actually seen the northern lights. I saw them two summers ago while on a canoeing trip in the Canadian Boundary Waters. One of the really neat things Geoff showed us was a video made by the University of Alaska that showed the splendor of the northern lights. Awesome!
26 June Friday
This morning was to be dedicated to typing our journals, but I have to say that I'm not very dedicated. We worked on them on and off until we left at 4:00p.m. for a night of observing on Fenton Hill. In between typing journals we listened to Diane (the lady who came with us to the VLA) talk about Syncatron Radiation. We also got interviewed by two people for a motivational video. Interesting.
Supper was fun tonight. We went to Fenton Lake, which isn't too far from the Hill. Donna is always so great to us. Not only does she make sure we have food for our group picnics, but she will go out of her way to get just what you like. All you have to do is ask. The lake was a small one and not very deep, but pretty. While everyone was throwing bread/pebbles at the ducks, I went wading. Luckily I found out my sandals do float. Thanks Guthrie.
Since the C-14 hasn't been working since the very first night, I helped Guthrie replace some of the chips that were sent to us by the makers of ServoStar. It didn't help much though so we closed up the big dome and moved to the clamshell. Don also brought his personal telescope. We hooked it up the a CCD camera, so that helped us out.
I worked on the 7" Mead and that CCD program to start with. Guthrie taught me how to use it and to take pictures with it. I was having a really great time. We got some awesome pictures of the moon, but whenever we tried to get a good exposure of stars, all we got was black. I was getting really frustrated because every piece of equipment I try to use malfunctions and does what ever it wants to. I have no control. Granted, I am learning a lot, but some results sure would be nice.
After awhile, Guthrie and I gave up on the Mead for the night and I went over to see about getting to work with Don's telescope. At first there was a big group together and I just sat on the sidelines watching. Eventually most people got cold so they rolled out their sleeping bags on the pad. When they left, I got to use the computer with Matt and Elyne. Don helped us along too. My hands just about froze right off while working the mouse. Who would've thought to bring gloves to New Mexico in June? One really cool thing we caught was a comet tail, but the computer said it didn't have enough memory to save the image. Don told us that it did, so it was probably my bad vibes at work.
We stayed up at Fenton Hill until after 5:00a.m. and the sun was coming up. The ride back down was a blast. Everyone else was tired and sleeping except for Matt, Dana, and me. We sang along with the oldies station while Donna dodged all of the elk. Upon arriving at the hotel, we decided to go ahead and eat breakfast together in the dining room at the hotel. We realized too late that it wasn't opening for another 45 minutes so we just crashed on the floor in the hallway outside the door to wait. I can't even imagine what we must have looked like. A kind man let us in 30 minutes early; maybe he just wanted us to be out of the hall though.
27 June Saturday
This morning was a fairly uneventful one. We were supposed to visit Bandelier National Park, but the others didn't want to. I've been there before, and I was kind of looking forward to it. We didn't do a whole lot this morning, just hung out and watched MTV cartoons until 6:00p.m. Before going up to Fenton Hill, we stopped off at Pizza Hut to get something to eat
Once we were there, I took some time to write in my own journal before going over to help Guthrie and Chad with the CCD on the Mead. We got some really super pictures of the moon again, but when we used the telescope, we got the same black images as last night. I got to run the computer after it was focused, which I love to do.
A lot of the time it was just Chad, Guthrie, and me trying to work with the telescope in the clamshell. Matt came by quite a bit, though. Jon and Beth checked out what we were doing too. We had more technical problems, which has become quite the norm when I'm around.
Chad suggested using just the CCD camera on the tripod without the telescope. At about 2:00a.m. we took a ten minute exposure by Polaris with the CCD to try to see some star movement. It worked perfectly!! I was so excited. Something finally turned out just how it was supposed to, and it was even beautiful too! Then everybody decided it was time to leave. Since I just couldn't bear the thought of leaving for the very last time without getting more pictures, I just sat at the computer while everyone else got ready to leave. Then Guthrie told me to ask Chad if he would take me into Los Alamos later when he went because they were both going to stay up longer working on the CCD. Donna said it was all right with her so as the big gray government van pulled out, we got ready to take a thirty minute exposure of Polaris. Neither the thirty minute exposure or the twenty minute one we took next were as clear as the original ten minute one, but they still worked like they were supposed to.
As happy I was to get to stay and work longer on the CCD, it only made leaving Fenton Hill for the very last time that much harder. Its sad to think that when I go back to Fenton Hill (and I am going back) things will be so much different.
29 June Sunday
I started this morning with the least sleep I've gotten so far. Last night I got in from Fenton Hill and 5:45 a.m., leaving me only one and a half hours to sleep before I had to get up for church. I went to the early service at the same church Matt and I went to last week. The reason we had to go to the early service is because everyone needed to be ready to leave at 11:00a.m. We were taking a field trip for the day to nearby Santa Fe.
Santa Fe is such a wonderful place that I don't know how anyone could only stay there for just one day. Because I spent my entire Spring Break there, I knew where stuff was and what to see. In fact we ate lunch on the Plaza at the cafe that I ate at for my very first meal in Santa Fe. We had to wait for about half an hour because there are no reservations. Most of us took advantage of this time to tour about half of the Plaza and its sights before eating. After lunch we went to the new Georgia O'Keeffe museum a few blocks away. One of the nice things (one of the many nice things) about Santa Fe is that you can park your car and just walk most everywhere you want to go. You can't do that where I live, so it is a nice change.
We walked to the museum, where for once I was glad to be one of the three sixteen year olds. It got me in for free instead of paying $5. I like most of O'Keeffe's art, but there is one piece that I absolutely love. The painting "Horse's Skull with White Rose" sucks me into it. The black background contrasts so sharply with the almost perfectly white skull that looks bleached by the sun that I get lost staring into it. I've been to plenty of art museums, and I even liked some of them. None of them had any pictures that captivated my attention so much. Right after we were admitted into the museum I walked straight to the one painting I'd love to own. It hung just where it had three months ago. I took care to notice that the museum doesn't own the painting and that it is only on extended loan. Although I'd never sell the paining if I owned it, I'd love to have it one day.
Following a self-guided tour of the Georgia O'Keeffe museum, we went back to the Plaza where we had the chance to do whatever we wanted to for about two hours. I bought a few things and then found a sunny park bench to sit on. I just sat and felt at home, soaking in the sights, the heat, and writing in my journal. Maybe it is the stress-free feeling I get when I'm there that makes me want to go back to Santa Fe. I sat until my thirst got too much and sent me searching for a cold lemonade. Upon finding one, I sat with Galen and his family on the grass in the shade to wait for everyone else to meet up with the group once again.
We had to get back into our group so we could get in the van to go to St. John's performance of Hamlet in the great outdoors. Because we sat in the fourth row, we had an excellent view of everything, plus we could hear all the dialogue. Sometimes I have a short attention span, but I can honestly say I enjoyed the play. It even all made sense too, which is always convenient.
By the time we made it back to the hotel, my 8 1/2 hours of sleep in the past 48 had caught up with me so I was glad to finally go to bed.
29 June Monday
Beth and I awoke at 9:00 a.m. to go type our journals at Canyon School. I feel like I really got to sleep in, even though it wasn‚t that much. As for these journals, I am now so far behind everyone else that I feel like I‚ll never finish, especially since we leave soon. I‚m not ready to think about leaving yet. Time has gone by so fast that I feel almost cheated.
We worked on our journals until we saw Beth and Dana come over to the school, covered in shaving cream. They were so covered it looked like they had just gotten snowed on or something. Come to find out they had given Matt and Jon a wake up call, better known as "cooking the chicken" all week long.
When things settled down we all worked together to get our presentation together. We had about an hour or so to prepare a speech about our time at LANL for a bunch of scientist who knew more about what we were saying than we did. Cathy tried to scare us by telling us how long the students last year spent preparing for theirs speeches. I thought that we did quite well. Galen even told us that the scientists seemed impressed by what we said. In order to cover everything we learned, we divided up into groups. Matt, Dana, and I were assigned to cover the C-14 telescope and ROTSE I. I talked about ServoStar, the program that runs the computer and telescope; the joystick, which is used to manually maneuver the C-14; the different eyepieces and the effect they had on the image we were looking at; and what we actually used the C-14 to view.
After giving our speeches and answering some of the scientists‚ questions, we got to tour the ALEXIS satellite control room and ROTSE II, which was still under construction. One thing I liked about seeing ALEXIS was that I finally understood just how a satellite works and is controlled. We opted to take lunch at a sub sandwich place instead of going to the museum to give our talk again. Upon completing lunch, we went back to the hotel and Canyon School where we tried to type on our journals. The power was turned of at the school for awhile so we didn‚t get to type. I wasn‚t really disappointed though. Instead we all went over to Donna‚s room to sign cards and books for everyone who had helped us. I thought that was a neat idea to give them something. Donna was always thinking though, just like any other mom would do.
Before leaving for the restaurant for our farewell dinner, I had an idea to take along my journal. I thought that it‚d be really cool to have everyone sign it. Kind of like what we do with our yearbooks at school or with an autograph book. I got everyone who wasn‚t a student to sign at the dinner. Well, everyone except for Chad because he wasn‚t able to come. The dinner was good, and a lot of fun too. The end was sad though. As we handed out the cards and books we had signed earlier, I thought to myself that this may be the last time I‚ll ever see Jim, Todd, or Susan. Galen, Andy, Ellie, Cathy, Guthrie and Don would be coming to the airport tomorrow with us.
One last time we went to go type on our journals. I must confess that even though I really, really wanted to just forget the whole journal thing, I did try to get in one last honest stab at it. Because Donna had given us a secret plan for a good-bye to Galen, we had to stay at Canyon School working until he was ready to go home to White Rock. Finally he left and so did we. We all met at the hotel to get together the spray paint we were going to use on "the rock." Donna explained to us that there was a big rock in White Rock on the main corner that anyone could paint messages on. We decided to leave our mark there. The actual painting didn‚t take long with so many people and only three sides to paint up, but we had to stick around because there were some hoodlums hanging around the gas station and they already smeared it a little when we drove around the block.
Driving back to the hotel from White Rock, we sang along to the oldies station like we had so many times before. Megan and Dana‚s room was the most logical room to hand out in and sign each other‚s journals in because that‚s where we hung out every other night. We all hung out until at least 3:00a.m., signing each other‚s journals, talking, laughing, drinking coffee, and taking lots of last minute photographs.
Everyone else had left one at a time to go to bed except Matt, Jon, and me. Of course Dana and Megan were still around. It was their room. Anyway Matt and I had a very interesting discussion with Jon and Dana (for part of the time) about our religious beliefs and proof of God. I personally had a very interesting time, and it really made my last hours seem longer because I didn‚t sleep at all that night. In fact, I only left at 7:15 a.m. because none of my stuff was packed at all and we were supposed to leave at 7:30 for the airport.
30 June Tuesday
Technically, today‚s entry started with yesterday‚s ending. Let‚s see it is now 7:15 and I have 15 minutes to pack two suitcases and a bag, get ready for a plane ride to Nebraska, and get my stuff down to the vans. Wow. I usually take a lot longer than that just to take my shower, just ask my roommate Beth. Some how I managed. Maybe it was adrenaline or that extra energy you get in the morning after not sleeping the night before, but I had everything ready to go by 7:30. I was even checked out of my hotel room.
After I finished, I went to check on Matt and Jon and to help them out. Even though they had mostly packed the night before, Jon had a problem. No airplane ticket. Well to make a long story short, Megan had to leave for the airport early while Matt, Jon, and I tore apart their room, Matt‚s stuff, and Jon‚s stuff looking for his ticket. Well we found it in Jon‚s group of papers. Go figure.
We hauled their suitcases down in a hurry and jumped into the vans to drive to the airport in Albuquerque. The ride down made our bodies remember just how little (or no) sleep we had gotten the night before. I just remember trying to get comfortable enough to sleep. Thanks to Guthrie‚s driving, we all made it there in time to see Megan off on her flight back to her farm in Western Nebraska. Then we sent Beth and Dave off. Lunch was next, but my appetite just wasn‚t there. How could it? Everyone was leaving, and I knew I was the last to go. Dana flew out next to sunny Pasadena. Matt, Jon, Elyne, and I had some time to just sit together in the airport, but it was really strange knowing that they too would be gone back to their homes soon too. And leave they did. These hugs and good-byes were by far the hardest to give because I would be alone after they flew out. Sure Galen, his kids, Guthrie, and the others were there, and I even really liked them. Its just that we were so close and I feel like we didn‚t get everything finished.
I walked along with the remaining people to the observation deck because Andy wanted to see the planes. It was strange. I've always wanted to be a pilot, but then I just didn‚t want to see the plane that would soon be taking me farther away, not just from the people, but from New Mexico too. Really I don‚t clearly remember my good-bye, just that I gave Galen a big hug and that Donna was crying as I stepped onto the boarding passage. I felt like I was in a movie or a bad dream. It was all too weird. The strangest part is that I didn‚t cry like so many people do at good-byes. Instead I just felt a dull, but constant pain in my stomach. The feeling that I had just gotten hit with a bowling ball or something and all that was left was the leftover pain. Not a lot of my time went to feeling sad or anything else on the plane. No, I tried to write a letter, but instead I slept almost all the way to Minneapolis/St. Paul.
Looking back
Now I see my time in New Mexico as one of the best times of my life, and something I will always be grateful for. I still miss the people, my friends, but I am better for knowing them like I did. I also miss the stars. There are lots of them in Kansas, maybe more than anyone else from the trip sees, but it is different somehow. The air is different, and so are the surroundings.
Because of what I have done and learned, I know that astronomy will always be a part of my life, but I‚m not sure how yet. I‚ll find a way to fit it though. I have too much to lose if I don‚t. And to think I owe all of this to the people at Earthwatch and at LANL, especially to Galen and the others for all they taught and shared with all of us, not just me. How can I say it? Thank you is not enough, but it is what I feel times ten.
"Thanks, Galen. U ROCK!!"