Testing my knee

I tweaked my knee moving heavy crates while unloading a truck from the field project. I tested it out by riding up (and down) hills on my bike. Today I went over Davidson Mesa (the imposing hill in Louisville between me and Boulder) a couple times.


Before I went down the other side (just before 2.5 miles), I took this picture:

Street Faire

I went to the


to see




and met up with

New Mexico flyby

On June 11, when I was on my way from Tampa to Ontario (via Las Vegas), I flew over New Mexico. I took pictures out the window, and although they weren't very clear (I sat over the wing, so all pictures were taken at a shallow angle), it gives me a chance to post some pre-blog pictures.

White Sands National Monument (the white blur near the horizon):


And from March 2005, my friend Brett at White Sands:


and my car:


Socorro from the plane:


Socorro's 'M' Mountain:


M Mountain and Socorro from South Baldy:


The Magdalena Range (nearest dark range) and South Baldy (highest peak with light-colored side):


Magdalenas and South Baldy:


South Baldy from the balloon hangar:


The Very Large Array (VLA):


If you zoom into the middle of the above picture, you can barely make out the radio dishes:


They were one of the first things I visited after I moved to Socorro.




I went there again during Brett's visit. We had just driven up from warm Socorro to the top of snowy South Baldy one day.


The weather turned to snow once we were down the mountain, it was very foggy, and we wanted to get to the VLA before sunset. I didn't think I'd be able to show Brett much at all. But lo and behold, the fog broke just as we arrived at the VLA!


We took a bunch of pictures before the sun finally set.



On our way out there, we thought about giving up, turning around, and going home -- but I'm glad we didn't!

Back in Colorado

I got back to Colorado last Tuesday. After a few days of taking instrument racks off the plane and loading and unloading trucks, the CalNex field project is finally over.

Two things that struck me about Colorado: how clearly one can see the mountains (less smog) and how green it is.

For example, here is a picture of Ontario I took from the P-3:


and one of the Flatirons from the NOAA parking lot:



Today, I took a short bike ride through the north Louisville Open Space.


I rode mainly so I could take these pictures of the Boulder Valley:

Touring around L.A.

I had the day off, so I went with Ken to the La Brea tar pits. There are a dozen or so pits in the park. The Lake Pit is the one I usually associate with the tar pits. I took a picture of it as methane was bubbling out:


They are continuously excavating the pits for fossils:


All sorts of prehistoric animals fell into the pits: mastodons, saber-tooth tigers, giant sloths, American lions, large camels, bison, and wolves. This wall in the museum displayed 400 of the 1600 wolf skeletons that have been excavated from the site:


The museum also houses a paleontology lab, where workers are currently uncovering a mastodon skeleton dubbed Zed. Its tusk is on the left:


Here's a picture of a tar bubble right before it burst:


On the way back to Ontario, we stopped in the hills of Hollywood to look at the Hollywood sign. Here is a blurry picture of the sign (my camera focused on the branches in the foreground):


On the way down, we had a good view of L.A.

Venice Beach

I went with Ken, John, Paola, and Harald to Venice Beach today:


Venice was modeled after its namesake in Italy, complete with canals:


Unfortunately, it was an overcast day:


But the promenade was still full of people:

World Cup Party

We flew back to Ontario yesterday. Today, John and I hosted a USA-England viewing party at our apartment.


We even had all-American snacks!