California Dreamin' 3

So on one of the days, the conference offered the chance to sign up for a whale watching trip during the afternoon break.  Of course I signed up and paid my money.  The original day, they had to cancel because of the weather, so I was really bummed.  But the next day they were able to go, and this actually worked out well anyway.

The Channel Islands are a several miles of the Ventura coast and are the Channel Island National Marine Sanctuary.

On the way out to the islands, we spotted a gray whale (the primary type of whale we were expecting to see at this time of the year.  The blue whales don't come by for a few more months, and the humpbacks as well.

In some ways, watching gray whales is less interesting than humpbacks because they are bottom feeders, so most of their activity is below surface and they don't do any of the joyful breaching and such that humpbacks do.  They lack a dorsal fin, because they swim so slowly they apparently don't need this stabilization. Additionally, regulation don't allow intentional approach to the gray whales closer than 100 yards.  So mostly we could see the blows and the tail lifts at the start of deep dives, but not so much else.

When we reached the Anacape Island, we saw the beautiful formations and also had a superb view of a California stellar sea lion, which is much larger than the more common sea lion.  A group of four seals swam out to our boat and play in the near vicinity.

On the far side of the island we found two pods of four gray whales.

But for me the highlight of the trip was on the return, when all of a sudden we were surrounded for about five minutes by literally hundreds of common dolphins.  It was simply amazing. If I can figure out how to load movies from my iPod over to a format that my PC can use (any suggestions) I have some cool movies of this to share.

California Dreamin' 2

So my conference was in Ventura, CA, and the hotel was right on Ventura Harbor.  Although I mostly saw seagulls, I did see a seal swimming around once.

It was about a mile walk down to the beach and there was a couple hours set aside in the middle of the day for recreation.  I really like this kind of conference schedule seminars and meals together from 7 am to 1:30, free time to 4 pm, then science and dinner from 4:30 to 10 pm. 


The break in the middle of the day gives some time to let the brain rest, because its way too hard for me to focus on information overload for 11 hours without break.

I had brought my swimming suit, but I have to admit that the water was too cold for me to really enjoy swimming.  So mostly I just sad on the beach and reflected. 

California Dreamin'

So I few weeks ago, I got to go to Sunny (though very cold) California to a conference.  Since my brother, the mad scientist, lives near LAX, they graciously allowed me to stay at their apartment on my way in and out.  By strange luck, another brother and his family was also in town to visit Mickey and friends.   So we had a mini-reunion up at the Griffith Observatory.   I only brought my iTouch, so my photos are a bit out of focused, but hopefully if any family read the blog, they will enjoy anyway.

Do you know what a gibbon moon is? (I have been corrected, this is a gibbous moon)  My nephew CD does. He is completely fascinated by the moon. (and clearly knows more about them than I.)

The Griffith Observatory features prominently in Rebel Without a Cause featuring James Dean, that California icon. (Worth seeing on netflicks by the way.)  I think BAD thought I should be more fascinated with the stars in the sky rather than the stars of Hollywood.

We were also able to have a nice dinner together.  Here is my Brother K (pun intended) with a smiling J.  My niece was a bit tired.  Her mom got to share her experience with seagull rescue, so we now call her the the bird whisperer.  We also had a chance to plot our strategy for the Logan to Jackson bike race. Fortunately for me, I found out that Coach K (pun intended) was allocating 3 and 1/2 hours for me to make my 45 mile leg of the relay rather than the 2 and 1/2 hours I had remembered.

All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth

So this past week ME has experienced a double dosage of visits from the Tooth Fairy.  One day she lost one of her front teeth, the next day she lost the other.  According to JA, she now looks like a vampire or a snake.  I personally have to agree.

Day 1

Day 2

The next step is to teach her what to say when people ask about her teeth.

"Did you lose your teeth?"

"Yeah, I got into a fight at a bar."

"Oh you poor child!"

"You should see the other guy!"

Knock'n on Stone Door (Part 1)

       On the day before New Year's Eve my dad and I decided to take our annual holiday backpacking trip at the South Cumberland State Park.  Our trip was focused specifically on seeing one of the awesome natural features the park has to offer, the Stone Door.

       We started our hike around mid-day at the Stone Door trail head.  One of the first sights to greet us was the Laural Gulf Overlook.  This view offered a sweeping profile of the rest of Savage Gulf which makes up a portion of the park.

Me, looking out dramatically into the horizon.

       A short distance from the Overlook is the Great Stone Door.  This massive rock-outcropping is a marvel to behold.  At the top of the cliff you get another fantastic view of the gulf.

       But one of the best features of the Stone Door is the rocky stairwell that runs in the large crevice between the two parts of the "Door."

To quote my dad, "This looks like
something straight out of Lord of the Rings."

       After climbing down the Great Stone Stairwell, we headed off on the Big Creek Gulf Trail which quickly led us to a large boulder-field at the bottom of Stone Door.

Soon the trail led us to the creek, which we traveled next to for the majority of the trail.

The creek, still partially frozen on the surface.

After following the creek for about a mile or so, we came to a crossing that led to Ranger Falls.  With plenty of daylight left, we opted to see the falls.

      Eventually the spur trail led us to Ranger Falls.  At first we thought there would be no falls, since the creek we were following was bone-dry.  But when we got to it, it turned out to be in full force.  The falls and surrounding area were amazing.  Green moss draped everywhere on the rocks and trees.  The falls cast a huge mist, which gave the place a nice cool and moist climate.

Ah, refreshing coke.

We returned to the main trail.

Along the way we discovered a really cool swimming hole.  We would totally have gone swimming, except it was January, so that might not have been such a great idea.

After a steep, long climb out of the valley we reached our campsite at Alum Gap.

Our makeshift bear bags.

A nearby stream.

BCS vs Non-AQ

TCU won the Rose Bowl to run the BCS record of non-AQ vs AQ to 4-1, and leaving three years in a row that an undefeated non-AQ school will not play for the national championship despite winning its BCS bowl game.

Time to pull the plug on the BCS.  Put on a play-off or stop pretending its a national championship.

And Brother/President Gee, the 0-5 New Year's Day of the Big 10 makes your comments about the Big 10 being a "murder's row" of a conference into a joke.  Maybe its time for you to apologize to the humble non-AQ schools and finally admit that their hard-working student athletes deserve the same opportunity as students from so-called "power conferences" who are living off the hard work of these school's former generations of athletes.  (Kind of like the rich kid students at a certain university you used to be head of.)  Its a shame that the best teams of the non-AQ have had to break their ties with their old conferences because they are tired of being left out of the right to play in the big games and the recognition and money that comes with it.  The good news for TCU is that now they will have a truly easy schedule and that for the Big East, they will finally have a school that can compete in a bowl game.

Bluebird Cafe

       

        This past Wednesday we (jpd, sd, am, m&m) paid a visit to the famous Bluebird Cafe.  The Bluebird Cafe is a local attraction where local singers and songwriters perform their own music in a very intimate setting.  The cafe consists of a small stage to the side with enough room to fit a drum set and a couple of stools.  In the back there's a bar and the middle consists of a bunch of small dining tables.  All together it is very small and just a little bit crammed.

       We had decided to go to the cafe to show m&m some of the country music that our area is known for.  It was also a first time for me, although my parents have gone several times before.  When we got there we were seated right next to the small stage.  A few minutes later some of our friends who had moved out of our ward were seated right next to us, so that was a pretty cool coincidence.

      The line-up for the night consisted of four singer/songwriters performing on guitar.  The group was headed by Ashley McBryde.  The environment was very chill and relaxed and made it a pleasure to listen to these fine musicians.  Their music was outstanding, with songs ranging from mournful ballads to howling rebel songs.  I personally am not a huge fan of country music, but their music was actually quite fun to listen to.  Like I said, there was a great mix of songs and lots of laughs going around.  A lot of the songwriters had written songs which big-time artists had recorded.

Ashley McBryde

Craig Monday, one of the performers

    We had a great time and I can see why its a hot-spot.  I am definitely looking forward to going again.