Week 2 of MSU

Just a warning... I wrote 7 pages of graduate level essays today, so I am extremely sloppy with my writing in this blog... and I am a bit frustrated right now because I wrote an entire, very detailed blog, and then the page had an error when I was finally adding my pictures and I lost all of my work.  I even had a detailed description of each of my friends I've made... anyway.......

It's a good thing I am blogging at least weekly, because even at this rate, everything seems to be a jumble!  I am so busy every moment of the day!  During week two, I took the class GeoEcology of Yellowstone Lake.  We listened to various speakers on Monday, but our field trip was Tuesday through Thursday in the a.m.  We left Tuesday morning for Yellowstone.

We did a 5 hour hike (about 6.5 miles), to the top of Mt. Washburn and back.  The elevation at the summit was 10,240 ft.  This was a really neat hike for so many reasons.  You could see the top of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, for one.  At the very top of the mountain, there was a fire lookout.  I LOVE fire lookout hikes (discovered my love for them in Mt. Rainier Nat'l Park).  The most difficult/exciting thing about this hike was the extreme winds at the top.  My professor estimated the winds to be at about 65 mph.  I can assure you I have never felt winds so strong! It was particularly windy at one curve just near the top.... I got a sudden blast of wind and got knocked back a little, but remained standing, pushing forward against the wind.  I sure as heck was not going to let the wind blow me off the cliff!  At first I was standing still, just trying to breathe (it's so hard to breathe with wind pelting your face like that).... I debated for about 20 seconds whether or not I should stand and wait it out, or just push through... well, I didn't know how long I could stand there because I was already getting tired of pushing back, so I ended up using all my strength to just suck it up and push through the wind til I reached the top.  A girl behind me actually got knocked down to the ground, and another girl helped her the rest of the way up.  The view from the top was amazing!  This probably has to go down as one of my favorite hikes I've done, just because the wind was thrilling!

On Tuesday night, we went back to camp to set up our tents.  My friend Amanda and I had a heck of a time setting ours up!  The guys offered to help us, and while Amanda said, "sure!" I barked, "NO! We can do it!"  lol.... I (somewhat) jokingly said, "we don't need a man's help!"   After we set up, we finally went to dinner at about 9pm at The Lakehouse restaurant near West Thumb.  It took about 2 hours to get our food and eat it, but it was fun getting to know people better.  I had a chicken burger and fries! Yum..  my favorite thing about this place was the view of the lake while the sun set.

On Wednesday, we went to Yellowstone Lake for some sampling.  We got to wear waders and use nets to catch macro invertebrates (including caddisflies---SUCH a cool creature!).  My group caught a 2 inch long (while compressed) mother leech with tons of leech babies attached to her underside.  She was disgustingly awesome.  We got to decide which organisms we wanted to preserve for lab testing.  We preserved Mama Leech and a few other organisms, including a Daphnid.  We also had a picnic lunch on this day... in the late afternoon we headed to the Lakehouse Restaurant for dinner again... surprise, I had another chicken burger with fries!  When we got back to camp, basically everyone stood around the fire, talked, laughed, and drank.  It was an interesting night.

I went to bed each night prepared with my bear pepper spray.  I am so thankful I didn't have to use it. :)

Thursday morning, we did a little bit of exploring of the park.  We went to West Thumb Geyser Basin and did some testing.  We tested the pH levels in various hot springs and geyser areas, and we also used an infrared gun to measure the temperature.  Much of the water was not very acidic, which was surprising at first because it LOOKS acidic... the reason it looks acidic is because of the colors created by the microorganisms living in the extreme heat.

We came back to MSU early Thursday afternoon and they allowed us a 2 hour break.  It was SO needed... we were all exhausted.  When we got back to class, we got to start identifying our organisms under microscopes.

On Friday, we did PCR testing on our organisms in the lab all day.  That's about all I have to say about that. haha

Friday afternoon, our professor invited the class to her house for a BBQ.  Half of us showed up with food and drinks.  The best thing about her house: 3 golden retrievers (Inca, Dash, and Marley).  I got my dog fix!  While everyone sat around the patio table like civilized human beings, I was stretched out on the lawn laying with three dogs and petting them.  I love dogs way too much!! We had a big dinner and dessert, and wrapped up the evening by playing a nice game of croquet.  I kicked butt for the first 3/4 of the game and then my game went down the tube.  I credit my skills (when I was kicking butt) to the croquet I used to play with my sister in the front yard. Fun times!

Yesterday, Saturday, a group of friends and I went hiking the Hyalite area, where we hiked to two different waterfalls. They were beautiful!  We then went to soak at Norris Hot Springs... so relaxing! At night, we watched Shakespeare in the Park's Twelfth Night on campus.  We had quite the spread of snacks on our blankets.  It was a hilarious play and a great way to end the night.

Today I did a TON of homework.. I won't bore you with the details, but I read 100 pages of text and typed 7 pages about them.  I also had to go to CVS to pick up a prescription transfer.  It took an hour and a half!! ughhhh.  Tomorrow looks about the same as far as homework is concerned.

 I have learned so much about culture around the US and even in different places around the world while being here; and I thought I was only going to learn about geology, ecology, and paleontology!  My wonderful friends come from: D.C. (she actually teaches at the school where the Obama girls go), Ohio, Chicago, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and Dubai.  I do have one friend who actually lives in W. Washington and went to CWU at the same time I did, but it was a complete coincidence! 

Some of them are planning a trip to WA to come hike and camp with me at Mt. Rainier, and Collin and I would like to try to go to Dubai while I know this girl!  She said on the way here, the plane flew over Russia and the arctic, and she saw the northern lights below the plane!! How cool!!

Ok, here are the pictures...there are some better ones out there that my friends have, but I haven't gotten them yet.