Idaho

After Monterey, I flew to Idaho for a few days before returning to DC.  I had a busy week with dentist appointment, doctor appointment, visit with dept of ed and my district and school and finally my tax preparer.  Any time between all of the appointments, I spent with family and friends.

While at Anna's I showed the boys how to make straw rockets and then Alka Seltzer powered rockets.

The boys really enjoyed cutting and taping the rockets together.

Launching is easy.  You just blow on the straw.

Cobin soon determined that the Alka Seltzer rockets flew much higher with just the "fuel" canister and without the rocket.

Wow. Look at it go!

I was glad to be able to spend some time with my mom.

Traveling again - Monterey

February and March I will be traveling a lot.  Traveling has been one of the opportunities of my fellowship that I enjoy the most.  I have never seen as much of this country in my 58 years, as I have during the last two years.  I am always amazed at how beautiful it is everywhere I go.  The USA has so many wonderful places to visit.

Last week I was in Monterey, CA for a Principle Investigator Meeting of our Research Experience for Undergraduates group of grantees.  There were about 85 PhD types from different universities.  I had a good time.  I met most of them last year and I correspond with them through email often.

Monterey beach is very different from Cocoa Beach.  The water was rough and cold.  The beaches are rocky and dangerous.  Our hotel was right over the water.  For half a day we all went to the Aquarium which is on the ocean and the fish live in ocean water.

This is my hotel, Monterey Plaza.  It was literally right on the ocean.  The views were beautiful.

Me, standing on the hotel balcony between meetings.

The aquarium is in a building that used to be a fish cannery on Cannery Row.

The sea turtle surrounded by sardines.  They are in an enclosed part of the ocean.  The people visitors can view them through large glass windows.

The trip was not all sightseeing.  We also had two full days of meetings.  Here I am getting ready to present the NSF Highlight Contest winners.  Each project sent me a highlight of what they are doing and I arranged a committee at NSF and we chose the best five.  They each received a special cup and were recognized at the meeting and in the booklet.

Sea lions summing on the rocks.

Can you believe how blue the ocean and sky are in this picture?  The water was so blue green and clear.

NASA Rocket Workshop and Tour

The real reason for going to Florida was to watch a rocket launch and attend an educators workshop and then go on a Kennedy Space Center tour.  The launch was cancelled, but several of us (Einstein Fellows) decided to continue with the workshop and tour, especially since we had already made flight and hotel plans.

In the morning on Tuesday, I drove to the space center for the Rocket Workshop.  It was a lot of fun acting like kids and making different kinds of rockets.

Straw rockets were fun, easy and inexpensive for teachers.

Using Alka Seltzer to power rockets had some surprising results.  Kids will really like this.

Next we went outside to launch our stomp powered rockets.  Competition was starting to increase.

Lastly we used a portable air pressure pump to launch rockets.  We started at 30 psi and then increased to 40 psi.  

In the afternoon we were taken on a tour of the space center.  We were taken places that people that pay for tours do not get to see or do not get to see as close up as we went.  

One of the launch pads.  Anna will be able to tell you more about it than I can.

This was our Einstein group.  Many have become some of my dearest friends.

I am standing under one of the space shuttles that is being prepared to go to its new home.

This is the building where the shuttles were put together with the fuel rockets.  Our guide said that it is the tallest one story building.  It is one large room that is as tall as a 50 story building.

Inside the vertical assembly building there are four bays.  On this day, two of the shuttles filled two of these bays.  This is the Atlantis and they are in the process of removing any parts that might be used elsewhere.  

After the tour, at the visitor center, I had an opportunity to listen to a real astronaut.  Jack Lousma talked about his numerous space flights and time on SpaceLab.  In the evening, Cindy Hasselbring (Einstein Fellow) and I were able to go to dinner with Jack and his wife.  They were very real and kind.

The day was full from morning to late that evening.  Experiences I never would be able to have if I were not an Einstein Fellow.

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

One of my free days a friend and I spent at the Wildlife Refuge that is on property of the Kennedy Space Center.  Part of it, we walked and part, we drove through.  Here is a brief picture journal of our adventures.

My friend Tina King taking pictures at the beginning of our day.  Tina was an Einstein Fellow last year.

Large group of pelicans and ibis were in a pond right off of our trail.

The Scrub Jay is unique to Florida and the park ranger told us that we would probably hear them, but they were shy and hard to see.  Well, this guy was not shy at all and let us take several pictures of him.

I was told that the Wood Stork was becoming an endangered species.  We saw several groups of them.

Everyone that comes to Florida wants to see an alligator.  We found this big guy sunning just off the road.

I even got to see the manatee.  There were about four of them eating and swimming at the Manatee Lookout.  It is really hard to get a picture of them, but they are very big.  The brown spot in the picture is mostly its tail.  they stand on their heads as they feed on the bottom.  I learned that they are closely related to the elephant.  

Florida

Last week I was in Florida for a workshop and tour at the Kennedy Space Center.  I went on Saturday which was a couple of days early so I had some time to explore Florida on my own.  I had arrange before I left DC to go on a kayak tour of the Thousand island area.  It was great.  Most of the time the water was only a couple of feet deep.  Thousand Island is make up of mangrove trees. We paddled around for about three hours while the guide told us about the wildlife and vegetation and history of the area.  There was one other family in our group.  The grandmother gave me a hat to wear and sunscreen (I had come straight from the airport and not very well prepared).  The grandfather was 80 years old.  They had come to Florida from Washington DC because he was running in a half marathon the next day.  No pictures because I didn't have my camera with me.

I stayed in a hotel that was right on the beach.  I love the ocean.  Spent so much time walking on the sand on the beach that I got blisters on the bottom of my feet.  I could walk to Ron Jon Surf Shop.  My suitcase was fuller on my return trip home :-).

Cocoa Beach is where the TV show, I Dream of Jeannie was supposed to take place.  This street sign was only one block from where I was staying.

This bird and I were the only ones on the beach during during my early morning walks.  He seemed to be as curious about me as I was about him.