The Travelling Continues

Last week I headed to the Pacific Coast again to meet with some folks in Monterey and San Francisco. I rented a car in SanFran and drove over the mountains and down the coast to Monterey. I was able to spend sometime in the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which was incredible. For this Florida girl it was quite an experience to see their 3-story "Kelp Forest" exhibit which simulates the kelp forests just offshore of the aquarium - complete with all the kelp and critters that are found there. I was also blown away by the 3-story pelagic (open ocean) tank that had tuna, sharks, mahi, schooling sardines, and my favorite, the Mola mola (ocean sunfish). At one point I was in front of the glass alone and the mola swam right up to me and literally eye balled me. We had a little fun watching each other and turning this way to that to see if the other would follow. They say molas are pretty dumb (they have a brain the size of a walnut but can get up to 5000 pounds!) but I was definitely wondering who was watching who. Molas are one of the oddest looking fish, but there is something inspiring about how they can glide through the water despite their bizarre body structure.




I also really loved the sea otter exhibit. And despite taking a few dozen pictures, only a few turned out. The aquarium is right on Monterey Bay, so while eating lunch we could see otters in the water hanging out and seals frolicking. Sea otters wrap them selves in kelp while they float on their backs eating, snoozing, and playing with their pups. The kelp acts as their safety line keeping them from drifting out to sea.

Now you are probably thinking that this hardly sounds like work. And I will assure you my visit was only 2 hours of my whole week and it was the only fun I had on my work trip. While in Monterey I met with some aquarium folks and some people involved in aquarium trade issues. After the aquarium I drove back to SF for more meetings. We presented our program plan to our funder who was really really happy with our progress, so that was a relief. I ended the week having dinner and making a "pilgrimage" to the Patagonia store to do a little shopping.

It was great to finally get home last weekend since I have discovered that travelling back to back for two weeks is not a glamorous life. This week I had to do a lot of catching up in the office since I'm heading back to DC next week. Oh, and here's a little tip - if you're doing a cross-coast flight, don't take US Airways. For my flight home, I was in the middle seat (the worst!) and they showed no movie, tv, music, news or anything - the first time that's even happened to me. Now, for a standard 1-2 hour flight, no big deal, but for a 4:45 flight, I was about to go wacko with nothing to do and no way to sleep (unless I wanted to end up on the shoulder of the person next to me). Seriously, take a minute to imagine trying to sit still crammed between two people for 4 hours and 45 minutes. Makes you feel a little nutty even thinking about it doesn't it? Thankfully the lady next to me had extra magazines that she let me read so that was a godsend. Oh, and they also charge for drinks (yes, even soda and juice). So flier beware!

Well, I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. We're happy that we'll only have to travel 30 minutes to get to Thanksgiving this year! I know I needed a break from flying this week. I hope those of you travelling have a safe trip and enjoy the time off!

CSA Season Begins

It's been a busy few weeks, hence the lack of postings. For Halloween we got dressed up in our pirate costumes, had a friend over from work, and set up the fire pit in the driveway. We passed out candy by the warmth of the fire (it was our first cold weekend), drank rum punch, and made s'mores with Halloween candy. It was a good time and we even had a few neighbors come over to chat and enjoy the fire.

The week after Halloween I was home sick with a nasty head cold (but still working). Then last week I was in DC for work and it went by in a flash. I was running all over the city for meetings so life seemed to be moving at the speed of light. We're in the middle of developing the strategic plan for my program so work is moving at a relentless pace right now. I leave Monday morning and will split the week between Monterey, CA and San Francisco. It seems this first year of work will be baptism by fire as I create the 3 year plan for my program, find money to fund all of it, put on two workshops, and learn how to lobby Congress to pass a bill I'll be writing... whew. Busy but exciting. By next summer things should start to fall into a more steady and manageable pace. In the mean time, I've been told to get ready to rack up the frequent flier miles...

Wade was in the midst of proposal writing for the past two weeks and made a trip back to Miami to give his yearly seminar on his work. He stayed with Jason and Rachel and was lucky enough to be in town for their housewarming party. While I've been gone he's been getting good work done on his dissertation and enjoying cramming in all the guy movies he can watch.



It was nice to be home for the weekend between trips since our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) season began this week. That means we pay a fee for the season (Nov. - April/May) and in return we get a box of fresh local organic produce each week. We're basically like investors in the farm helping to buy seeds, pay farm costs, and hire help. Last week I went for orientation and was able to bring home some pole beans and a watermelon. The farm is literally about 5 minutes from where I grew up so it's fun to see how the area has changed and support the farm in it's new endeavor (we used to be able to pick strawberries and fresh flowers there).

We went to the farm this Saturday to pick up our share of veggies for the week (cucumbers, radishes, lettuce, green peppers, poblano peppers, pole beans, arugula) and pick extras from the open fields. We picked up more baby lettuce and cherry tomatoes, but passed up the okra, herbs, and extra pole beans and arugula. The cherry tomatoes smelled unlike anything you can get in the store - it's amazing how different (good) freshly picked local food smells and tastes! (Normally I HATE tomatoes)

After picking up our share we headed to a new preserve across the street that has biking and canoeing trails. We're hoping to try them out soon. Right now there is a bald eagle nesting in the preserve which is pretty neat considering when I grew up there I had no idea bald eagles even lived in Florida (now we've been seeing them regularly in the area). The population of eagles and osprey are rebounding in Florida due to the DDT ban and changes in commercial fishing on the coast. More food fish for the eagles and hawks and less egg-shattering DDT means more baby birds! It's really exciting to see the coastal areas coming back to life with more fish and birds.

Hope everyone is doing well. I'll post about my trip to Monterey when I get back.