Journals 2004/2005

Barbara Simon-Waters
East Carteret High School, Beaufort, NC

"Foraging ecology of Northern elephant seals" University of California, Santa Cruz July 11-21, 2004

Journal Index: July 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18       19 - 20 - 21

July 11, 2004

I was up till 2am getting all the last minute things accomplished. I bought a digital camera for this research experience. It will enable me to do PowerPoint presentations especially for the March 2005 presentation in Dallas at NSTA. I checked weather.com and it looks like it will be warm (low 70's) during the day and chilly (upper 50's-60's) at night. I am ready for this after the hot, muggy North Carolina coastal summer. I have long sleeve shirts and jeans for my stay here with plenty of sweatshirts and some fleece. My flights went fine with only one 15 minute delay leaving New Bern for Charlotte. I cannot believe how many people I knew on that flight. I met one of my former students, Jennie Miller, in the airport and our seat assignments were right next to each other. It was certainly nice catching up with her. She was enroute to Denver. Clyda Lutz, a science teacher from West Carteret, was on the plane from Charlotte to Denver, unbeknownst to me. I did not see her go by in the aisle and she did not see me until I stood up to exit the plane upon landing. I picked up the rental car at the San Jose airport with little difficulty. I have a bright red Chevy Cavalier. Roll down windows, no automatic door locks, but gets great gas mileage. It is easy to handle as well. I even found my way OUT of the airport without getting lost and made it to Santa Cruz on the right roads! I had looked up online how to get to the Best Western at 129 Plymouth Avenue and had no problem finding it. The room is nice with a refrigerator, coffeemaker, and internet capabilities. I found the route to the Long Marine Lab so I will not have any delays tomorrow morning. I will take Route 1 which turns into Mission Street and will exit at Delaware Avenue. I am excited about the research project and the idea of doing something that I would never have gotten the opportunity to do. I am looking forward to meeting Carey Kuhn and Laura Yeates as well as touring the facilities. It is 9:10 pm right now but that is Pacific time so I better sign off and get some sleep to continue my big adventure tomorrow.