Recent Trips
Santa Cruise Island
I spent the weekend at Santa Cruise Island with a friend, alternating between marveling at the beautiful coastline and cool wildlife from a kayak and being scared that the anchor would drag and we'd be thrown onto the rocks. Luckily, the anchor stayed put and the most exciting things that happened at night were the sea lions hunting for fish all around the boat. On the way back, we got to see a pod of dolphins (at least several hundred) swimming through the ocean, with a few putting on some acrobatic display. Despite the adventures with anchoring, I'll definitely be going back as soon as I can to get even more photographs (among other things).
Palomar Observatory
I ended up observing at Palomar twice at the beginning of April, and, for the first night, the weather was not quite good enough to observe. But, being fogged in and rained on does mean that we got a chance to go explore the telescope, which was definitely a cool opportunity. From getting to ride up to prime focus (all the way near the top of the dome) to climbing inside one of the arms to seeing the electronics (and, most importantly, the billiard room where many great astronomers spent such cloudy nights), it made for a fun night and some cool photos.
Anacapa Island
With a fresh breeze, a great crew, and good luck, we sailed out to Anacapa Island for the day. For once, Anacapa was actually mostly green. Plenty of dolphins on the way, and one very lucky gray whale who decided to surface 10 feet in front of the boat and almost caused a collision. Luckily, I was able turn the boat quickly enough, and the only damage was the water from his fluke hitting the water!
Washington DC
A week and a half after getting back from Arizona, I headed to New York for the holidays, and then to Washington DC for this winter's AAS Conference. While there wasn't much particularly amazing at the conference (at least photography-wise), I did spend a few days afterward wandering around Washington DC. A bit colder than California, but I didn't mind too much (well, perhaps the mid-twenties temperature with brisk wind was a bit low for wandering around the Mall). I did stop by the Supreme Court and the Library of Congress, and spent half a day at the National Zoo (where not all the animals were hiding because of the cold). Plus, I got to see the original spectrograph from the Palomar 200" telescope at the Air and Space Museum, which made me very glad that we now use computers at observatories.
Arizona-Sonara Desert Museum
After getting back from Kitt Peak and spending a day at Saguaro NP, I spent the next day (just before returning to LA) at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, which is really more of a zoo than a museum. While there were certainly plenty of the cacti I had seen the previous day, the primary attraction is getting to see the wildlife that aren't that easily seen at the national park. Besides all the desert wildlife, there was also a controlled flight demonstration with some Harris hawks, which was very interesting. Definitely an interesting destination.
