After the vacation in California, I stayed in Asilomar (near Monterey) for another week for the NERRS annual meeting. It's really fun that I am able to visit all kinds of fun locations for work (Alaska and California, oh yeah!). And I only get to see the people at these meetings once or twice a year, so it's always fun to catch up and see what other educators are doing at their reserve. We had a good time hanging out that week! The meeting was held at a conference grounds right off the beach so I could see the Pacific Ocean from my room and even hear it with the windows open. It was awesome that in between meetings, I could sneak outside and walk down to the beach although that didn't happen as often as I would have liked. Here's a view from the beach one day. We also got treated to a night visit to the Monterey Aquarium one night which was pretty awesome! The whole aquarium to ourselves.On the second day of the meeting we traveled to the local reserve site for tours and sessions. I chose to get outside as much as possible, so I did a hike around the reserve where we saw lots of awesom
e stuff like wood rat nests (who knew?), seals and sea lions, otters, and tons of white pelicans and other birds. Pretty cool. The second session that I chose was a water quality session that also included a hike and then time in the lab which was pretty awesome. Gave me a lot of ideas for work. That night we got a special tour of MBARI - the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and I got to see the ROV (to the right) that has done more dives than any other ROV! We also saw their AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) and the room with the big tank where they test out their submersibles. :)
e stuff like wood rat nests (who knew?), seals and sea lions, otters, and tons of white pelicans and other birds. Pretty cool. The second session that I chose was a water quality session that also included a hike and then time in the lab which was pretty awesome. Gave me a lot of ideas for work. That night we got a special tour of MBARI - the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and I got to see the ROV (to the right) that has done more dives than any other ROV! We also saw their AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) and the room with the big tank where they test out their submersibles. :) Th
e rest of the week was spent in meetings at the conference grounds. Friday, Scott, Willy, and I drove up from Monterey to San Francisco to fly out and on the way saw some very exciting things. We were just driving along on the highway next to the coast and I spotted a bobcat walking through a field! So we pulled over and got the binoculars out. Then, about 15 minutes later, Willy spotted a whale swimming by so we of course pulled over to see that. My FIRST whale spotting in the wild other than on a whale watching boat, and this view was even better than the view from the tour I did. Very exciting. After a long day of traveling and many time zones later, we arrived in Newport News, tired and ready to go home!
e rest of the week was spent in meetings at the conference grounds. Friday, Scott, Willy, and I drove up from Monterey to San Francisco to fly out and on the way saw some very exciting things. We were just driving along on the highway next to the coast and I spotted a bobcat walking through a field! So we pulled over and got the binoculars out. Then, about 15 minutes later, Willy spotted a whale swimming by so we of course pulled over to see that. My FIRST whale spotting in the wild other than on a whale watching boat, and this view was even better than the view from the tour I did. Very exciting. After a long day of traveling and many time zones later, we arrived in Newport News, tired and ready to go home!
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