And the winner is...

This past Friday and Saturday, I participated in the 12th annual Environmental Chemistry Student Symposium at Penn State. It basically consists of poster presentations and oral presentations. I submitted a poster about my research, and lo and behold, I won first place in my division! It was so exciting! Actually, the really exciting part was that I won $150, and as any grad student can attest, that's a lot of money in our world. Here's an image of my poster so you can get a little idea of just what it is I'm researching:

California Dreamin' - Joshua Tree

On Wednesday of our CA trip, we went to Joshua Tree National Park - it was awesome!


It was such a different experience being in a desert landscape

At Wonderland Ranch

a dash of color in the desert

out in the middle of nowhere we found this old car

there's probably a pretty interesting story as to how it ended up there

this might have had something to do with it

or this :)

an ocatillo patch - they look so soft and fuzzy from a distance

but up close, they look pretty painful

an oasis that turned out to have the tiniest little trickle of water

an old mine site that we hiked to

Sydney and I joked that Andrew looked like a German tourist

I kept calling him Hans and Frans

microscale view of desert life

California Dreamin' - Joshua Tree cont'd.

As the day wound down, we drove to Keys View, elevation 5185 feet.
there were some magnificent views

it was so cold up there!

After watching the beautiful sunset, we headed back to LA. One day at Joshua Tree was definitely not enough - we have to go back! (I sound like John Locke now--sorry, it's a Lost reference:)

California Dreamin' - Part Three

Day 4 - Tuesday

Before Sydney went to work, the three of us ate breakfast at a little French cafe (does an eclair really count as breakfast? it just seems too delicious). Then she dropped us off in Santa Monica. We strolled around, looking at the beautiful houses, and then walked up the beach to the pier. On the pier, there was a small amusement park, restaurants, fishermen, and random musicians playing music. It made for a really nice atmosphere. We had lunch at a British pub and both ate fish croquets - as far as we could tell, these are just crabcakes with fish instead of crab. They were...interesting.

After lunch, we spent the afternoon walking around Santa Monica. It's a very pretty place, and all in all, it was a nice relaxing day. We met Sydney for dinner at a place called the Counter where you build your own burger (like a sophisticated Fudd-ruckers). It was delicious! Then we finally made it to the grocery store (I missed you, Trader Joe's!) and I couldn't believe how cheap fruit was. We got a bag of clementines for $2 - it would have been $8 here!
Then we headed home and got ready for our next day.

Here are some shots taken as we walked around:

the Santa Monica pier

one of many beautiful houses

it had Tiffany lamps on the porch!

why don't they build houses like this anymore?

a nautical twist

Paradise Park

I don't know what kind of trees they are but I really liked them :)