Day 1

June 15, 2003

I am SO tired! I went to bed at midnight last night and had to get up again at 4 am. I was very early for my first commercial flight ever. The plane ride was really long- I had a 1.5 hour flight to Atlanta (where I had some awesome Chinese food...something Wok), then a 2.5 hour flight to Albuquerque (I can spell it now!). We were above a thick blanket of clouds, at 30,000 feet or something, and all I could think about was how my ears were going to explode. The clouds were so pretty, though it was a bit disconcerting to see the sun in my eyes and blue sky above me, then the next minute it was all overcast as we descended through the clouds. I navigated the airport monster without a problem, and on my way to the baggage check I ran into the Earthwatch folks. I thought I'd have to look for them!

Galen seemed really excited about the telescope I built last summer; a lot of people I've told have thought it was cool, but it was so awesome for me to be able to talk about it without having to explain everything. I also got to tell stories about its making that would only be funny if you understood the process, or at least the optics (such as anecdotes about my collimating experiences with that thing). Everyone in charge is so nice, I can't help but be amazed that these adults are doing something for me right now I'll never experience again if I lived for a million years. Oliver's flight still hasn't come in, so I haven't met him yet. Everyone else is really cool, too. We already get along very well.

We went to Soda Dam, a neat rock formation with hot springs on our way through the Jemez Mountains to Los Alamos. There were streaks of color down the rock where the water flowed, deposits from minerals and bits of algae. A lady came up behind me and said to her family, in Spanish, "The rocks are painted. It's like a picture!" I realized how pretty Spanish was then; it's so poetic. Maybe I just love the word "pintado."

This place is so beautiful that I just want to move here. The mountains are the best so far- I'm already through a roll of film!

"You will find that we do a lot of eating on this expedition." - Don Casperson