Ferret Oooos

The ferrets sometimes sleep all stretched out, but they usually sleep in oooos. Here are a few cute examples.

Chewbacca, in the middle of the maze:

Eve & Brussels, intertwined ooos:

Can you spot them?

On the flight back home, I had a great view of Manhattan & Jersey City, but I almost missed getting a picture of it. This picture isn't that great. If you look at the larger view, you should be able to pick out Manhattan, Jersey City downtown, the Statue of Liberty, and the Brooklyn Bridge. Happy hunting!

St. Louis, MO

Last week, I was in St. Louis for the annual archaeology conference (the SAAs). I presented a paper and organized an all-day symposium with Maria (a PhD student from MSU). Here's Maria and I by the podium in our session room.


Our symposium was on Thursday (which was the first full day of the conference). On the other days, I attended other papers, went sightseeing, and did a lot of networking. I took pictures of my sightseeing trips. The first place I went was the St. Louis arch, which was only a few blocks from the hotel and conference center.

Here is the view from the arch. This river is (of course) the Mississippi. This picture is looking southeast.

Here is the view out the other side of the arch, looking out on downtown. St. Louis was a very nice city to visit. There were decent restaurants & the downtown was so clean and safe (perhaps my own expectations are a bit skewed these days). Anyway, the Cardinals baseball stadium was right downtown, and there were games on Friday and Saturday that brought us into close contact with many hardcore Cardinals fans. The Saturday game was actually quite historic--it went on for 20 innings! Most local bars (where the networking took place) had the game on, so I watched the last couple innings.

I got a ticket to go up the arch. There are stairs, but they can only be used in an emergency. Instead, you travel up the arch in small pod-like compartments. On the way up, I was comfortable enough, since there were two other adults and two small children in the pod with me. On the way down however, I was wedged in a car with four large adults and one violin, which was a little uncomfortable. Anyway, here I am at the top. You can see one of the viewing windows in the background.

One more picture of the arch here, as I was heading back to the conference center. I wanted a shot that captured some of the lovely park built up around the monument. They had a lot of nice trees and endless lawns (at least they seemed endless).

The other wightseeing trip I took was to Cahokia, an important archaeological site located about 20 minutes out of St. Louis. Cahokia was the home of a large Mississippian settlement. It is also where Monks Mound is located. Monks Mound is the largest earthen structure in North America. Monks Mound is not the only mound on the site however. There are several others. This picture shows one of the other smaller mounds (one of the twin mounds, which are south of the ceremonial plaza).

Monks Mound has stairs so visitors can climb up it. Archaeologists have found the remains of wooden planks in the same location for the same purpose, which is pretty cool. It is hard to get scale from a picture, but the tiny people at the top of the stairs can give you some idea.

Here is me at the top of the mound. If you click on the picture to get the larger view, you will be able to see the arch in the downtown skyline behind me. It was a beautiful sunny day.

More on the beach

This is the last set of pictures from our trip. We spent some time on the beach every day, often after dinner.

Simon, David, Peter, Eli, Josiah, and Brian, balancing on the rocks to avoid the tides:

Sunset, day 2:

Brian, Josiah, and Eli, making sandstructures. As you can tell, this picture is a post-haircut shot.

Rachel & David messing around, while Simon ignores them:

Brian, Eli, and David:

Josiah, Simon, Brian, David, Eli, and Rachel. We dug a lot of holes in the sand on this occasion, and poor Simon fell head-first into one of them at the end of the playtime.

Brian perfecting his structure. My building (crab castle)is partially hidden behind his left shoulder. David's sphinx is to the right.

Sunset, day 3:

More of the sunset, with some of the coastal rocks:

Around the cabin

At Asilomar, we stayed in a cabin that John Steinbeck's sister owned for a while. He apparently stayed there for a summer and wrote a novel. It was a cozy place to stay. Along with bedrooms, there was a kitchen, dining area, and living room.

Brian entertaining Josiah and Eli in front of the cabin:

There were several deer at Asilomar that we saw a lot. They were quite tame. Here they are crossing the path that we took from the cabin to the dining hall.

Another deer, totally unconcerned that I am watching:

Here's the cabin:

Anne and David:

Peter and Grandpa:

Grandpa, Grandma, and Dad. Grandpa was talking about he still goes up on the roof for maintenance, since the slope isn't too steep.

Brian working on the fire. We put the expert (Eagle Scout) in charge!

Sorry, there are no pictures of me in this group. I usually end up taking the pictures. :)

Point Lobos State Reserve

After visiting the aquarium, we went to Point Lobos to view some of the local wildlife in their natural habitat. There are some gentler trails at this park, but there are also a lot of large rocks to climb on that can be dangerous if you are not careful. We hiked around a lot. I got a little surburnt, but it was totally worth it.

Peter & Joey at the edge of the trail (note the rope):

Rachel, Mom, & David with some of the rocky coastal terrain in the background:

Is Simon or the squirrel more curious? It's hard to tell, but I think it is good Dad is there to hold Simon back.

Brian & Dad:

Starfish on the rock. These weren't too hard to spot because of their bright color.

There were lots of crabs hiding in the crevices.

This picture is one of the tidepools we saw.

A nice large anemone in a small tide pool (waiting for the tide to come in):

Under another overhang, I saw this whole group of urchins.

Here is a group of sea lions. I had to use the camera zoom to get a clear shot, since the rock was a bit off the coast.

I really enjoyed looking at all the rocks, since their layers were so clear and such interesting textures.

Brian in the landscape:

A collection of seals on rocks, quite close to the path. Can you find all 4 seals?

A few coastal plants on the edge of the path, with a coastline background:

Gnarly tree on the edge of China Cove:

A clear view of China Cove. The water color is so striking, and there is an archway that was more visible from further down the path.

Here is another lovely beach, right next to China Cove. This is close to the edge of the park, so a few large houses are visible.

Brian walking on one of the paths:

I love seeing poppies!

Brian posing for a picture. His expression says, "why did you make me stop for this picture?"

Brian went way off the path out onto the rocks a lot. He was careful though, so he was fine. The best tidepools are way off the path. I soon followed, after taking this shot.

Me, pointing to an archway that is covered with each wave. There was lots of interesting rushing water to check out.

More anemones. These anemones were quite tiny and were in very shallow, narrow pools. The ones that were out of the water were all closed up. Luckily for them, the tide was coming in. Also, note all of the snails (just like when we had a tank).

Rachel, me, and Dad. Brian and Dad ended up taking pictures of each other. :)