Doin' it Desert style

Well, this is my first addition to our family blog... Woohoo.

Not much to report as of yet... I've been staying out of trouble mostly, going to school, workin' on the canoe and trying to figure out my schedule for this summer (Sarah is probably more concerned with that than I am).

A few weeks back, well, over a month ago now actually, I helped (went along as a teaching assistant, didn't do a whole lot of teaching however) with a week-long geology field trip out to Big Bend National Park. Big Bend National park is about a 10 hour drive west of good ole' Houston, yeah, thats about how long it takes to get to some good outcrop in Texas. Its funny, because even after 10 hours of driving at 80 mph (thats the speed limit on I-10 through west Texas) your still in the same god-forsaken state!

Day 1: Getting ready for a long day of mapping in the desert sun

Anyway, there were 50+ students on the trip, so, to say the least it was a bit of a logistical nightmare. You have to understand, many of these kids (juniors in college) have never been "camping" before, so, yeah...

Weather was nice, lightly rained one day, but other than that the winds stayed calm and it never exceeded 80 degrees.

Day 3: Students finally getting the hang of their Brunton compasses

The usual shenanigans associated with geology - based field trips was certainly exceeded on this trip, but nobody got hurt and tears were kept to a minimum. Overall a fantastic trip to pretty much the only topography in Texas.