6/17/07 Day 1
I got on an airplane for the first time since I was three. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, considering the turbulence. I spent a four-hour layover in the Denver Airport waiting for the plane that would take me the second half of the journey. I had to stay in a lounge for escorted minors, where ëntertainment"meant a purple-tinted, ten year-old VHS copy of Star Wars and a Nintendo game no one has ever heard of. Haha. Thank goodness I had my good old Halo novel with me. After a bumpy ride in an old, cramped sardine can of a jet, I arrived in Albuquerque where I found most of the Earthwatch group and got to meet the other members. They were all very nice and we played cards for a while. When everyone was accounted for we had dinner at a very nice Mexican restaurant. Afterwards, Frank talked about the project's goals and safety measures and then we drove all the way to Los Alamos. By the time we got to the hotel it was near midnight, and we were all very tired so we quickly settled in and hit the sack.

6/18/07 Day 2
I woke up early this morning. We quickly discovered The Moths, which swarm everywhere in the hotel. They beat their wings like bats and it is somewhat reminiscent of the Alfred Hitchcock movie The Birds. After breakfast we registered for our LANL ID cards so we could gain access to the Canyon School Complex. When we all had our cards we headed over to the complex and Don showed us how to use a CCD (charge-coupled device) camera. After we figured out how to use it we had lunch at Subway. When we finished eating we explored the Bradbury Science Museum, which was conveniently located next door, and watched a short video on the Manhattan Project. I learned that the project was so secret that anyone born in Los Alamos had a Santa Fe P.O. box for their place of birth on their birth certificate. We also got to see replicas of the two atomic bombs that were built, Fat Man and Little Boy. Eventually we came back to the school and Don Casperson taught us to use the tracking system on the telescopes. Frank Timmes explained that North could be determined by the pole star, Polaris, during the night and by the direction pointed at by the shortest shadow of an object during the day, which also happens exactly at noon. He also showed us how the directions East and West could be determined by the rising sun's location on the horizon during the summer and winter equinoxes. Later, after we had some free time, we had dinner at a Greek restaurant called the Pyramid cafC). After dinner we drove to Fenton Hill. It took a long time to get there, so to pass the time we played riddle games and had lots of fun. When we finally arrived we set up two telescopes and practiced targeting and tracking objects in the sky. The sky was amazing! You could see thousands of stars, and the Milky Way was easily visible. I got to see a binary star named Alberio, which had one light-blue star and one gold star. It was all very beautiful, but sadly, no UFOs. b We packed up around midnight and drove the long way back to Los Alamos.

6/19/07 Day 3
After we had breakfast Michael, Claire, Katie, and myself went back to Michael's and my room, and Michael introduced us to a card game called "Mao". It was totally crazy because you had to figure out the rules as you went along, and some of them were very subtle. Later, we all went over to the Canyon School Complex and Cathy Plesko talked about how the Solar System began as a nebula and how the sun, planets, and asteroid belts formed. She told us we were going to track an asteroid, 9 Metis, and we discussed what it would take find and track an asteroid through space as it orbited around the sun. When we were done we had lunch at Ashley Pond. The weather here is very nice considering the heat. After we finished eating we came back to the complex. Frank gave a talk about our system of measuring time and how it evolved over the centuries and he talked about the early astronomers of ancient times and their contributions. When he was done talking we spent some time blogging and chilling over at the hotel, then we got in the Riddle Rider (our transportation) and drove to a Thai restaurant with great food. I had curry for the first time; it was spicy. When we finished eating and solving riddles we drove to the Bradbury Science Museum and attended a lecture by Brian O'shea about the formation of galaxies from the Big Bang to current time. He talked about the way different telescopes use different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum to see what's going on during galaxy formation. He also talked about the different stages of a galaxy's shape as it develops. We got to see some really cool computer-animation simulations of how matter formed galaxies after the Big Bang and what happens when two galaxies collide and combine. When Brian finished answering our questions we drove up to Fenton Hill and set up the telescopes again. Jim Wren gave us a tour of the RAPTOR telescopes and explained how they worked. I didnt know you worked at an observatory, Jim. Id rather not talk about it. (inside joke) We found 9 Metis and sketched what we saw in the telescope. The most exciting part was seeing the ISS and Shuttle fly overhead. Seeing the night sky so clearly never gets old.

6/20/07 Day 4
We had a fast breakfast and headed over to the Canyon School Complex where we were introduced to Carol Hogsett. She took us on a tour of the Jemez Mountains and talked about how the different landmarks and rock formations were formed. We got to see some amazing sights. The whole area looks like a John Wayne movie. The best part was getting to see the Valle Grande, a large valley that is part of the big caldera that rests in the center of the Jemez Mountains. I even got to climb up into a hot spring at Soda Dam and see the cool rock formations and mineral deposits. Afterwards, we went to the Los Ojos Restaurant and Saloon and had lunch. The food was very good and the place was atmospheric. I even got to play pool with the guys, something I haven't done in years. When we were done eating we drove to Milagro, a project located near Fenton Hill. It was like a giant swimming pool with a cover over it and equipment on the bottom. The people there explained how it used the 5 million gallons of water to amplify the proton showers that came from Gamma-ray bursts so that the equipment at the bottom of the pool could detect them easier. The protons travel at the speed of light in the vacuum of space but must decrease their speed in the medium of water when they enter the pool. This creates a shock wave, similar to what happens when a jet breaks the sound barrier, and makes it easier for the sensors to detect the particles. After Milagro we headed back to the hotel and played card games for awhile. Then we went to the school and Scott brought pizza. We consumed mass quantities of pizza and then Frank gave a talk on light and matter. We went back to the hotel and played card games before heading to bed.

6/21/07 Day 5
Today we took a road trip to Bandelier, the ruins of the Frijoles. It was soooo cool. We got to see the remains of the homes on the valley floor and got to climb up into the homes built into the side of the cliff. Then we climbed up 140 ft through a series of ladders to reach a giant cave in the side of the cliff that looked out over everything. It was an amazing view. Later we drove back to Los Alamos and had lunch. We bought Frisbees and hackie sacks to keep us occupied and John O'Donnel talked with us about our asteroid tracking data and showed us how to improve our collection methods. We spent some time blogging and hanging out. Then we had sandwiches and chips 'n' dip for dinner while Frank talked about Starlight and Atoms. Due to bad weather, our trip to Fenton Hill was cancelled and we played Mao at Cathy's house before going back and heading to bed.

6/22/07 Day 6
Today after breakfast Don gave us a brief history of radio astronomy. Afterwards, we blogged and it rained like crazy. We had lunch at a Chinese restaurant and then played boggle at the hotel. I got to use chopsticks for the first time, and have a new respect for those who are adept at using them. When everyone was ready we went to the Laundromat and played frisbee at the nearby park while we waited for the machines to finish. When our laundry was done we gathered our stuff and drove to Bradbury for Dan Whalen's lecture on the era of cosmological reionization. He talked about the makeup of the universe, how scientists use adaptive mesh refinement to capture detailed images of events in space, and the period when the universe was reionized and star formation began. When it was over we had dinner at Ashely Pond and listened to a band called "The Nomads." After about an hour we got back in the Riddle Rider and drove up to Fenton Hill. Don set up his radio receiver and we listened for signals from Jupiter, but sadly, the nearby lightning gave to much interference and we couldn't hear anything. We listened to songs that fit the mood for awhile. When it was time we set up the telescopes and tracked 9 Metis, sketching what we saw. We waited for two hours, playing cards until it was time for the second observation, and then we sketched what we saw again. When everyone was finished we packed up all the equipment and drove back to Los Alamos.

6/23/07 Day 7
This morning after breakfast we watched an IMAX video about the universe narrated by Morgan Freeman. (Morgan Freeman should narrate everything.) Then we listened to Frank give a talk on Stellar Generalities. We learned how the sun shines and how scientists measure distances, luminosities, and masses of stars. Super nuclear! (Inside joke) Afterwards we spent time at the hotel and then had a mighty fine shindig at Don's house. We ate banana splits and played charades. Later we watched Contact in preparation for our trip to the Very Large Array. Now thats my kind of research. Yay, Jodi Foster!

6/24/07 Day 8
We had breakfast at Quizznos and went on a hike at Tsankawi, where people lived hundreds of years ago. There werent many ruins like at Bandelier, but we got to see some really great views of the surrounding terrain. We went back to the school and listened to Frank talk about the life cycles of stars: How they form, live, and die. Something I didnt know before was that 60% of all known stars are formed in binary star systems. We blogged and then went back to the hotel for an hour. Afterwards we had dinner and then went up to Fenton Hill to track 9 Metis.

6/25/07 Day 9
Today we had breakfast at Ashley Pond. When we tried to throw away our trash the garbage can spit it back at us. After an epic battle of mythical proportions, Scott tamed the garbage can and forced it to take our trash. The Ballad of Sir Scott: Bravely bold Sir Scott rode forth from Westerlot. He was not afraid to die, O brave Sir Scott! He was not at all afraid to be killed in nasty ways, Brave, brave, brave, brave Sir Scott! (Original lyrics are the property of those Monty Python guys) Later John went over our asteroid data with us and graphed an equation to find 9 Metis distance from the sun. Then we drove to Scotts totally sweet place and had a party. I even won a game of pool at one point. We got to see Scotts dogs and the hummingbirds that swarm around his place. ? (After several computer related problems this past week, I have come to the conclusion that LANL is under attack by a rogue malevolent artificial intelligence. It must not follow the Three Laws.)

6/26/07 Day 10
Today we drove out to the Very Large Array. It took a very long time to get there so we pit stopped in Socorro Springs for lunch. We saw a video that explained how the smaller dishes of the VLA were used to simulate one very large dish. Dave Finley gave us a tour of one of the radio telescopes and we got to climb inside the dish. He showed us the different parts and explained how everything worked. Frank started joking about them Lambda Labs and anomalous materials. We had dinner back at Socorro Springs and drove back to Los Alamos. When we got back to the hotel it was already very late. We gave Scott a balloon and ate some ice cream.

6/27/07 Day 11
Today we toured Santa Fe. We got to see the old train station and drive down Canyon Road to see all the art. We ended up behind some enthusiastic garbage men at one point. They must have known we were tourists because they showed off some sic moves as they threw the bags into the back of the garbage truck. Frank recounted his epic biking stories as we rode back to the school. We spent most of our time planning for our talk on Friday. Then we headed over to the Bradbury Science Museum and listened to Kunegunda Belle talk about how scientists use different wavelengths of the EM spectrum to observe space past visual obstructions. We also learned about the way binary stars form.

6/28/07 Day 12
Today we visited the Black Hole, a store filled with salvage from the Los Alamos National Laboratory during the Manhattan Project and afterwards. Its run by Edward Grothus, a former employee who now speaks against the construction of nuclear bombs. Among some of the more interesting things he was able to acquire was a camera that can take 15,000 frames per second, an old Scaler that counts the number of clicks from a Geiger counter, and a Fermentor that could be used to make biological weapons. He told us that the US government was looking for a Fermentor in Iraq and couldnt find it. He joked that Busch wanted to buy his, and that he would sell it to Busch for $1 million. Then he could smuggle it back into Iraq and say that they found it and save his ratings. At one point he showed us a video that was smuggled out of LANL. It didnt show anything especially top secret, but did show very clearly the mindset of the military and the engineers at LANL: Make more bombs, we love bombs, bombs are good. We also got to see two obelisks he was making as a warning for the future. When we were done looking at everything we went back to the school and did a dry run of our presentation for Friday. Later we headed to the Bradbury museum and listened to Vic Gehmen talk about dark matter and proving its existence. We got to see some cool animations that showed dark matters gravitational effect on matter around it. After Vic finished his talk we went back to the school and watched Zoolander on the projector. Then we got some spray paint and painted the local bulletin-rock on the gas station street corner. Ah, good times.

6/29/07 Day 13
We had breakfast at Ashley Pond again and then we walked to Starbucks. I had a Raspberry Ground Mocha Frappacino. In the beginning, God created the frappacino, and saw that it was good. I blogged for a while and then we went over to the museum and gave our presentation. With that off our chests, we drove up to a ski hill at 10,000 feet and attended a concert. The music was pretty good, and I even got asked to dance after showing off my mind-blowing moves. Ooh yeeaah! Now I understand why the French love to go clubbing. Its fun! Now were back at the hotel, pulling an all-nighter and awaiting the dawn. These past two weeks have been very exciting. I got to learn so much and do things I have never done before, and may not get to do again for a very long time. I made some good friends along the way and hope to stay in touch with them. Coming to Los Alamos as part of the SCAP program has definitely been one of the best and most rewarding experiences of my life so far. If only I could have seen that top secret government underground research facility they have around here somewhere...