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(Copied and pasted from last night, before LJ went kablooey)
(If this sounds a little sketchy and rambly, it's because I'm completely freakin' exhausted.)
I am HOME. Oh gods I'm so tired. I think my eyes may burst into flame and then bleed down my face. The reason I'm not crashed on the side of the road due to having fallen asleep at the wheel is because caffeine is a wonderful thing. Oh, and premium M&Ms. They are SPARKLY. I got ones that are filled with mint white chocolate. They are sparkly and GREEN. I want to hoard them. If I ever have my own little office wherein I can have my own little candy dish, I will want to keep premium M&M's in it.
So, the trip was long, and hard, but I got grasses! One of the parks I couldn't go to thanks to it being at full capacity (they had police cars and everything to keep people from coming in), and the wildlife refuge fell through thanks to a freak storm in Maryland (which I had to drive through to get to the hotel the night before, which was awful) that killed their research lab's power, so when I got there, everyone had already gone home. But I still got a pretty respectable number of grasses, and a nice spread of different species.
Also, driving in Washington DC: DON'T DO IT. Oh gods what a nightmare. It's crowded and chaotic and people love their horns, which makes me even more anxious. I'm still a little amazed we got through it.
The Smithsonian herbarium? HUGE. I'm not sure exactly how huge it is, but if you've ever been to the Natural History part of the museum system, it looks like it takes up at least the top two floors of the left wing if you're looking at it from the Mall. I'm almost certain it's bigger, though. They've got all sorts of interesting things in there, including a slice of redwood that's bigger than I am. It's also a very busy place, with a lot of coming and going, which I guess is to be expected for such a large and well-known herbarium. The back end of the Smithsonian itself is a veritable maze, with all sorts of nooks and crannies and alcoves. I'm quite certain I'd get lost if I didn't have somebody with me when I was there. I really could have spent all night at the herbarium, but I was worried about overstaying my welcome, and so only worked until 6. Maybe I'll get the chance to go back some time in the near future.
While there, my advisor and I ended up having lunch with his research mentor from when he was a graduate fellow at the Smithsonian. So it was kinda a little like I had lunch with my grandadvisor, I think, which is kinda neat. It was also neat to meet him in general, as I used some of his papers while I was working on milkweeds.
The trip itself wasn't too bad. We did a lot of going over bridges, which is always great fun. New Jersey ended up being pretty nice. Double Trouble State Park in New Jersey is awesome in my book, not only because of its cool name, but because it had tons of Dichanthelium. Not to mention its cranberry bogs (and the HUGE sundews that lived with them), the ELECTRIC PURPLE GRASS (not Dichanthelium, but damn cool), and the really gorgeous streams. Coming from an area where bodies of water are completely muddy, it was pretty cool to see streams and the like that you could see to the bottom of. Cape May State Park was really nice too. I really wish I could've spent more time at that park, but we were burning daylight, and we still had to get to the hotel in Maryland.
I have also now been exposed to Wawa. I kinda wish we had one down here. It's pretty awesome to be able to get a decent lunch and gas at the same place. And I haven't seen any other convenience-type store where you can not only get fruit, but GOOD fruit. Yum. <3
The traffic in New Jersey is rather unusual. It marked my first experience with traffic circles, and the first time I traveled on a stretch of road where in order to turn left, you had to first turn right. You then traveled a small side road that put you out on the intersecting road of where you wanted to turn. Very unusual.
I'm really, really glad Eien-chan went with me. There was a lot of crazy navigation that I really don't think I would've been able to do by myself. We listened to radio shows (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and The Shadow, specifically), and had fun watching for silliness around us.
Despite the fact that it was incredibly hot at some points, and the fact that I got very little sleep, thanks to the fact that pressing takes FOREVER and you really should do it the same day you collect the plants, I think it went fairly well. Hopefully this'll be the last of any major traveling I'll be doing this year.
(If this sounds a little sketchy and rambly, it's because I'm completely freakin' exhausted.)
I am HOME. Oh gods I'm so tired. I think my eyes may burst into flame and then bleed down my face. The reason I'm not crashed on the side of the road due to having fallen asleep at the wheel is because caffeine is a wonderful thing. Oh, and premium M&Ms. They are SPARKLY. I got ones that are filled with mint white chocolate. They are sparkly and GREEN. I want to hoard them. If I ever have my own little office wherein I can have my own little candy dish, I will want to keep premium M&M's in it.
So, the trip was long, and hard, but I got grasses! One of the parks I couldn't go to thanks to it being at full capacity (they had police cars and everything to keep people from coming in), and the wildlife refuge fell through thanks to a freak storm in Maryland (which I had to drive through to get to the hotel the night before, which was awful) that killed their research lab's power, so when I got there, everyone had already gone home. But I still got a pretty respectable number of grasses, and a nice spread of different species.
Also, driving in Washington DC: DON'T DO IT. Oh gods what a nightmare. It's crowded and chaotic and people love their horns, which makes me even more anxious. I'm still a little amazed we got through it.
The Smithsonian herbarium? HUGE. I'm not sure exactly how huge it is, but if you've ever been to the Natural History part of the museum system, it looks like it takes up at least the top two floors of the left wing if you're looking at it from the Mall. I'm almost certain it's bigger, though. They've got all sorts of interesting things in there, including a slice of redwood that's bigger than I am. It's also a very busy place, with a lot of coming and going, which I guess is to be expected for such a large and well-known herbarium. The back end of the Smithsonian itself is a veritable maze, with all sorts of nooks and crannies and alcoves. I'm quite certain I'd get lost if I didn't have somebody with me when I was there. I really could have spent all night at the herbarium, but I was worried about overstaying my welcome, and so only worked until 6. Maybe I'll get the chance to go back some time in the near future.
While there, my advisor and I ended up having lunch with his research mentor from when he was a graduate fellow at the Smithsonian. So it was kinda a little like I had lunch with my grandadvisor, I think, which is kinda neat. It was also neat to meet him in general, as I used some of his papers while I was working on milkweeds.
The trip itself wasn't too bad. We did a lot of going over bridges, which is always great fun. New Jersey ended up being pretty nice. Double Trouble State Park in New Jersey is awesome in my book, not only because of its cool name, but because it had tons of Dichanthelium. Not to mention its cranberry bogs (and the HUGE sundews that lived with them), the ELECTRIC PURPLE GRASS (not Dichanthelium, but damn cool), and the really gorgeous streams. Coming from an area where bodies of water are completely muddy, it was pretty cool to see streams and the like that you could see to the bottom of. Cape May State Park was really nice too. I really wish I could've spent more time at that park, but we were burning daylight, and we still had to get to the hotel in Maryland.
I have also now been exposed to Wawa. I kinda wish we had one down here. It's pretty awesome to be able to get a decent lunch and gas at the same place. And I haven't seen any other convenience-type store where you can not only get fruit, but GOOD fruit. Yum. <3
The traffic in New Jersey is rather unusual. It marked my first experience with traffic circles, and the first time I traveled on a stretch of road where in order to turn left, you had to first turn right. You then traveled a small side road that put you out on the intersecting road of where you wanted to turn. Very unusual.
I'm really, really glad Eien-chan went with me. There was a lot of crazy navigation that I really don't think I would've been able to do by myself. We listened to radio shows (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and The Shadow, specifically), and had fun watching for silliness around us.
Despite the fact that it was incredibly hot at some points, and the fact that I got very little sleep, thanks to the fact that pressing takes FOREVER and you really should do it the same day you collect the plants, I think it went fairly well. Hopefully this'll be the last of any major traveling I'll be doing this year.
no subject
I'm so glad you had a successful and safe trip!
no subject
I'm glad you had fun, did you take any pictures? I don't think my camera would have stopped clicking!
As for pressing, how are you pressing and what are you using to do so?
no subject
I didn't take pictures, but Eien-chan did. I'm hoping he'll put them up soon so I can link to them. <3 We got lots of pictures of bridges, as they are cool.
For pressing, I'm doing it old-school with the cardboard/blotting paper/newspaper-layers-between-two-boards-and-cinched-tight method. Good because I can get lots of specimens in one press. Bad because they get soooooo heavy. But they seem to be working well! <3
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