Mighty Mo

Hello again friends,

So like I promised, here is another bit of history located in beautiful Hawaii. I next visited the USS Missouri, nicknamed the "Mighty Mo", the site where the Japanese signed their surrender and ended the war. This ship was huge! And pretty spectacular. But don't take my word for it, I've got pictures to prove it!

When I arrived at the USS Missouri, I was welcomed by a corridor of US flags.
It made me feel super-patriotic!

Then on the ship, I was only one of many admirers of the Mighty Mo's weaponry.
Quite literally, check out those guns!!!

The command room was really cool in multiple ways. For one, it had all the technology that made the ship so awesome. Two, it was one of the few rooms on the ship (if not the only) that had air conditioning. Hey, what does this button do?

This is the site of the Japanese surrender and the where WWII ended.

These are the documents that the Japanese forces signed and the pen that was used to do it!

And don't think that just because my humble beginning was from a gift shop that I would tire of gift shops. Far from it. I just had to go and pick up a souvenir t-shirt! How do I look?

My Mighty Mo experience was great. The tour guides were very friendly, and mine had an awesome sense of humor. There were so many cool stories and factual tidbits that my brain got to nibble on. Not only that, but I got to tan while learning history! Can't really say that about high school history class now can you? For more information on the USS Missouri, go to her home page at http://www.ussmissouri.com/.

Signing out,

LFM

Arizona Memorial

Hello again friends!

So my next adventure brought me to the Arizona Memoral. The weather that day was beautiful and we started off where everyone starts off, at the visitor's center. All the history that they have collected and displayed there really gets you emotionally connected to the USS Arizona and her crew even before you get to the Memorial site.

Before we were allowed to visit the Arizona Memorial we had to watch a video about the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the story of the USS Arizona.

Then we took a nice boat out to the Memorial, which is actually built right over the sunken USS Arizona.


Here you can actually see a part of the Arizona. Most of the ship remains where it sunk, along with her crewmembers.

Here is the wall with the names of all the people who perished on the USS Arizona, many of them whose remains are still down with the ship. At the Memorial the atmosphere is quiet and respectful like it should be.

So that was a little more solemn bit of adventure and history. Up next will be something just as historical, but something that revolves around victory rather than loss.

Until then,

LFM

Yakiniku

It's been awhile friends!!!

A very LONG while. Though I am truly sorry for the period of blogging silence, I do have a pretty good reason for my absence. I was in HAWAII!!! I was sitting around in Ithaca, right as the weather was starting to get nice again when my friend offered to take me with her to Oahu. Being the adventure-lover that I am, I just could not resist! The plane ride was actually quite comfortable, as comfortable as traveling could be. Luckily for me I was able to relax in my friend's roomy backpack while she had to deal with all the typical traveling stresses. It's great to be small sometimes.

Once I got used to the 6 hour time difference from Ithaca, NY I was excited to see what Hawaii was all about. A big part of the culture, I quickly discovered, was food! So much food, so much variety, so much... per portion! This was not fine dining in portions, but fine dining in flavor definitely.

So one of my first culinary delights came in the form of yakiniku. Yakiniku is when you order meats and veggies at a restaurant and it comes to you... raw! At first I thought it was a joke and the people I was with were trying to trick me. But then I took a closer look at the table and realized that there was a charcoal grill right in the middle! So I guess I had to work for my food that night. But it was definitely worth it.

I found huge tongs on the table.
Needless to say, I would soon find out exactly what those tongs were for...

That's silly! I think they forgot to cook this...

Oh hey look! A grill! In the middle of our table???
(ooop... don't drop me now!!!)

Ah... so this is how it works. Deeeeelicious!

So that was my first yakiniku experience friends. Some people might be slightly put off by the thought of having to cook their own food in a restaurant, but I found it exhilarating. I've always thought it a shame that you cannot smell your food cooking when you go to a restaurant, a sensation that always heightens my enjoyment of a meal, so this yakiniku adventure was a great culinary adventure indeed.

Much love,

LFM

Pyramid Mall and Castaways

Hello again friends!

It's been a while since my last post. I'm still in Ithaca, NY adventuring when I can. My friends all have classes and exams so we haven't been out as much, but we're still having fun. I realized that I have not yet been to the mall, so they graciously took some time out of their studying to take me.

Here I am ready to go. I discovered that my friend's car had my name on the license plate frame! How spiffy is that?

This is me right outside of Target. The weather was nice that day, but I was more focused on exploring the mall.

Here I go!

We first stopped off at ACMoore, a pretty neat craft store. Two of my friends had to buy paint to finish up the wooden sculptures they were working on. Here I am perusing the paint quality and selection.

After that it was back to Target to walk around. I got thirsty so we stopped for an ICEE. This was my first time working the ICEE machine so I was a little nervous, not to mention the cup they got me was bigger than me! It all worked out fine though.

mmmm mmmm... refreshing...

Since it was getting a bit late we made a quick stop to Castaways, a bar nearby. My friends and I don't really drink, but my friends absolutely love the chicken wings here, so they make occasional visits to pick up some. There are so many flavors of chicken wings... I think that their goal is to try them all eventually. I took a quick picture outside but went inside right after because it was beginning to get a bit chilly.

Here I am at the bar looking all cool (like I belong there right?). We were actually just waiting for the wings to get out of the kitchen. The atmosphere of this bar was very nice. It was really low-key. They have live bands almost every night and although the music can get a little loud at times, you get used to it.

The best part about my mall adventure was that one of my friends bought me a computer! She was already nice enough to get me a chair and table that was my size, but a computer... wow. I was so excited that as soon as we got home we set up my new "office". Typing these blogs is so much easier now that the keys are my size.

Anyway, I hope to share more excitement with you soon. The semester is drawing to a close leaving me wondering what finals week(s) will mean to my friends. Personally, I'm definitely glad that I only sat in on classes and do not have to take the final exams. For those of you also going through exams, the best of luck.

Until next time,

LFM

Fossil Hunting

Hello again friends,

I got to go on such an awesome adventure yesterday! My friend took me fossil hunting in one of the many gorges in Ithaca. Fossils were something I've only seen in a museum (due to the fact that my home was once the Chicago field museum) and I was surprised how abundant and relatively easy to find these fossils were. These fossils could have been anywhere between 360 and 450 MILLION years old!!!

This is the trail leading the path that goes down into the gorge. If you look carefully you can see the suspension bridge in the background behind those trees.

The bottom of the gorge looked a lot bigger and a lot more intimidating the closer to the bottom we got...

Yay! the last set of steps! So close...

We made it! It was a bit of a walk down, and I was afraid to imagine the walk back up. But here I am in the gorge.

How you go "fossil hunting" is pretty simple. All you really need to do once you get down into the gorge is start turning over rocks. Sometimes it may help to split rocks too. My friend did that and found a really nice crinoid fossil. But even if you don't split rocks you're bound to find one (or two, or three, or more!).

Is there one under here? Nope... gotta keep looking!

Here's one really cool fossil that I found. I wasn't quite sure what this armadillo-looking fossil was, but I suspect it may be a brachiopod of ancient times.

Here I am with the fossils that I found. I got some nice brachiopods, some clams, some crinoids, perhaps some cnidarians, and certainly a lot of well-preserved extinct "honeycomb" coral.

Well friends, that pretty much sums up my fossil-hunting experience. If any of you ever venture down to Ithaca, I would definitely recommend doing this. If you want more information on what you can find here, look at this site: http://www.priweb.org/ed-/finger_lakes/nystate_geo6.html.

That'll be it for now. Best until next time!

LFM

Louis Lunch and My Late-night Sculpture Adventure

Hello again friends,

I'm happy to say I have more exciting adventures to share with you!

My day started of with a little bit of biochemisty. I accompanied my friend to her biochem class to see what it was about. I didn't know that my DNA is over 90% identical with human DNA. Imagine that... we're not so different after all!

Then it was off to famous Louis Lunch on North Campus. It was actually on the way home.

So many yummy things on the menu!!! I ended up with some cajun fries because it came highly recommended by my friend. They were delicious!

Later that night I went out with two of my friends/apartment-mates to help them work on their sculpture projects that are due soon. This was around 7 PM.

I got to enter in the secret code to get in the sculpture building. I feel so trusted!

There were a lot of large and scary tools there. I went to check out the band saw but didn't use it because they didn't have safety goggles in my size. That's okay though, I'd rather keep all my fingers and toes.

The tool and equipment room on the other hand, was very fun to look around in. So much cool stuff!

I got to help with sawing. Don't I seem like such a mighty mouse?

Remember that white foam-core model I was helping to hold in an earlier post? Well here is the actual piece in plywood. I was helping to hold the piece steady so the wood glue could set.

It was getting late so I took a nice nap by the drill bits. They didn't finish working until 10 PM!!!

Luckily I found a nice cozy neck to nuzzle. They took me home so I could rest on the way.

Anway, what a day yes? And something tells me the fun isn't anywhere near over.

Until next time,

LFM

The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology

Hello again friends,

My visit to the Cornell Ornithology Lab went very well. The weather was a bit chilly, but it was otherwise a beautiful day.

Here I am in front of the lab. You can't really make it out in this picture, but there is a picture of a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker on the sign. The lab is located in Sapsucker Woods, a 15 minute drive away from the Cornell campus. On the way I passed a lot of open field and crows with tags on their wings. What a sight. You would think that "Sapsucker Woods" would boast an abundance of Sapsuckers, but I didn't see one anywhere. I've heard that there is an interesting story behind the name though.

Here I am making my way to the entrance. I had to cross this bridge over a little pond and stream-lets.

Look at all the trails around the lab!!! The main building (the big black shape on the map) has the beautiful visitors' center and staff labs/offices. It would be so awesome working here. On my lunch breaks I could go on a little nature walk with my mushroom sandwich. I would just have to be a little wary of the Red-tailed Hawks that are around. If not, I might be the one for lunch!

This is the big pond and bird feeder garden right in front of the lab. In the visitors' center, there is a huge, beautiful window looking out into the pond and bird feeder garden. It really gave me a "duck-eye's view". There were ducks and geese everywhere!!!

Water break! All this exploring made me thirsty.

I then ventured up to the Adelson Library where my friend/apartment-mate works. There were so many bird books and periodicals!!! I was amazed. I even found an old bird book that I have been looking for for a while.

Since the library had so many nice, comfortable reading spots (even a fireplace!) I decided to do a bit of light reading. I probably should have asked the librarian to help me get this down from the shelf.

After that it was time to go home. I was told that a bus ran by the lab, so I borrowed my friend's ipod and listened to some awesome tunes while I waited.

Yay! The bus! Right on time.

Here I am on the bus all ready to go home! It was a pretty nice bus and the seats were comfy.

It was still a bit of a walk from where the bus dropped me off, but the day was still relatively nice so I didn't mind.

Put the keys in the lock, open the door, and I'm finally home!

Well friends, that was my visit to the Ornithology Lab. It was such a refreshing blend of nature and research. Hopefully one day you may get to experience it too!

All the best,

LFM