Tut, tut, it looks like rain...

This is your commute.

Inspecting Rachel's garden.

Bruggeman Place is now navigable waters...

Arrrrrr!

Pedestrian walkway...pshh...

Waiting for the green light...

Back home...

Spectating...

Lift to town, please?

Day 4: New Orleans

Coming soonish...

Day 3: Grand Isle

coming soon...

Day 2: LUMCON

Science! Expedition from LUMCON (in the background), gnats in the foreground.

Oyster guys...policy research on FDA regulations...
Cajun Cafe for some two-step!!

A Sense of Wonder

Kaiulani Lee came to Williams last year to perform her play, A Sense of Wonder, based on the life of Rachel Carson. It has since been adapted to film and if the movie is anything like the play I highly recommend it.

Day 1: Zam's Swamp Tours

By the time we got to Zam's for the swamp tour it seemed we had already learned and seen so much. Our day had started at 3am back at Mystic and upon arrival in New Orleans we hit the road. First stop was a levee on the banks of the Mississippi for lunch and our first look at the river. Then we went across the road to check out Ormand Plantation and the different moss species of the south. Just within these first couple of hours we started to get a sense of the potential power of the river. On the way to Zam's I fought my heavy eyelids to look at scenery I had never seen before...cypress swamps came right up to the edge of the road and black piles left over from sugar cane processing smoked on the edge of the fields.

Zam's Swamp tours is located in Kraemer, on Bayou Boeuf. Our wonderful guide, Derek, took us on an hour or so tour demonstrating an incredible knowledge of his bayou and a great sense of humor accentuated by his thick accent.

It was difficult to believe that I had been in Mystic that morning as we made our way along the water. I was completely happy to see the bayou from the vantage point of the boat. The edges were swampy and it was clear that it would be a very different experience to explore by foot. We frequently saw Mississippi alligators, South American nutria (large rat-like animals), and turtles.

We learned all the details of alligator hunting from Derek. They trap them by hanging a line from a tree branch which has a hook with bait on one end. It has to have enough slack so that the alligator doesn't simply snap the line but drags it to the bottom while it swallows the bait. Once the hook lodges in its stomach there's no chance it'll come out. At that point the hunter will shoot the gator in the head and bring it in.


Most of the alligators we saw were pretty small (approx. 4ft.) but right before we turned around to head back we spotted one that was at least 8 feet long.

Once we got back on land, we got the chance to pet some of the other animals on the grounds. In the back there were rabbits, chickens, and alligators of all ages.


I realized the cute fuzzy ones would probably grow up to feed the alligators that were kept in the back. These were the huge seemingly ancient ones collected from the bayou years before. The first one we saw looked like a statue until it started to hiss. It's one thing to watch it on TV and another thing to stand only a couple feet away when it made that noise on the other side of the fence.

In a shed by one side was a collection of gator heads that had been abandoned before they could get fixed up to sell. And even further back was another pile of jaws and skulls. It was cool to see them up close without the danger of those jaws coming back to life. Some of our friends may or may not be receiving gator tooth necklaces for Christmas this year.

After leaving Zam's we headed to Houma for orientation and our first night at LUMCON (the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium).

A collapsible shipping container

Flat pack: A more environmentally friendly way to transport goods

Dec 30th 2009 | From The Economist online

Off to the Gulf Coast!

Leaving at 0300 Monday and will be back around midnight on Thursday...no internet, but I'll have my cell phone on me (fingers crossed I don't drop it in the swamp).

Bulb Show at Smith!

The best way to start spring....

Pacific Northwest Album

Seattle (cont.)

View of the Columbia River Gorge from Crown Point

Bonneville Dam

Multnomah Falls

Lightship Columbia at the Columbia River Maritime Museum, Astoria. We got to spend a night aboard the Columbia, the last lightship to be in active service on the west coast (1951-1979).

Cape Disappointment State Park

Youngs Bay Terminal Fishery Net Pen Project (Chinook & Coho Salmon)

Cannon Beach!!!...Haystack Rock, one of the most photographed views of the Oregon Coast, is the rock in the final scene of the Goonies.

Tillamook Cheese Factory

Sea Lion Caves, largest sea cave in the world

Oregon Dunes National Sea Shore

Arrival at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology (OIMB) on Coos Bay.
Visit to Cape Arago tidepools:

Views of the Oregon coast

South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve

Botanical Gardens