15 inches.

Before.

After.

Greg's Working Vacation

For only the second time ever, Greg is typing this blog post.

As Janet mentioned in the last post, I was off in Hawaii for our anniversary. Many people think that astronomers only work at night, that we mostly just look up at the night sky drawing lines between the stars, and we are waiting for aliens to contact us.

However, most of the time we work long days in offices, reducing data that we take at the telescopes on the ~5 nights a year that we get time, and hoping to present our work at an annual conference somewhere in the world. Romantic, I know... but the conferences and the telescope observations are the highlights of our year.

While in Hawaii I worked a LOT. But I wont write about that here, instead I will talk about my time off.

From my room in Waimea I had a great view of the Keck Headquarters and Mauna Kea (meaning White Mountain with an elevation of 14,000 ft and often snow capped peaks).

Zooming in on the mountains reveals the collection of telescopes upon the peak. I used the one that is the second from the right to do my observing.

For my first adventure I drove along the west coast of the Big Island to South Point. This is the southern most point in the United States. It has housed the Navy, Army, and the Air Force and is now open ranch land.

Happy Horses

Dead Wind Farms

Ocean Cliffs

Panoramic of the South Point tide pools

On my drive back I drove my rental car up the side a mountain, visited a ancient ruin, saw the site of Captain James Cook's death, and stopped at a Kona coffee mill.

My next adventure took me up to the north point of the island. There were cattle along the way,

and on the north end I took a hike at Pololu Valley.

The view from the parking area.

Cairns along the beach.

A Butterfly after learning to use the camera for closeups.

Canyon Views

With a stop at a cafe for dinner, I was back at work and praying for clear skies at 14,000 ft. My 2 nights at the telescope were the only cloudless nights while I was in Hawaii and now I am back in my office reducing the data and working towards more observing nights and conferences.

Third Time's a Charm...

For our third anniversary my husband was here:

I was located here:


So we celebrated before he left, here is what our third anniversary celebration looked like!

1) Dinner and dessert at our favorite Italian restaurant!

2) Drive up to Solvang, CA.

3) Visit Mission Santa Inés.

4) Drive to Santa Barbara for the night, where we had frozen yogurt for dinner!

1+2+3+4 = Best third anniversary ever!

Just in case you were wondering Greg and I are both located here now:

Dick Van Dyke stole my computer...

Okay, maybe that is not entirely true. I have been watching a lot of The Dick Van Dyke show lately, but I blame that on illness. Illness, and my love of slap-stick comedy. I also love really bad movies, like anything where a teenage girl falls in love with a bad boy and then dies of cancer. Ooo, or same scenario except she doesn't die of cancer, but the movie was filmed in the early 80's so the cheesiness of it all goes way up. Yup, I love those kinds of movies.

Anyway this past week Greg and I got sick, we are talking fevers of 104 degrees sick, so there was a lot of Netflix watching happening in our little apartment. Even though I thought of blogging during that time I decided that whatever I wrote would not be very good so I didn't even try.

Now that I don't have a fever I am going to try...wish me luck!

Greg and I had a busy holiday visit to Arizona. Here is some of what went on while we were there...

Pico got some good nap time in, and Greg spent quality time with cousin Rocco.

We went to Tlaquepaque with my family.

We played Cadoo with Greg's family.

Everyone enjoyed Grandma's treats!

My big sister came home for Christmas with her husband Pete, so a family picture was required!

We spent Christmas Day with Greg's family, which was a ton of fun!

Last but not least Greg was able to spend time with all of his sisters.

(Loren, Greg's brother was busy turning 15 years old when this picture was taken!)

We enjoyed our time visiting family, but now it is time to get back to work...or Dick Van Dyke whichever comes first!

Thanksgiving 2010!!!!

As promised, in all of it's glory, I present to you Greg and Janet's fabulous Thanksgiving trip 2010!

This year we decided not to go back to Arizona for the holiday, instead we met my family for a camping trip at Death Valley National Park. We were there from Wednesday night to Sunday morning, and in that time we did a lot.

We went from Dante's View...

to the lowest point in the park, (Badwater Basin).

We saw a natural arch...

and an Artists Palette.

We went on some incredible drives around the park.

Which led to some pretty great tailgate picnics.

Last, but not even close to least we went to see the "Skittering Rocks!"

Yup, there really is no place like tent for the holidays.

Nine...

Greg and I started dating.

We have had nine wonderful years of being in love, fighting like no other, and going on incredible adventures. Who could ask for anything more?!

Happy Anniversary my love!

Forever,

Jan

PS: This is the first picture Greg and I took together as a couple, I am pretty sure he was trying to write a paper for a class when I put my arm around him and snapped the picture...eventually I figured out that he really doesn't like that.