This week I was actually on vacation most of the time. I took my kids to Seattle with various stops on the way up and back.  One gem that I originally didn’t think was going to be that amazing was the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMinnville Oregon.  They have the actual Spruce Goose!  It was HUGE.  We even got to go up into the cockpit which I found quite exciting, and my 4-year-old did too until we had to go back down the skinny, steep stairs.  I have a post on BioGeoNerd.blogspot.com about the places we went to if you’d like to hear more about it (and see pictures which I should have up by Monday I hope).

I worked in the visitor center today for part of the day, helping to open and close.  Aurora, the Giant Pacific Octopus who was moved to the front this week, was having a hard day and had the shades put up all around the tank. I hope she will be okay soon. It must be scary to be in such a new place with all these people staring at you. The octopus is really the central exhibit for the VC. Not only is it literally in the center, but many people come mainly to see the octopus. Naturally, they were rather disappointed. I think also the fact that the octopus at the aquarium across the street is always hiding in a dark corner and the exhibit itself is in a dark corner, probably draws people to Hatfield even more. Here they can (usually) get a much better look at this beautiful animal.

I opted not to go to the volunteer barbecue which I’m sure I’ll regret but I had a ton of laundry to do and wanted to catch up on some research after being gone most of the week.

This coming Monday I will have the chance to meet with my mentor Nancee Hunter as well as Shawn Rowe and Mark Farley to go over the plans for the Climate Change exhibit. It’s my opportunity to present the things I’ve researched and then, as a team, we’ll discuss the desired direction of the exhibit. I’m looking forward to working with these great people and getting their feedback and ideas. It will be great to have some concrete direction on the exhibit. I look forward to sharing the valuable information I’ve gathered and fully participating as a member of this team.
I’m gaining a cornucopia of experiences on this internship and I will walk away from this summer having made great connections and refined my skills in teamwork, creativity, organization, interpretation, presentation, and more.