Looking back…
Time moves strangely as an Oregon Sea Grant Summer Scholar. You work really long days and a weekend where you sleep in seems too good to be true. But when you look back, it’s baffling how quickly the weeks have passed, and how much has happened.
Sea Star Surveys
My roommate, Dominique (Nikki) Zuk, has been organizing these amazing intertidal surveys that we’ve been allowed to participate in. I finally was able to go to a starfish survey on a lovely rainy Friday morning. It was a lot of fun, and I got a little competitive about the number of starfish I found, which was unfortunate because I only found one. But it was the very best one, a Leptasterias!
Sampling in Tillamook
Autumn and I went on another sampling field day to different stations in the Oregon Coast for an experiment on nutrient levels within watersheds that intersect with agricultural and urban areas. The team I went with has done it many times before and it was really efficient getting all the stations done between the two teams that were formed. We had enough time that on the way back, we stopped by the Tillamook Creamery and I got Marion berry cheesecake ice cream which was incredible. I’ve never had Marion berry before this summer, and I’m really going to miss fresh Marion berries when I leave here!
Brunch at Chalet!
Nikki, Naomi, Suhn, and I went to Chalet Restaurant and Bakery this past Sunday for brunch. I had the best buttermilk pancakes I’ve ever had in my whole life! The food was so good that I wasn’t even able to have pie and cake afterwards, so there will have to be another trip. They looked incredible, though!
I’m on a (research) boat!
I also was able to go on a boat to do water quality sampling. This was the first time I’ve been on a research boat, and I had really great guides, T Chris Monchon Collura and Beth Rutila, who helped me through the process. It was so much fun! There’s so much work that goes into doing water quality sampling on a research boat and I have great respect for the people who service the instruments every three weeks!
As you can probably tell, I’m having a great time and I’m looking forward to what the last few weeks bring!
Yayyyy, you found A starfish!!!!! That’s one more than I found, so you’re very very lucky. And the equipment you’re flinging over bridges to take water quality samples must be very different from what you used at Pioneer, huh? You look like you are meant to be on that boat, Ana!
Waiting to eat your pies, which are undoubtedly the best in the world!